Day Five in Southern California

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day in San Diego and headed off to "Sea World."
We went to the "Blue Horizons Stadium" to watch the dolphin and pilot whale show. 

 A dolphin jumping . . .

 And a pilot whale jumping.

 Next, we went to "Turtle Reef."  Here are the girls sitting on a turtle statue.

 Les was only able to talk Emma into doing one ride.  She was the only one tall enough to go on any.  The ride she and I went on was "Riptide Rescue." 

 Then we went to "Shark Encounter."  Here is a shot from inside the glass tube under the water that we walked through.

 After that we walked through the "Freshwater Aquarium."  Here is a picture of piranha.  We had just missed their feeding. 

 Here are the girls in front of "Pacific Point" where the sea lions are.  Right next to this area is a place to by fish for feeding the seals and sea lions.  One of the ladies who works there was pointing it out and talking about how to get the fish in to the animals.  Then she mention that there were a lot of birds hanging around and that given the chance the birds would snatch the fish away if you weren't careful.  Right after she said that we watched a boy go up to the edge to feed a seal.  A bird was perched on the railing.  When it saw him approach you could literally see the bird tense up and set its self up to pounce.  Before that boy knew what was happening that bird struck and flew away with the prize.  There was a look of surprise on that boys face.

 We took a little break and let the kids play at the "Sesame Street Bay of Play" before heading over to . . .

 "Shamu Stadium."

 We all loved seeing the whales jump and splash.

We wandered around looking at the animals until the kids asked if they could go back to the Sesame Street playground.  Les ended up taking the girls on this huge jungle gym with nets and bridges.  While they did that Jacob and I played.  That is until I saw . . .

 Elmo!!!  We stopped to get a picture.

 We made our last stop at the "Penguin Encounter."  They sure are cute.

On our way out we saw "Franklin" so we stopped for a picture before leaving.

 

When I went to Sea World with my family years ago I remember it being fun and full of great things to see.  This time it felt like a let down.  It could be that my kids weren't big enough for the rides.  Or it could have been  all the construction.  We couldn't turn around without some sign of construction.  Not sure if we will ever go back but if we do we will need to check on their construction schedule.

 

That evening we went out and hung out for a while in the pool at our hotel.  Les helped the girls work on their swimming skills while I chased Jacob around as he toddled between the pool and the hot tub.  He just wanted to get away so he could play in the water his way.