Sea World June 2009

Sea World Heroes Salute: Any active duty, activated or drilling reservist, or National Guardsman is entitled to free admission under the Here's to the Heroes program. With my son-in-law in Afghanistan we visited Sea World with Daughter #3 and her two children.

The first show we took in was "Believe." The whale show.

At this point Little Sister is a little nervous because of the very loud music, but we got her clapping.

Here she is still clapping but looking a little more concerned. The amphitheater speakers were set on stun, slightly below paralyze and or kill.

Here is the first whale jumping out of the water. At this time we lost Little Sister. As soon as the whale came out of the water she started to cry, so Nana scooped her up and they left the theater.

A nice picture of two Killer Whales doing their thing.

This is the Grand Poo Bah, Shamu himself. They bring him out to put water on the crowd. He does a very good job. If you have a camera you might want to sit above the demonstrated waterline. The water is also kept really cold for the whales.

A nice looking NASCAR vehicle in Sea World's colors.

The Manta at lift off. I think the Manta is new and has been on-line now for about two weeks. Daughter #3 and Blushing Bride are hanging up there. They are in the top row on the viewers left.

Here is the Manta after they have lifted off, they are in there somewhere.

Another shot of the Manta a moment later. They said the ride was very smooth, unlike the Kraken another older roller coaster at the park.

Here are the survivors after their ride.

Next they, Blushing Bride, Daughter #3 and Big Brother rode the Atlantis. In this picture they are in the stern sitting in the last two seats.

The boat is slowed at the bottom by water. Each boat throws up a lot of spray as it is slowed by the water.

Another shot of them as the boat continues around the loop and over some more ups and downs.

One of my Army trained daughters, Mother of Big Brother and Little Sister.

Big Brother playing with the water cannon in the kids get wet area.

Little Sister found an area where the water made a hill out of the padded floor and kept stepping on it to flatten it out.

Another view from the same play area.

Little Sister trying to give direction to Nana. Fat chance.

The Three Muskateers on another ride.

This one rocks, spins and slides sideways.

They are trying to entertain Little Sister who is to small to get on the rides.

A VW Bug in Sea World colors. I wouldn't mind driving that car myself.

A sale of whales.

It is getting a bit late in the day and some "dude" is showing a bit of a "tude."

Riding the Flamingos was a request from early on. Remember, partners with short legs can not help paddle.

Little Sister looks like a junior Safety Officer in training. That look says, Why are they in that and are their life jackets on properly? Or it may say, Why are they over there and I am over here?

Another Flamingo shot.

And yet another.

A look at some of the Manta from a different angle.

Nana looking after Little Sister whild Big Brother and Mom Flamingo.

Cheez has traded places with the Nana to get his picture taken.

Little Sister takin it all in while she waits for everyone to get on the move for supper. Good Kids, Great Day.

Well at least until we got to the car and found the battery was dead. Gotta Love AAA they saved the day.

First 100 Piece Puzzle

Not much to say here. The puzzle had 100 pieces.

And he put it together by himself. Attaboy!

Brother And Sister Shopping

Just sitting in the chair, minding my own business I became away of the game being played.

Big Brother was teaching Little Sister how to shop.

As you can see from the picture, Little Sister, a believer in the Second Amendment, is armed with a cutlass in her grocery basket.

They rotated through the Dining Room, Kitchen, Breakfast Nook and back into the Living Room.

Once each rotation they would stop at the coffee table where Big Brother would help Little Sister shop for an item to put into their shopping cart.

Remember, at this point in time, Little Sister is still doing the Frankenstein walk so she needs to hold onto the cart in order to stay upright for a long time. But together they made multiple laps around their circuit.

To me, the most remarkable part is Big Brother did all of his walking, six or seven laps I was aware of, on his knees over both a wood floor and a ceramic tile floor. A great example of a five year old playing with a one year old. Way to go kids.

First Birthday, Airborne Style

The first thing you need is a water slide. Not a Slip n Slide but a real water slide. One that is about 40 feet long, 16 feet wide and stands 20+ feet tall. One that weighs in excess of 500 pounds and exhausts a small crew of men trying to haul it around. One that the renter puts in your truck with a FORK LOADER!

This is it baby. This is Tim The Tool Man Taylor Big! It has not one, but two humongus blowers to keep it up.

The water slide in action. On the left, you climb to the top and slide down the back still on the left. Then you climb up the back on the right and come down the front on the right. One cycle is two climbs and two slides. The sliding area is lubricated like a Slip n Slide by water from sprayers at the top of the slide.

This is the birthday girl opening presents. The first present she opened was a Tub Tug, a boat for the bath tub. No matter what else was opened she went back for the Tub Tug.

Here is another shot of her after the Tub Tug. She would help open a present, look at it, and then return to the Tub Tug.

For a while, this caught her eye. It is part of the wrapping from a present and she was somewhat fascinated by it. She played with it while her Mom continued to unwrap her presents.

Birthday Cakes. The small one for the Birthday Girl and the large one for everyone else. These beautiful cakes were made by the next door neighbor. Birthday Girl loved hers and everyone else loved the big one. Not only did it look really cool, but it also tasted great. Awesome!

You want me to do what with this?

Big brother trying to get his sister to eat the cake.

Are you sure? Usually, people just feed me.

First taste and believe me it took a long time for her to do it. I think she just was to interested in all of the people she just talked and jabbered but didn't dive right in.

She certainly got a lot on her fingers but it took a long time for her to start eating it. Maybe it was a texture thing.

Now we are getting more chocolate on the face. She is getting into it at this point.

A great chocolate face shot.

I know I heard Nana say, "When there is no chocolate left, dump the dessert."

Watermelon Baby

Chocolate Watermelon or Watermelon Chocolate, I think I have hit on something here.

Big brother striking a blow for Pinata goodies. He hit a tremendous whack but was unsuccessful and it later fell to a larger kid who could hit harder.

Here we have some of the smaller kids cleaning up the Pinata goodies.

Later in the evening, I told my daughter to grab up the kids and I would take some pictures of them for their dad.

This ones face was dyed blue from whatever he was eating.

And my statement about pictures was seconds out of my mouth when this one went face first into the coffee table.

So I hung up my camera for that day.