Shamu!!!

As soon as we walked through the gates Alayna spotted this bubble blowing Shamu toy and “had” to have it. Who am I to deprive a sweet little face like that pure joy? So I got her one! 😛

I was actually sorta nervous for today because of my foot. Sea World has strict rules about their wheelchair rentals and children are not allowed to ride with you. I didn’t feel it was fair for Grandma and me to get one and have Alyana walk all that way by herself. So, I didn’t get one. I made it pretty far. I think it was 3pm before I asked Mom if she would let me have a turn on her wheelchair. She kindly let me ride for a while. Thank goodness!!! I did pretty well though. 🙂

Alayna absolutely love, love, loved Sea World! She couldn’t believe her eyes the entire time we were there. We saw otters, sea stars, mantarays, flamingos, sea lions, seals, dolphins, polar bears, penguins, whales, turtles, and sharks it was all very exciting!!

Her favorite of favorite parts was getting to pet and feed the Mantarays. 

She had no reservations about touching that dead fish either! LOL!

When you buy the fish they instruct you on how to feed the Mantarays. You have to hold them between your fingers and flex your hand and put your arm elbow deep into the water. She did it perfectly!

Check out that Mantaray getting that tasty snack! Awesome!!!

She only fed that one Mantaray. She said it bit her..but I’m pretty sure they don’t have teeth. They swim over your hand and “suck” the fish in. I guess that guy had an extra strong sucker! 😛 She just threw the rest into the water. LOL!

Next up was the Shamu Show!! Alayna has never seen Shamu and so we were waiting on pins and needles!

The show was great. In recent years they’ve stopped allowing the trainers in the water with the whales because one of them was killed a few years ago. I miss the old show with all the cool tricks they used to do but it was still good. I didn’t get any pictures of it but they seem to like to spend an extra amount of time getting a group of kids together next to the tank so Shamu can soak them to the bone! There was a group they invited down and they showed them the command for Shamu to flip his tail and get them wet. Well…these kids had NO idea what was in store. That tail just kept flipping and flipping. Those poor kids weren’t just wet they were drenched from head to toe! It was pretty funny!

Alyana wanted to pet more sea creatures so we went over to the Sea Star exhibit. They are not Star Fish…they are not fish…:P 

You could handle the Sea Stars as long as you kept them under the water. We spent a long time with the Sea Stars! 🙂

Do you know what a group of flamingos is called????

A Flamboyance of Flamingos!! Funny huh?! 😀 

Most of the rides at Sea World are for the older kids but we did take the Sky Ride over the Bay! The weather was a little chilly that day…It was cold up there!

Grandma paid to get Alayna’s face painted. She looks marvelous!

We were able to see almost all of the shows and exhibits. It was a fun filled day! I think Alayna is obsessed with the ocean now. 🙂