Hop-a-long and the gang visit Sea World

I love having sisters! Tasha and I have always been close.

For our third adventure, we went to Sea World. Cage didn't have school that day, so she got to come with us. For the zoo and the aquarium, my ankle worked fine, although it had been going in and out of being "locked" our whole vacation. Unfortunately, it was locked for all but the last hour or so of Sea World, so everywhere we went, I was limping and slow. We kept rushing around trying to get to different attractions on time, but I couldn't run when we needed to. Hyrum's saying for the day was "Are you coming, Hop-a-long?" Tasha kept trying to get me to ride her piggy-back or get me a wheel chair, but as long as we were just walking, I managed to keep up, though any sort of slope or incline was pretty painful.

Here we are at the entrance. They search your bags and strollers beforehand, but they didn't have a metal detector like they did at Great America.

We checked Tilly and Dru's heights when we got there, but forgot to check Hyatt. The girls are just the same height, although Dru is a skinny little thing.

We discovered early in our vacation that Dru and Talea happened to have matching dresses (thanks, Costco), so we dressed them the same for Sea World and did their hair the same. Tilly's bangs aren't grown out as much as Dru's yet, so Tilly looked more like an insect. Hey, where's the face painters! Let's make her really look like an insect!


After we got there (which of course was after 12 noon, like always), we tried to go pet one of the Budweiser draft horses, but it had been pet to death already and was going in for a break, so we missed it by seconds. (Anhauser Busch, the maker of Budweiser, owns Sea World by the way.) Next we tried to get into the pet show, but got there just as they shut the gate. Darn! Missed it by a hair! Then we ran (well, I limped quick as I could) over to the dolphin show, but it was packed, so they closed the gate even though it wasn't even close to starting. Man, was this how our whole day was going to be? Why did we pick a holiday weekend to visit San Diego?!

We got to visit the draft horses, even though we didn't get to pet any or take pictures with them.
"Hey, Dall! How'd you get out of your cage?!"

Phew, we actually made it into the Shamu show! And if you're in the first 16 rows, you get soaked. Thankfully, Tasha had her Sea World ponchos, so we stayed dry. Hyrum eyes are really sensitive to the sun, so I lent him my sunglasses. How does he look?

They're mooning us!

He was surfing on the orca!

He let it push him around underwater, then it shot him out for a dive.

Where's Waldo?

"I wanna be an orca trainer!" Fine, Cage didn't really say that, but it made ME want to be one!

Cirque De La Mer was a new show they had, but the time slot we watched it in was windy enough that they had to cut out a lot of their show. It was an okay show, but the best part was taking pictures with the carnies afterward. Of course they thought Hyrum was so impressive that they imitated his "strong man" pose. Hyatt was pretty nervous to be so close to such freaky looking guys.

We had all the kids get a picture with the freaky creatures. Hyatt's not pictured because he refused to go close to them, and Kiersa was eating.

Tilly took this picture by herself of the Cirque show. I didn't even know she knew how to work my camera, but while I was video taping, she picked up the camera and snapped away. They were mostly of the hair belonging to girl in front of us, but this one shows some of the circus.

Petting the bat rays was Talea's favorite part of the day, so we had to do it twice. They feel pretty cool, and some people were even feeding them.

You get one guess as to who took this picture. I don't keep posting these shots because I'm proud of my backside (not until I run the jiggles off), but because if you really know Hyrum, you'll understand and you'll get a kick out of it.

My little girls. Tilly is always anxious to hold Kiersa.

Dolphin show time! We waited later in the day, and got in just fine. Of course we had to sit in the soak zone again because it's fun to get wet when it's overcast and chilly, right? We had protection though, and we're tough.

The dolphins kept Tilly spellbound.

I won't spoil the fun by explaining this picture, just in case you go to Sea World yourself.

This flag is something like 30 feet up I heard. This dolphin jumped high enough to touch it.

We couldn't resist getting some pics in front of these bright flowers. I'm not sure what they are, but I'm confident Melanie could tell me.


Hyatt thought the starfish were fake like the toy ones he played with at the Birch Aquarium, so there were a few shocked faces when he pulled a real one out (you're not supposed to touch them aside from a stroke with one finger).

We found the face painter! Now Tilly really could become an insect!

What a beautiful butterfly!

The biggest shock of all was that Hyatt had the courage to want his face painted too, and he chose a scary spider! Go figure.

Ooh! Scary spider!

Still twins!



A swarm of bugs!

Cage was good enough to keep the girls in check and in reach.

Taking a break.

We couldn't resist the pirate swords.
"He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day." (What movie is that from, Daisha?)

Cage got a temporary tattoo around her bellybutton at the face painting booth.

The shark exhibit is a must-see because you walk right through the tank with the sharks all around you.

Ahhh. Another family picture.

Cage, Natasha and Dru. Aren't they beautiful?

The night show, Shamu Rocks was an excellent show. Do not miss it! It has fireworks at the end, too.

Look, another set of twins!

Tiana and Kiersa Milly. Tilly and Hyatt refuse to call her just Kiersa. They only call her "Keirsa Milly."

The night life is getting to Cage.

And that was that. Sea World was a blast! We need to go again and see the seals and the horses and all the things we didn't get enough time to do.