Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sea World Day 1

* Let me just mention that while I am writing this Ribbit has told us "night night" individually about 5 times, including her new "elbow" (ELMO) doll. She has also told Daddy that he has "pooped" which is what she says when someone passes gas.....its quite hysterical but on the other hand its 9:18 and she WON"T LAY DOWN!!!!!

Soooo, first of all we are having a blast. I was hoping that the gap in there age wouldn't keep Goob from doing too much and so far it has been great. We got here around noon, loaded up the stroller and off we went. We immediately went to the waterpark inside of Sea World, "Sesame Street Bay of Play" which is pretty new. There are high high tunnels, nets and ball pits for older kids, a water area for anyone, a water area for younger kids and a water area for only 3 and under. Goober darted all over the place high above our heads. Ribbit took a little while to get used to things but pretty soon we were all drenched. They also have 5 or 6 kiddie rides inside of the waterpark and as soon as Goob saw those we were off. He rode each one of them at least twice, and the roller coaster we rode several times, taking turns riding with mom and dad. Ribbit loved the carousel and loved riding on the "horseys"....she would tell horsey "hi, love you, thank you, and then scream bye bye horsey" when the ride was over. She rode that several times alternating mom and dad. They also have a Sesame Street play every hour and fifteen minutes with the cast and afterwards you can take pictures with them. Well we went to  every show until it stopped at 5:00. Ribbit fell in love with "elbow" and "cookie" (Elmo and Cookie Monster) She would get up and dance with them and run to give them high fives. Every time a show was about to begin she would just yell " ELBOW COOKIE, YEEEAAHHHHH". During one of the shows, Goober and I snuck away and went to ride the big boat slide that splashes everyone at the bottom. He was so glad that he was tall enough and I told him that he had to keep his hands up the whole time. When we got on the slide and started going really high up he said " not gonna keep my hands up" and I left him alone--it was pretty stinkin high. When we got off we went to look at our pictures and there is our boat, full of adults and Goob and he is the only one with his arms up, eyes open and mouth really big and smiling....I laughed so hard!!!!  He took dad back to ride it a second time with him later on that day.
At night we went to the Sea Lion, Sesame Street 4D and Shamu show. Goob just thought it was all great and Ribbit had a hard time sitting through all but the Sesame Street show. Thankfully some of the shows are inside and air conditioned.
We stayed from noon until nine ( we are crazy, we know) and headed back to the hotel. Ribbit was asleep in her stroller before we ever got out of the park. We all took showers, ate and drank a bunch and went to bed. WE WERE EXHAUSTED!!!!

Tips for going to Sea World with young kids---
1. Freeze water bottles the night before, put them in insulated water bottle holders and you can add water to them all day long for really cold refreshing water.
2. Get battery operated handheld misting fans. I went to 6 stores in the area to find these, but I was DETERMINED that my kids would be as comfortable as possible and hot dog they were. We got ours for $7 and the ones they are selling at Sea World are $12..SCORE!!! When Ribbit is in the stroller we put the fan in one cup holder, turn it on and she is set.......it really keeps her cool and it allowed her to take a nap comfortably!!!! Goober uses his during every show. He douses himself and then turns the fan on to freeze himself out. He also squirts Adam and I constantly and it feels sooo good that we don't mind...in fact we tell him to drench us!!!!
3. Take lots and lots of snacks. You are only allowed to take in a small cooler (one that you could fit a 6 pack in-their words, not mine). But I stuffed it full, and I think they are more understanding with kiddos. They ate a snack almost every hour--like an apple, two starburst candies, individual boxes of cereal, stuff like that. We only treated ourselves to ice cream once and that was super expensive (but so worth it :).
4. Buy souvenirs before you leave. I went to the Dollar Store and got them both a stuffed sea lion, and stuffed dolphin. That way they will have things that they think are from Sea World but we didn't have to fork over tons of money for it!!!!

I also just want to add that a good husband and daddy make the trip ten times better....its hard work to carry and console Ribbit, to encourage Goob when he is to short for a ride, and to take care of a mom who tends to worry about her kids too much but Adam has kept us all together and going strong. I am the planner for sure, but he definitely carries the plans out smoothly and with a rational head on his shoulders!!!! I love you Adam.

Pictures and videos coming soon!!!

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