Last Sea World Visit of 2008

Since our passes expired Dec 31, 2008, we decided to go to Sea World on Dec 30th. So did ALL of Southern California and half of the state of Arizona as well. It was very busy. The day before there were over 29,000 people there. Have you ever been to Sea World?? It's not HUGE, so that is a LOT of people in a not-so-huge area.
Regardless of the amount of people, we had a great time! We saw all the shows we wanted to see - just showed up a little earlier than we normally would have. Saw the polar bears, penguins, flamingos, dolphins, sea lions and seals, etc. etc.
The kids love the Bay of Play - Sesame Street play area too, so we spent some time there as well.

Jason was with Ezekiel, so G and I had fun with silly faces

Gavin does not like loud noises and is often seen doing this (above), or if he is scared he will cover his ears too. In this picture he didn't like the fake howling of the animals in the Arctic.

Flamingos!

This guy gives us a run for our money, but dang is he cute

yah...the polar bear was awake! the other times we have been, he has been asleep or in a cave somewhere. The boys watched him for at least 10 minutes

V was in an especially fun mood this morning

Not such a cute one of V, but cute of J

the boys going to see the penguins while I feed V

We also thought it would be fun to spend the night down there. Just a little adventure for the boys. We found a great deal on a room nearby and used some Christmas money for a mini-vacation.

V loved the new place to explore

The boys are super excited to be here, even though they are HUNGRY and the pizza we ordered didn't' get there until almost 8:15pm...

While I was showering the next morning, the boys had fun with the camera, taking silly pictures of each other...(there were like 25 pictures...so this is just a sampling)

Kind of a weird picture of V...maybe it's the hair!

It was a fun little overnighter and despite our expectations, the kids slept great! The pack n' play fit in the bathroom so Violet slept great too! Just woke up when G had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I think the best part of it for the boys was the continental breakfast in the morning. We were right near the lobby so they made at least 5 trips for more Fruit Loops, donuts, fruit, toast, eggs, juice, etc. It was their dream...they had whatever they wanted - we were on vacation! It was a great way to end our year!