Sea World

If you follow my blog, or know me at all, you know I love animals. Well, last year we got passes to the San Diego Zoo. They expire at the end of this month so I wanted something new to try while we are down here. Ty surprised me with Sea World passes for the girls and me! Yesterday I decided to try it out. I was nervous to go by myself to somewhere new. (I have a small comfort area down here and I don't like going into uncharted territory) It was actually super easy to find and the girls and I had a blast and can't wait to go back again.

We walked in and just started exploring and the first thing we see are flamingos right off the pathway. No gate, no fence, nothing. Just them standing and walking around, it was awesome to see them that close:

Then we walked over to the dolphins where we got to see them do tricks. We didn't make it to the dolphin show that is later in the day, so we are excited to watch that next time.

 Here is a trainer "surfing" on a dolphin:

 Lindsey and I got to touch this dolphin. Whitney had no interest doing that.

Here she is after she touched it, so thrilled right? :-) No, the camera was right in her face actually. It's hard to hold your almost 2 year old right over a pool to touch a dolphin and try to take pictures at the same time so no judging!

The bat rays were way cool to see. They are in the sting ray family. They were so big! Lindsey and I touched those also. You can buy food and hold it in your hand at the bottom of the pool and they will suck it off your hand!!! I don't think I'm that brave, but cool for some people I'm sure.

My little bottle nosed dolphin:

Shamu time:

I don't really know if I was expecting anything from the shows, but it was really cool. There is something really amazing about seeing an animal that big jumping out of the water and doing different tricks. I was very impressed.

We also went to Sea Lions live they did different spoofs on tv shows like CSI, Survivor and Dancing with the Stars. It was actually really funny.

 I didn't get any good shark pictures because it's dark in the exhibit, but it was really cool!

It was awesome to see the polar bear so close. It is a smaller enclosure than the zoo so we saw it pretty well. It walked right past us so the girls were really excited.

The walrus was awesome and SO massive. I felt that the enclosure is a little small for such big animals, but I can't really complain, I was so excited to see it.

This was an accidental shot but I really love it. I didn't know about the orca in the background until after I took the picture:

I'm so grateful to be able to be down here and experiencing all this. I feel like a tourist on a very extended stay. :-) I live down here but also take advantage of all the amazing things southern California has to offer. Oh and btw, our Christmas was awesome and we're happy to start a new year!