August 14, 2012

The last day of our trip, we left Campland early and headed to Old Town, San Diego.  We could not pass up breakfast at this place. Not sure what it is about home made tortillas--maybe because it reminds me of my Grandma Pepita's house?  Besides, we needed to be fueled up for a long, full day at Sea World.

Ernie had decided that Nessa is at the perfect age to be wowed by what Sea World has to offer.  Luckily, he was right--but watching Lene and listening to her talk about working there when she was older, brought me back to my youth.  I will always remember the Shamu show at night when I was a lot younger. I was moved by the magic of the whale, its beauty and grace--it was neat to see the same look of awe in Lene's eyes, to listen to her dream of her future and going to college out there so she could work.

One of the highlights was when she got to pet a dolphin.  We visited the tank on three separate occasions throughout the day just trying to get a chance.  Finally, the moment it happened was pure magic.  We could have left right then and there and she would always remember this trip.  However, the two big kids decided to get daring at eight pm. and sit in the Splash zone of the Shamu show.  Great!  I tried to remember to enjoy and embrace and I sat there with a fake smile plastered to my face and a twenty dollar blanket we bought to cover me and Nessa.  The show was fun and loud with great music accompanying it and at some point towards the end, Nessa had to go to the bathroom, so I bolted with Bubba by my side and we missed the grand finale in which we would have gotten soaked!  It was so funny and I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried! 

Nessa, on the other hand was taken with the penguins.  Ever since we watched Happy Feet 2 in the backyard for our movie night, all she asks for is the penguin movie, so of course, all she continued to ask for at Sea Worls was the penguins.  She enjoyed that exhibit by far the most!

Daddy and Jonathan won a couple to bring home to enjoy.  They were definitely worth the investment! 

Bubba was most enthralled with the shark exhibit.  He has books on sharks and he is inquisitive about shark facts and stuff of the sort.  He is such a boy!  He also liked being tall enough to go on the Atlantis!  While the dolphin petting was memorable, he would have much preferred to touch a stingray, but they never came close enough to the surface for his reach to touch.

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This day was a wonderful one.  Even better is that with our AAA card we were able to get a discount so we can return again before December 31st. . .can't beat that!  Lene is asking to swim with the dolphins, so we are thinking a Christmas gift perhaps?  This day was the perfect ending to an already incredibly blessed vacation.  Too bad we are back to the real world this week. . .but a vacation to plan for the fall sounds fabulously fun!