Ashleigh made me do it!

Today we went to Seaworld. If you are wondering about our schedule, we had to layout our plans at the parks to work with the activities we didn't want to miss at GKTW. Tonight is Christmas at GKTW, so we went to Seaworld figuring that we wouldn't want to stay too late. Turns out, there are a lot of special shows and events in the evening. However, tonight it rained quite a bit, so we were glad we had it planned this way....Anyhoo....

We started our day with some Disney characters who came to our campus to see the kids. We saw Belle, Goofy and Pluto in the courtyard and Micky and Minnie were in the theatre for professional pics. Then we left and headed to Seaworld. Of course, our first show was the Shamu "Believe" presentation. WOW! It was worth the humidity (it was just like being in Houston). What a spectacular presentation! How I would love to work with these amazing animals.

Next, we headed to the Sea Lion and Otter show. This was the most we have laughed in a long time. While waiting for the show to start, they had a mime who played with the audience. He would do things like direct people to a seat, pointing at the water tank, or kiss a women's hand, and when she walked away, hold up 7 fingers. When we would laugh and the woman would look back, he would quickly show 10 fingers. The funniest one had to be when this young couple came in and he started "directing" them to a seat. He managed to get them all the way to the other side and pointed out of the arena...and they went! We laughed so hard, but then we clapped for them. They turned out to be good sports (and yes, they came back in). The Sea Lion show (Pirate theme) was humerous as well, and filled with errors (we couldn't tell if it was on purpose or not!). Ashleigh laughed as hard as we did! This is where Ashleigh started saying she wanted to ride the blaster (??).

Next, on to some yummy BBQ. Ribs for the girls, of course. Then Ashleigh requested the tower ride. This is an observation tower that rises about 300 feet in the air and rotates so you can see the whole park. We thought this was the 'blaster' that she wanted to ride. Nooooooo. It is this lovely roller coaster seen on the right called Kraken. She was very insistent, and silly me, I figured she would be too short, so I volunteered to be the one to go with her. Alex and Ali were not riding under any circumstances. We went up to the line, and lo and behold, she was JUST tall enough. Then as we approached the line, the Cast Member saw her GKTW button and let us go on in through the wheelchair entrance (lucky us!). It was getting overcast and I thought maybe they would stop it for the rain. They did...AFTER we rode it! The picture above expresses much better than words how we both "enjoyed" this monster. When we crested the first incline, I closed my eyes until the ride was over. Ashleigh yelled the entire time, and then repeatedly said "That was SO fun!" Thankfully, they shut the ride down as the rain poured down, and I didn't have to ride it again.

We found shelter in the penguin observatory, and went through looking at these neat animals. We braved the rain (with $.87 ponchos from walmart) and did a little souvenir shopping and finally gave up and went back to the villa.

We called a special number and 2 lovely, hot pizza's arrived at our door (no charge of course) and the girls opened up the sleeper sofa and started a movie for some down time. I filled up the girls jacuzzi tub and worked on my sore muscles.

At 6, we headed out again to the gingerbread house for some dessert and coffee. Then off to see Santa. Tonight GKTW celebrates Christmas. After our photos, the girls were able to pick out a present. Then cookie decorating, pictures with Mrs. Clause, facepainting and a carousel ride. Then the Christmas parade started, and at the end, SNOW! We met another wish family who turned out to be from Katy (they live in Grand Lakes). That was cool! Alex and Ali are now in the arcade playing some more games, and Ashleigh is relaxing in the registration center with a big screen TV, while I work on this update. We are going to head back to the villa to let the kids finish their movie and get to bed early.

It may seem like a bummer to get rain each afternoon, but we are good at going with the flow. We try to do rides and outdoor things early in the morning, and indoor things later, in case it does rain. We were told by one of the park workers, that from June to September the weather is very much, 95 degrees in the morning, 75 in the evening with afternoon showers. EVERY DAY. Some times it rains a lot, sometimes a little. But it actually cools things down, so c'est la vie! See you guys tomorrow!