Dance Invitational

After months of practice and driving back and forth, the girls had their 1st of 4 competitions. This was technically called an Invitational, but it was still being judged, so I don't know what the difference was. The girls seemed excited although you could tell that they were nervous. Camee did her best to keep them calm. When it was their turn, they lined up and waited for their cue. When on the floor they got into ready position and once the music started, they started to dance.

They did such a good job. It may not have been as polished as they wanted after only a few months with practices once a week, but overall they did great. At the end of the invitational, the judges handed Kristin the judge's scoring cards. We went outside and Camee pulled the girls together and read to them what the judges said. They were judged in 4 categories and given a 1-4 rating; 4 being superior. Overall, they got 2 2's and 2 3's. It showed room for improvement and what they needed to work on before the next competition. To celebrate we stopped for a shake on the way home.

February Pack Meeting

Owen has truly had a blast being in scouts. He loves his leaders and has loved all the activities he has participated in. Even more, I think he loves the rewards of those activities. This time around at Pack meeting he was recognized for his Cyber safety and his Dino dig. They got to make their own fossils for that one.

Lost Tooth

Another tooth down. This one came out naturally, thank heavens, and Owen was super excited to leave it for the Tooth Fairy. He found the best spot for her to see his tooth and surprisingly went to bed quickly. He was anxious for her to come and leave him a surprise.

The second he was up, he was in our room showing us what the Tooth Fairy had left. It always amazes me that they get so excited with a few quarter. He walked off talking about what he wanted to get with these shiny new quarters.

California day 10

Today marked the end of our trip. We kept a very busy schedule while on our vacation, but it was all worth it. We did what we wanted to do when we wanted to and was awesome. Now it was time to go home. After getting up and getting ready we started loading the van. I was surprised that I hadn't seen any of the others while doing so. I then noticed that I had a message from them saying that they had already headed out. They had to get back sooner than they thought because Christy's work called her in. So we were on our own today.

After we finished loading up the van, we went and had breakfast. After we were all full, we loaded in the van and headed back to Sea World. Last night I noticed that I had paid for 3 keychains, but they hadn't put all of them in my bag. So we were going back to get the keychain they left out. It seemed like a silly reason to go back, but I wasn't going to gyp one of the kids because of a mistake someone else made. Ben was so understanding too. 

Since we had some time to kill before they opened their gates, we decided to go to the beach. We obviously had no intention to get in the water, but it was fun to walk along the beach, especially without any crowds. There was hardly anyone there, which was so nice. While we walked around the kids searched for seashells and even found a few good ones. After walking up and down the beach, we went back to the van and headed to Sea World. 

When we got there, Ben stayed in the van with the kids and I went to customer service. I explained what happened and they escorted me to another gate. I then told the workers there what had happened and they walked me to the gift shop just inside the entrance. I went to the counter and showed them my bag and my receipt and they didn't question me at all which was a big relief. I was afraid they wouldn't believe me. They told me to go ahead and grab the keychain I was missing. I said thank you and then I walked back to the van.

Now that we had everything straightened out we hit the road and headed home. We took turns driving home and even made pretty good time. We pulled into the driveway and headed into the house. We didn't even unpack that van, we could do that tomorrow. We all went inside, got in pajamas, and laid down saying goodnight to a great vacation.

California day 9

Today we were going to Sea World. Like Legoland, we had been there recently and decided to let the Bodilys lead the way. So after breakfast, we headed out and go to the park in plenty of time to get a nice parking spot. That would mean a lot at the end of the day. Once we were parked we grabbed our water bottles (the only thing you could bring into the park) and headed to the gates. 

Now that we were inside the park, we asked them where they wanted to go first. They had no idea what they wanted to do first, they just knew that they wanted to ride some of the rides. Ben and I had no desire to ride any of the rides, so we told them to go ahead. We made our way toward Dolphin point. There was a crowd there, so we stopped to see what was going on. They currently were working with some of the Dolphins, so we found a spot to stand so the kids could see the Dolphins up close and personal. They also had a tide pool that you could put your hands into. I'm not sure what they liked more, touching the fish in the tide pool or watching Dolphins play.

We stayed at the Dolphin Pool for a while. The kids had so much fun, even more so when they literally had one come up to them that they could almost touch. They all tried too, but the Dolphin was just out of reach. When we were done with the Dolphins we slowly walked around just to see what we could see. We walked by the Otter outlook, but there wasn't much to see there. They had two out exploring, but the rest were all inside. We then walked by the Orca pools where they host the dining with Orca meal. We could see them as up close as the Dolphins, but they were there and swimming around.

We then met up with the Bodilys and we decided to go to one of the shows. The Sea Lion and Otter show would be starting in a little bit, so we made our way in that direction. We passed a lot of things while walking there, but none of which anyone wanted to stop at. When we got to the Sea Lion Stadium we had to wait a few minutes before they let anyone in. The line was getting long and the kids were getting antsy. When they finally let people in, we tried to get a good seat, but they weren't as good as we would have hoped. 

It was sunny and there was no shading in this stadium, it wasn't too bad, but we were getting warm. I just hoped they'd start the show soon. We waited for at least 20 minutes before they finally started the show and once they did, the kids finally settled down to enjoy watching the Sea Lions and Otters interact with their trainers. The show was cute and the animals did a wonderful job performing their tricks. The kids loved it.

After the show, we parted ways again. They went to go and ride some more rides and we went to a gift shop cart. We got some hats to wear to give us some shade while watching the shows. After getting our hats the kids were asking to see more sea animals, so we walked towards the Shark Encounter, Turtle Reef, and Freshwater Aquarium. The boys were really excited to check out the Shark Encounter, so we went there first.

The building didn't look that big from the outside, but once inside it was huge. It has so much inside and a lot to see. We first came to the small pools that held many breeds of small sharks. They were swimming around not noticing any of the people staring at them. The boys loved it and tried their best to tell everyone what each breed was. Owen was having a hard time trying not to put his hand in the water and touch them as they swam by. 

After passing all the pools you came to the Shark tunnel. You step on a conveyor belt and it slowly moves you through the tunnel where you can look at all kinds of sharks and fish from all angles. They had so many large sharks, Owen was in awe. It made me laugh because it seemed like he hadn't seen any of them before and we've been to many aquariums and all of which had sharks.

The boys could have stayed inside the Shark Encounter for over. They kept going back to the tunnel to watch them over and over again. We finally got them to move through the rest of the building to see what else it held, which was a lot of information panels. Owen was the only one interested in those. When they had finally had enough we went to the Turtle Reef.

Inside the building, it was one giant tank with different angles to observe. You could see so many turtles and all were different breeds. Some were small and some were large. William was so excited. He loves turtles like Owen loves sharks. We got to not only see them swim around but learn about them and how they live. The kids even got to play the interactive game of being a baby sea turtle trying to make their way to the ocean.

At the Freshwater Aquarium, the kids got to see all sorts of fish and where they live. They had some interactive exhibits that the kids got a kick out of as well. It wasn't as cool as the sharks and the turtles, but I think they enjoyed it.

On our way to meet up for the next show, we passed the new ride Manta. We didn't stop for the ride, but to see the Bat Rays that they had in the pool around it. Owen was surprised to find out that it was a Bat Ray instead of a Manta Ray. I have to say that I was surprised as well. The kids wanted to join some of the other kids to feed them, but we didn't have time for that. We observed for a few minutes and then continued our walk.

By the time we got to Shamu Stadium, they had just opened the gates to go in. The Bodilys weren't there yet, but we didn't want to miss our chance to get a seat, so we went in and looked for some seats. I finally got a text from them saying that they were just about to get on a ride and would head over when they were done, but not to worry about saving them a seat because they weren't sure how long it would take. After a minute or so we found pretty good seats. It wasn't in the water section and it had a tiny bit of shade. It was pretty nice. Now, all we had to do was wait for the show to start.

When the show started everyone started to cheer. It was amazing to see these majestic animals swimming around in their pool as the trainers came out and got going. They introduced each of the orcas and explained a little bit about their training with them. It was an amazing show. The orcas jumped, splashed the audience, posed for pictures, etc. We all had a blast watching these amazing animals. 

The Bodilys weren't able to catch the whole orca show but were game for the next one, the Dolphin show. When the orca show ended we quickly walked to the Dolphin Stadium. When we got there we walked straight in and found some seats. None of the seats were good, the sun was facing the audience, but at least we weren't in the soaker section. We had to wait a few minutes before the show started, which was fine because that gave us a minute to catch our breath.

Once the show had started the trainers had come out and walked onto the stage. They talked about the different animals (dolphin breeds) they'd be working with and some of the tricks that they'd be performing. They also introduced us to a new rescue pilot whale which we learned was actually a breed of dolphin. He was so cute and had some sweet interactions with the other dolphins as well as the audience. Overall the show was amazing. They did miraculous tricks and they all seemed like they were having a lot of fun, especially the trainers. You could tell that they loved these animals and absolutely loved working with them. That was the big difference between the orca show and the dolphin show; the trainers were also able to get in the water and do some of the tricks with them. 

When the show was over, we parted ways again. They went to go and ride some more rides and we decided to go to the Wild Arctic. The kids were excited to see the harbor seals, walruses, beluga whales, polar bears, and penguins. Not only did they get to see these amazing animals, but we also got to ride a ride. It was a motion simulator adventure. Once in our seats, a video started as if we were on a helicopter. The trip flew over the arctic to observe the amazing animals we were about to see. It was pretty cool to see a video of them in their natural habitat. The kids thought it was pretty cool too. When the ride was over we walked through the building to see the animals.

When we were done we walked outside and stopped to discuss what to do next. We had done all that we wanted to do and sent a text to see what they were up to and what they wanted to do still. After hearing from them, we meet up for dinner. Our tickets included a meal pass so we stopped at one of the restaurants to sit down to eat. When we were done we went to the Sesame Street Bay of Play area. It was one giant playground. We stayed there for pretty much the rest of our time at the park. The kids had fun playing in the different play areas while passing the time. When they had finally had enough we went to the gift shop and allowed the kids to get a souvenir and then we headed to the van to go back to the hotel.