Make a Wish Trip Day 5

At the orientation  Michael said they encouraged the parents to have ice-cream for breakfast one morning to make the trip unforgettable--so we took the wise advice and the kids thought we were "da bomb".

Day 5 was Sea World.  Of all the parks this one was probably the longest waits and it was very crowded.  Lot's of schools here for field trips today.  The kids got to feed Dolphins and Manta Rays and they were excited until right there---they ended up chucking fish at the Dolphins but by the end were tentatively stroking the sides of the Dolphins quickly.  Feeding the Manta Rays was a different story all together.  No cute smiling faces on those fishies!  You have to hold the dead little fish sticking straight up between two fingers then place your hand flat on the bottom of the pool.  Then the Manta rays glide over your hand and suck up the fish.  The are very slimy feeling and look sinister, plus there were hundreds of them so you would be watching one glide toward you and not see the one from the other direction and it would really startle you.  I was hoping the kids would warm up but Michael and I ended up feeding all five trays of fish the kids wimped out on us, although some of them did stroke the Manta Rays as they swam by.  We went through a shark tank tunnel and it was amazing to have the sharks swimming all around you---I was surprised at how scared the kids were by that---again no roller coaster to big but seeing sharks up close through inches of thick glass was too much!  I liked those pictures, they look so freaked out!  We saw the sea lion and otter show and the Shamu show.  I went 30 minutes early to get us seats for Shamu and ended up with room for about 4 people at the VERY TOP of a huge stadium, apparently 30 minutes wasn't early enough.  It was blazing hot at Sea World without the shade like the Disney parks have so we got "burnt" out kind of quick that day, but it was Christmas at the Village on Thurs. nights so we got back early enough to see Santa and each of the kids got a toy from him too.

Ice-cream for breakfast, it's dairy right?

This is one of the fun decorations at the village, and this picture is for Aunt Courtney who loves chocolate dipped strawberries.  If I could have bought this for her new house I would have!

A picture of our rental van and villa.

Jax and Zoe on our Villa front porch, I want rocking chairs on a front porch, it's so homey!

Feeding the Dolphins, I didn't do great at getting the pictures  because it kept Michael and I non-stop to help all five kids.

Jax and Zoe at breakfast, maybe she would always be so happy in the morning if I gave her ice-cream.

From left to right the first five riders are mine!

Waiting for the sea lion show to start.

Some adorable humans at the penguin exhibit.

Jax trying no to look too concerned in the shark tank.

Sierra's face typifies how they all felt in the tank.  You can't even see Zoe and Carter hiding in Michaels legs.

The sharks were right there, everywhere, it was so cool.

Sammi and Zoe looking at the sand sharks and Sting Ray's.

Zoe in the shark tank.

Zoe was brave enough to pet the Manta Rays' even though she wouldn't feed them.