The Crowley Kids at Sea World

Saturday morning (March 14) we all got up and headed to Sea World. I had to go help set up a garage sale at the church for “Days for Girls” first so we weren’t there when the park opened but it was still a long day at the park.

I guess I should clarify when I say a garage sale at the church. For tax purposes the church won’t allow their fascilities to be used for anything where money changes hands. They’re very careful about that. While it looks like the church has one big parking lot, half the parking lot is owned by the private school next door. All we did was move some of our tables, chairs and pop up canopies to that side of the parking lot. It was a fund raising for a very good cause that the Church is supporting.

It makes me a bit sad that Sea World is slowly transitioning from a park where you can cool sea marine life into an amusement park but I guess you do what you have to do to survive. Alycia’s kids however were a good mix of both. They all wanted to ride some of the roller coasters but they also enjoyed all the exhibits.

The favorite rides were the Manta and Atlantis but Alycia, Sawyer and I did go on the Electric Eel. I think it was the first time for all three of us. The lines have always been too long before. Some of the kids also went on the Arctic ride since Holden was too short last time.

Sawyer and I went on the Emperor. I think we saw all the exhibits that we wanted to. The Shark Encounter has been closed for a while to be remodeled. It opens soon and I can’t wait to see what they’ve done.

When we went to the Orca show the kids were conflicted. They wanted to get wet but they didn’t want to get wet. We decided to sit in an area where we usually get a little bit wet but not totally drenched.

The show was basically over and all they had to do was say their final farewells and while much of the soak zone was quite soaked, we hadn’t been hit by a single drop. One of the whales was coming straight at us and assumed he was coming in for one last jump when all of the sudden his tail popped up and I knew that was not how they do their jumps.

The pictures do not show the reality. In my journal I could only show a before and after picture but here I can upload the video. It doesn't look like much in the video but it felt like a wall of water. I was sitting next to Ella and earlier in the show I had assured her that if they splashed us I would throw my body in front of her and protect her. Since I wasn’t expecting it, I had no time to do anything. The first thing she said was, “you didn’t protect me”. You  can hear here in the video. Ella and I got it the worst but it was a warm day and it didn’t take too long to dry out.

The plan was for the family to come to church with us Sunday Morning but Sunday morning Alycia decided to head home early. They kids had been coughing and had drippy noses all week and come Sunday Alycia was feeling like she might be coming down with something and she wanted to get on the road before she got worse. She was also worried about traffic. So after hugs and kisses off they went. It was a great week.

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Wild Orcas often live into their eighties but 

captive Orcas rarely reach twenty years old.

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