Merry Christmas from Sea World!

Last weekend, my parents & I took the kids to San Antonio & Sea World.  I took a half day off work on Friday so that we could leave early and see the Christmas lights on the riverwalk.  Except along the way, we got distracted and found this great little Santa's wonderland full of lights.  It was 12 acres of land decorated completely in lights.  It was $20 a car, but I think it was well worth it.  Here were some of my faves...

This truck looked like something Randy would do!

 My favorite scene was the ski hill, complete with skiers & chair lift!

Saturday morning we got up & everyone was ready for some Shamu fun. It was a beautiful 78 degree day. 

Crossing through the front gates, we were greeted by Santa Shamu.  Alex loves to see the characters from a distance, but not up close.  She kept making me laugh.  She would reach out to touch him and then freak out and pull back.  Silly girl!

 After Shamu, we decided to try our luck with real animals.   Riley loves to feed the dolphins and they were pretty hungry.  After all six fish were quickly devoured, Riley just wanted to touch one so bad.  Except every time they would get close, he would jerk and then the dolphins would swim away. 

 Our day was going pretty well, so we decided to go see Santa while everyone still looked good.  But Alex was going to have no part in seeing Santa!  Here was our first attempt of the year!

The Shamu show was still the best show of the day.  We were amazed at how small the crowds were.  But that made it easier to get the best seats and see everything we wanted to see. 

 Snowman Village

Around midafternoon we were all dragging, so we headed back to the hotel to take a quick nap before heading back out for the 2 Christmas shows.

The best show of the day was the Christmas Shamu show, Miracles.  I was impressed because:
1. Sea World celebrates Christmas, and not Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings.
2. They mentioned Christ, although it was only in reference but never actually in name, but really close in a public arena. 

Then the show was so sweet because while the 3 killer whales did all their tricks, they had the baby (that was born last January) following his momma around and trying to do all the tricks too.  It was so cute!  Just one of those moments where you feel proud of watching your children and all their accomplishments.
    We ended the weekend by stopping in Round Rock to visist with my cousin Jamie, Chad, Aunt Jeanne, and Caleb (who is exactly 6 weeks older than Alex).  It was fun to visit with everyone.  I love to watch the kids play together.  I just wish we could have spent more time.  They all had so much fun!