Expedition Kiboko

Walt Disney World

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Animal Kingdom

My leg felt better this morning (yes, even after all of the walking the day before), so I walked around the hotel grounds while listening to "Rhapsody in Blue".  This was an appropriate soundtrack to all of the musically-themed decor.  Then I got ready for the day, and Linda and I went to the food court.  I had a Mickey waffle and bacon.  Linda laughed because I ate the ears first.  She probably doesn't remember our friend's consideration of this as "so that he can't hear himself screaming".  

Since this was Magic Morning day for Animal Kingdom, there was a long line for the shuttle.  When we arrived at the park, I saw that we were following a cute little girl with a ladybug backpack.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of her backpack, because I want to show the picture to a friend whose daughter's bedroom is ladybug-themed.  

We wanted to make sure to beat the regular crowds to the most popular attraction, so we high-tailed it over to Expedition Everest.  I honestly couldn't remember anything about what anyone had said about this ride before I got there, except that they loved it, and there's a yeti.  Well, ohmygoodnessgracious, if this wasn't the best ride of my entire week at WDW!   The ride was AWESOME!  There's a big yeti.  I wasn't believing the model of the huge footprint until I saw the huge yeti.  But also, we went BACKWARDS!!!!  AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!  That. Was. Amazeballs.  

Yeti Footprint

So, of course, I yelled "AGAIN!!!!" like the baby in "Dinosaurs".  The wait was still only 15 minutes, so we went back into the queue.  The theming of the queue was yeti-ful, and the Mustang Coffee at Expedition Everest is made with Yak Butter.  This fact may not be as funny to you if you don't know about my amusement with yak butter and Tazo Decaf Chai Tea.  I would like to try yak butter some day, by the way.  Not the Urban Dictionary kind.  This is a family website....most of the time.  OK, I'm back.  I somehow got engrossed by all of the internet stuff related to yak butter, like this Tibetan Milking Stool Yak.  I don't know if it's called "Yak" because there's a picture of a yak on it, or if it would actually be of use while milking a yak.  I've typed "yak" far too many times already for the day/week/lifetime.  I've lost my mind.  Anyway....the ride.  A teenager said the Line of The Day (see the end of this post).  I can't remember if this was on the first ride or the second one of the day, but it applies to both.  The second ride didn't disappoint, and I thought of going back many times that day, but calmed the heck down and did other stuff instead.  I bought a shirt as well as our picture from the 2nd ride from a surly CM.  Linda and I didn't not care about his surly-ness because we were still excited about the ride.

We then had time to stroll, so we got a locker.  Their lockers are so totally old school that I felt like I was also supposed to be renting ice skates.  I meant, they use keys!  Those ones with the orange top!   If you don't know already about Linda and her obsession with dinosaurs, you know now.  I knew already because my family and I helped her fulfill her dream of seeing the dinosarus at Cabazon this past November.  So, of course, we headed off for Dinoland.  On the way there, we saw the Meet and Greet for the characters from the 100-Acre Wood, so it was Tigger Time for Linda!  He was hilarious because he was trying to get other people to jump up due to the fitness logo on the gal's shirt.  They didn't get it.  They need to learn character mime, I guess.  We showed him a picture of his topiary at Epcot.  He was quite proud.  He loved Linda because she seemed to understand him, plus she was wearing him on her sweatshirt.  

Tigger & Linda

Our next stop was Dinosaur.  I remember this ride last time as being not-as-exciting-as-Indiana Jones-at-Disneyland, but I didn't want to harsh Linda's buzz, so I didn't say anything.  I thought o Michele from EPCOT being scared of the Carnotaurus.  Our picture reflects that we were a bit frightened, too.  

Yikes!

We didn't do much else in Dinoland, and on our way to our next destination, I saw a group of girls dressed kind of like Disney characters.  They were totally cute, and I told them so.  They are from Japan, and allowed me to take a picture of their cuteness.  Seriously, I would have hung out with them all day if 1) I didn't have other stuff to do; and 2) it wouldn't be so creepy to have me there because I wasn't as cute as them.  

Cute Strangers

We marveled at our favorite ride again, then watched some Siamang apes hang out at the nearby shrine, and ate lunch at Yak and Yeti Anandpour Cafe with our dining plan.  I had the honey chicken, and for dessert, I had banana pudding.  We listened to the black birds near us, which had interesting calls, almost like whistles.  

Best Ride at WDW

Then Linda did a very uncharacteristic thing and agreed to go on Kali River Rapids.  Seriously.  Linda does not do rides in which there is a possibility of getting wet.  Yet she agreed to this one because she figured that she doesn't know if she'd be back anytime soon.  OK, then.  We subsequently got very, very wet.  I was drenched.  I thought of buying clothes from the very well-placed kiosk nearby, but they were expensive and I figured that I could deal with the wet everything somehow.  They did have underwear to purchase, which I very seriously considered, but no.  

We went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek, wherein we were advised that we'd be seeing tigers and bats and birds.  Linda was excited about the tigers.  I was excited about the bats.  This is actually the very first place that I saw bats in real life, back in 2003.  They're so damn cool with the way they hang from their feet and spread their wings and stuff.  I mean, their faces can be so menacingly ugly, but the rest of their bodies fascinate me.  

Bat, Hanging Out in the Sun

Then we saw a tiger napping, but he or she (I don't know) put up his or her head, and posed real pretty-like.  See?

Purrrrr

We did see some pretty birds, but the guide card that they gave us didn't seem to have any of the birds that we actually saw.  Or I just don't know how to translate drawings to real life.  Both could be true.

I had my name written in Thai by a CM named Saskimol.  She said that my name is a common one for girls in Thailand (the nickname, not the real name).  We encountered the plant woman and I laughed at the guy that swore that she was not a real person.  He was scared out of his wits before she moved.  I took pictures of the Tree of Life at this point, mostly because this was the hippo side of the tree.

Can you see the hippo?

We went to Harambe station to take the train to the Wildlife Conservation Station.  We didn't much feel like seeing whatever was inside, so we rested and I dried myself in the sunlight.  When we got back, we went to the Kilimanjaro Safari.  Kiboko!!!  (That's "hippo" in Swahili).  We saw Okapi, Rhinos, Kiboko, Crocodiles, Elephants, a Lioness, Wildebeests, a big cattle-looking-thing, Giraffes, Ibex and Ostriches.  That was a fun jeep ride, and our guide stopped for a short time at the different animals, so that we could take pictures.  

Okapi

Wildebeests

Giraffes

BabyElephant

Then we walked the Pangani Trail so that I could see the kiboko up close.  Hippos in water!  With fish!

Can you see this hippo?

They don't have nearly as many meerkats at AK as they do at Safari Park, much less on that carnivorous island in "Life of Pi".  But the one we saw was cute and posed happily.

What?

We also saw silver-backed gorillas, and while we were observing we saw that one of them was not getting along with the others.  They were clearly angry at him, although I don't know the reason.  But all of the power of animal of that magnitude was overwhelming, and I was really glad that there was a moat between us and them.  Not that they were angry at us, but I do remember a sign at Safari Park that said not to look straight into the gorilla's eyes, so I avoided eye contact.  They are beautiful animals, but wow, they were scary.  Also, they have a distinct odor, because it was the same odor that I smelled at Safari Park, and that's over here on a different coast.

Their Side

We wanted to make sure to catch the Festival of The Lion King, so we made our way to Camp Mickey & Minnie.  The snack I ordered there (from our dining plan) was the strawberry shortcake.  I received the last one for the day, and was happy to share it with Linda because it was kinda big.  The show was fun (we were Team Simba, which made us happy because we got to ROAR).  I pictured Steven and George from Rockapella in the roles the whole time.  

Go, Team Simba!

It was finally time to really shop, and I finally found a little hippo which was made in Kenya.  I also saw the pretty Ariel bag that I spied at DHS.  CM Barbie helped us, and she happily let me take a picture of the hippo on her apron.  She was really fun and also took a picture with us to commemorate the moment.  She package expressed our purchases to our hotel, and even wrote a little note on the receipt, which I discovered when I finally unpacked my luggage at home.  

With Barbie -- see the hippo on her uniform?

We were done for the day at this park, and got in line for the shuttle to Animal Kingdom Lodge.  While in line, I saw a guy with a t-shirt that had the words "Little Jerry" on it, and a picture of a rooster.  As a huge Seinfeld fan, I immediately got the reference, and told him that I love his shirt.  He was happy that I understood it and let me take a picture of him.  I took a lot of pictures of strangers that day.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and saw the animals on the hotel grounds.  Coooolll.  Our dinner reservations were at Sanaa.  We had to wait a long time to be seated even though we were there before our reservation time, but it was worth the wait.  It wasn't Flying-Fish-worth-the-wait, but still, it was yummy.  The Bread Service, which I ordered outside of the dining plan, was YUM.  Naan and chutney!  Chutney and naan!  Happiness.  I was able to order a Mango Lahsi as part of the dining plan, so you know I had to do that.  It was delicious.  I ordered the tandoori chicken.  Linda ordered the same, and we couldn't finish our food (we were full of naan and chutney), so we had the leftovers boxed up by server Michele.  For dessert, I had the Banana Kulfi Sundae, which was like a deconstructed banana split.  The ice cream was in a square shape!  Neato.  Also, Yummy.

Mango Lahsi -- aaahhh, refreshing!

Bread Service

Banana Kulfi Sundae

After dinner, we thought that the shuttle would be able to take us back to Animal Kingdom so that we could take another shuttle to our hotel, but since the park was closed, the bus driver hadn't planned on going there.  We were the only ones on the bus after everyone else got off at some other stop, so the driver kindly took us back to our hotel.  THANK YOU!!!  I had told Linda that we could probably walk home, but she looked at me like I had grown 3 heads.  She was right to look at me like that, because we were really not that close to the All-Star at that point.  It is now a running gag between us: "We can walk it."

What a lovely day at Animal Kingdom and the lodge!  Tomorrow:  people dressed as animals.

Line of the Day: "This is my most favorite ride in all of Walt Disney World!" -- Dude on Expedition Everest, screaming at the top of his lungs

3.14

I had some time before meeting up with friends in the OC, so I watched "Life of Pi".

• GORGEOUS.  The vibrant colors, the amazing cinematography, everything.  Just gorgeous.  I'm glad that I saw it in 3D.
• I'm a fan of Ang Lee's again.  Not that I stopped since "Crouching Tiger..", but that was the last one of his that really affected me.
• Hippo!  Aw, poor hippo.  Hippo again!
• Wow, that's a lot of damn meerkats.  Cute little things.  I loved watching them during our trip to San Diego last year.
• Oh, Richard Parker, you scary thing.  I liked watching you catching the flying fish.
• I liked all of the actors playing the different ages of Pi.  
• Is it me, or was that carnivorous island shaped like a human lying down on his/her back?  It reminds me of my recurrent nightmare of my youth, where the foothills were actually King Kong waiting to wake up.  (While reading about this, I now know that the island is in the shape of a supine Vishnu).
• Whales are really, really big.  
• Also, hyenas have creeped me out ever since I saw "The Lion King".
• Ooh, those luminescent jellyfish.  Have I told you that this film is gorgeous?
• I really liked all of the ways that the different religions were referenced.  "Thank you, Vishnu, for introducing me to Christ."
• "But Columbus was looking for India!"
• "Above all, don't lose hope."

Isn't that what life is all about?  Hope and faith?  If it's not in yours, I pity you.  Go see a wonderful movie like this one.

Jambo!

Zoo Trilogy

Day 3
Tuesday, October 9, 2012

We were up and ready early enough in the morning that the line for waffles was fairly short, so I made a couple of them.  One of them was kinda jacked up because I forgot to spray the skillet first, but at least I didn't leave any batter on it when I left.  They also had hard-boiled eggs still available, so I was good to go.  We finished packing up our belongings and made our way over to Safari Park.  Since it was a weekday, there were only a few other cars in the parking lot, so we were able to close to the entrance, even if we didn't use our placard.

I haven't been here since I was a little girl, so I wasn't familiar with the surroundings at all.  The kids wanted to take a picture on the big shiny rhino, so they did that, and Brady also wanted a picture by the elephant.  Today was a day of "Brady smiles for pictures in a regular way" instead of being all goofy-like.  Well, for most of them.  

Rhiding the Rhino

We found some reptiles for Miss O to admire, and I saw a chinchilla that reminded me of Yoda.  There were cute places all along the pathway to take pictures.  One of the displays was of bat-eared fox ears so that you could get a sense of what the fox can hear.  Brady read the sign to me, and I was overwhelmed by the way he so easily read the word "enable".  That's not a word that most 7-year-olds can just rattle off, you know.

Bat-Eared Fox Kits

They had an area that appeared to be a place for African family entertainment.  Look, a very tall drum!  They must have very tall people in Africa.  Or maybe the giraffes play this when they're not fighting each other with their long necks.

Somebody needs a boost

Of course, when I saw that the bat exhibit, I could not resist going inside.  Yay, bats!  Brady was very excited to take this picture.  So was Tita Sherry.

Bat Crazy

We walked into the Rainbow Lory aviary, but didn't buy any food to place on our arms to attract the birds.  I'd rather just watch that happen to someone else, thanks.  The birds were beautiful, but I kept getting startled when one would just fly by me.  

We took a gander at the savannah before taking the elevator down to catch the Africa Tram.  I wish that we had the time and money to take a more close-up tour. I would become a member if I lived in the right zip code to afford it.  On our way to the tram, a lion and his lionesses were hanging out nearby, taking over the no-longer-working jeep.  The lioness looked at me just as I was about to take a picture, so that was cool.  More animals posing for Sherry!  

Purrrr

Our bus driver/guide had a lot of interesting stuff to share, like how the zebras kept fighting for the food, so they had to isolate them.  She said that this is a known personality trait.  MIss O fell asleep, but Brady was sitting in the sun, so he wasn't as comfortable as she was.  Every animal reminded me of a game I play on Facebook, so it was neat to see the animals in real life.   Afterward, we were all pretty hungry, so we had some lunch at a cafe near the tram stop.  

Mom had promised to get slushies for the kids, so they enjoyed that for a while before we walked some more around the park.  I had taken a short detour on the Tiger Trail, but it seemed to go much farther than my party was willing to walk, so I didn't take the whole trail.  Instead, we walked around the exhibits, and saw Winston the gorilla.  He was picking up leaves in each of his 4 hands/feet.  I tried not to look into his eyes because he's shy and I didn't want to piss him off.  I don't think I'd want people staring at me all of the time, so I looked for his kids.  

Winston Gathering Leaves

Miss O and Brady loved seeing the different kinds of ducks, as well as the flamingos.  This duck type appears to have a pompadour hair style.  Those red eyes are not a camera error, by the way.  They're demon Elvis ducks!

Demon Elvis Duck

I loved that there were animal babies everywhere.  Here's a baby flamingo with the teenagers and a momma.

Mingers

  I loved watching the meerkats pop their heads out of the different holes that they had dug.  

Timon!

Mom and Dad were tired of walking, so they let me go off on my own, and I went to the Tiger Trail.  The terrain was rough, so it was good that they didn't come with me, although Brady did try and then he changed his mind.  I saw one of the tigers for a brief moment while he was walking around, but he was far away from us, which I guess is a good thing, being that he is a wild carnivore and all of that.  I also checked out the elephants.  They had a big family of elephants there, and I just had to get lots of pictures of the newest baby elephant.  So cute!

Baby Phant

I then wanted to take a look at the California Condors, so I walked that way as well, and saw a couple of bald eagles on the way.  I also saw a Western Harris Hawk, which is the type of hawk whose baby was in my yard one day.  Those condors are HUGE!  A couple of times, they flew a little bit, and the motion kicked up some wind toward us.

Hey, look!  One last hippo!

Somehow in the heat I found my way back to the park entrance.  I don't know how, because I was hot and tired and walked in the wrong direction a couple of times, but I guess I followed whatever sign I eventually found.  Miss O walked up to me so that I could carry her back to the car, and we made our way back to my parents' house.  Miss O was knocked out and couldn't even wake up to say goodbye to me.  I went home shortly afterward, exhausted from the 3 days of walking around, but happy to have spent a fun time with my family.  

Hippo Happiness

Zoo Trip Trilogy

Day 2

Monday, October 8, 2012

We woke up and had a free hotel breakfast.  It wasn't really early, so there was a long line for waffles.  Also, they didn't have any hard-boiled eggs when I looked for them.  So I would have to get better food later, and just settle for a continental breakfast for today.  Too bad the fruit was not pretty, or I would have at least been happy with that.  But no.  I'll just go ask some monkeys for bananas or something later on.

We drove to the San Diego Zoo, and I declared to my twitter friends that if I didn't get to see any hippos, there would be much pouting.  Dad remembered about our placard today, but the parking was still a little bit of a walk to the entrance.  We were early enough that it wasn't that far from where others were parked.  When we entered, we noticed that the zoo doesn't bother with that whole fingerprint thing that we dealt with at Sea World (only my fingerprint thing worked there).  We saw trams and buses and we didn't know what we were doing, so we found out that we could take a bus tour around the zoo so we could get familiar with the place first.  Since we had our 3-park pass, our bus tour was free.  I made the family stop to take a picture, which they refused to do when we were at Sea World.  I just have fun taking the pictures, but don't necessarily buy them unless I really like what I see.  The kids decided that they wanted to sit on the top level of the bus, and we sat in front.  Then after we were up there, we were told that the bottom had a better view because it was closer to the animals.  Whatever, the kids were happy and we got to sit in front.  I got to see a hippo! 

Hippo!

 And then I saw this hippo, too!  

Lifeguard hippo!

So the threat of pouting was over, at least from me, especially when my mom said that we'd go back to see the hippo after the bus ride was over.  We were able to see several animals on the bus tour, mostly different types of deer and big cats.  My favorite was the very pretty Giraffe Antelope.  I have also always loved the beauty of giraffes, and here are a teenage brother and sister being cute.

Bro and Sis Giraffes

After the bus ride, I sneaked away and bought the picture that we took before boarding the bus.  Ssshhh...they still don't know.  Mom suggested that we go to the petting zoo, so she and I ate the fruit that I bought and the rest of them went in to pet goats.  I was hoping that we would hear the Kookaburra's call, but that didn't happen.  But all of that was not until after we found this to sit on. There are hippos all over the place around here!  YAY!

Pink Hippo

Then I found out that, APPARENTLY, Miss O is quite fond of snakes, and has a fake one at home. This doesn't freak out my mom as much as when Bro terrified her with a rubber snake.  Oh, no.  Now, with Miss O, she brought her all around the reptile area, and pointed out all of the different snakes.  Who replaced my mother with this being?  She was still a little squeamish, but was willing to let Miss O look at every single one of the slithery animals.  Mom even had a favorite: the green mamba.  That thing is fast.  But here is Miss O with another green one.  I think it's a viper.

Happy MIss O with her snake

Then after Brady and Dad came back from the restroom for, like, the 5th time, we somehow lost Mom and Miss O.  You see, people?  THIS is why each adult should have a cell phone!  Anyway, we decided to have lunch because I whined when Mom had the idea to just leave at that point.  Hello, we have not actually seen the hippo up close!  OK, I didn't exactly whine, because I needed to not do that in front of the children, but I did voice my opinion on the whole leaving-before-hippo thing.  Brady said that he had blisters on his toes, so I took him to First Aid to get a band aid before we walked the Hippo Trail.  I mean, really, this place is practically made for me.  Along the trail, we saw some monkeys.  One of the capuchins stared at me and followed me a little bit so that I could take more pictures of him.  Perhaps he liked it when I said, "Pose for me!"  (I did that a lot during our 3-day tour, and most of the animals obliged).  One of the capuchins wanted to get leaves from a tree that was beyond their rope-fence, and we marveled at him in his successful effort.

Posing Capuchin

We also saw beautiful Red-cheeked Gibbons, and this  female gibbon was so gorgeous that she felt confident enough to pee while we were all watching her.  This pic is pre-pee, because I'm sparing you from the other one that I have.  For now.  

Red-cheeked Female Gibbon

We also saw a beautiful Okapi (one of my other favoritely-designed animals), then I got totally distracted because I saw the Hippopotamus sign.  There was a mama and baby!  The mama was so big and it was so crowded in that area that I could only get a picture of her butt, but I was able to get one of the baby's face.  YAY!

Baby HIppo

Then I needed to take a solo photo with the shiny hippo.  :)

I want one of these in my backyard

Then Miss O wanted to go back to see the real hippo again, so I happily obliged.  I love how interested she and Brady are when they watch the animals.  On our way back to catch a shuttle bus to the entrance, we visited the panda exhibit, and saw baby Yun Zi.

Yun Zi

While waiting for the shuttle bus, I saw huge porcupines. I didn't know they got that big, but maybe it was just their quills.  I don't know.  They were big.  At the last stop for the bus, we ended up by the rhinos.  We had seen them from the regular bus tour, but this was a chance to see them much closer.  At one point, this happened.

Rhino Love

The guy standing next to me said, "Are we about to see something here?"  I giggled and said, "Maybe!"  He said, "They shouldn't allow them to do that here!  There are kids around!"  I'm pretty sure he was kidding, because I couldn't stop laughing.  The one in front ended up trotting away from the other one, but was still being followed.  I will always think of this moment when I see rhinos in the future.  

Did you know that the zoo brings in dogs to calm down the wolves that they have at the zoo?  I thought that was pretty neat, and they even had pictures of the wolf companions at the wolf exhibit.  

I needed to find a hippo shirt, and didn't find a damn thing.  You have hippos everywhere, but no shirts?!  Grrrr.  So I got a little plush one, and Brady helped me pick out a book for Miss O (she had been sleeping since the last bus ride).  He was also allowed to get a sticker book, and we also got a couple of mini puzzles for the two of them.  On our way back to the car, I realized that the hedges were huge topiaries.  Yeah, I was blind before or something.  

Brady and Elephant Hedge

We then headed for the beach, where I just stood at the shore and watched the waves and the surfers, missing my college days of living on Balboa Island.  Brady looked for shells, and Miss O played far away from the water, because she doesn't like the waves.  Mom eventually got her to stand in the water for a while, but she still didn't like it as much as Brady did.

Balancing Act

We picked up some dinner from Panda Express and ate dinner at the hotel.  We watched "The Voice" on TV, and the kids danced during the upbeat songs.  Brady read Miss O's new book to her.  I enjoyed watching this, because it was just incredibly sweet.  What a nice way to end a great day!

Bedtime Story

Next up:  Safari Park

Shamu Splash!

Zoo Trip Trilogy

Day 1

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Brady had the week off of school, so my parents picked up the kids from their parents' house, and I spent the night at my parents' house on Saturday night, so that we could leave  in the morning.  Dad drove us down to San Diego, and I tried to get the kids to rock out with me in the car, but they're far too cool for me.  I love this picture:

The cool kids sit in the back

We somehow found the correct hotel on Hotel Circle Drive after making a u-turn or two.  Did you know that there are 2 Comfort Inns there?  Did you know that if you don't follow directions exactly, you'd be on the way to the wrong one?  You know now.  We dropped off our luggage because it was too early to check in, and made our way to Sea World.  Dad had forgotten that we had a Disabled Parking placard for Mom, but luckily for us, the gal at the parking booth noticed it on the dashboard, and directed us to those spaces.  Dad got in line for tickets while I took pics of the kids by the Shamu VW bug.  Then we found Dad in the shade of the ticket booth, and after doing some math for the best deal for our trip, he bought our tickets and we entered the park.  I took pictures of the kids with the Halloween stuff, and then they went through a trick-or-treat line (free for everyone) for some Choc O Rocks on our way to our first show of the day:  Sea Lions Clyde and Seymour.  This season's show was Halloween-themed, with one of the human performers being a sheriff, and the other one being the maid, whom wanted the money from the uncle's will.  There was a painting of the walrus, whom was not in the show.  What was his name?  I don't remember.  The otter kept stealing the will, and kept appearing on stage at the wrong times, which was cracking up the sheriff.  Also, they did "Thriller".

Clyde, Seymour, and their human cast

After the show, the guys and I lost Mom and Miss O, because we walked too fast and I guess Mom never heard our plans to eat lunch at Mama Stella's Pizza Kitchen, because Brady chose pizza for lunch.  I had a salad and breadsticks.  While we were there, we planned the rest of our day.  We decided to go to Blue Horizons for the dolphin show.  Miss O decided that she wanted us to sit in the Soak Zone.  So I took out my poncho and we spread it out as much as possible to at least cover us up a little bit.  The show was about a girl who lived by the ocean in a castle, and wanted to know what it was like to be in the sea.  So the animals and birds show her.  The dolphins splashed us plenty, but not as much as the pilot whales.  Wow.  Those pilot whales are huge!  I guess that's why they're called "whales".  

Pilot Whale

We also saw huge birds fly overhead, and there were aerialists dressed in wet suits with bird-like hoods for their heads.  I wanted the music to be Stravinsky's "Firebird" during the phoenix portion, but that didn't happen.  The dolphins jump high!  They focused a bit much on the human performers, as I could have used less Cirque and more Sea World, and just one pass overhead from each bird did not really give enough time to see them.  

Air Dolphin

Since we had been sitting in the sun, Dad wanted to go to a cooler place (APPARENTLY, he wasn't splashed quite enough to cool down), so we trekked on over to Penguin Encounter.  I loved seeing the puffins swim.  So cute!  

Am I watching them or are they watching me?

Aw, they caught me faking!

We then went to Wild Arctic to check out the Beluga Whales and the Polar Bears.  There were 4 Belugas, and I had forgotten that there was a better view of them underneath, and took lots of pictures of half their bodies when they were getting air.  Duh, Sherry.  The polar bear pretended to sleep, but I did get a picture of her/him with open eyes.

We also checked out the sea turtle exhibit, and I smiled as I remembered kissing a sea turtle at Grand Cayman.  Aw, I wish that the kids could have done that, too.  They would have to settle for watching them through the glass, and they also liked seeing all of the different colors of fish.  I tried to get pictures of the fish as they swam by in their schools, but they were too fast for me.  The two of of them liked the turtles so much that they each got plush turtles for themselves.  Miss O's is named Speedy, and Brady's is named...ohmygosh, I can't remember.  He also got an Emperor Penguin earlier, and named him Happy Feet.

Dad, the kids, their turtles, and Mom's arm

We walked over to Shamu Stadium, but had the wrong time in mind, so Brady and I walked over to Dolphin Encounter.  We were situated by the trainer shelf, so the dolphin came right up next to us.  We didn't get to pet her while she passed other people with her belly up, but Brady did get to touch her briefly when she put her head up on the shelf.  Then I had memories of Gracie flowing through my head.  One of the dolphins names at the Encounter was also named Gracie, so that helped.  That wasn't the one that Brady got to touch, though.  He was excited about it because he really likes dolphins.  

Then it was time for Shamu, and we found the rest of our party safely out of the Soak Zone.  APPARENTLY, Miss O had chosen NOT to get wet again.  We had great seats on the bleachers right in front of the director's booth, and got to see other people get really, really wet during the One Ocean show.  I enjoyed seeing the Pas de Deux, and watching everyone scream during all of the splashing.  Miss O will show you how the trainers get the whales to splash if you ask her.  So will Brady. many times when you have posed the question to his sister instead of him.

Dancing in the Water..or out of the water

Brady was thinking that it was time to go home and play Angry Birds, but Tita Sherry wanted to see the bat rays.  Because they're like BATS!  And you can touch them!  Miss O almost had to get her whole arm into the shallow pool to touch one, but she did it, and Brady was able to touch one a couple of times.  Then I thought of Jenn thinking that a ray was me when we were swimming with them, again at Grand Cayman, like the dolphin and turtle adventures.  Oh, I want to do more stuff like that!  I also want to go on another cruise...but I digress.  We went downstairs and could see the rays swimming above us.

Happy Ray wearing a pearl necklace

We hadn't seen the sharks yet, either, so we walked over to the exhibit, and before we went underground, Brady needed to use the restroom.  So the girls waited for the boys to come back.  And waited.  And waited.  Meanwhile, I got this very cute picture as my girl posed for me.

Shark Girl

Then we stopped being so patient and went through the rest of the exhibit without the boys.  Miss O likes sharks.  She did not, however, want to pose beside the huge Great White Shark jaw.  

Finally, we got in touch with Dad, whom had left his cell phone in the car, and had to exit the park to get it.  We met the two of them at the main gate, and left.  I thought of getting a shirt with a bat ray on it, but we never walked back that way, and I figured that I might be getting a hippo shirt soon.

We returned to the hotel, and saw that I could have my own room with French doors and my own TV and pull-out bed!  Dad took the bed out for me, and then the kids proceeded to jump on it.  Mom had brought food from home, so she heated it up and we enjoyed our little picnic between the two beds in the main room.  Then we had a little slide show of the day's adventure before Miss O "read" her books to me and we all fell asleep with images of dolphins and turtles and killer whales in our heads.