Under the Sea

As promised, we were up at five to take Rosie to the airport--yes, we were in our pajamas, but the sun wasn't even up when we exchanged farewell hugs, so it was perfectly fine! :) We headed back to the condo and slowly got ready for the day. I had my little tin of powdered Trader Joe's chai, Rissa had her packets of pre-infused keto coffee, and Jen face-timed her kids (like a lot ;) We decided that this morning we would for sure get our breakfast burritos at Konos.

The line was longish, but by the time we left it wrapped around the outside of the building and down the street! It smelled so good in there! I ordered first and decided to add on a potato side (after the upbeat cashier described them to me) to share. I also asked for a glass of orange juice--oh my carrots! That juice is the best I've ever tasted. I asked the man if it was fresh squeezed, and he told me not directly at the restaurant, but by their supplier. Goodness, fresh California oranges in a cup! After we'd chatted, Jen and Rissa stepped up and he said, "And are you Jess's friends?!" Why yes, they are :)

Funny enough, we all ordered the same thing--egg, sausage, avocado burrito. What we did not know was that they were HUGE!! I'm talking five pounds each? It was like holding a small, warm baby in my hands. Carissa unfolded hers to eat the middle (she's doing gluten free). Her tortilla was the size of a medium pizza crust, maybe a large. It was the biggest tortilla I've ever seen, and we all three had one! Well, we couldn't finish these breakfast challenges, so we decided to head back to the condo (you know since we could have practically shouted our order from the balcony and had Konos toss burritos to us from the street :) to drop off our excess.

Guess where we went next? SEAWORLD! This picture was actually taken as we were leaving for the night--we arrived at 10:30 a.m., thinking SeaWorld had opened at 10. However, sometime during the night they changed their website to read 11 instead. We were not the only ones waiting and wondering why they weren't letting us in to see the sea stuff. But, we didn't do entrance pics til we exited, hence the night skies in the background.

Pretty much right away we noticed the pressed penny machines. Again, my friends emptied their wallets in search of the necessary coinage to produce more gifts for my children. The lady at the counter (where the J and C were making purchases) said, "Well, did you see the machines over there?" and pointed to a virtual wall of pressed penny machines, whoa!







Jen thought a good first activity would be to ride the roller coaster which had been built (along with seemingly just about everything else) since the last time I visited SeaWorld. I mean, we used to have a membership to this place, and it looked almost completely unfamiliar! There was zero line for the ride and we quickly found our places in the seats. I was a bit leery about leaving my purse--with all my spending cash, i.d., phone, plane info, etc. just sitting there where anyone getting off the ride, on the ride, or stopping by to steal from those riding the ride could snag it. I was still thinking about this conundrum when they pulled our rollercoaster car into a giant tunnel. Think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when the they play the creepy images on the walls along the chocolate river. Instead of oompa loompas, we had red and green Christmas bells, which started out cheerful and then became increasingly schizophrenic appearing faster and in clumps like they were being thrown at the screen. The music also intensified dramatically. Suddenly, amidst all this distraction, the doors flew open and we were shot into the bright light like a bullet from a gun! Of course this is also when the ride operators take pictures of those experiencing the ride. Jen just giggled and giggled, knowing exactly what was about to occur, but choosing not to tell me. I don't usually scream on roller coasters, but this one had me from the get go. Carissa made sure to purchase the moment for each of us, so that we may never forget ;)




After the ride, I started noticing these benches labeled "Kid Swap." "What on earth are those for?" I wondered aloud. "Is it like a threat for misbehaving kids? 'If you don't listen to your dad, I will put you on that bench and pick out a better behaved child for the rest of the day!'" But no. Jen said it's so one parent can ride the ride with older kids, and then they can swap places to wait with the younger child who cannot or will not ride the ride. I think they could have come up with a less frightening name for this arrangement. Right? :)

Wow, this is so much typing. Okay, so after the ride, we went to the Arctic Exploration ride and exhibit. I found several cold weather animals to take pictures of, however, their polar bear was on loan, so no photo for G$. Outside, the whole park was decorated for Christmas--so cute and festive! Rudolph had his own town, Santa had his own village, there were dancing elves, and a sleigh, Christmas music on the loudspeakers--I mean, holiday cheer everywhere! Even the shows had Christmas themes--dolphins dancing to the Hawaiian Christmas song, seals doing the gangum style dance with trainers dressed in holiday gear; even the orcas had a holiday spin on their presentation . . . and it turns out, we got to get to know a couple of them behind the scenes.






Lonely me . . .



A friend!





My two favorite trees, together at last! Christmas and palm, the way it should be :)



Another of my special birthday opportunities was to do a behind the scenes tour with the killer whales. Now, we were strictly ordered not to touch the KILLER whales (yup, no problem there!), but we were allowed to interact with them through the glass near where the trainers normally stand. We learned lots of interesting information about the orcas and even got to mimic some of the training behaviors. They would wiggle their fins, stick out their tongues (it looked just like they were laughing!), they splashed their tails, and they swam back and forth across the pool all because of how we pointed our fingers or stomped our feet. To reward the giant critters (up to 8,000 lbs!) we got to slide big chunks of ice over the glass and into the pool for them to crunch. Pretty neat and unique addition to my weekend of fun!





Carissa had a special deal with her ticket that she could eat all day for free throughout the park. We quickly realized this was way more food than one person could possibly consume! It was a full meal--an entrée, a side or dessert, and a drink--EVERY HOUR. Ridiculous! So she got a few things and shared the rest. I ended up with a pumpkin cheesecake slice after all, funny how it all works out. Free dessert everywhere I turned!






By the time darkness fell and all the tree lights came into full glitter, we were ready to sit down for awhile. We'd reserved tickets to an evening performance of the story of Jesus's birth performed theater-style each evening at the park during Christmas. Our seats were great--only they were in the splash zone of some earlier performance and were very wet and cold. Oh well, pants dry :)

A man with a guitar played carols continuously until the stadium filled and the performers appeared. It was a very energetic and enthusiastic retelling of Mary and Joseph's arrival in Bethlehem. The argumentative puppets eventually learned to get along and became live animals for the finale. That was pretty neat to see! They also released a whole crate of doves that flew across the stage and roosted somewhere in the back. It was a very festive 30 minutes (oh and it was cold enough that when that little cow pooped on the stage, it just steamed and steamed like theatrical smoke in the stage lighting :)





Carissa and Jen did a little--ok--a lot of Christmas shopping. Carissa bought so much she had to buy a bag to carry it all in too! We were at the park for eight hours, and then we were ready to get some dinner and relax at the condo. I remembered a pizza place Judi had ordered from the last time our family was in California to visit. We ended up stopping by on our way back to the condo and snagging a sausage pizza.

We ate in our pajamas, chatted some more, and then got our bags packed for the next morning's departure. I'm sure there are a million other things that happened that I'll remember as soon as I stop typing, but for now, that's my wonderful day at SeaWorld with my friends :)