Living in the Sunshine State, we grew accustomed to having Disney & Sea World at our fingertips. We actually spent more time at Disney pre-children but Sea World became a fast favorite when we were Robby & Lauren + 2. Once we twins arrived we basically only left the house if necessary....kind of like the current quarantine ; )
Sea World was just perfect though, small & within 15 minutes from the house. I have dreamy memories of Robby coming out of his office at 4 & saying "Let's head over to Sea World & catch the last Shamu show of the day!" We would grab snacks for the girlies, hop in the car and were there in no time at all! Shamu was always waiting for us along with the "rollie coastie" as Charlotte sweetly said. It was no surprise that I would feel great sadness over losing the around the corner entertainment once we moved back to Dallas & hoped that we could eventually take the whole crew back. Since a drive to Orlando was out of the question, Sea World San Antonio was the next best option & my birthday was the perfect opportunity for a fun filled day! It's funny how dreamy memories can be misleading....we had a lovely time but it was far from perfect! It included some rogue (disobedient) Orcas & me coming a little too close to punching a woman in the face in the lunch line.
We thought a slight drizzly forecast for the morning would keep people away but it did not. Humidity was on par for mid May in Texas which actually reminded me of Florida. First stop was the PERFECT "rollie coastie" for our first time rider, Darling Arlo. Owen & Anson had PTSD after we made them ride a mini roller coaster at Oktoberfest one year so they were a little reluctant to ride Super Grover's Box Car Derby, sounds incredibly intimidating right?
The best part about the rides is if you have a vertically challenged rider, mama or daddy get to ride along. Guess who accompanied Arlo? None other than yours truly, his favorite person in the world. I didn't mind riding next to him the 10 times we rode over the course of the day. He was so proud to be a big kid!
I loved that the boys' car they liked best was called the "buddy buggy," perfect for twinkies.
Another highlight of the day was riding Atlantis! We were shocked that Arlo, at age three, was actually tall enough to ride. It went up, then backward, then forward ending with a 100 foot drop & getting soaked. It might not have been the best idea but he did, twice! First go around, I rode with all the kids & he really liked it so when we were up for round two, Robby rode with a few kids then the rest of us took the next boat with Arlo as my assigned buddy. Once we started clicking up the ramp, he panicked & began screaming that he didn't want to ride & definitely didn't want to go backward. The people in front of us looked back probably thinking that they would call CPS when they disembarked. I wanted to yell in defense, "He already rode it once & was begging to go again!" I felt awful, but by the time we got to the final drop (10 seconds later) he was squealing with delight & afterward said it was his favorite ride ever. We were proud of the kids for trying something so daunting! Here they are looking at it upon arrival to the park.
I took this next picture with our drone ; ) Just kidding, I found it online & just had to include to show how steep it really was.
Rides have always been extremely fun & it doesn't seem like too long ago that I would ride nearly everything. My how the times have changed! I was thankful for the man pictured below as he promised to ride with Eloise on Sea Swinger....the name says it all. It was swinging & spinning simultaneously up 3-4 stories high. Goodness sakes, I felt nauseous watching! Charlotte decided against riding last minute & then when she got the guts to ride, the ride was being tested after not working properly. Bummer for her...maybe next time! I consoled her by saying that I never like being the first rider after a "service the engine" visit from personnel.
All said and done, she loved it but as soon as she was locked in, she was REALLY nervous!
The girlies also rode their first real roller coaster that felt like they were on jet skis. They claimed it was the BEST!
Partway through the day, everyone was depleted & starving. Why do they have to eat so frequently?! We probably should have started finding a place earlier because by the time we had food, some had lost their marbles. This guy recovered quickly after a blast of sugar.
Inside the place where we were ordering food, there were some large school groups of kids in maybe 5th & 6th grade. Robby & the boys went to get those sugar drinks while the girls stayed with me. I think I was hot, hungry & a little grumpy because as one of the lady chaperones let more and more students cut in line just ahead of us, my blood began to boil. I tried to keep my cool but oh my. I finally said, "Are you kidding? How many more people are you going to let in line? I have five little kids I need to feed & you are holding me up!" She stared back at me & responded in a nasty way. I couldn't believe it was happening. I despise conflict & NEVER lay into strangers! All her students were looking at me along with my daughters. I felt ridiculous & incredibly rude. Once we got closer to the check out, I approached her & apologized. I said it was my birthday & I really just wanted to eat. Ha! We all got our food & it wasn't really that big of a deal. Before she walked away, she tapped my arm and said she really hoped I had a wonderful rest of my birthday. I guess she wasn't that bad after all ; )
After some greasy theme park food, we were doing all right again!
There was another tense moment when it was time to board a brand new ride called Riptide Rescue. It spun but I figured I would survive. I got in line with the big boys and when it was time to get on, they let Anson on but not Owen! They are just about an inch apart in height & I guess Anson barely made the cut. I was so sad for Owen & mad at the guy working as I thought, "C'mon man, you can see they are clearly twins!" Anson had a great time though and we talked about the importance of keeping his celebrating to a minimum.
All leading up to our trip, we talked up the Shamu show. It was magical in Orlando & boy was I excited to experience it with the whole crew. It used to bring me to tears & this time it nearly did the same for different reasons. Here are the troopers happily waiting for the show to start.
This next photo just about sums it up. No Orcas showing their skills! They decided to do their own thing & every time the music came to an exciting part.....NOTHING! It was a little humorous as the show went along. It was so bad that the employees came to dump buckets of water on those in the Splash Zone since the whales would not participate. Ha! After the show, we made a beeline for the exit. Hungry again, Chuy's was the next stop.
Chuy's was just down the road & a strawberry margarita was awaiting the birthday girl's arrival. It was perfect after a long, hot day! We scarfed down ten bowls of chips & salsa then Elo's tummy ache began. We ate as quickly as we could hoping to make it "home" before she felt any worse. Following the kids meal comes our crew's favorite part....orange push pops. We have a favorite video of Arlo at around 18 months battling it out with me when I tried to take his push pop away. Since Eloise was feeling crummy, we took them to-go along with her dinner.
Robby got her up to our room for a quick bath & helped her into bed while I took the other four kids to the pool area to eat those long awaited push pops! We had played at the pool the day prior & it was super family friendly but the nightlife was a bit different. There were a number of nicely dressed people sitting poolside looking over the Riverwalk, a few swimming and ZERO children. I felt we had no choice though so I opened the bag to divvy up dessert. After our drive and our mad dash to the pool, they turned out to be a little melted...surprise, surprise! It was nothing short of disastrous with melted push pop not only coating the boys faces & hands but all over the table, dripping through the slats onto their legs. Charlotte & I couldn't stop giggling and all the shenanigans attracted more attention than I was expecting. I thought about tossing the boys into the pool to rinse off before heading upstairs but decided against it. I cleaned up the best I could then we scurried to our room in hopes to avoid any further shaming.
Everybody got showered and sweet Eloise, who continually apologized for feeling sick on my birthday, was feeling a bit better. She ended up eating a burger & fries in bed while we watched a silly, family sitcom. It took us back to the days of Family Matters & Full House with the laugh track. I had my sidekick Arlo snuggled up with me. It must have been a cozy spot because he was looking like this pretty soon after the snuggle fest began... PERFECT end to the day.
After a good night's sleep, Texas shaped waffles dripping in syrup were in order before our trek home. Owen kept his Sea World key chain in his hand all morning. Again, those souvenirs times five kids meant that key chains were an economical purchase!
After breakfast we finished packing up then hauled everything down to the lobby, while valet went to get our car. There were round metal tables that all three boys were treating as drums....it was time to go! I had been on the couch with my bag when the car arrived. We got all our belongings into the car, five kids buckled & I hopped into the front seat. My heart dropped when I realized my pillow (that I can't sleep without) was missing! I ran back in & lo and behold, there was a man on the couch asleep ON MY PILLOW! I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I tried to talk myself through how I should go about getting my pillow back. I decided to tap him on the arm. He look surprised to see me & more surprised that he was on my pillow. It was great.
The ride home was complete with a stop at Collin Street Bakery, a bit of whining & a podcast about insects. I'd say it wasn't too bad! We were quite thankful to sneak away for a few nights and enjoy time with just the seven of us. They are my favorite people.
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