SeaWorld San Diego

Our SeaWorld day was such a highlight of our trip!

Matt and I said several times that we would definitely be members of the park if we lived there. There was so much to do and so much for the kids to just play on.


Even Emily got to play!

We spent a majority of our morning in the Sesame Street Bay of Play playground area where all 3 kids had a blast. And since our kids are smaller (3, 2, and almost 1), we were up in the play places with them, but it was fun for us too!

If you saw our stories on Instagram, then you might have seen this pic already, but I just DIED laughing when someone messaged me after I posted it the first time and said, "Is it bad that I keep looking at his shadow?!" I didn't even notice his shadow until she pointed it out! hahahha, so good.

They loved the nets, the bridges, the slides, the bouncy things- it was like a kid heaven.

There were also several kid rides in the Bay of Play area, and all of them had zero lines. So the kids rode their favorite rides several times.

On the little teacup ride, Ryan asked if he could ride in one by himself, and then shot me a thumbs-up where he started to stick up his pointer finger (like he's always done), and then looked at it closely and corrected it. And I looked at Matt with the most dramatic, wide-eyed, sad face ever and held back the tears. I don't feel like you always witness the "lasts" as a parent, but I literally watched him realize he had been doing it wrong all this time and correct himself. 

So if everyone could start praying now for when I send him off to college, because I clearly struggle with milestones. 😂 

Here's the rest of us! On our own ride. Without Ryan. (And there I am faking holding it together.) 😜

This girl felt like hot stuff getting to play on the equipment with her big brother and sister!

The touch pools were such a hit with our kiddos. There were several of them with all different animals and opportunities to feed them and pet them. Ryan still talks about touching these tiger sharks (or something like that? Tiger shark could be totally wrong) as one of his favorite parts of the entire San Diego trip.

Y'all. The food at SeaWorld is GOOD. We booked a deal through Get Away Today that got us our zoo ticket + SeaWorld ticket + all-day dining at SeaWorld that allowed us to eat up to every hour if we wanted to. We really only ate 2 meals (like normal people, hah), but this one meal alone would have cost $70 (because theme park food is insane), and SeaWorld doesn't allow you to bring in food. So the dining pass was worth it. The fast pass, however, was not. Save your $10/ticket if you have little kids. 

Another big highlight was the Orca Encounter show! You guys, SeaWorld does it right with their shows. They are only 25 minutes tops, and they are really interesting and interactive. We watched the dolphin show and the Orca Encounter show and loved them both!

But man do I wish I had a video of what happened during the Orca Encounter show. Ryan REALLY wanted to get wet (and I had packed clothes for all of us to get wet at some point during the day), so he, Natalie, and Matt went and sat on the 3rd row, while I had a napping Emily in her carrier out of the "wet zone" (and these are clearly marked, so no worries if you don't want to get wet). Matt said for the first 20 minutes, Ryan kept asking, "Daddy, when are we going to get wet?!" because several other sections had already gotten wet.

Well, right around the 20 minute mark, this big whale came up, turned, and flipped its tail 3 times and SOAKED all three of them with cold water, and then a big gust of wind blew. I saw Ryan from a distance walking out to the aisle, looking for me, crying, and trying to walk up to where I was sitting with Emily. So then I saw Matt grab Natalie and Ryan and walk up the stadium stairs with both of them in his arms, crying and soaked, but with a big smile on his face as all of the other parents laughed at the cuteness and hilariousness of it as he walked by.

Once we were out and changing into dry clothes, both Ryan and Natalie were laughing about it and saying how much fun they had (that picture is them cheesing and waving right before we changed their clothes). I think they didn't expect the water to be so cold or soak them as much as it did!

Ryan was really hoping to ride this one big wet ride, but he was an inch too short (and handled it so well! Proud mama moment ;) ), so instead, he and Natalie and Matt stood by the bridge and got themselves soaked as the other people rode down. :)

Natalie trying to move her mouth like the sting ray :)

This buddy loves checking the map whenever we go places. ;)

I snapped this pic of Natalie on our way back to our hotel. Sweet love looks so tired and content. :)

Okay, tomorrow I'm going to share the rundown of how we handled the flights, sleeping situation, schedules, and routines during our week. I know traveling with kids can feel daunting, so I'm hoping tomorrow's post will help some of you other mamas wrap your minds around the logistics of it all. Because if you're anything like me, you know the idea of traveling with little kids is fun in theory, but you want to know what it's really going to be like once you go for it. ;)

See you tomorrow!