Sea World

I'm FINALLY posting pictures of our last day in Florida. Finally. It was at the beginning of June. Then I can FINALLY post pictures of our trip to Costa Rica.

We were all a little burned out of the excitement of amusement parks by the third day. Sea World was enough of a change to help, but we were all tired by then and made it a pretty short day.

We enjoyed the dolphin show...

...and then visited the dolphins from below and close up. The kids were both fascinated by seeing them so close!

Patrick LOVED the stingrays, and has forgiven me for dropping his sunglasses into their tank (we couldn't get them out).

We all enjoyed the alligators/crocodiles/whichever they were. I am not a marine biologist.

I particularly like penguins. They're so cute and waddle-y.

But no one enjoyed anything as much as Jason enjoyed the sharks. He has a lot of professional respect for them. (And as an aside, hearing Melkamu say "Shark! Yikes!" is adorable.)

The sea dragons were pretty cool, I have to admit.

And the kids enjoyed the other dangerous fish in the exhibit.

Kamu made it until we were sitting down for the Shamu show before he conked out. He slept through the entire thing. I was so glad I had the carrier with us for afterwards, so that I could just pop him on my back instead of trying to get my grumpy guy to walk.

The show was fantastic! Actually, all the shows were really good. Jason and I were impressed with how much choreography they've done compared to the shows we remember from our visits when we were little. They really kept the kids' attention and excitement!

Shamu is freaking huge, even compared to the other orcas they had in the show.

It was a really great trip. We were so glad that we had the time to go this summer!

I wonder if Blogger will let me post this one

I was told that I needed to update my blog. This may not be what said people intended as the update (Sea World and Costa Rica pictures coming soon, I promise) but I feel the absolute need to record it here for posterity.

Kamu has recently become fascinated with his...male appendage. I had forgotten that the lifelong obsession starts at such a young age.

He has started noticing the genders of others as well, and will frequently ask whether the person has a penis or not. Earlier today, Kamu and I were in the bathroom at a restaurant. Below, you will find a reasonable transcription of our conversation (I'll let you guess which one of us was saying which line ;-) )

"Kamu penis?"

"Yes, Kamu has a penis."

"Mama penis?"

"No, Mama doesn't have a penis. Mama is a girl."

"Oh," stated with the most pitying look imaginable. "Daddy penis?"

"Yes, Daddy has a penis."

"Patick (not a misspelling) penis?"

"Yes, Patrick has a penis."

"YAY PENIS!" This was stated repeatedly and as joyfully as possible, with accompanying dancing.

I wonder what the woman in the other stall was thinking...

Nervy

While at the grocery store with the boys yesterday, I encountered a woman. Melkamu was in the seat of the grocery cart and Patrick was in the cart itself, as they often are. Both children were in a good mood. Neither one was yelling or crying; in fact, I was talking with both of them when this happened (conversation with Patrick interspersed with quick explanations to Melkamu upon hearing "What's that?" repeatedly). I smiled at the woman as we started to walk by. The woman commented that "Oh, they're too big to be in there!" I smiled and replied that it seems to work for us and it's easier to have them in one place.

"My mom always made sure we were well behaved so that we wouldn't go running off."

Umm, thanks, my children ARE well behaved. But one of them is 2 1/2, and even a good 2 1/2 year old is still...2 1/2. And Patrick thinks it is funny to have his legs buried in the groceries.

"But if they get out, they can help Mommy!" she replied.

I gave a small laugh and replied that then I would probably end up with a lot of things that I didn't really need.

"That's when Mommy needs to learn to say no to them!"

I smiled, albeit a little tightly, and said they hear 'no' plenty. And then I walked away.

Did this perfect stranger in the grocery store really just infer that a) she knows my children better than I do, b) my children are poorly behaved, c) it's my fault that they are poorly behaved, and d) that I don't know how to say no to my children? Really? I thought people like that were a myth!

I shudder to think what else she might have said if we hadn't left the aisle at that time.

Disney redux

Day 2 at Disney followed pretty much the same pattern as Day 1. Get up, eat waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse for breakfast (for the kids, anyway), and go to the Magic Kingdom. Have a fantastic time, go back to hotel for naps and dinner, go back to park until they throw us out. Blah, blah, blah ;-)


It was really too bad that Patrick was so upset to go back on Day 2.



Melkamu also. What awful parents we were to make them go again.

We dragged them onto the race cars...

...and then Dumbo...

...and then onto the tea cups.

Don't they look sad about it?

Well, this just goes without saying...

Then, just to be nice about it, we took them to see Mickey. I think I'll let those pictures speak for themselves.


Kamu floated out of there, I swear it. He was as giddy as any child has ever been.

Unfortunately, he was also a little worn out and needed a bit of a nap.

Then we hit the park again for the night!

Before Philhar-Magic. During and after would have featured Melkamu crying because he was worried about Donald Duck.

Patrick loved getting to walk through Cinderella's Castle as the last thing we did at Disney.

Our final view of the park.