Sea World San Diego

***WARNING! THIS POST HAS TONS OF PICTURES!***

Today was another whirlwind day, and we spent it at Sea World in San Diego. We started out the day by waiting for our bus to pick us up for our 1.5 hour ride.
Our bus driver, Charles, was amazing. We climbed to the top of his double decker bus and enjoyed the ride as he entertained us with stories and descriptions of the route along the way. He was even kind enough to let Reagan take a turn at the wheel. She was quick to tell him that she had driven her Pops' bus before when he asked her if she could drive a rig that big!
Once we arrived at Sea World, our first stop was at the Beluga Whales. Reagan was so excited to see a Beluga in person as she loves to sing the "Baby Beluga" song already. Needless to say, she was singing it lots today!
After the Beluga's it was time to head over to the Shamu Stadium for The Shamu "Believe" Show. It was quite emotional for me to see this show now as an adult and to experience it with my daughter. As I watched the awe and amazement on her face, I couldn't help but to remember the first time that I saw Shamu when I was about 10 years old. I was convinced that I was going to become a marine biologist after that day, and I think Reagan may have some of those same hopes and dreams after today. I'll admit, I got more than a little choked up during the show... I'll just blame it on all of the pregnancy hormones that are raging through my body!
It was going to be hard to top the Shamu Show, but the hilarious Sea Lions managed to do it. Those critters put on a show! Reagan laughed and laughed as she watched all of the crazy antics.

Sea World also had some really great aquarium experiences, and Reagan fell in love with the turtles and some of the fish. Something tells me that she is going to be asking for an aquarium very soon... I don't think that our little beta fish is going to be quite as entertaining as he once was when we get back home!
We even took a little time to feed the flamingos. I'm not sure if it was the flamingo food or the flamingos themselves, but something was sure stinky at that exhibit!
I have saved the best (and most) pictures for last. Reagan was able to take part in a Dolphin Encounter, and it was truly an unforgettable experience. She was able to feed the dolphins, she learned and executed hand commands, and she was able to reach out to touch and pet the dolphins. She was in heaven and couldn't stop talking about it afterwards. The pictures will tell the story themselves... it really was a moment that is indescribable!
As you can tell, we have had yet another fantastic day. Once again the weather man got it all wrong in that it was predicted to rain and we had nothing but sunny weather. We hope that from here on out the weather man manages to get it right because the prediction for the rest of our stay is nothing but sunshine!

After such an eventful day, it was no surprise that Reagan slept almost the entire bus ride home. We came straight back to the hotel and put her in bed so that she could catch up on some of the sleep that she has lost over the last few days. We still have 3 more busy days ahead of us, so we decided it would be a good idea to let her (ahem... and us) rest up tonight!

We're heading back over to Disneyland tomorrow, and we plan to spend most of our day in the California Adventure Park. We have another full day planned with a character breakfast, a couple of shows, and of course more rides. Stay tuned... I'll be sure to post all about it soon!