Home from SeaWorld

The stars of the show - Our friend, Anthony (top), whose birthday we went to SeaWorld to celebrate (three families totalling 15 of us!) And of course, Shamu.

I didn't know how close you'd get to start growing gills or a spout when you go to SeaWorld. It'd been so many years since I'd been there. I learned it would be a good idea to wear your bathing suit, or some other type of clothing that dries quickly. Because if you really want to experience it all there, you certainly are likely to get saturated. We did! It was a lot of fun. I don't have a lot of time now to write about it, but we, especially Isabella and me (thanks to the ride, Atlantis), were soaked to our underwear and socks by the end of the day. Some pictures:

Arriving at the park all fresh and ready to go.

Liam insisted on moving down to the very front during the Shamu show, to be sure that he got splashed by Shamu. The splash zone is probably from row one until row 40. But he wanted to be all the way down in front. So, his faithful father took him down to the front. Isabella thought she would like it down there too. She changed her mind soon though, and moved about 8 rows back with me. Still in the splash zone, mind you!

The funny part was, Liam kept thinking Shamu was not going to indulge him in a good splash in the face. After having splashed most of the others in the front row of the rest of the stands, and seeming to ignore entirely our side, Shamu finally gave a couple of good splashes at our end. Liam was delighted!


And check it out. We were several rows back from Liam and Edilberto, and we were drenched! Miss Isa was not too happy about it either!

Feeling rather special to have been splashed by a whale!

Moving right along..... The kids find yet another way to get totally drenched. See the pair of them running from the "wave" that just came over the rocks (simulated for kids to play in along with other splasy things.)

O.K., enough of those waves! Let's go get dry. We had to drag them off.

Time to dry-off and eat, and play games with Papai.

All the kids (and a couple of moms) together for a picture!

Is it really only Wednesday?

This has felt like a long week to me. Perhaps because I'm anticipating the weekend too much. We'll be heading north to Orlando with our neighbors. We're taking the kids to SeaWorld. It will be a nice end to Liam's Spring break from school. Then we'll start a very busy week with Liam getting back into school and Isabella with her dance class, me in my new work routine, and Edil helping out at the ministry he's been working with.

Isabella has dance rehearsals on Monday. Her teacher e-mailed and said that her class will be staying an extra hour. They have a recital in four weeks that they need to get ready for. I sat amazed watching her dance tonight. She has me put on some classical music quite often so she can dance. She really gets into the music and the mood of it. Very expressive and graceful.

Going to Orlando will be a first for us. We've been in Florida for over a year now, but haven't really gotten to enjoy our surroundings much. The beach isn't far from our house, but we don't see it often! Today, I was reminded that we're in Florida when I walked to my car and felt a very nice (for a change) cool and balmy breeze through my hair and on my face. It reminded me of the sea air when I lived in California near the beach. It's not always that the breeze is cool here and coming from off the water. I looked-up at the palm trees and appreciated where I was for a change (usually, I am just in a lot of traffic with nutty drivers, noise, sirens, endless strip-malls (grocery stores, $1 stores, Targets, etc. etc. It all looks the same around here.)

Happy Easter!

Our neighbor's doggie waiting to fetch an egg!

Easter Sunday....

The kids joined our next door neighbors in an Easter egg hunt. They had a great time.

Cherishing Moments

Today, Liam was off from school. It was a breezy day outside. I made a little ice cream party for the kids and our next door neighbor friend. They all had a really good time together laughing and playing and eating their ice cream. I thoroughly enjoyed just watching them have fun (and remembering the days when I had as much energy!)

Today and throughout this weekend, when we remember Christ's death and resurrection, we are thankful for LIFE that the Lord has given to us!

Some pictures from this afternoon: