Fun in Sea World and M&M Land

Our wonderful trip to Orlando began with SeaWorld. Maddie and Ry had no idea who, or really what, Shamu was, but they were excited to meet him!

Maddie and Ry pose for a post-Shamu show picture. Grandma and Mommy got to the stadium well in advance of show time to secure seats in the splash zone! And it was well worth the effort. Though we never got splashed, we got to see Shamu and the trainers up close. Our favorite part of the show was watching Maddie's and Ry's faces. They were mesmerized by the whales. There is something so exciting about having the privilege of watching your children experience something for the first time.
That night, right before the park closed, we went to see the night Shamu show. It was AWESOME!

Though the most exciting part of our trip was meeting the princesses, our favorite activity was trick-or-treating at Sea World. As one can imagine, the kids LOVED it. . .and so did Mommy and Daddy and Grandma. The M&M's were the biggest hit and the mini-bananas were quickly passed over. And since we stayed at Sea World all day, you better believe that we trick-or-treated more than once! :) We got enough candy to fill beyond capacity, a one gallon ziplock bag.
As we trick-or-treated, we met many interesting characters. Ryan was quite leary of these costumed "things", but Madeline had to have her picture taken with each one. My bold sweetheart.

Madeline LOVED all the "girls" dressed up as beautiful princesses.

After a while, Ryan warmed up to the costumed creatures, but he had conditions. He only wanted pictures with "guys". Ry, I'm not sure if these things are guys. . .
As you can imagine, everywhere we went people commented on Ry's mohawk. These creatures were especially intrigued by Ry's hair.

I remember thinking this was an owl when we stopped to check it out, but I was quickly corrected. And two weeks later, this 32 year old brain cannot remember what this thing was.

Grandma treated us to some fish while we were at Sea World. Or should I say, she treated the stingrays to some fish??? There was a large pool filled with stingrays. You could pet them and/or feed them. It was awesome to watch the kids feed them. The string rays managed to pull part of their bodies out of the water and open this strange looking mouth thing, and suck the raw fish out of the kids' hands. It both freaked the kids out and elicited giggles of delight. And yes, it STUNK!!! Thankfully, they had sinks nearby.
When we returned to Sea World on Friday, we fed some seals. While it was fun, we had to beware of the birds that would come swooping down and steal the fish out of hands!

My handsome boy.

Madeline and Ryan are just like their Daddy. They LOVE rides. Their favorite was the Shamu roller coaster, which they road again and again and again and. . .
On Friday, Daddy and Ry were off doing something and I was with Madeline. My back was in severe pain so I could not accompany her on the roller coaster. She was tall enough to go by herself. I asked her if she wanted to go and she said yes. This may seem silly, but it tore my heart up to watch her get into the line all by herself, make her way onto the ride and ride by herself. I was actually on the verge of tears. Part of me was so excited for her independence, and part of me was so concerned that she might be scared. Wow, I had no idea how difficult it is to let go. I'm sure we will have many more of these experiences in the near future. Anyway, Madeline had a great time and though she was a little frightened, she said she had a great time.

Madeline poses for a sweet picture with Grandma before the Shamu show. Madeline and Ry LOVE their Grandma. No one gets them laughing like Grandma.

What can I say about m&m world. It was YUMMY! Both kids got to pick out their two favorite colors of m&m's and place them in a bag. Mommy, of course, worked the lever that poured the m&m's into the bag. Mommy, Daddy and Grandma loved the dark chocolate m&m's. They are so healthy!!! :)

The fam on a sugar high.

Our super hero enjoying sometime with Grandma before bed. He loves wearing his Spiderman costume with his Batman mask. In fact, he loves his Batman mask so much that he sleeps with it. I shared a bed with him at the hotel and he woke up one night and would not go back to bed until I found the mask.

The trip, of course, was wonderful. Aside from the parks and quality time with the family, my favorite part was the daily breakfast!!! Each morning we ate made to order omelets (of course, I had spinach and mushrooms and drowned it in salsa), cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, fruit, pastries, muffins, toast, sausage, bacon. . . It was awesome to pick your favorite breakfast meal and not have to make it or clean up after yourself!!!