Seaworld!

Let me start by saying that if you live in the Southern California area, Seaworld is a great deal this year. If you pay for admission one time, during 2011, you get entrance to the park for the rest of 2011 free. How great is that? Last year we bought San Diego Zoo memberships and hit that up once a month over the summer, but this is the year of Seaworld!

So this was our second trip of the year (on those same tickets, yes!) and Moo had a blast. She already knew what kind of shows and things they offered and she was ready to see them all. She was excited to see some of the animals we saw the first trip, but also some of the things we missed. Toots just liked riding in the shade.

One of Moo's favorites is the Dolphin touch tank. You can lean over this little slanted wall and actually pet the Dolphins, if they come close enough. Both times we stayed at the touch pool for probably a half an hour and both times the Dolphins were SO close, but just out of her little reach. Some adults next to her made contact, but Daddy and Moo had no luck. I managed to talk to a trainer who was standing by to answer questions and she let me know the best time and place along the wall, so next time we go we'll have the best chance of contact. Moo wants SO badly to touch one. I hope we can next time.
We also spent a lot of time at the touch pool, feeling all the different starfish and looking at the neat little underwater world they've got there. Not as diverse as the Monterey Bay Aquarium in terms of things to feel, this was really limited to starfish and urchins - though the urchins had clumped en mass at the center of the pool where they were out of reach to everyone. But Moo loved it just the same.
After our first visit, when we got to see the Shamu show, Moo decided she wanted to be an Orca trainer when she grew up. Now she wants to be a Dolphin trainer or a Penguin trainer. I told her I don't think Penguins have trainers, but they do have people who take care of them at the park, keepers maybe? Either way, she is much more interested in the aquatic life at Seaworld than she was with anything at the Zoo. So it looks like we may have a little Marine Biologist/Dolphin & Orca Trainer/Penguin Keeper on our hands. Needless to say, we will be visiting Seaworld many, many times this summer. We're already planning to go back next week. Moo is very excited.