Another Seaworld Christmas

For the fourth time, we packed up the car and headed down to San Antonio to attend SeaWorld's Christmas celebration. We were concerned about the weather because they were forecasting storms earlier this week, but it ended up being a nice weekend to go. Here is our annual picture overload of our trip.

Saturday, December 17
We encountered Shamu Claus before we even got inside the gates. Mara didn't really want a picture taken with him, but I learned a couple of years ago that she would regret it if we didn't do it. Jack wasn't too into the pictures either. :)

As with most every trip, we started off feeding the dolphins. Jack didn't want to touch one, but he loved watching them splash.

Jack made a friend at the aquarium with a girl who was only a month younger than him.

We decided to rent a stroller this time around so that Mara could ride too (and save us from having to hear how tired her feet were). Plus, we didn't know if it would rain or not, and we thought the plastic would dry much quicker than the cloth on our own stroller.

They had a stingray touch tank set up previewing their new feature, Aquatica, which is opening next year.

We found a carousel at the Sesame Street Bay of Play, but Jack didn't enjoy the ride at all.

We did get to see some sea lion pups playing in the water before the sea lion show.

Then, we went to the killer whale Christmas show.

Mara wanted to talk to a whale trainer after the show.

Next was the dolphin and beluga show, which was set to music from The Nutcracker.

Mara posing in front of the Candy Cane Forest.

Jack cheesing big time.

We went through FantaSea where all of the costume characters were. Mara took a picture with Dolly the Dolphin as well as another one with Shamu Claus, but Jack was not impressed with Opie the Otter or any of the characters.

Mara rode Shamu Express, and then the kids played on the large playground for a bit.

Before we left for the day, we stopped by to touch the stingrays.

Sunday, December 18
Just like yesterday, we started taking pictures before we were even in the park. This time, Mara wanted to get a picture with the whale car.

Once inside the park, we had to stop off to touch/pet the sting rays again.

We ran into Shamu Claus dancing out in the park, but Jack didn't want to have anything to do with him even when he got down on Jack's level.

We made it to the penguin exhibit, which we didn't get to yesterday. We were hoping to see some baby penguins like last year, but they didn't have any out on display.

Since they don't usually splash at the Christmas whale show, we sat down front. Mara picked a first-row seat for herself.

We went to see the dolphin and beluga show again.

After the show, Mara talked to one of the trainers named Chuck, who stars in a lot of the SeaWorld videos that you can buy.

Then we went to fee the dolphins again. I even got to touch a flipper, and Mara touch a dolphin's tale. Jack had fun watching them and running around the pool.

We were supposed to participate in Dine with Shamu (we got a great deal on the meal Thanksgiving weekend), but they canceled it because of the weather and a lack of participation. We were really disappointed, but at least we didn't tell Mara about it beforehand. Instead, we had dinner with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and some of their elves. Santa even read Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Jack loved Santa's dog but still wasn't too sure of the Big Guy.

After dinner, we caught a couple of the night shows. While they are the same exact show that they put on during the day, it looks completely different since you can actually see all of the lights.

Here is the baby, Sakari, who is just two months older than Jack. (Her birthday is January 7.)

And Mara insisted on talking to a trainer after this show as well.