The Epic Adventure: San Diego and Sea World

Our original plan included driving all Saturday and Sunday and arriving in Anaheim to start our Disneyland adventure on Monday.  However, the weather forecast in Anaheim on Monday said 110 degrees!!  What the what!?!  We left Idaho in the pouring rain at 45 degrees.  We were worried about walking with the kids all day in that kind of heat, so we rearranged our trip and went to San Diego first to visit Sea World.  San Diego's weather is 10 degrees cooler than Anaheim, but still... 90+ degree heat was a little hot for our taste.

We woke up early on Monday, because we had changed to Pacific Time, but our bodies were still hooked on Mountain Time.  Sea World didn't open until 10 a.m., so we decided to introduce the kids to the ocean for the first time!

While we were at the beach, the craziest thing happened.  A news van pulled up for Fox 5 News in San Diego.  A reporter came out and approached our family.  She asked us where we were from.  When she found out we were from South East Idaho, she was excited.  She said that she had started her News career in Idaho Falls working for KIDK... small world.  She was doing a short piece on the craaaaaaaaaazy heat wave going on in Southern California and wondered if she could interview us on air.  She asked us all some questions, let Charlotte turn it back to the studio and ran off into the ocean hand in hand with Charlotte and Bronson.  She called Bronson, "Little Nugget" on air, and the kids thought that was pretty funny, so for the rest of the trip they kept calling him "Little Nugget".  He was disgusted!

Finally, Sea World opened at 10 a.m. and we were able to start the fun.  There is a ride in Sea World in a gondola? cable car?  not sure what you call them, but it is a little car that goes up high on a cable like on a ski lift and gives you a view of Sea World and the bay.  It was amazing:

Next, we got to introduce the kids to dolphins for the first time.  There is something you should know about the Fillmore kids.  They are ocean life enthusiasts.  Ever since Tanner and Ashlyn were tiny, they have always been interested in all things ocean... so seeing a dolphin for the first time was almost emotional.

Those dolphins are AMAZING!!!

We had heard that this was the last year that Sea World would be doing their traditional Killer Whale show, so of course we were very excited to take in the orcas too!

And they didn't disappoint.

There were so many more fun things to see and do at Sea World.  We stayed there from opening until close and still didn't get it all in.  We were hot, covered in salt water, itchy, and had very tired feet by the end of the day, but it was absolutely magical.