The BEST 2nd Birthday Trip!!
This year we decided to forego the big party and take a trip instead which happens to be my personal favorite birthday celebration. I think the boys loved it too! After looking at many different locations, we decided on SeaWorld in San Antonio. We were blessed that Poppy and Dee Dee decided to fly in and party with us too. The weather was amazing.. I really had been kinda stressed that it was going to be super hot and miserable. We lucked out and a cold front came through just days before. It was perfect!
We got to the park extra early because one of the birthday treats for the boys from Poppy and Dee Dee was the Character Breakfast. We didn't know what to expect and we were just hoping that for the price, it didn't turn out to be a bust. IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY! The opened the buffet and then shortly after, here came the characters! Sesame Street!
The characters then made their way to each table. Each character spending time with each kid at their table while they ate breakfast. It was really sweet to see Count or Elmo slide in a booth and the little ones eyes just light up. I thought ours might be really scared. They did ok. They loved looking and watching the characters and didn't mind them near, however, they drew the line on hugs and kisses! Love from a distance :-)
We got to the park extra early because one of the birthday treats for the boys from Poppy and Dee Dee was the Character Breakfast. We didn't know what to expect and we were just hoping that for the price, it didn't turn out to be a bust. IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY! The opened the buffet and then shortly after, here came the characters! Sesame Street!
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| "Your our favorite Elmo" says Poppy.. Ha! Totally NOT Elmo |
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| Trying to give Telly a high five |
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| Beckett talking to Elmo |
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| A High Five for Elmo |
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| and a hug |
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| Whoa! Big Bird is tall |
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| No kisses for Big Bird |
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| Breakfast with the Count |
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| Not to sure about Abby Cadabby |
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| Beckett watching the Count have breakfast |
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| Mommy hugs Telly but Beckett tries to hide |
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| It's Elmo! |
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| And we are out of here! |
It was great because as we finished breakfast, the national anthem started playing signaling the park opening and we were off. What did we want to do? Hit the "wides" of course!! So cool that there were virtually no lines early in the morning.
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| On this ride Beckett said "more more" and Eli said "that was fun!" |
No trip to an amusement park is complete with out dropping some cash playing over expensive carnival games. The boys loved it though and Eli is right now curled in bed with his Elmo that Poppy won.
The Sesame Street area also had a huge "jungle gym" that the boys loved to climb on. They are SO BRAVE!!
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I would say their favorite animal experience was the dolphins. Maybe ours too. Eli really got in to the spirit and would say "they're coming! they're coming!" when the groups of dolphins would be headed our way. I think Beckett said "Whoa" 1001 times that day.
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| splashing the water with Poppy to call the dolphins |
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| I love this picture of my 3 boys! |
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The sharks were really cool too!
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| A brother hug! Yeah! The DO Love each other :-) |
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| Is this insanely gorgeous or what?? |
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| Daddy and his boys |
The shows were a huge highlight as well. We took in 3 of the shows. There were probably 10-15 we could have attended. Let me tell you, we packed in all we could in the day.. and all these sweet boys could handle! We hit the sea lion show, the Shamu show, and a show called Azul which is similar to a Cirque De Soliel kind of thing.
Funny story of the day. Eli was asleep in the stroller when we got to the whale show. As disappointed as I was Eli wasn't going to get to see Justin stayed behind because we were running out of show times. At each of the shows there are splash zones, at the whale shows, there are soak zones. It was already crowded so we had to work hard to get a seat that wasn't super low in the splash zone. The show was amazing! Several times I kept thinking, I have to do this again with Eli.. he would love it! Beckett was amazed and kept clapping and squealing over the whales.
We leave after the show to find Justin and I am already saying that I have to go to another show and take Eli. Well we walk up and Justin and Eli are SOAKING WET! And Eli is crying holding Elmo who is also soaking wet! Apparently Eli woke up about 1/2 way through the show so Justin takes him in with his Elmo. Justin was so excited to find great seats all the way down on the bottom in the center. Ha! He and Eli got SOAKED! Eli was pretty upset about it for awhile. On Sunday, we are at the hotel and we see a big poster of the whale. Beckett says "whale" Eli says "Elmo wet Elmo wet and gets upset again!" I think that may be all Eli remembers from the SeaWorld show!
SeaWorld was having their Halloween celebration and after 6pm was not geared toward "family friendly" Lots of scary haunted houses, concerts, and goblins that come out. The boys were wiped so we headed back to the hotel to crash! Everyone was in bed asleep by 8:30 on Saturday night!
SeaWorld was a success and the best part is there was a huge area that is only open in the summer that has water features that we didn' even get to do.. looks like another trip is on the books for the spring time!
The delight and amazement in my children's eyes at each and everything they saw melted my heart. I am so glad that we were able to provide our little ones with this birthday trip and they let us tag along for so many special memories.
Love,
The Riley's