Surprise!

Yesterday, I had a birthday. My husband, wanting to make sure that the big 3-0 was memorable, planned a surprise out of town trip for us. As many of you probably already know, I don't do surprises really well. They require you to hand complete control over to someone else. Yeah, that's not really my thing, but I know that the Irishman spent a long time planning this trip and was really excited about it, so I put my control freak tendencies aside and set out to enjoy myself.

We left Friday evening and headed towards the east coast. I brought a book along for the ride so that I wouldn't be constantly second guessing our destination and I settled in to find out where the road (and the Irishman) would take me. I fell asleep at some point after Gainesville and woke up intermittently to the Irishman cursing the GPS under his breath. We got to our destination (which I didn't figure out until the following morning because I was so tired) and we headed upstairs to our hotel room to crash.

The next morning, the Irishman thought that I was playing dumb about not knowing where I was (we saw an Everybody Loves Raymond episode the day before where the wife fakes being surprised), but truly, I was unaware until I wandered over to the fridge and saw the "Sea World Resort" brochure suspended by a magnet.

So, we were in Orlando and were off to Sea World for some Saturday fun. Here is a pictoral journey of our first day of vacation.

Parker is very excited about being at Sea World (oh, and pay no attention to the Irishman squatting down next to the whale trying to stay out of the picture. Little does he know that the insanely bright gold of his favorite t-shirt makes him impossible to miss. Note to self, burn the yellow shirt.)



"Hey mom, shouldn't you be up here with us?"



Check out the Budweiser Clydesdales.



Parker changed into his surfer boy gear to go watch some of the shows that involved getting soaked.



He decided to make a small detour to the sandbox while we were waiting for the Killer Whale show to begin.



Here are some crazy flips by Shamu #124 at the Shamu Show. This was like X-Games for marine life. The Irishman thought it would be a great idea if he and Parker sat in the splash zone at the show (I declined the honor of getting drenched by 30 degree salt water. Call me crazy). Well, Parker decided that it wasn't such a great idea either and promptly flipped out when he got soaked.





After Parker recovered from the Shamu soaking, he changed back into his regular clothes and decided that it was time for a musical break. Note to self: do not allow Parker to ever talk you into a drum set.



Then we went into the Shark Encounter aquarium. I think this was Parker's favorite because we walked through a huge tunnel under the tanks so it gave the illusion that fish were swimming all around you.







After the Shark Encounter, it was time for our Arctic Expedition, which was a behind the scences tour of the Arctic Exhibit. This was the last thing we were going to do for the day.

First, we saw a beluga whale.



Then, Parker promply passed out for the rest of the tour.



This polar bear was huge!



We also saw some penguins.



And we got a chance to pet them. Notice that I am angled far away from the penguins backside. That's because we were informed (and witnessed) that they are projectile poopers. Yuck!



The penguin building was a brisk 55 degrees, which woke Parker up from his slumber just in time to pet a penguin.



The next day (my actual birthday), we woke up bright and early and headed off to our second destination. This turned out to be Discovery Cove and the whole reason that we were in Orlando to begin with. You see, I have always wanted to go swimming with dolphins. Like most 10 year old girls, I was convinced that I was going to be a dolphin and killer whale trainer. I'm not sure why I didn't pursue it (I'm sure some guidance counselor disuaded me from it), but I never lost my fascination of dolphins and whales.

I didn't get that many pictures at Discovery Cove because we spent almost the entire day in the water. There was a huge coral reef that was teeming with marine life, including huge sting rays that would swim right up against you. I have to say, that was a little bit disconcerting, but very cool. Then there was the highlight of the day, the dolphin encounter. We got to spend about 30 minutes in the water with them learning about them and feeling their rubbery skin.

The climax of the dolphin experience was swimming out about 50 feet and being towed back into the shallow waters while holding onto the dorsel fin. It was amazing to feel how strong these guys really are. It was really an incredible experience.

Here are some pictures outside of the dolphin lagoon.

(Can you tell that Parker had a long day?)









All in all, it was a great birthday weekend. I came back with lots of sun and memories thanks to my very thoughtful husband (whose Irish skin is not so fond of the sun). Now, please excuse me while I look into going back to school to be a dolphin trainer.