Oh yeah and penguins, sea lions, fish and turtles. We spent yesterday at the Sea Life Park which is about 30 minutes from Waikiki. It is over past Hanauma Bay and the drive was beautiful watching the waves crash into the rocks. Sean wanted me to take this time to swim with the dolphins for my birthday. As we got closer to it he told me that the boys should do it too. I was thrilled about this since Hunter had seen me looking at it and started to cry when I told him that I was the only one to do it. When I called to set up the appointment they informed me that each child under the age of 8 has to have an adult accompany them in the water. So it now became a family event!
Right before we got in with Kaleo
I set up our time for 9:30am because the park opens to the public at 10:30am. Once we got all set up with life vests we headed down to the water with our group and instructor. We got in the water along the edge of the pool and got introduced to our dolphin Kaleo. He is a 37 year old male dolphin and she explained that in the wild they only usually live to be 30 but in captivity they can live to be 50. Kaleo was very sweet and we got to touch his back and belly and they are so soft. This was my dream come true! Then we each got a turn letting him kiss our cheeks, then we got to kiss him and then he jumped up out of the water and danced with us. Sean was holding Hunter and I was holding Brayden. Hunter was so excited the last few days about the idea of touching and kissing a dolphin and Brayden wasn't too sure about it. Well Brayden surprised me and was smiling the biggest smile and was so giddy about this whole thing. He was so excited to touch the dolphin and I was so happy that this turned out to be so delightful for all of us.
The best part was the fact that we got there so early and we got to do the dolphin encounter and we had enough time to shower and change before all the shows. We then went to watch the sea lion show which was hilarious, from there we went to have lunch then went to see the afternoon dolphin show that was absolutely amazing. For me these are the most beautiful agile mammals in the sea and they put on a great show! From there we went to the play pirate ship so the kids could get some energy out and then we went in to look at our pictures and video. We decided to buy just the video since it showed everything. They did edit the tape and we were laughing because they edited Hunter throwing a fit when he first got in the water because he couldn't touch :) As parents we wished they would have left it in so we could show it when he gets older. Sean is an incredible dad and husband and he bought some turtle food (broccoli and lettuce) while I had my back turned and out we went to go feed the turtles. The kids got the biggest kick out of this because they came swimming over so fast. Then we checked out the penguins and made our way over for another show at this big tank. We got a show with the penguins, sea lions and dolphins and it was a great way to end our day. On the way out we stopped by the touch tank and got to feel some star fish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers that were different than we have at home. They also had a 7 month old turtle that we got to watch swimming around.
I am so thankful that I got to have this experience with my family!!
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