Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Believe

Since we were in Tijuana over the weekend and Papi had Monday off we decided to take a quick trip to Sea World and see Shamu and other sea animals.

We liked the tunnel to see the sharks.

Playing with the starfish was fun too.




And of course acting like penguins was a big hit.

But the best part was after the park had already closed and we made a little side trip to go say bye to Shamu and the other killer whales before we left. Here's your usual picture that you get in front of the killer whale aquarium. The kids are all smiling and the whales are doing there own thing in the background. But, please stick with me because I'm not a very good story teller and I have a very slow camera so I got some pictures of Isabel because she would stay in one place but the other kids moved all over and a lot of time was lost waiting for the camera to take another picture but this experience was awesome. And the pictures that I did get are amazing. When we first got to the killer whale pool there was another group of people looking at the killer whales too. One of the guys started pounding on the glass to get the killer whales' attention and it was working. They kept swimming right at him and then would turn just short of the glass. Then one of the whales got mad and actually hit the glass right where the man was standing then came back around and snapped at him showing off his huge mouth of killer whale teeth. The guy kind of backed off and then someone said that the pounding probably hurts their ears and that the whale was probably trying to get the guy to stop hitting the glass. The guy felt bad and walked back up to the glass and just put his hands on the glass, trying to say sorry and the SAME whale that had just done the "swim by" came back and stayed in front of this guy just looking at him and moving his head up and down. The whale stayed there for awhile. It was like the whale was trying to say I'm sorry I scared you but thank you for understanding and not pounding the glass anymore. It was amazing how interactive this killer whale was. I have never seen any animals in a zoo or any other place be so interactive with the people looking at them.


There were three whales in the pool and after the other group left all the killer whales started to really interact with the kids. There was a baby one that came up and stayed right by Isabel. It would sit there and blow bubbles and when Isabel touched the glass it would move to where she was touching then go do some flips in the water and come back as if to ask her if she liked the flips and to play some more. It was the baby playing with the baby. So SWEET! Some of the other whales played with Alexandria and the boys, literally coming right up to wherever there hands were on the glass and stopping to touch their hands and look them in the eyes. It was so amazing I didn't want to leave. I think we were down there for about 10 - 20 minutes. But unfortunately one of the employees finally found us and told us they were closed. It was awesome. These animals really played with my kids. There was no aggression just pure fun. They would go out do flips in the water and then come back to make sure the kids were still watching and touch their hands and faces through the glass. It made us see that anything can happen. It was awesome and so just like the name of the Shamu show . . . I now BELIEVE!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so awesome! I'm glad that you guys got to go and have such a great time with the greatest animal on Earth! Those kind of things really leave an impression. Now you probably 'believe' me when I say that a killer whale trainer would be the second best profession ever (only second to being a mom). Love you guys, and thanks for putting these pictures up, they are incredible!

Rebecca Irvine said...

I thought your pictures were so cool! I bet your kids will talk about this for years to come. What a wonderful memory for your family.

Becky said...

Ondria, what an amazing experience! Interspecie communication! Those whales must have appreciated what a great cute family you are.

And you captured it so well in word and pic.

Shane Meredith Mason and Kendall said...

WOW, that is sooooo cool How neat. Great pictures, I can only imagine how much better it was to be there!

Betsy said...

Those are the coolest pictures!!!!! How amazing is that! Im so jealous. So glad he had the day off and you could all enjoy such a wonderful time together!Really is just too cool!

Lacey said...

THat is amazing!! Wow! How neat to be able to be so interactive with such amazing creatures. Your kids will look at these pictures for years to come and talk about it.

Shanell said...

I keep trying to get Dale to take us to SeaWorld. I want to go so bad. This makes me want to go more. What a fun experience. The story telling was just fine! What is important is that the memories are being recorded.

Janalyn said...

I think that's funny. maya