Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Sea World

We took the kids to Sea World on Saturday because our friend, Morgan, was in a dance competition there. She's 10 so I was expecting ballet or tap or jazz dancing. When we got there at 9am (before the park opened, which was cool), we sat down to watch the performances before hers just to see what she was up against. The first thing we noticed was the really loud bass we could hear from at least 50 yards away. I wondered if my kids would be bothered by the volume but they didn't complain at all. I think they were both enthralled by the dancers.

The group that went right before Morgan's team started dancing to a 50 Cent song. Then they started grinding. Then their outfits turned into nothing more than very short shorts and a sports braw. With sparkles, of course. I had a hard time picking my jaw up from the floor when two 8 year old girls started grinding each other. All I was thinking was, "Oh Goodness! What are we here to support?!?!" But just as I was nudging Matt and giving him the OMG look, Morgan's mom quickly turned and told us that Morgan's team is a Christian dance group and they are all fully clothed with cute songs. Whew.

I mean, I'm not naive to the fact that dance teams can be provocative. I just didn't realize it started with 5 year olds. But I saw it with my own eyes. There were several groups from around Texas, including my home town, with teams of 5 year olds competing wearing just slightly more than a bikini. I just can't imagine what those Saturday morning classes look like. Does the teacher stand in front of these pre-schoolers and show them how to thrust their hips while putting their arms behind their heads? I guess so because that is exactly what they were doing.

It was wild, to say the least. Here are some pictures of the more innocent parts of the day.


Jenna carrying Avery while we were waiting for the trophy ceremony. Morgan's team won Grand Champion and Morgan got 1st Place for a dance duet she performed. I figure they won not just because they were good at their dances but also because you didn't feel like you needed a shower after watching.
Jack LOVED LOVED LOVED the animal shows. He kept saying, "wow!" and "awesome!"
Jenna was so great with both kids. She is Morgan's little sister and since she isn't on the dance team, she was happy to play with Avery and Jack all day. I loved that she didn't mind being with the little ones even though she is so much older than they are. Here she was climbing up the rope (like a crab net) and then sliding down a big slide.
We were able to feed the dolphins in between dance routines. It was neat to touch their heads and get them to swim by us over and over.
Even Little Miss Scaredy enjoyed the dolphins. You can't really tell from the look on her face but she really did love it. She even touched one (accidently, I think) as it swam by.
She also loved the dancers. She remembered Morgan's friends names even though she just met them on Friday night. She thought they were all celebrities. They loved her right back, too. They held her and ran over to her a lot. They even sat with her while they were watching the other teams dance. It was so cute to see that.
Here's Jack asking Morgan what all that stuff was on her face after she was done with her duet dance. He was confused by the shiny make up. Morgan looked so cute (and fully dressed) all day. She was really impressive.
Jack also enjoyed stuffing his face with popcorn. He had Jason (Morgan's brother) cracking up because he kept putting popcorn in his mouth with two hands. Then he would laugh and they would all fall out. Pretty gross but boys obviously love that kind of thing.
Jack clapped and laughed at all the shows. It was neat to see how much he enjoyed himself. He would randomly just shout out, "HAPPY!" throughout the day.
Here we are at the end of a VERY long day. The weather was beautiful and we all managed to avoid sunburns. We went back to the hotel afterwards and made s'mores at the campfire. I wish I had taken pictures of that because we all really enjoyed it. Somehow I managed to forget to take my camera out to the fire both nights.

We had two very long days that ended way past the kids bedtime but they were both really great. Even without naps they managed to stay in great moods. Morgan, Jenna and Jason were great companions for the kids. We heard lots of giggles out of all of them during the weekend. I'm glad it was such a good experience and we look forward to going again sometime soon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love Matt's hat!

Anonymous said...

Morgan looks Beautiful!!