December 21: Sea World

The 19th was spent prepping for vacation (including making two types of biscotti—I haven't made biscotti in years, and because of how my oven was cooking, I had to scrape the bottoms of one variety when it burned; it took forever! but the dried apricot-pistachio turned out very well). The 20th was spent getting to Florida. We so love flying out of Charlottesville: with five sons and no checked baggage, we have extra help from the staff. And a friend from church happened to be on our first flight, which was extra fun. (I love how often I run into people I know! I love Charlottesville!)

Eventually our vacation with the extended family would take us to St. Augustine, but since the rental house wasn't available until Saturday afternoon, we planned to fly into Orlando on Friday and spend Saturday in Orlando.

I will just say up front that I hate Orlando. Considering that the wealth of the world flows there, the overall feel of the city was seedy. The roads were patched; the traffic lights badly timed. It took us 40 minutes to go 8 miles on the main road.

But once we reached the hotel, we had a fun time with the children in the pool. One uncle helped Isaiah learn to float, and after an hour of instruction, he swam across the pool unaided. What a relief! He might not be perfectly safe by himself, but, like Jadon, he can dog paddle around. Phew! Even Abraham, not a water baby at all, seemed to enjoy himself.

We are not Disney people, but I remembered loving San Diego's Sea World, so that was our Saturday destination. My sister and I had gone to Whole Foods (worst Whole Foods in the world!) the night before, and purchased breakfast foods. That expedited our morning, and, incredibly, we managed to get all 17 of us out of the hotel and on our way by about the time the park opened at 9am.

Sea World has something for the whole family, I think. Some of the thrill seeking adults went on both the major roller coasters. (Jadon joined them for the second ride, Kraken, and he had a great time. We were very proud of him.) As a huge splurge, our family got to pet the dolphins. This was really unbelievable. One dolphin, if you made a thumbs' down sign, somehow made a farting sound. We thought that was hysterical.

There is a viewing window to see those dolphins underwater, too. It is amazing how precisely they move, how perfectly in control they are.

We went to see Shamu first. That was an impressive performance, and some of the family came away soaked. I remember hearing about Shamu as an elementary student, so it is fun to let the boys see Shamu as elementary students, too.

Then we went and saw a show with trained seals, and even a walrus who wiggled his bottom. The boys laughed about that for days.

Next we went to see a dolphin performance, and that was one of the most magical things I've ever seen: an enormous condor swept down at one point, and with divers and parrots and riding the dolphins and aerial stunts with beautiful costumes—it was so lovely that most of us came again and watched it a second time.

We saw the slow-moving manatees and went through the shark exhibit, and ended the day with a Christmas light show.

I think all 17 had a good time.