Sea World

Annabell went to her first amusement park and had a blast. A lot of my friends in Florida have taken their children before 1 year old since there are so many parks here, but I never saw the point since she's so young. Yet, I am so glad her cousin Mikayla is in town so that we were able to go to the park (for 50% off because of our YTB business by the way!), it was awesome (my first time too) and the girls loved it! We woke up at 5:30 am and was out the door by 6 am. Annabell and Mikayla both stayed awake from 5 am on! I couldn't believe it. We recently (about 2 weeks ago) put Annabell in her first forward facing car seat and she is so stimulated by everything she can see that she doesn't fall asleep very easily. She only napped at the park for about 20 minutes and then was up until 6:45pm! I was amazed by how well she did. She was so excited to see everything. She even tried to get into the tank with the sting rays! ugh. She really loved the underwater tours when she saw the ping-wins, dolphins, whales, walruses and more. She wasn't able to ride any rides do to height restraints, but really enjoyed walking around in the sprinklers at the park. One of the most memorable parts of the park was the "Shamu" show. She was crying hysterically not because we were only 10 feet from Shamu himself (splash zone); But because of the roar of applause by the people in the theater. And then, when she started to calm down a bit, BAM!...Shamu took his giant tail and splashed us, and I'm not talking as if a hose sprayed us, I'm talking about an entire baby's pool worth of water all at once....she was in her Aunt Kari's arms and jumped so high that Kari said she would of been 10 feet in the air if she didn't hold on to her. So when we went to the dolphin show she was a little apprehensive but did great once she caught her eyes on the acrobatic actors and dolphins. We did everything in the park with a few exceptions, and finally got back into the car (after getting lost in the parking lot..ha) at 6:30pm! I was so amazed with how Annabell did. The next day we went to the beach with a similar lack of sleep for her...she has not been on her usual sleep schedule because we have done so much for the last 3 weeks that I am amazed at how well she is doing. I'm blessed with a wonderful daughter. And to think that 5 years ago tomorrow Brad and I got married and God had her and our son (on his way) all in the works is amazing to me! I couldn't of imagined a more beautiful blend of me and her daddy. She now is clapping a ton, which is her new "trick" and snapping (attempting) her fingers to music. She also blows kisses with out the hand movement, and is always her daddy's girl. Speaking of which please say a prayer for Brad and his youth group while they are on their missions trip in Jamaica. We are so proud of him!