Oceans 11 - day 2

Day 2 was a busy day.

We spent the morning on a floating lab (big boat) out in the bay. We were supposed to go out farther into the ocean, but with the tsunami wreaking havoc all over the Pacific ocean, we elected to stay in the calm(er) confines of the bay. (Which means no dolphin sightings)

It was still fun. They dropped a net into the water, then we all helped pull it up and then had a little show and tell about all the animals they collected from the ocean.

We got to see a sponge, a couple different kinds of flat fishes (I forget their names) , a crab, an octopus, a lobster, a sting ray (I can now tell if it's a boy or a girl) a sea star (apparently they aren't called star fish any more) and a couple other things I can't name.

Maddie got to touch the lobster. The boat guide/instructor person had Maddie feel this long thing protruding from the lobster's face, and when she told him it was kinda slimy, he then told her she was picking a lobster's nose.

We also saw some sea lions on the way back to the dock. There's usually a whole bunch more, but apparently the tsunami affected them too.

After that we headed over to Sea World. We were divided into groups, and sent on our merry way. In our group there were nine of us- 6 girls, me, and two dads. We seriously couldn't ask for a better group. They were really well behaved and a lot of fun to be with. After being stuck on the bus with some of those other kids, we chaperones were in total agreement that we clearly got the best group. I found most of the other girls to be totally obnoxious. (and a lot of the boys as well)

The only not-so-positive thing (in my opinion) the girls were all about getting wet. We had our ponchos, but most of the girls managed to soak themselves pretty good. The lines for the rides didn't seem too long and the girls were able to ride the Atlantis ride three times in a row. They might have considered going again, but the ride broke down while they were on it the third time, and they were stuck on it for about a half an hour. (As I had already gone twice, I was taking my turn babysitting the cameras and backpacks on a bench nearby)

One more little thing I wanted to mention- While riding the Atlantis ride, I happened to notice that only Maddie and I had our arms up when going down hills. Like mother, like daughter I guess.

After Atlantis we ate lunch -and had the misfortune to dump two cups of over priced strawberries, and two glasses of fruit punch within the space of about 5 minutes. The funniest thing was the last glass of fruit punch was dumped by Katarina's dad, Brian, right after he had taken it from a girl so she wouldn't dump it. I swear it leaped right off his tray and down the front of the other dad chaperoning our group. Fortunately Sea World gave us free replacements for the strawberries and drinks.

We watched a couple shows- the last bit of Shamu, (lunch took longer than expected) a pretty funny sea lion show, and a dolphin show. Brian was kind and "took one for the team" and sat on the front row with the girls for the shows, while Aaron (the other dad) and I kept the cameras (and ourselves) high and dry. They got drenched. I happened to glance over as Brian was getting a wall of water right in the face.

Then because they apparently weren't wet enough, (or so wet it didn't matter) the girls wanted to go down the river rapids next. I went once, and that was enough for me (yes, I am such a party pooper) and everyone except one of the girls went down two more times.

I forgot to take a picture, but I was pretty impressed with Sea World's new way to get more money out of you. They have these giant dryers at the end of the rapids ride, and for $5 you can get 5 minutes worth of heaters and blow driers coming at you from all sides. Of course after $10, Maddie was still pretty damp.

For dinner we had pizza and salad at a bonfire on the beach and listened to "scary" (and true) stories with an oceany theme to them. For dessert we had s'mores. In an attempt to be practical and save time, they used those tomato cages, and stuck 5 or so marshmallows on each of the metal spikes that go into the ground (naturally these had never been used for that purpose) and had the chaperones roast up 20 or so at a time. Then they served them on those chocolate stripey cookies instead of the separate (and more expensive) chocolate and graham crackers.

Efficient? yes. Economical? yes. Practical? yes. Lame? yes. (Sorry, I'm old school when it comes to s'mores)

After dinner we hopped onto the bus for the trek up to Los Angeles where we would spend the night.

stay tuned for the next (and last!) exciting installment!