Sea World

 We have been planning to go to Sea World since we moved here but decided to wait for the summer rush to end before going. With being active duty military, we get in free once per year so Grant had a day off last week and we decided to utilize it! And we couldn't have picked a better day. The weather was perfect and it almost seemed like we had the park to ourselves. No lines (Grant and I even each rode the manta ray rollercoaster while we took turns with the boys petting the rays) and the shows were like 1\10 full. 

I was worried Rowan would be too nervous to pet the animals, but he loved it!

 Looking for dolphins. It has been fun to revisit so many places I grew up going as a kid, now with my own kids.

 They each got to pet a dolphin also...

Before leaving Okinawa, Rowan saw a Sea World commercial and saw that you can "pet sting rays!" He has been asking to do this ever since he found out we were "moving to San Diego where you can pet sting rays!" His wish finally came true this day.

 Boden just ran over to take a picture in front of this after we had Rowan pose. It was pretty cute.

 

Checking out the aquarium while mom rode the rollercaoster

 The shamu show was almost empty which was awesome! Amazing animals.

 And then we hit kiddie land which Rowan loved! It made me excited to take him to Disneyland in the future. There were 3 rides that he could go on and we did each of them a couple of times.

 Finally, we ended at the splash pad which appeared to be Rowan's favorite thing of the entire day. There was sheer joy on his face the entire time he played, it was perfect.

And it appears we wore then out. Rowan fell asleep on the way home, mid way through eating a carrot. I figured that probably wasn't the safest way to sleep (with a carrot in your mouth), so I tried to take it out, which turned out to be impossible. His teeth were actually sunk into it! When he woke up 2 hours later he complained his teeth were sore...I can imagine they were!

We are so grateful that Grant's job affords him to have days off in the middle of the week from time to time. This was a much needed trip also as it was the day before he left us for the "field" for 4 days. In military standard that isn't long at all...for me, it is a long time to have Grant gone. Kudos to all you moms who do it for long stretches at a time!