SeaWorld rocks my LandWorld.

Finally!! After 3 years of sweetly asking (read: BEGGING & THREATENING) my husband to take me to SeaWorld, my dreams were finally actualized! (I won't mention that it took a family vacation in Orlando to finally go even though we live in San Antonio and live less than 20 miles away from Shamu - no... I won't mention that.)

I digress. But it was well worth the wait! I think I missed my life calling of being a whale trainer. Seriously, as I was watching the Shamu show, I was actually weighing the pros and cons of how possible it would be to forsake all of my years of school and pursue a life as a whale trainer. And then I thought, "This will never work. Would Josh follow me to Orlando to live near the ocean so I could train whales?" I was torn between two worlds. But then I remembered, "Hey, we have a SeaWorld in San Antonio and this could definitely work." And thus my daydream was possible again. Seriously, I had that exact conversation in my head while watching this show. But how awesome would it be to swim in the water with a WHALE! Anyways... I guess I'll continue my life on land without a wetsuit. Wah wah wah. But seriously... someday I want to do one of those behind the scenes at SeaWorld and swim with the animals. (hint hint Josh). I'm adding that to my "To do list before I die."

At last, we made it!

Linz looking super cute, as always!

Dad in his new Crocodile Dundee hat that I made him buy so his face wouldn't get burned! He looks good in it!

This picture perfectly describes Matt & Katie's SeaWorld experience. Katie is super cute & excited to be here. Matt would rather be at home doing his P90X yoga or reading his Grapes of Wrath book. Lame. Katie shares my passion for all things SeaWorld. Lindsay bought Katie a wooden whale tail that the Whale trainers wear. She is legit now!

I love my family!

Duh nuh. Duh nuh. Duhnuhduhnuhduhnuh. (((Jaws theme song as we entered Shark Encounter)))

Josh seems to be a little nervous in this picture. We were in a glass tube with sharks swimming all around. Luckily we survived.

Linz & Katie in the shark tube.

Josh's face in the shark tube.

Dad loving the shark tube. When we were little, we used to sit with him on the bed and watch "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel. Those were the best nights.

Dad, Matt, & Katie getting ready for the Dolphin Show.

The Dolphin Show did not disappoint. There were acrobats flying everywhere and people diving in the pool and birds flying all around. Amazing.

Josh & I at the dolphin tank. Lindsay and I kept trying to think of the "Flipper" theme song, but for some reason we kept singing it to the "Flintstone's" theme song. Thankfully, Katie saved the day and remembered it!

Linz kissing the Beluga Whale.

Josh & Napolean Dynamite. For those of you that don't know, Josh is Napolean Dynamite. That deserves it's own post for another time.

So I fell in love with this little turtle. And I sweetly asked (read: BEGGED and POSSIBLY THREATENED) Josh to win it for me! Okay, I didn't have to beg or threaten, Josh is always up for a game. But I REALLY wanted the turtle and would have carried him on the plane all the way home with me! Look how cute he is!! And look at how pathetic my face is. This is the face I give Josh when I really really want something. And it usually works ... but not this time :(

So Josh tried his best to win for me. He just had to throw a ring around a bottle neck, and Mr. Turtle would have been all MINE! But I should have known that ALL of those carnival games are RIGGED and NO ONE EVER wins. EVER. But I promise I'm not bitter. I'm totally over it. I'm so over it that I'm wondering if the San Antonio SeaWorld has it and if I should make Josh go back and try to win it again. Just kidding... but seriously. I really want it. It's painful to even remember that I didn't win it.

Even though my heart was broken because I did not win my Sea Turtle, I managed to pull it together and give SeaWorld another chance. We had saved the best for last... SHAMU!!! It was awesome! The trainer on the right was super preggers. I thought that was pretty awesome.

I think this is the original Shamu, or something like that. He was freaking huge and made all the other Killer Whales look small. He was the Big Daddy! But his poor fin was humped over, and it made me remember the movie Free Willie.

We are whale huggers! My face says just how excited I was to be there!

Josh doesn't seem to be as excited as me :(

We stayed until closing. It was a great day indeed.

The end.

Starfish

While in Florida, Josh & I were walking along the beach one evening... minding our own business... taking crazy pictures...

Sidenote: Can you tell that it is Mustache May? Josh refuses to shave until the end of May. It's beginning to smell. Let the record show that I hate Mustache May and Man Beard March and No Shave November and whatever else is out there.

Nevertheless, Josh & his mustache & I happened upon some sea life on our walk.

These jelly fish were everywhere!

Unfortunately, Matt stepped on one.

We found several broken sand dollars... but no whole ones :( Luckily my dad bought me a whole one to bring home!

AND THEN... out of no where... Josh spotted THIS...

A GINORMOUS starfish!

Seriously, look how big it is compared to my hand. It had 9 tentacles! I didn't even know that was possible!

We called Lindsay and Katie right when we saw it because we were all really wanting to see one on our trip! They ran the whole way down the beach to see it.

We were tempted to keep it and bring it back to San Antonio. But we weren't sure we could get through airport security with it. Plus, we figured it would die.

So we decided to send it back to the ocean. My friend told me that you can tell a starfish's age by how large it is and how many tentacles they have. Throughout their life, they will lose tentacles from their predators. Sometimes they grow back 2 tentacles instead of 1. Because this starfish had 9 legs, we figured it was pretty old and had survived quite a bit. So we gave it a little boost into the water...

Andrew sending it off back to its home.

Farewell starfish friend. We hope you have a long and happy life!

The rescue crew.

And everyone (including the starfish) lived happily ever after!

The end.

Florida 2009

After I finished up the semester, Joshua & I headed to Orlando, Florida with the fam to soak up some much needed sun & relaxation!! My little brother lives in Orlando, so we booked a condo in New Smyrna beach for us all to stay. We went with my dad, Matt & Katie, and Linz & Steven. It was so much fun to just lay around at the beach and pool and spend time with the family. We are hardly ever together in one place, so it was nice that everyone was together.

One of numerous attempts at a normal family picture. This was the best we could do considering Matthew doesn't know what normal is.

The girls.

Matt & Katie

(Matt... why must you be so awkward all the time?)

Side note: Matt is on a 90 day work out plan called P90X. X stands for Xtreme. He reported a self-rating of 86 out of 90 on the Xtreme Scale.

According to that estimate... he'll look like this in no time...

Lindsay & Steven also enjoyed Florida. However, Steven may or may not be dead in this picture due to a lethal combination of over-exposure to UV rays, sunscreen, and high dosages of the Smith family.

In fact, I think the only way he survived the week was by taking these...

Josh & I had a great time exploring the beach...

And taking funny pictures...

Awkward sea turtle...

Me soaking up the sun.

Linz & Katie playing in the waves. Fact: Lindsay does not go past her knees in the ocean.

Right before Josh made me go dive into the waves with him and I stepped on what might have been an electric eel.

Fun times in the mini-van. We are all now believers in the mini-van. They have sliding doors and spacious leg room and fit the 8 of us quite comfortably. And you can open the doors with the click of the keys. But why oh why do they have to look like mini-vans??

Ice Cream at the Pier. Josh went the whole week without ice-cream. I have no idea how he survived.

Andrew looking angry that I'm taking his picture but on the inside he is happy as can be to document this fun-filled occasion. Don't let that death stare fool you.

Matt... you are looking pretty good. Even Andrew thinks so.

On our last day of the trip, Josh & I went to Orlando with Andrew to watch his Ultimate Frisbee game. All I can say is intense. I don't think I have ever heard the "F" word so many times - and I don't mean "Frisbee." Andrew is really good and even made some impressive dives and throws for his team. Way to go Drewbs. I had to be sneaky sneakerson in taking pictures because Josh informed me that it was not cool to have you sister take pictures of you like the paparazzi. Lame. But here is a good one of Andrew being the most awesome player on the team.

Still to come: SEAWORLD & Starfish!