The end of a school year

A year of exciting KG for Chelsie and she's done.  A few more pictures of her last field trip and her last walk to the bus stop :)

The last field trip was to one of my most favorite places, Harrison Lake.  After a trek to the Hot Springs, we built sand castles.  Chelsie kept telling me that our moat had to go down to the water (another 5 meters of digging) which didn't impress me.  When Daddy showed up, after the castle was done :S,  she tried convincing him too, but he instead helped her build a wall around our castle.

 Cam enjoyed the mud, like any boy would :)

 Tyler was digging his way to...Wisconsin maybe?

 Daddy's wall building

 This castle was a team effort :)

 Swinging was great fun until she went off head first and got a face full of sand!

 And this morning it was off to the bus stop for her very last day of Kindergarten.  

This kid is ready for Grade 1, although she'll need extra sleep with school every day :)

 Thumbs up to be finished that exciting first year

 Two special little ladies :)

 And off she went

 On the walk back I stopped to snap a picture of this tree - they're all around the block here and every one is covered in impressive flowers!

 My good company during KG days :)  This rascal is full of character.

Grandpa stopped by to talk with Brian and this kid found his comb and 

proceeded to do his hair.  This shows her true character.  :)

 A parting shot - some beautiful flowers growing in a neighbour's garden.

Enjoy your Friday :)

Sea World

Two days at SeaWorld means a picture-heavy post!  We last went to SeaWorld in 2007 in December and have the most amazing memories.  It was New Years Eve and we finished off 2007 singing Joy to the World with ALL of the thousand+ people at SeaWorld that day while the whales jumped in front of us.  *Goosebumps, seriously.

We knew that our trip to Cali had to include this place, as this time the girls would actually be able to participate a bit more than last time! 

We got there bright and early as SW opened, and headed off to see some animals.  Our first stop was at the sea lions/ seals and they were being fed.  We each got to throw a fish in, which was a pretty special way to start the day :)

 Then we wandered through the shark tank.  Twice.  This is one cool feature - you are on a moving sidewalk in a tube, surrounded by sharks.  Literally.  They swim over and on both sides of the giant glass tube, giving you a close-up view.

 The dolphin show had changed since 2007 but was still very neat.  This is actually a whale that was part of this show.

 5 dolphins heading back into the water

 Grand finale

 Then we headed straight to see Clyde the Sea Lion and enjoyed watching his show.

 Petting the rays was super exciting.  This one stayed in front of us for quite awhile

 And Shamu.  SW is not SW without Shamu.  What a beautiful, graceful creature!

 From creatures great to small.  One of my favorites - penguins.  These ones were outdoors, warm weather penguins, but we also saw many indoor, Arctic ones.  They're so small and cute!

 Once you pay at SW's gate, you are covered for everything in the park except food, rides included.  This ride was the typical 'tea cup' spinner.

 We returned to see Shamu for the evening show, the last one of the day.  Equally as impressive as round 1.  We enjoyed seeing baby Shamu - a 2 month old whale born on valentine's day.  It was born weighing 350 lbs and was now over 500 :D

 The water these whales could send towards the crowd was awesome!  Chelsie declared that next time, we would have to sit in the 'splash zone'.

 A beautiful end to the evening.  This show had also changed since 2007.  It was called One World.

We returned to SeaWorld 2 days later to finish our explorations.  We paid $16 to park again and the rest of the day was included in our original ticket - worth every penny.  We ended up staying most of the day again, and saw a lot of things that we otherwise would have missed.

This was the underwater viewing of the whales, including Shamu.  Think of the tank in Free Willy - same idea.

 Then Chelsie and I went on a rafting ride.  Brynlie wasn't big enough, but enjoyed watching.  This ride takes you through waterfalls, and down a river, getting you a bit wet as you go.

 Then it was Daddy and Chelsie's turn.  Chelsie came off this round declaring that Daddy was too noisy ;)  He had been hooting and hollering to make it more entertaining.  :D:D

 A visit to the Sea Life area gave us a chance to hold starfish,

 check out sun bathing turtles

 and see the stinky flamingos.

Then we went up on the new Sky Ride, a gondola that goes across the bay and back, giving you a great view of SW and the area.

 Brynlie slept the whole ride - by this point her nap was needed!

 SW from the Sky Ride.

 Chelsie wanted a palm tree picture :)

This kids area was also newer.  It was a huge net area, with bridges, slides, etc.  You had to scramble up the net - not an easy feat for me or Brynlie, but we did it.  This is Brian and Chelsie at the top.

To finish our 2 days at SW, we went to see the pet show (no picture) and Shamu once more. This time, Chelsie chose to sit in the Splash Zone, and we definitely got wet!  Brynlie was sleeping again, so we covered her with Brian's very thick hoodie and she stayed completely dry :)  The rest of us though were covered in salty whale water :)

 2 tired girlies on the way back to the camper

 Where we ate supper watching the sun set in all its glory, giving thanks to God for the creatures He created that we had enjoyed :)