Sorry I wasn’t able to blog last night.  A benefit to vacationing with Nana and Grandaddy is that you have built-in babysitters!  So Van and I took advantage of that and went out last night.  Didn’t get in until late, so I didn’t have time to blog before going to bed.  I will recap for you now though

We went to Sea World again yesterday.  Saw the One Ocean show (with Shamu), dolphins, manatees, beluga whales, a polar bear, walrus, and alligators.  It was a really hot day, so anything we could do in the shade was fine by me.  Ashley didn’t seem to mind the sun and just wanted to walk everywhere (instead of ride in her stroller).  I bought a child harness to use on her but I couldn’t get it on her without a fight, so we just let her walk freely and would follow close behind her.  Van spent a lot of time chasing her!  Luckily, the park wasn’t crowded so she had plenty of room to walk without being clobbered.

I loved the Shamu show!  Although it was quite different now that they don’t allow the trainers to get in the water with the whales.  It definitely brought back childhood memories though, and I got all those mushy feelings from when I wanted to be a marine biologist.  I think Ashley’s favorite part was not Shamu, but watching the dolphins from underwater at Dolphin Cove.  She didn’t seem overly excited watching them from above water, but when we walked below where you could see them swimming, she would put her hand on the glass as if to touch them.  That was really neat watching her reaction as the dolphins would swim by.  It was so cool, because when we first got there they were swimming high (on an adults eye level).  But then when Ashley started putting her hand on the glass, they would swim low as if to say hello to her.  They were right there at her eye level and she really enjoyed it!  Of course, we had already gotten her a Shamu stuffed animal.  Had we known how much she was going to like the dolphins, we would have gotten her a dolphin one instead.  Go figure.

Then last night, Van and I ventured out to Downtown Disney by ourselves.  That’s a really cool place!  We had a few drinks at Pleasure Island, ate dinner at the House of Blues in the West End, and went shopping in the Marketplace.  My favorite drink was the Grey Goose Lemonade slushy.  Yummy!  We made Ashley her very own Disney t-shirt and bought her a hat and some princess water toys.  We also found the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique where little girls are magically transformed into princesses!  I cannot wait for Ashley to want to do that!  You have to be at least three years old to do it, and it’s pretty expensive.  So I think it would be a cool thing to do when she is 5 or 6 and can really enjoy it.  The package includes hairstyle, nails, shimmering makeup, photos, princess gown, crown, wand, shoes and princess sash.

So that was about it.  Another fun-filled Orlando day!  Today we are relaxing at the resort, so I won’t have much, if anything, to blog about tonight.  We are resting up for our big day at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow!