So I now totally get why people have dolphin tattoos. I have to admit that I always thought the sea creature obsession was, well, I just never got it. I mean they're cool, but come on they're just big fish.
That said I was still super pumped to go to SeaWorld. My mom, aka superGranny, had paid for all us to have a dolphin interaction. (really didn't know what that meant either)

We walked into SeaWorld and headed to the dolphin nursery. And as we turned the corner they were jumping out of the water and doing that lil chatter thing. And right there I was hooked. All of us were immediately sucked in by their smiling lil mouths and playfulness. No lie, I was seriously considering scaling the wall and jumping in. Fortunately, the love of my camera kept me on dry land.

Now when the trainer started talking I assume he explained all kinds interesting and educational dolphin facts...I do not remember anything. I was staring intently into the dolphin's eyes, and I know we did the 'vulcan mind meld' thing.                                                                   Then we headed off to our actual 'interaction.' Each group got their own trainer and group of dolphins. The trainers would feed them, tell them to do tricks (I know there's a more pc word for trick, but once again I wasn't really listening to the trainer.) And then they would slide up on a ledge by the edge of the pool so we could...wait for iiiiit...rub them down. They were like petting a puppy of solid muscle that was coated in watery adorableness. Looking at the pics and video later, I realized it was a good five min of Wayne and I playing before we noticed the kids hadn't gotten to touch one.We did finally share, and the kids also experienced dolphin bliss. And after it was over, we were so hopped up on dolphin love that we paid $40 for a cd of pics. Btw totally worth it :D



There are no actual killer whale pics...
I didn't have a poncho for my camera.



Then we headed over to see the killer whales. I'd also never seen one in real life...and holy moly were they huge-animous!

Grace had convinced us to sit in the splash zone. After numerous attempts to talk her out of this plan, we sat in the 'reserved' seating area, aka the prepare to be hosed down by salty 52 degree H2O. Being resourceful I remembered that friends of ours had told us to take ponchos just in case of random Florida rainstorms. So a few min later my whole fam sat wearing ponchos on the bleachers in 80-something weather, not a cloud in the sky. Btw ponchos don't really breathe, but we were totally prepared for the coming downpour.
And out came the whales. Wayne later said that when the mom and baby jumped out of the water together he 'cried on the inside.'
We cheered, teared up and gasped...and then came Shamuu. The dramatic music pounded and the hosing down of the crowd begin. His massive tail projected icy water across the entire stadium...except a group of about 10 people.
After the show, the woman behind us thanked us for wearing ponchos. She was sure that the fact we had on ponchos was the only reason our lil area was completely dry, like not even a spritz of moisture.That's right. We enjoyed the super close seats and didn't come out with wet pants to chafe us the rest of the afternoon. Plus we looked super cool in the ponchos.
I'm now debating on a dolphin and a killer whale hugging in a giant heart or a baby dolphin sharing fish with a killer whale in an ocean. Either way, it's gonna be a killer tat.