My Dad is a ve
teran and because of his service to the country, some local attractions have been giving free or discounted tickets to veterans and their families for Memorial Day. Last year, he got us discounted tickets to the SA Zoo.
This year, he got us free tickets to SeaWorld of Texas. SeaWorld opened in 1988. Being 11 years old at that time, I was probably the perfect age for SeaWorld. My mom and I would go often in the early evening; we’d see 1 show and then watch the fireworks; my dad was working and my brother probably wasn’t interested since he is 4 years older.
The last time I was there was in 2015 and Nina was just a few weeks pregnant; we went on a few safe water rides, saw the Shamu show, and were creeping lots of parents out by staring at their children!
Well, last Saturday, the three of us went and we met my parents. It’s always challenging for us because we live an hour from SeaWorld and on top of that, it took about 20 additional minutes for us to sit in traffic to wait to pay for parking. We were mostly prepared as we had Nikos big stroller, a carrier to wear, extra clothes for him, and a cold bottle of water. We didn’t know we could bring snacks for him. We did have snacks and milk in the car for drive home. Oh well, so he shared some ice cream with us and had a really bad pretzel. We tried to get lunch at SeaWorld, but one place didn’t have anywhere to sit and another place was to crowded. We also thought he would enjoy the kids ares which had a very large splash pad, but it was hot, noisy, and very crowded. Yes, he did get wet eventually and so did Nina and I; it actually felt nice. After the non eventful splash pad experience, we took him to see the penguins; he liked that.
So, after the penguins, it was time to leave and we changed his clothes since they were wet, gave him food and drink, and left him alone in the back so he could sleep. And, he went to sleep quickly and it lasted about an hour. It could’ve lasted longer, but Nina and I stopped at Wendys for food and he woke up; we tried to be quiet eating and drinking in the hopes he would fall asleep and that never happened.
Oh, on the drive home, we drove into a neighborhood that we like very much and once we sell our house, that may be where we live; it’s a 10 minute drive from SeaWorld. If we do end up moving to that particular neighborhood, we will be probably get season passes for SeaWorld and I can easily see Nina and Niko going during the week; when it gets cooler, and running around and getting wet. We also know that we can bring Niko snacks in the park
