Adventure Logan

Universal Studios

Yesterday was a quiet day here. Tara Legge (my niece) arrived back from her cruise  and we picked her up at the airport. Last weekend she ran in the Disney Princess half marathon in memory of Mom. Last year she ran to honour Mom on the 20th anniversary of her death from leukemia. The run team (Team in Training) she is with supports Leukemia and Lymphoma.

Last night we babysat the five kids while all the other adults went out for dinner. They were wonderful kids – they watched a movie then came down for Dave to make them ice cream cones. I was detailed to read 2 chapters from a book they selected and then it was off to bed.

Today (Sunday) was a very COLD day here in sunny Florida – the highest it got was about 50 degrees F. So although I am usually the Queen of Air Conditioning, I was layered and still cold. It was disappointing that the weather didn’t cooperate for our day at Universal Studios.

Animal Actors in Action was an interesting show. It focussed on real actor animals and how they are trained.

During the show they asked for a volunteer and Tara (my niece) volunteered. She held a dollar bill out in her right hand and a macaw snatched it and then flew to the stage – then repeated that and returned it to her hand.

Blues Brothers perform and take off in their car

The 3 kids all got to climb a wall ( that privilege cost $5 per kid) and it was quite interesting to watch. Oh my gosh the money that is charged for things is something else!

Madeline climbing

Sea World

Today’s adventure was Sea World – the last time we were at a Sea World was 1976 so a return was definately in order. Our Christmas gift to the family was entrance to the park so we were excited to spend the whole day with them. We got to pet stingrays and dolphins and generally get into “being near lots of sea creatures”.

Pet’s Ahoy was our first stop. We enjoyed the cats and dogs, pot bellied pig and assorted other critters. These skipping dogs were amazing.

One Ocean feature show with Shamu and others was thrilling. Those whales can really perform and splash. People in the bottom 20 rows were in the soak zone and did they ever get wet.

Blue Horizons show features the dolphins along with some spectacular highwire acrobatics and diving.

Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island was a funny show featuring sea lions, otters, and walruses.

Shark Encounter was an underwater viewing tunnel with awesome vantage points to see sharks and sawfish. The girls both managed to find their way into a shark’s jaws!

One location provided the opportunity to feed the dolphins and Madeline, Sophia and Andrea all got a chance to do that.

Of course I am always on the lookout for birds – I don’t know why but I always think they make great photographic subjects. I did get to see a few great ones here too!

Caribbean Flamingo

Pelican