SeaWorld!

We could only spend so much time at the beach (Haha, I know... poor us, right?  Lol!), so we decided to break up the trip with visits to some great restaurants (We gotta eat!) and SeaWorld!  Our first great restaurant treat was to Benihana.  For those of you not aware of it, Benihana is a world famous Japanese restaurant.  We've seen it depicted in many shows and movies, and we were really excited to try it.  Well, we all tried it but Connor.  He had a friend from his hometown vacationing in San Diego at the same time he was visiting us (What a small world!), so we arranged for him to go hang out with his friend for a night.  And since Connor is a picky eater and does not like Japanese food, we cleared it with him first, and he was happy to miss out on Benihana.  Lol!  Kathryn loved it though!  This is the second time we have taken her to a Japanese hibachi restaurant when she was visiting us, so I guess you can say we spoil her, Lol:)  This was Mitchell's second time to a Japanese restaurant, but his first time to not cry and freak out when the chef started cooking the food.  It was so fun to watch him enjoying it this time!

The next day we got back with Connor, and we all headed to SeaWorld.  Chris has been to the SeaWorld in Florida before, but for the rest of us, this was our first trip.  It was really fun!  Our highlights from the visit were the dolphin show, roller coasters, and feeding the seals.  Mitchell liked all the big "fish."  Lol!

Getting ready to get some food!

Our little chef in the making:)

Enjoying his soup.  He really liked it!  Although, he did make me pick out all of the mushrooms.

He loved the cooking show!  Haha, and notice all of his mushrooms and soup on his plate.  I tried to tell him to just pick around the mushrooms, but he insisted that they were taken out of his bowl and put on his plate.  Lol!

Kathryn was pretty happy with the show and her food.

Even Duncan got in on the chopstick action!  (Have no fear; he was closely monitored and no body parts were poked out:)

SeaWorld!  Ok, I know it is weird to be at SeaWorld and be looking at animals that have nothing to do with the sea.  But Mitchell was really into this sloth.  Lol!

The kids in front of a Beluga Whale.  You can see it behind Connor, poking its head out of the water.

Awe... cuddling Polar Bears.  They are our favorites.

Checking out the walrus.

Mr. Walrus and Mitchell's hand trying to touch him:)

Penguin city.

Sea Turtles!  Mitchell loves turtles, haha, but he had the hardest time looking up in the tank to see them.  He kept looking straight forward.  He would catch a glimpse of one every now and then and squeal:)

Ahh!!  Connor's reaction after just seeing a shark swim by!!  Lol!

We got to walk through a glass tunnel and watch sharks swim all around us.  It was so cool!

We had a fun opportunity to feed some seals.  This little guy was begging us for some more fish.

The dolphin show was definitely our favorite!

Enjoying the rides!  Kathryn and I are in the front and Connor is in the back.  It's been a while since I had been on a roller coaster (Yes, this was a combination water ride and roller coaster) and it was so fun!

Killer Whale show.  This show was fun, but we could definitely tell SeaWorld had toned things down to try and help their image with these animals.  This show was less about the jumps and tricks, and more about educating the crowd on the needs and habits of Killer Whales (And them repeating over and over how well they treat the whales.  Lol).  We enjoyed it, but we liked the dolphin show a bit more.

Duncan enjoyed getting out of his stroller for a little bit.

Connor was really curious about what was in this tank:)

Kathryn had a hard time climbing over the stroller and out of the car when we got home.  Haha, don't worry, we helped her out after I took this picture:)  So funny!

Benihana!

You have to hand it to him, he really gave those chopsticks an honest try.  I like his determination.  In the end, he did have to give way to the superior fork for his salad:)

The dolphin show!  No way you could watch this show and not smile!  Haha, Mitchell liked it, but his favorite part was probably playing on the stairs.  Lol!

Feeding the seals!  This was so fun!  And listen to those seals beg.  It was so crowded though, that I was right up against the kids so it was hard to get a good, full length shot of them all.  Haha, but you can see their arms feeding the seals.  Lol!  They had fun, so that's all that matters:)

Up close with a dolphin!  Haha, and I wasn't expecting it to splash me at the end.  I saved my phone just in time:)