More of Orlando

2nd new post of the day-So Wednesday as we left Disney, Greg was driving and we'd been in the car a while when I said "am I just being impatient or does the car still seem really hot????"  Sadly our a/c died and after leaving these 2 crazies and Greg and Scott at our hotel, I went to a Pep Boys, left our car, and took my first uber ride back to the hotel.

 We walked to Yard House for dinner that night and saw a little of the area surrounding our Orlando hotel.

 our hotel lobby-there are Mickey ears everywhere!

 Ashley enjoying a squirrel in the tree

 The Ripley's believe it or not crooked house

 Orlando's neat green trolleys

 I found Ashley a cute Mickey and Minnie nightgown at a store I passed while taking the car to be repaired

Thursday morning was Greg's work conference and we ended up spending that day at the hotel and I went back to pick up the car.

Friday we had planned to have boys spend the day at Universal Studios and Ashley and I went to Sea World.  We all had amazing days!!!
There was a Star Wars convention going on while we were in Orlando and as Ashley and I rode the trolley to Sea World, we saw this storm trooper and many other folks in costumes along our ride and in the trolley with us.

 She was fascinated with these flamingoes

 Rides here were either really big and somewhat scary looking or more geared toward little ones but there was plenty to do!

 under

 and above water in the dolphin area

 They like fancy bushes at Sea World also

 Here is there water ride-I had Ashley talked into riding it with me but we had done some shopping and didn't want our things to get all wet.

 One of our favorite things was the penguin ride which began telling an animated story of a penguin and you sat in a little round "car" thing that moved to different rooms of the ride hearing about this little penguin's life

 then at the end you pop into the room with the real penguins-they were amazing and there were tons of them!

 Ashley thought it was cold but I would have stood there all day without a coat on!

 Seals and sea lions that bark and make noises that sound like Scott and Ryan sometimes

 We did a special penguin tour that was just amazing!!!!

 We got to go behind the gates in the back of the park

 learned a lot about how they care for the penguins here

 Then got to actually meet and touch one.  This is Pearl who came out to see us. 

 One of the neatest things I have ever done!!!!

 Bye bye Pearl-thanks for coming to visit us!

 a baby penguin we got to see

 Ashley wanted to see this pet show-which turned out to be hilarious!!!!!  Dogs, cats, mice, birds, and a pot bellied pig running around on stage and 2 of the dogs even "drove" a kids battery powered car. 

 Then she got to meet some of the dogs afterward

 A rockhopper penguin hat-we said the feathers look like Ryan's morning bed head

 a carousel with all sea animals

 the orca show was AWESOME

 We were sitting way back-don't think I would have even wanted to be as wet as these people got

 It was a super fun day-we also did a behind the scenes thing with dolphins that was great too-more pictures later.  I will say they weren't quite as organized at Sea World as at Disney-felt like it took us a while and multiple stops at different counters and places to figure out how to get the behind the scenes things we had paid for ahead on the website and figure out how the dining thing worked-it was great once we figured it out though.  It was reasonably priced, especially knowing that we were going to be eating 2 meals in a theme park.  We could have a beverage, an entree, and a side or dessert EVERY HOUR all day long!  Scott would have made them lose money in a big way.  Ashley and I didn't eat every hour but enjoyed a couple of snacks and it was nice to be able to get a drink and cool off when we wanted to and it was all included-at certain restaurants.  We had a fabulous day and stayed almost until the park closed and then took a trolley back to the hotel.