Day 8: Pirate ships downtown & Sea World...

Tuesday, August 22ND...

I took Bentley and Ian, along with my nephews, Idrese and Kyse, downtown to walk along the pier and see the HUGE naval ships, submarines and the Star of India. (Noah, Cohen and the babe, Atticus, all hung back at my parents house to nap).

It's gorgeous downtown and quite relaxing walking along the pier- so long as you just don't let the panhandlers bother you.  The boys enjoyed seeing all of the "pirate ships"...

In another year or two, once the boys are a little bigger- I'll take them on one of these naval aircraft ships.  They're HUGE!  We were gonna go during this visit but my dad warned me and told me that the boys would have a hard enough time just getting up and down all of the steps- it would be better to postpone for a later visit.  Ian was truly in awe that a ship could hold so many jets and helicopters. They are pretty darn impressive!

I was sweating bullets every time Ian and Kyse wanted to sit down on the thingy's (sadly I don't know what they're called) that the boats tie their anchors to...  Just another foot or so and they could have fallen over into the water!  I wasn't dressed to save any of them, and I certainly wasn't feeling like making the 10 foot+ dive into the murky water below.  (You'll notice I NEVER did let Bentley out of his stroller... that would have just been a recipe for disaster!)

Above and below is a picture of the Star of India.  It's one of the oldest ships in the world that still sails and it's sailed ALL.OVER.THE.WORLD!  Funny fact: So about 8 years ago while I was on my mission in Portugal, in the city of Gaia if I remember correctly, I met a woman who had a really old picture in her living room of her brother sailing on the Star of India!

Later that afternoon/evening, I went with my boys, Grandma Truesdell and Janna's family to Sea World.  We met up with my brother Jeff, his wife Corina and their two girlies there.  It's a darn good thing I've been to Sea World millions of times (I'm not exaggerating either- I've been there A LOT- I bet you didn't know I used to work there... I had my very first job there in the Penguin Encounter gift shop the summer I was 16); sadly we didn't get to see a whole lot.  We didn't even get to see Shamu- how awful is that?!  I know!  But it's cool though- cuz like I said, I've been there tons of times on my own and with my boys.  The park closed super early that evening AND my boys were busy a lot of our time there horsing around with their cousins.

My boys were mesmerized by these beluga whales...

Don't you just love the frightened look on Cohen's face?! 

I think a polar bear had just growled and it nearly scared the bejeebies out of him!!!

Personally, I HATE that there are rides at Sea World. 

It's not supposed to be an amusement park- 

it's a place for us to go and encounter ocean life... 

but alas, 

my adrenaline junkie, a.k.a. Ian, 

wanted to ride the Atlantis ride with his cousins Idrese and Paresa.  

He LOVED every minute of it, especially the big drop!

In the picture above Ian's in the 3RD row back sitting next to Idrese in the blue shirt.  Paresa is seated behind them.

Below, the expression on Ian's face is classic!!! 

LOVE IT!

Left to right: Kyse, Tatiana, Bentley, Ian and Cohen.

Left to right: Idrese, Ian, Cohen, Tatiana, Kyse, Paresa and Noah 

(Bentley and Atticus weren't in the picture 

because they were seated in their stroller).

Below is Cohen, Tatiana and Kyse. 

They're all about the same age.  

It's so funny, 

because this was really the first time that Cohen had met his cousin Tatiana.  

The two played shy at first, 

but not before too long,

they were inseparable!  

They held hands ALL night long!

 Isn't this picture above a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.?!  

It's looks like they're on a date!

At one point, I even looked over and caught Cohen kissing Tatiana's hand as he held it!!!  They're KISSING COUSINS!!!  It's cute now, but in another year or two when Cohen discovers it's not cool to have a crush on your cousin, he may have a broken heart.

In the photo below is my mother 

with my sister in law, Corina, (Jeff's wife) and her daughter Lillibelle. 

This was the first time I'd met Lillibelle.  

She's only about a month older than Atticus.

She's delicious!

We took this picture below just as we were leaving the park. 

My boys wanted a picture in front of the Shamu car.  

I looked over and caught a glimps of Tatiana just as she was tripping over Bentley.  

He got plastered!

I tried to refrain from laughing, as any GOOD mother would do, 

but I really couldn't help myself!