California Part 1: Sea World and Whit's Bday

A few months ago, Southwest was having a crazy cheap deal on airfare. I decided I should visit Whit and Jeem. Her birthday weekend happened to also be Columbus day weekend. And it turns out my parents were going to be there for a law meeting. It seemed like the perfect storm. A week before I left, I found out Shandra was going to be in town visiting her family with Tristan and the never-before-met-Betsy. It just gets better and better. It was a fantastic (and too-quick) trip. The entire downstairs is torn apart as they renovate their kitchen, but we did pretty well all things considered and had lots of excuses to eat out. 

I flew in Thursday night and mom and dad arrived Friday morning. We had a delicious breakfast out and debated going to Sea World. But, I noticed that although Whit was due (at that point) in a mere 8 weeks (I believe), they had not a single item of baby paraphernalia in the house. This concerned me. We decided it was time to face the fact that a baby would be arriving shortly and it was time to go to Target and BabiesRUs and purchase/register for some stuff. After about 15 minutes, we all ended up here:

We lost mom (I blame the red-eye, although the indecision and lack of real progress may also be major contributors):

We did make some progress, though there is still much to be done.

Saturday we went to Sea World. I love this place. I went once before with the Rob and Anna's during the Whit & Jim wedding trip. I secretly used to want to be a marine biologist. This place resurrected that desire. Although dolphin trainer would do, too. First stop was the Shamu show.

Next up, we went on the raft ride. You know the one where you sit in a round boat and bounce down the rapids and waterfalls dump water on you? Yes, that one. We thought it would be a good idea to get wet/cold toward the beginning of the day when it was warm and we could dry off. Plus I didn't think we'd get that wet. We got very wet. Dad got soaked. And we were still wet when we left the park 6 hours later.

Please pardon the pose. Apparently this is what I do when I try to show you my wet backside. It's inexplicable. And this is as close to a baby-bump picture of Whit as you're going to get. I hope I'm pregnant like she is one day.

We needed lunch so we picked up some funnel cake and icecream for the dolphin show. We are Hastings, after all.

Unfortunately we only got there 15 minutes before show time and got stuck in the nose-bleeds with the railing directly between us and the dolphins. But we did have a great view of the flying bird/people trapeze artist/divers.

And we could sort of tell that the dolphins were doing cool things.

We paid homage to the sharks. We were admiring this rather large jaw bone and reading the plaque about how it is from the fossilized jaw of some mega-shark-asaurus or something or other from a billion years ago. While we were reading, we overheard a nice man telling his son about how it's from a Great White. Ahh, what would it be like to know everything and never have to read the signs?

Dad and I rode on this lovely flying boat ride. Mom kept prego-Whit company on solid ground.

We went to the 4-D movie where we watched a super cheesy 30-minute movie called Pirates starring Leslie Nielsen (right?). See, in 4-D movies, the movie is 3-D. Plus, they blow wind in your face and drop water on you from the ceiling. Again, dad got wet.

We were running out of time but caught one last show...The super cheesy sea lion/seal show. What the animals can do is crazy cool. But I have no need to be one of their trainers.

We swung by the Arctic zone and did the simulator ride...you know the ones where you sit in a box, strapped into your chair, staring at a screen that makes it look like you're flying and going over waterfalls and falling and almost dying but you're really only moving like 6 inches in each direction? There was a warning about no prego-ladies riding but we broke the rules, Whit got the stare down from one of the workers, and we rode anyway.
After the ride, we visited the animals. I'm pretty sure Beluga whales are one of the most bizarre creatures on earth.

Mamo and her penguins.

Dad and Whit on our way out.

We met Jim at the house and went out for dinner to celebrate Whit's impending bday. I asked if I should take my camera into the restaurant. Jim informed me that there was no need since Whit would have another one of these next year.

Sunday we went to dinner at their friend's house. There were birthday hats and everything. And I took my camera.

I had great desires to make a fancy ice cream cake but since they don't really have a kitchen and they definitely don't have an oven, Jim stepped in and let Coldstone do the work. That was alright, too.

Happy, happy birthday, 2. I couldn't wish for a better sister. I feel so lucky that she has always been an example, always been supportive and loving, always treated me like an equal and a friend. She has never hesitated to drop everything and be there for me. When I was visiting last summer, we watched Out of Africa. I have a hard time hearing and Whit has a hard time understanding what's happening. Every few minutes, we would pause so she could tell me what they said and then I could explain what was happening in the story. Together, we understood the movie. I'm excited to see us as old ladies together. I'm so glad I got to be there for the celebration and delightful cake.
Although the party was great, mom and dad were a little jet-lagged still. This is no reflection on the company:

More fun to come.