We headed out on Saturday and arrived with enough time before dinner to let the boys catch a quick movie in the room.

This is not a representative photo. Mikey, sans parents, spent much of this time hiding under the desk in the room. I'd swear he knows us better than that by now.

Owen, who hasn't yet developed a love for TV, had different plans.

That evening we had dinner at a nearby burger joint that had some toy capsule machines. At first Max was only interested in buying little toys, but I convinced him to pick up something else as well.

He says it makes him look like Mario.

A quick continental breakfast later (mmmmm, waffles) and we were off to the races. The last time we went to SeaWorld we had a little boy with a very big burn on his hand. Our focus then was mainly on keeping him happy and entertained, which meant we tried to make it to all of the scheduled shows and keep him out of the sun to the extent we could. We noticed a dolphin area on the map, but didn't really have the time or energy to go check it out. This year was a bit different. We arrived with a bit of time before the first show, so we decided to make the dolphin cove our first stop.

YOU CAN FEED THEM. HOW DID WE MISS THIS LAST TIME?!

Unfortunately, Max got a little spooked when the first dolphin showed up, so he got to watch his mom feed the dolphins instead.

Mikey had no such qualms.

Owen found them pretty fascinating until he saw them open their mouths right in front of him. Apparently two big rows of teeth are a little daunting for a one year old.

Once we'd finished tossing the fish, Max immediately started demanding that we go see Shamu.

Demand granted.

Owen seemed okay with it. Slightly more interested in it than Max was last time, but only by a slim margin.

Hey, look at that handsome family.

Luckily, all three of them seemed interested in the statue outside the arena.

Once the excitement died down and the Mikey's little brother was fed, we headed over to grab some lunch before moving on to some more activities. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any good photos of Owen harassing Baby Alex in his stroller after we set our little guy down post-meal. He is seriously obsessed with that baby. Just this morning he was saying "Baby Alex Baby Alex Baby Alex" at the breakfast table. This resulted in him spending far too much time trying to get close to (or touch, if possible) the poor kid.

Once we finished prying Owen away from the baby, we donned our swimsuits and started making our way over to the new Sesame Street themed water play area. We just had to make one quick stop first.

The minute Max saw this thing, he insisted we ride it immediately.

This was before I told him to stick his tongue out at the camera.

When we reached the end of the line, he immediately started insisting that we ride it again. I guess we have a little thrill seeker on our hands now.

The water area turned out to be a bust, seeing as it was early in the season and the water was a bit too chilly for any of the boys' tastes. Luckily, it also included some climbing and sliding elements that Max enjoyed.

Note: Those tubes are not designed for adults to fit through them.

After a quick detour into a small carnival area (where we wound up getting three identical stuffed penguins for the big kids) we headed over to the dolphin show.

At first Owen seemed like he was going to enjoy himself.

Max, too!

Sadly, one of them decided to succumb to the rigors of the day.

When we were finished watching dolphins jump around and costumed people dangle from wires, we headed over to the shark exhibit to get out of the heat for a little while. Little did we realize that the boys would be in there for a decent bit of time, running back and forth among the various tanks on display.

Fish!

More fish!

Sharks!

Before we left, Max insisted on getting a second chance at feeding the dolphins, which he assured us would not scare him this time.

True to his word, that one.

By the time we finished chowing down on funnel cake, it was time to head for the exits. I was carrying Owen and for some reason Christy insisted on snapping some photos of him. Once I pulled the photos from the camera, I realized why.

Apparently he was blowing kisses.

…and sticking his tongue out.

…and giving his best cheesy we've captured on film to date.

We put the boys in the car, headed over to a nearby gas station to top off the tank for the ride home, then took a look in the back seat.

Figured that was going to happen.

He was so exhausted when we got back that he had no interest in heading over to the pool to play with his buddy. His brother didn't have a choice in the matter, and after some initial reluctance started working hard to terrify his mother.

This is the first time he's been in a pool this year. This is a photo of him JUMPING OFF THE WALL.

Guess we'll have to get him into some swimming classes soon.

We capped off the weekend by relaxing in our room and eating some delivered pizza. Nora decided to let the little guy hang out in Owen's portable crib, and this led to the boys messing with him through the screened sides.

Owen was especially interested.

That brings us to the end of the photos, and pretty much the end of the story. The boys barely slept on the way home and paved the day to another crazy week. Hopefully this weekend we'll get them back on a normal schedule. If you want to see the rest of the photos from our trip, you can click here. See you next week!