Baby Beluga in the San Antonio Sea World...

So, here I am, on the plane to San Francisco! The school year is officially over. That’s weird to say. We spent this whole week running around like chickens. The previous Friday, we said bye to most of our kids, and that was sad, although preparing for it for so long made it more bearable. I’m mostly worried about where our kids will end up, since most of them don’t have schools for next year in Houston. The Fifth Grade Yearbook was a really exciting way to end the year with positivity and memories. They loved it, and I feel like it made saying goodbye easier somehow.

Last Monday, 14 or so of the kids in each grade came with us to Sea World San Antonio, which was incredible. They loved it, we loved it, we could just kick back with the kids. We rode on 4 yellow school buses that were only semi-air conditioned all the way to San Anton for an overnight trip. We left Monday and did a special program where you can “sleep with the sharks” next to their tank. The whole park was pretty impressive- every whale was named Shamu, which I found amusing. It was like a big slumber party at night, and the next day was filled with good times.

We started Tuesday at 5:30 AM, which sucked! But we went on all kinds of fun rides in the morning, like the Top Gun style one where your legs hang free. Some of our little guys weren’t tall enough (Jonquil is so pint sized I could probably pick him up with one arm). We saw a couple ridiculous shows. “Believe” told the love story between a whale (Shamu, of course) and her trainer, and they played that really annoying Aerosmith song from Armageddon while the whale and trainer swam around together. It was gross, almost bestial the relationship between the two. But I guess that happens when you work with sea creatures and not people all day??? I also enjoyed the random Texas Montage celebrating patriotism in the middle of the Believe show.

The other outrageous show was “Viva” and it included acrobats, drummers, silhouette dancers, trapeze artists, synchronized swimmers, beluga whales and dolphins. Oh, and I forgot the random macaw and later, the lady dressed as the random macaw with a rainbow bodysuit. I decided it was the minor leagues of Cirque de Soleil. It was so cheesy, and I think reinforced my kids’ stereotypes about “crazy white people.” (As if I had not already reaffirmed that stereotype eight million times this year : ) ) It was tons of fun, and none of us will ever forget it!

-Sarah