Aquatica and Seaworld (27th and 28th July)

Hello, 

On Monday 27th we went to Aquatica, Seaworld's water park. We were there nice and early so got on our first rides in good time. 

We did the Dolphin Plunge, in which you're supposed to be able to see dolphins through the transparent slide, but at such a speed it's pretty impossible, nice marketing though Aquatica ;). We did various other rides, 'Omaka Rocka' being one to mention, I guess I liked it because it was like 'Brain Wash' from Wet'n Wild. It was fast with funnels along it so you could slide up the sides. 'Walhalla Wave' was another ride of note, it was a multi-person one in a big round tube. 

Lizzie was the only one brave enough to do 'Ihu's Breakaway Falls'. It's a vertical drop, the floor of the slide drops away so you fall vertically down. It sounds horrendous to me. As my dad says, "it's like being flushed down a toilet," then before anyone could question how he knew what this feels like he did add, "I imagine..." I don't think he ever had his head flushed down the loo at school but I don't know for sure! 

The rapids at Aquatica need a special mention, they are brilliant, the best I've ever been in. You can take a buoyancy jacket so you can just float and let the rapids take you along. They're really strong so you go really fast. I'm looking forward to going back and going in there again. I think I could float along in there for several hours without getting bored. 

By lunchtime the daily storm had arrived and so we decided to go home for lunch. 

When we were home and had finished lunch and all retreated back to our rooms for our internet fix, we were met with a terrifying situation. The WiFi was down *GASP*. It made me realise how dependent I am on the web and access to it when it took me about five minutes of sitting on my bed thinking of something to do. Eventually I found 'Ratuki', a card game and so the four of us decided to play that. I think we finally had the right rules by the end of the game... We kept on re-reading the rules and realising we were playing wrong, but oh well, it killed half an hour or so. After a terrible start I did win in the end. After Ratuki, Meg and I decided to play Sims 3. Any Sims players will know just how incredibly 'twisted' you can be on that game... Enough said. 

We had tea and then watched the first of a documentary series someone had recommended to Debbie. It was about single parent animals and was very cute! There were so many cute baby animals, the polar bears and otters were particularly adorable. 

The Big Wide World has taught me: To try and be less dependent on internet access! I must admit I don't think I've learnt not to be... I know I should be less dependent on it but in this day and age it's very difficult, especially as a teenager. My go to thing is to scroll down Facebook and check the news, I feel naked without my phone and access to the web. I feel like this is turning in to me trying to justify myself so I'm going to stop. Basically, take some time out occasionally, sometimes taking time to play a card game with friends is underrated. I suppose the main thing I'm trying to say is, 'time spent with the people you care about is never wasted time, lives can change in an instant'.

I'm going to go straight into Tuesday 28th. What a day. After lunch we walked to one of dad's colleague's house to walk her dog- Nikki. She's very sweet. Dad then picked us up and took us to Seaworld. He just dropped us off and said he'd pick us up about six when he finished work.

The first thing we did was go to the Shamu show, we were there pretty early so had good seats. We were a safe distance from the 'Splash Zone' where the wiling go to be drenched with freezing salt Whale water. Liv and I sat there once years ago, we were young and it was socially acceptable to sit there in our bikinis. Definitely wouldn't sit there now- sense is something I realise comes with age! 

Mum and Baby

Just as the Shamu show was ending the rain started coming down... By the time the show had finished and we got out it had become torrential and there was the usual 'inclement weather coming, take shelter' warning playing out on the tanoys. We put our rain ponchos on and looked like we were walking around in clear bin bags. We took shelter by the Shark Encounter but realised we couldn't stay there all day. We had a wander round and made it to the Dolphin Viewing where you can take shelter, we were there without about 50+ other people. 

After a lot more wandering to try and find a place empty enough to go and buy fries we found somewhere. I bought a plate of fries and chicken tenders to share. This was followed by yet more wandering around until we came across the Arctic helicopter simulator. We queued for this and after a couple of minutes we were on. I had done it before but not for a while, I'd forgotten how violent the simulator was. It was quite rough, but I like them so it was fine. We then had Dippin Dots, I was hoping for the banana ones but they didn't have them so I had to have the mint chocolate ones. It had mini chocolate Shamu tails in it. It was good, but I think the banana ones are still the best. 

Since the weather had calmed we made our way to 'Kracken' to see if it was running. It's one of the roller coasters they have there. Unfortunately, just as we got there they closed the ride... We had a brief sit down and came up with a game called 'Heaven or Hell'. Then it was time to go and meet Dad where we'd agreed. Although it was a very rainy day, we made the most of what we could.

In the evening we just chilled on the sofas, I wrote some more blog entries and then Dad went out to the shop, Liv decided to go with him. When they returned they had bought Dunkin' Donuts, it was a heavenly moment to see them walk through the door with a big box of doughnuts. 

And that brings me to a sugary ending. 

Until next time, 

L
xxx