Jonah and Shamu,the Whale

Isabella went to Veggie Tales Camp a couple of weeks ago and had a blast! The Veggie Tales Theme was centered on the story of Jonah. Isabella was so enthusiastic as she shared with me all about how Jonah was swallowed up by “the whale”. It was all she could talk about!

As we began talking together about the story of Jonah, I suspected that with all her talk about "the whale" that she might be apprehensive about seeing Shamu at Sea World the following week on vacation (I know, the timing was perfect…right?).

So with much animation, I began sharing with her about all the cool things that we were going to do at Sea World. Just as I thought, upon hearing that we were going to see Shamu, she was a little uneasy and told me very matter of factly, “mommy, no it’s ok…I don’t want to see Shamu…I don’t want him to eat me….remember Jonah and how the whale ate him.” As I looked down at her sweet face with all seriousness and concern…I couldn’t help but chuckle….it was too cute!

All week Tim and I began preparing her as much as possible, without over doing it, for the “big encounter with Shamu”. We reassured her that the whale was not going to eat her and that mommy and papi wouldn’t let anything happen to her. With lots of enthusiasm and excitement we told her that Shamu had learned some new tricks and that we were going to see a real fun show where Shamu could show off all the neat tricks that he had learned! This seemed to put her at ease.

So the big day arrives…not only did we get to see Shamu (which Isa LOVED) but we had up-close seats in the “splash zone” section! Man was that water cold!!

Toward the end of the show the trainers instructed the crowd to do a cheer complete with hand motions....Isa really got into this! This actually signaled to Shamu to come over and splash us. As the crowd shouted...SHAMU...SHAMU, the trainer waived people over to join her around the glass tank on the front row.

Tim of course tried to take Isa, but had no luck. She was perfectly content staying next to mommy...a safe distance from Shamu. Elianna on the hand, didn't get much of an opportunity to voice her opinion before she was whisked away by her Papi to the the front row...boy did she get a surprise!

Though none of us knew that we were going to be drenched after leaving the show, (splashed yes...drenched no!) the girls had a blast! In fact, Isabella asked if we could go back the next day to see "Shamu do his tricks again!"

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We had every intention of seeing Shamu the following day, but instead fed and petted the dolphins…that was so cool! (I will be sure to share some pics soon!)