I just realized that we've been home for almost two weeks now and I'm still writing about our trip. I know I've been dragging this out for a while now and I apologize. I have wanted to devote enough time to capturing the many details and finding the best photos of the highlights. Then, two days ago, Mimi's photo CD arrived and I was so tempted to add them but knew I would drag this on another week.This was our next-to-the-last day in Orlando and we devoted most of it to Sea World and one short hour to the water park across the street.

Some of you may be familiar with the recent story of the Orca whale trainer who was killed by one of her subjects, Tillikum. The tragedy occurred at this particular park--and not too long ago. Our first stop was the Orca Whale show. Before any of the trainers came onto stage, they showed a short video dedicating the show to Dawn Brancheau. It was very moving. And although they did not make mention of it, the trainers don't get into the water with the whales any longer. It still was amazing what they have trained these enormous creatures to do.

Later in the day we took a shuttle down the road to Aquatica which is one of two water parks. We made the assumption their operating hours would be the same as Sea World but we arrived at 5:00 only to find that closing time was at 6:00. It didn't matter to the boys. They took off running and got in every last slide they could in spite of the wind and a high temperature of 71 degrees. Ben was thrilled to learn he met every single height requirement. As we exited the park his last words were, "this is my favorite place of all."