Six Flags 2011

Yesterday the kids took advantage of their free Six Flags tickets they had earned through a reading program in the spring and we made a visit to the Discovery Kingdom. I decided it was best not to bring Rachel along on the trip, being that she is at the age where she would want to be out of her stroller and is not quite old enough to enjoy all the park has to offer, so we dropped her off at Uncle Tommy's house. Grandma Nancy wanted to come along with us, and we were glad to have her company as well as the extra pair of hands. Let me tell you, Six Flags with five kids is busy, busy, busy! But we had a great time.

The first thing Kaitlyn wanted to do upon our entrance was hug the bunny. I was glad I had my camera so that I did not have to pay for the professional picture of this.
They make a cute bunch!
Next we visited the dolphins. I could sit and watch them for hours, they are so beautiful to me. I absolutely love sea animals.
We lucked out with an absolutely gorgeous day. The sun was shining (of course) and we reaped the benefits of the bay breeze. It could've been so much worse for August!
We only watched two shows, one of them being the tigers. I think our favorite part was watching them swim underwater to retrieve chunks of meat.
And of course we hit up a few rides. This was the kids' main reason for wanting to come.
My personal favorite is always the killer whale show. I love Shouka! He has been there for 17 years.
Look at that... majestic.
The 1:00 show was absolutely packed. We sat way up at the top of the stadium, which was fine with me because we were in the shade and able to see everything.
Ashlee being a good big sister and going on the kiddie ride with Kaitlyn.
These penguins were so little and cute, much smaller than they appear in "March of the Penguins."
One came up to the glass to say hello.
Shark Experience was very cool. The kids really enjoyed this and had many questions to ask.
One of Ashlee's was, "Why don't the sharks eat the fish that are in the tank?" We found out that the zookeepers chop the heads off the fish before feeding them to the sharks, so they never make the association of live fish with food. That is how the fish swimming around in the tank stay safe.
We also discovered that zebra sharks have spots, and leopard sharks have stripes. Hmmm, strange...
My kids "suckered" me into buying these treats for them. They made for a couple hours of quiet though!
We had to hit the butterfly exhibit. Upon arriving, Ashlee stated that her favorite species was the owl butterfly.
See how his wings resemble the eye of an owl? This is a defense that keeps predators at bay.
Scoping out the koi in the pond...
It was too tempting not to stick little hands in the water.
Fascinated by the butterfly pupae.

This is how they drink their nectar.
And look at this... one of Ashlee's favorite butterflies landed right on her back!
We thought she was going to take him home.
This was such a fun trip. We did so much more than I was able to capture here. We stayed from open until close and spent our last dollar, so I considered the day a success. One highlight of the trip was that I took Jacob on his first rollercoaster. He had been begging from the moment we got there, and I really felt like he had to experience it for himself. We decided on Kong, the floorless one that goes upside-down. I kept telling him it was going to be scary! I screamed the whole time and he just sat motionless with his eyes shut. Afterward he nearly collapsed from the adrenaline rush and said he would never ride that again. Poor guy! I am still trying to decide if I am a bad mother for doing that...
To make it up to him I took him on the race cars, which he absolutely loved. We came in second place and lapped two people. He kept telling me, "Mom, we are burning serious rubber!" We hit IN-and-OUT on the way home and the kids fell asleep in the car. Anthony held up pretty well, though I could tell by the end of the day that he was tired and had had enough. We can't wait to do this again, and hopefully next time Daddy can come with us. Hope that was enough fun to last for the year kids!