What a great day today was at Sea Life Park! I don’t think Lucas and I could have asked for a more beautiful and fun day full of great food, family and friends. The only complaint I could have about the day was that it was HOT! When we first arrived there to set-up, we had no doubts that it was going to be a beautiful, bright and sunny day. We were so excited that it wasn’t going to be overcast but I was worried about the opposite now; I was worried that we might melt. You see, I don’t do well with heat, not at all. Me and air conditioning are friends, and me and heat just don’t get along. Once we got set-up, all of our family and friends started to trickle in and that is when the fun started. My favorite detail of the party was my unique guestbook that we had guests sign. I ordered Ke’alohi a small, wooden, three-foot custom surfboard that guests could sign so that after the party, we could hang it in her room so she can see all the people that got to celebrate her special day.
We started off things with taking the kids over to the sea turtles so that we could feed them some lunch: broccoli and lettuce. There was a little competition between Ke’alohi and the turtles for the food because she was trying to eat their food too! It was quite funny trying to get her to throw the food in the water and not eat it, but she managed to get a few things in there. At that activity we hung out with Auntie Nalani, Uncle Jason and Ka’eo, Nalani’s godson. I think that makes Ke’alohi and Ka’eo “godbrother and godsister” doesn’t it? Hahaha.
After we fed the sea turtles, we all headed down to Dolphin Cove to watch the main show. At this show, we got to see Atlantic and Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins and a Wholphin (a dolphin and whale mix). I had no idea that there was such a difference between the two types of dolphins like size and color. Nalani and I joked that the reason why the Pacific dolphins are bigger is that they are more than likely Hawaiians and like to eat! Hahaha. All the animals did such great tricks and really “wow’ed” all the people at our party!
After the show, we headed back to the cafe, where lunch was being served and I was totally surprised with how good the food was. So many people came up to us and asked us where we got the food catered and were completely blown away when we said that the park had made the food. We all stuffed ourselves with kalua pig, hulihuli chicken, rice, macaroni salad and lomilomi salmon! Next was the star of the show, the cake. When we were planning Ke’alohi’s party, we were trying to decide where to get her cake from and actually ended up getting it at Costco. Some of you will not believe me, I didn’t believe that they would make such great cakes before we ordered hers, but Costco makes AMAZING cakes. We bought two half sheet cakes, one chocolate, and the other one haupia (coconut). Some many people couldn’t believe that we got the cakes there and only spent $20 on each cake. We also got Ke’alohi a small little cake that she could enjoy and stuff her face in. She was so cute, she literally dove right in head first.
The activity that I was most excited to do with the kids and people at our party was feeding the sea lions. We headed down to the sea lion tank where all the sea lions were totally ready for their afternoon snack. Luckily we got to meet some of the trainers and they told us about the animals and how we would be feeding them. The sea lion that we fed was named Meleana. She ate all our fish right up and Ke’alohi had a ball watching her do it!
We ended the day with one last show at the Hawaii Ocean Theatre, where guests could see dolphins, sea lions and penguins. It was a great place were guests could see the animals up close and watch them do some tricks. Before we left, we stopped by the spot in the park where my parents got married. Yup, you heard me right, my parents got married at Sea Life Park and were actually the first couple ever to get married there. Tomorrow makes 34 years that my parents have been married and they took us down to the part of the park where they said their vows. The waterfall that was behind them has changed and the pond that the waterfall flows into is now the home of stingrays that guests can swim with and see up close.
All in all, it was a beautiful day and we are so happy that so many of our family and friends were able to make it! We love you all!
