Our Little Horned Frogs: Alabama Vacay: Dolphin Cruise

We decided to surprise the kids with a cruise at sunset to find some dolphins ~ it turned out to be the best.night.ever. Our morning (which will be blogged about in detail later with the title "The Great Outdoors NOT" at a later date), started out very rough, but this ending made up for it in spades. The kids 1st time in a boat and the 1st time to see dolphins up close and personal. So we packed a cooler of snacks and headed out for an adventure. Some nice people in line took a family picture of us:

As I am the official picture taker, my hubby made sure to catch a shot of me with the kids. I loved it as it was one in which we were actually sand free :-)

Below: KK and AJ posing by the pretend dolphin. KK made sure I was clear this was not the real thing. Also shown: our boat and the sign of the cruise we took.

After roll call (yes they did yell out last names to ensure all were there), we boarded our ship. Much to AJ's dismay, all kids under 7 are required to wear a life vest per state law. I think the picture here shows you exactly how he felt about this rule. He kept saying "its not my vest". I think he wanted his lion floatie...

Don't panic... the tears lasted only a moment as the boat left the marina and we were off for an adventure. Nothing stops tears like getting to be on a real big boat in the bay, headed off for Florida waters to find some real dolphins!

Aren't they cute little sailors! They loved standing up and riding the waves on the boat ~ there were smiles and giggles for the first five minutes straight.

Before we knew it, the dolphin's were spotted and the captain got the waves going behind the boat. Apparently, these fun-loving creatures love when the boats make certain waves. They jump and frolic in the waves as they chase the boat. And they did not disappoint!

The captain jumped down from above and announced that all little kids should go to the back of the boat to watch up close. KK and AJ jumped up and made a beeline for the bench, they wanted a front row to this action. Here they are, looking for signs of dolphins:

And within moments, they saw this (go Daddy for taking some amazing shots while the kids and I got the up close view):

KK and AJ both started giggling, jumping up and down and screaming all at the same time. They were so happy! It was more fun to watch them at one point. Every time the dolphin's jumped, they both looked at each other and started laughing all over again. AJ would scream "Jump Dolphin Jump" as if he was in charge of the show. I wish I could explain how awesome it was, seeing the bliss on their faces. I had several people approach me after to say they had more fun watching KK and AJ be so happy than watch the actual dolphins. :-) Maybe I should have charged them $15 a person? Teasing!

Below: my babies showing their joy

Daddy got some great shots!

I did take a quick video to show the dolphins and you can clearly hear the kids giggling and laughing. So fun!
Come back later for this -- our wifi at the house isn't strong enough to handle my videos apparently. It will be fixed once we are home!

Below: me and KK right after the dolphin's were done playing.

After the first half of the cruise, we had some time to have a snack and enjoy more "boat" time.

We got to see some more dolphin's jumping before headed back to the marina. It was a wonderful cruise. We got to watch the sunset over the water as we returned home. KK and I were all about the wind on our faces and looking out over the boat (not quite like "I'm the king of the world from Titanic but you get my drift). AJ, despite being on a boat, sat down and decided to take a break from all the excitement by playing with his cars. Typical boy, on a boat, playing cars.