Swimming with the Dolphins

Today was the day to swim with the dolphins. Joe woke up with an enormous smile ready for this highly anticipated activity. He said, "This is my big wish on my wish trip". We went to the Sea Life Park and toured around the exhibits until it was our turn to interact with the dolphins. We were all able to go down on a platform with life vests on. Caleb and Will could not touch their feet to the ground so Kevin and I each held one of the boys. As we stood in a line our dolphin, named Maui, swam in front of us to welcome the group and say Aloha! The trainer had Maui lay in front of us so we could pet him in between some tricks that he performed. Will was the most shy of the group and just put one finger out to touch his fin. Maui put his head in our hands gave us a kiss on the cheek and then we gave him a kiss on his nose. We were also allowed to "dance" with Maui by putting our hands on his fins when he rose out of the water. Will was the only one who did not want to kiss Maui but he did eventually dance with him. Maui did some other neat tricks like shaking his head yes and no to questions, racing around the pool, jumping into the air and splashing Joe in the face because he kissed him too fast to have his picture taken. Joe didn't mind the splash as he got to kiss Maui again and said, "this is great". The experience was exactly what Joe wanted.

We were also able to see the sting rays being fed, a spectacular dolphin show, and a close encounter with the penguins. The sights are gorgeous and we are all having the time of our lives. Thank you "a Wish with Wings"!