The Cannon Family Homepage: Shamu! Shamu! Shamu!

I had just come home from a week-long business trip to Toronto and our family took the opportunity to visit our friends Stewart and Elaine Young in San Diego, and take Anthon to Sea World. As you may recall, our outing to Disneyland didn't yield the excitement and joy that we were hoping for. However, we thought that since Anthon loves animals, Sea World might be more his speed.

We talked up Shamu quite a bit and he was totally into Shamu even before the show started. However, Anthon was so frightened to see this huge black and white creature unexpectedly jump out of the water that he started to cry uncontrollably. Poor kid! Before this, Anthon loved to swim in the pool and I hope this hasn't created a subconscious fear of killer whales jumping out of the water. Because haven't we all psyched ourselves out as little kids, believing that there are sharks in the water? Ok, maybe that's just me. All in all, we had a great time seeing polar bears, dolphins, penguins and other marine life.

I think this day left an indellible impression on our boy for the better. Even a week and some change later, he has recalled words and gestures from that day. We saw a picture of a starfish in a magazine and he said "starfish," stretched out his hand and patted it like he did when he held it at Sea World.

Click on the thumbnail to the left to see the pictures from our day. Click on the right thumbnail to see a short video clip.