What Could Be Cooler?

Does life get any cooler than being kissed by a beluga whale? Last Saturday we had an amazing chance to go behind the scenes at White Whale Stadium at Seaworld and get up close and personal with a beluga whale named Sikuu. In order to be kissed we had to kneel down in front of the pool with our hands on the ground and turn our heads to the side, so we couldn't actually se the whale when she came at us--it was a wild feeling! The belugas are very gentle and friendly so it wasn't frightening, just exciting. You can see in the picture that while she was kissing me her body was pressing against my hands, so in addition to having this huge whale head next to mine, my hands were covered with cold, rubbery whale body. I think the noise that accompanied the silly look on my face was something like, "Eeeeeeee!" After she kissed me, I looked down in the water to see Sikuu's three-month-old calf gnawing on her mama's fin. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it was awesome!