Last year Micah got the AMAZING idea to buy us Season Passes to Busch Gardens for my birthday!! We went FIVE times last year and all four of us loved it so much, we decided to make it our vacation spot for the Summer of 2012 too!! This year, however, we also had to pay for Emily too since she is three now, but I honestly think this child had enough fun this past Saturday to make it worth the whole price of her ticket!!!
We were also fortunate to have Mimmi and Dooders meet us there! We all THOROUGHLY enjoyed having them along for the day!! They encouraged us to pack a picnic lunch (which we did and they pretty much supplied the goods for), which also led us to park in the closer parking spaces (which in our opinion was TOTALLY worth the extra $7 we had to pay for that!), which allowed us a break in the middle of the day as we came out and enjoyed a nice, mostly relaxing picnic in the shade, which overall led to a much happier family!!!
The weather was perfect, the girls enjoyed the rides, the splash pad, the characters, the princess show, and just enjoyed each other which was fun to see!! Emily and Haley could ride most of the same rides together this year and it was so cute to watch them walk up to the ride and get in together and have fun playing and laughing!!
It was Ethan's Debut Trip to Busch Gardens and being only 4 months old, I can't say that it was the best day of his life, but he tolerated it really well!! We got to the park around 10 and stayed until about 7pm!! We dressed the girls in their night gowns and Ethan in his pajamas before we headed back home, it was a peaceful ride home and all of the kids transferred well to their beds and slept ALL NIGHT LONG!!! Loved it!!! We are looking forward to our next trips in the coming months!!!
Here we are together at the beginning of the Day!
And we were all SO Happy Mimmi and Dooders Came Too!! (Ethan is Even Smiling!!)
Haley trying on a Silly Hat!
Monkey See Monkey Do!
Just when we thought the hats couldn't get any crazier, right?
Together again on one of their favorite rides!
Me and Emily on the Hobby Horses!
Haley got to be accompanied by Dooders!
There is a princess, if ever I have seen one!!
Emily was high atop the tree house in Land of the Dragons!
I took Haley way up there too!
One of the funnest parts of the tree house!! Emily and Mimmi walking across the rope bridge!
With Dooders, Haley and I close behind!!
Sharing a Snack!!!
Once Mimmi and Dooders brought out the snacks, Haley didn't want to move!
Until it was time to ride the dragons!!!
Dooders was able to get Haley motivated by telling her he would ride with him on the dragons too!
Our Little Buddy's FIRST Trip to Busch Gardens was wearing him out!
Waiting for the Train with Dooders!
Ethan's FIRST ride on the Train at Busch Gardens!! He REALLY enjoyed it!
Mimmi and Dooders being all cuddly:)
Love those Baby Toes (and how he is clenching the stroller bar!)
Then it was time for the Splash Pad!! (It was the girls' highlight of the day and for me it was THE MOST STRESSFUL part of mine!)
But Emily LOVED stepping on the water spouts!
Cute little Sweet "P"!
Love this shot of Haley in Emily's bathing suit!! You can tell it was a little too big for her, but it had a Princess on the front and she was Happy!
Haley was more into watching!!
And then the water works stopped, the girls got changed, got to watch a show with Elmo and meet some of the characters!! Emily still LOVES them just as much as last year:)
Melts my heart!
Mimmi took them for a ride on Prince Elmo's Spire!!
Going Up!
Coming Down!! Remember how last year, you could only see Haley's little pony tail when she rode this!!
Emily was excited to wear an apron and stomp some grapes, but they didn't have aprons or grapes this year!! So, she had to settle for a picture with Mommy instead!!
Silly Haley!
Emily wanted to ride Oscar's Whirly Worms ALL DAY!! So, she finally got her chance!
She LOVED it!!
Had to slide in another picture of Mimmi with the kiddos before Mimmi and Dooders headed back home!! However, little did they know they wouldn't be back sooner than they had planned because they had taken our van keys with them:(
This was the last ride of the day!! Emily had been SO EXCITED that she could finally ride a roller coaster (granted a kiddie coaster, but to me still a roller coaster!) Daddy took her on it, while I stayed with the other 2 kiddos!! This was their BEFORE shot!
And this was the AFTER shot! When I asked her if she liked it all she would say was "It was too fast Mommy!" But at least she did it and she got her roller coaster fix:)
