Busch Gardens-- a pictorial essay

After my business trip in Richmond ended (on Friday, March 27), Mom, Jack, Bear, and I headed to Williamsburg for a couple of days. Despite the off and on again rain, we managed to make it to Busch Gardens. In previous years, Ned and Samantha would go to Busch Gardens while I went shopping. However, with the coming of Jack, I figured that I would now be needed at BG so we could play man-on-man defense with the two kids. To that end, I bought myself a one-year pass figuring that we would go numerous times over the next year. I was sure that Jack would love riding the kiddie rides.

WRONG! If there was theme for the day, here it is:

Apparently kid does not equal infant.

First ride - - the kiddie balloons. Here are Samantha and Katie:

Jack . . . not allowed to ride.

Second ride - - the flying umbrellas. We think Jack is good to go. Here are he and my sister Amy waiting for takeoff.

And here is the nice Busch Gardens employee escorting Jack and Amy to the gate after he kicked them off the ride because of Jack's age.

But Bear, Katie, and Tasha had a good time.

Next up - - the swings.

We actually pulled him off of this ride ourselves before they could kick him off. He looked like he was going to fall through the sides.

Fourth ride -- the carousel. SCORE!!! Jack is in.

However, the lady working the ride informed us that he needed to be wearing shoes. Oops. That's a problem b/c Jack never wears shoes. Fortunately, I had a pair in the diaper bag that he had kicked off the last time we went to church and I had forgotten about them.

As for the girls, they decided they were too big for the carousel.

Next - - the little dragons. The girls are having the time of their lives.

And then there's Jack wondering why he can't join them.

Time for the Ladybug ride. This one is a real favorite for Bear.

As for Jack. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Time for the boats. Don't even think about it Jack.

It's time for Eggery Deggery.

Bear (having a blast):

Jack (wondering why he's even here):

Taking a break from all the fun to take a quick snapshot of Jack outside the Festhaus. And no, he didn't go inside.

Bumper cars. Yippee!

Bear loves this ride. And she seems to be better than her mother at avoiding collisions.

Jack really likes this one. Watching other people ride it that is.

It's time for the super duper high swings. We thought Bear might be too little but she wasn't.

And then there's Jack:

Final ride was the Katapult. My only ride. I rode it with Bear who, as I was trying to keep down my lunch, kept telling me how much fun it was.

To recap-- We spent 3+ hours at Busch Gardens and 1) Jack rode the carousel once and got lots of time in his stroller; 2) Bear got to ride a bunch of rides and, because she wasn't with her Daddy, didn't have to waste time going to the hospitality houses so he could get free beer; and 3) Mommy almost threw up, didn't get to go to the outlet mall, and appears to have wasted $89.95 on a season's pass b/c Jack can't ride anything at BG.

Love,

Allie