Busch Gardens

My parents live 5 miles away from Busch Gardens so the kids and I have taken advantage of season passes and have tried to go at least once a week. The season passes also cover Water Country USA which is 3 miles from my parent's home. We haven't gone to Water Country yet but that may happen next week. Of course we took advantage of Costco's price on the season passes and saved a bunch more. They have paid for themselves several times over. Our first trip was June 13th. My mom took Jamison with her while she ran some errands and I took Weston and Braedon to BG. Weston and Braedon stood on the drench deck of Escape from Pompeii for quite a while...I should have taped what it was like trying to get them away from it.




The boys and I drove up to Fredericksburg on Wednesday June 25th to check on our house and clean up some of the landscaping (still hasn't sold! ARGH!). We invited Nick Clark (lives across the street from us) to come back to W'burg and stay until Saturday when his family would be driving through W'burg on their way to North Carolina. Weston and Braedon were so happy to see Nick again. We went to Busch Gardens on Friday, June 27th.

Busch Gardens has an eagle preserve for injured bald eagles. This was our first time seeing a bald eagle so close and I was completely in awe. They are beautiful! This one in the picture is one of the smaller ones they have. The handler said the further north they are, the larger they are. Braedon had so many questions for the handler some that I remember are "How fast can a bald eagle dive?". "Can they pick up people?". "What about dogs?", and after the eagle pooped in front of him (they kind of launch it out the back away from themselves and it is quite a sight to see considering the velocity involved) he had to ask "Is he going to do that again?", and "How far can they poop like that?"...yes the handler was stumped so Braedon says "You should find that out if you don't know". We are working on trying to curb his cheekiness but it's so entertaining sometimes!



There is a section of Bush Gardens that is perfect for the little guys like Jamison. Little rides and a water area they can splash around in. It is a dragon theme and the boys are climbing around in a dragon egg.
















The Log Flume...I felt bad that I didn't tell Braedon that there were 2 drops. I knew he wouldn't go if I told him but I knew he'd like it once he went (c'mon, like you've never done that!) I was right...he loved it. His expression is priceless in the last picture (click on it to enlarge it). Don't worry, he came off the ride smiling like a goon and wanting to "do it again!"



















Nick wanted to ride the Griffon. It's is the worlds tallest floorless dive coaster (205 ft drop at 90 degrees...and that's just one of 2 drops). We stood and watched Nick ride it several times. In the second picture you can see Nick sitting in the back row first one on the right. I am trying to psych myself up to ride it. My mom rode it, my sister Traci rode it and so did my dad. I used to LOVE roller coasters but after being pregnant with Weston I get motion sickness like you wouldn't believe. It's not the ride I'm afraid of, it's the throwing up in public I'm terrified of and it WILL happen. Careful planning...Dramamine and an empty stomach and I'll be good to go...the rest is just mind over matter. I'll keep you posted on what happens. Once Kris gets here I'm going to ask my parents to watch the boys and Kris and I will go ride all of the coasters, as long as I take the Dramamine it will be one of the best dates ever! I can't wait!




When Nick would go onto a ride Weston and Braedon couldn't go on or didn't want to go on, I would let them play one arcade game, while we waited. The arcades were usually near each roller coaster exit. The duck Jamison is holding is from a game where you pick a floating rubber duckie out of a 'pond' if there is a star underneath him you get a prize...he picked one with a star!















Weston and Braedon played Whack-a-Mole and won these monkeys...they were so excited
they actually won something. I was excited that there was hardly any one at that particular arcade so it was easy for them to win something and I only had to pay for 2 games.




























After a long day, the boys played Pokemon on their Nintendo DS games. Nick taught them how they could trade between their game systems and do something called Pictochat (I guess it's like sending messages between their DSs from what I could tell). When I went into their room at 1 am to check on them Braedon was long gone but Nick and Weston were busy battling and whatever else you do with these things. This is how I found them sitting across the room from each other playing away:



It was a great day. Busch Gardens is our favorite place to spend the summer right now.