Busch Gardens

7/7/11 Paige has helped me with babysitting while Corrie has been on maternity leave.  Corrie didn't really want my kids over at her house for the first month with baby Ivy - and she'll have her mom here for my first month w/ our baby boy.  My friend Paige has taken my kids to do some fun things on days that I work!  They usually go swimming every day, if it's good weather.  They went to Busch Gardens one day because they all already have passes.  I told her to take a photo of the kids before she left in case one got lost - she'd have a photo of what they were wearing.

 I gave a lot of other protective-mother tips to her, poor thing.  She went with us to Disney and knows Dylan and Isaac, so I wasn't that worried, but then again I was.  I called on my breaks from work:)  They had fun, of course!  Okay, so most of my tips were to drink water and to take lots of photos! 

 They got to see the new Cheetah Hunt ride and saw the new cheetahs! 

Then all of a sudden it started pouring and they had to run back to the car and got soaking wet!  Paige changed them into their dry clothes, but the next day my car smelled like wet rags b/c the stroller was wet.  It's all better now, and they had fun.  I'm so happy that my kids are at the perfect ages for babysitters.  Paige has younger siblings, so she's great with them.

They also went to the zoo, but I must not have packed a camera for her.  It was her first time to any zoo!  can you imagine?

Tiffany is in Denver . . .

. . .so I took the day off work and took the kids to Busch Gardens.  We went there a few weeks ago, but I figured we should make good use of our passes and the 70 degree weather (it was a little cooler in the morning). 

They got to go on a lot of rides:

 

 This trip, the kids were a little braver.
Dylan walked across the rope bridge by himself:

And, they fed the birds themselves, instead of watching me:



The End.   

Did you know that Steven is the World's Greatest Dad? Well he is!

Steven took us to Busch Gardens.  Bonnie bought my pass months ago and I hadn't used it again.  The kids got free passes this year (which will also work nest year!)  So Steven got a pass. 

We saw a really cool show.  It was possibly Dylan's favorite part.  He liked when the "jungle guys" flipped the girl from the audience.  I liked the juggling frog and these girls. 

I'm not a roller coaster person.  I haven't let the kids get out much because I've been so busy just keeping up with STUFF, so I wanted to take them somewhere outside where they could run, climb, get fresh air, and discover.  We saw lions,

hyenas,

swimming hippos,

took time for Dylan to be a tourist,

and the kids got to take turns being held by their daddy. 

We also saw the primates,

who posed for pictures

but then showed that they're really wild animals who like to climb.

A friendly person asked if we wanted our picture taken as a family- why sure!

These kids love their daddy so much and were so happy:)

We saw tigers,

up close and personal!

How cool is this! 

So cool that we waited in line (nice Dylan) to do it again. 

We went to climb some more. 

See this little tunnel room?  I crawled in and

asked for some kisses.  Don't look up my nose, look at their CUTE profiles:)

Isaac wasn't so sure about letting go.

So like a good daddy monkey, Steven volunteered to carry him in. 

AND right back out. 

Steven's favorite part is the aviary where he gets to feed the birds. 

He's so happy:)

I would have been fine on my side of the camera, but it's also good to participate in the memory making with the kids. 

I did it.  Now I can check that off my list.  Dylan and Isaac still need to take turns holding the nectar, so we'll be back I'm sure.

They love laughing when the birds bite their daddy (who repeatedly taunts the birds for Isaac.)

Big Bird was walking away from Isaac who was so sad that he wouldn't come back.  Isaac's little feelings were hurt that he couldn't hear Isaac. 

But Big Bird came back!!!

Isaac was sooo happy:) 

The kids rode a kiddy ride. 

But let me tell you about Isaac's FIRST ROLLER COASTER RIDE!!!  I thought Isaac would be too short to go on, so when he and Steven walked back to the line, I thought nothing of it, but when they didn't come back - I felt like such a bad mom!  Isaac would be scared! 

We had to buy the picture.  I'm so sorry Isaac! 

(The Big Bird came back after this ride these pics are out of order - so Isaac is ok.)

 Dylan had gone with Jake before and didn't like it - but because we made such a big deal about Isaac being brave, Dylan wanted to give it another try.  He did it, then did it again - 2x in a row!  He likes it!!

 So because it was his first one that he enjoyed, here's his picture.  He likes talking about how his hair was flying:) 

they slept on the way home.  It's not like me to not take pics of that.  Oh well - we love our World's Greatest Dad!