Busch Gardens!

Friday was our day at Busch Gardens. Because Jake is military our family can go for free once per year to Busch Gardens or SeaWorld. Jake and I have been to both before, but this was Gavin's first amusement park. It really is an amazing deal - tickets normally go for $81!

 I'm pretty sure there was a gorilla in this picture when I took it:

 Gorilla:

 Train ride. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the train to get back to the station, and Gavin was not happy about it. But the ride made up for it. Awesome views. Probably my favorite ride at Busch Gardens. Here we are waiting for the train to start moving. You can tell it was a rough wait:

Gavin, what animals did you see on the train ride? "uh, groundhog and Elmo and wanedeer (reindeer)." uh, ok...

 Gavin liked to have his hands held during the rides:

 Gavin saw his "friends" that rode the Rhino Rally ride with us leaving:

The tigers were the only animals Gavin was scared of. He thought they were going to jump and get him. He liked them after I explained they couldn't get to us.

 What do you do at Busch Gardens when it's raining?

hide by the orangutans:

 ride some rides:

 crawl in the kiddie crawl obstacle course thing:

 hug all the Sesame Street characters:

 Gavin, who is that in the picture? "Elmo and batman."

 find a splash pad and go crazy, luckily it was a warm day even in the rain:

 we watched from under an umbrella:

 watch the Sesame Street show, ironically about a sunny day:

 Then it stopped raining!

 is it a kangaroo or is it Gavin?:

 doggy show with assorted dogs, cats, birds, pigs, etc:

 reaction to doggy show:

 Jake is in the front row:

 Gavin making his own fun, dancing while waiting for daddy to ride the Cheetah roller coaster:

 Jake after the coaster:

Gavin dislikes at Busch Gardens:

big carousel

kiddie coaster we rode as a family - "scary. too fast"

waiting (luckily there were very few lines)

potties - he fought us every time we made him go

Gavin favorites at Busch Gardens:

the doggy show - he keeps asking to go see it again

all the animals

Elmo

all the other rides he rode

the rain - he really enjoyed playing in it, it didn't bother him at all

Vacation!

This evening we got back from a 3 night vacation in the Tampa/St Petersburg area in Florida. We arrived there Thursday evening, and went out to catch the sunset at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach, where they have a sunset festival daily with talented street performers/agressive beggars , merchants set up at tables selling useless crap, and lots of people. I was glad we went on a Thursday evening and not on a weekend. But it was beautiful and an interesting experience. Really other than some of the more agressive performers begging for money it was an enjoyable experience and I'm glad we went. It was at this location, and the following dinner at a pizza place in Clearwater Beach, that I first realized how different the beaches of this area are from where my parents live in Ft Walton Bch, on the panhandle of Florida. The water looks the same - beautiful at both locations, and both have white sand, but the ambiance and people are totally different. Ft Walton Bch: polite, laid back, slow paced, most locals are basically southerners without the accent and transplants looking for a relaxed way of life, and most of the tourists are from the south. Tampa area: gruff, in a hurry, busy, most of the tourists are from New England, many of the residents are transplants looking to impose the culture of New Jersey on Florida. I have heard people in Georgia complain about "yankees" occasionally and it always made me chuckle, but now I get it. The snow birds were all nice, but most of the people without white hair were weird.

#4

Gavin's 4th birthday was yesterday and we celebrated by having our friends over for a dinner party. It was supposed to be a Super Bowl party too, but it turns out we don't get NBC in our living room (we use an antenna). Jake was able to find the game on my laptop but it didn't show the commercials or half time. I thought it was pretty funny in an ironic sort of way but Jake was bummed. After everyone left and we got Gavin in bed Jake realized we do get that channel in our bedroom, so we watched the last hour of the game in there. At first Gavin wanted a Star Wars cake for his birthday. I spent several hours researching those and finally figured out how to make an easy version. Then he saw the pictures of last years birthday and changed his mind. For the last 3 weeks every time we asked him what type of cake he wanted it was "dirt cake" or "worms pie." So I made the exact same cake this year. No complaints from me, I think it's the easiest cake I've ever made: 2 cooked chocolate cakes mixed with 2 cans of icing and a bag of gummie worms.  After I looked at these pictures today I thought it was pretty funny that Gavin had a cookie in his hand while he was blowing out his candles:

 Gavin didn't seem too interested in Candy Land. He left it half unwrapped and headed for the big present:

 It's a model of the front of a car, with an engine that pops up, removable parts and a wheel and gearshift that make noise. It turned out to be a better toy than I had anticipated when I bought it on clearance last year. Even Carleigh enjoyed it:

 Gavin playing with his new playdoh fun factory first thing this morning:

Today Gavin had his wellcare visit at the Dr's office. He weighs 38.5 lbs, is 41.5 inches tall, and is in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He also got 4 shots from a nurse that was amazingly fast, like a shot ninja. They hurt all the same though, and poor Gavin has been talking about his broken leg (one shot was in his thigh) all day.

Pre-birthday fun

Gavin's birthday is Sunday. Today he got 2 cards in the mail and also a package of toys from Uncle Tom. The last couple days Gavin has been asking for a bumblebee, a different bumblebee than the 2 he already has, so it was really good timing for Tom's gift:

 One of the advantages of having a crazy high ceiling in the livingroom is that you can shoot off rockets inside (notice the transformers watching):

Thanks Uncle Tom!