Vacay 2013 - Part 2

So we eventually made it back from the beach to the hotel room, got kids bathed, and half-way settled down to sleep so we could start cleaning, unpacking, packing for the next day and sleeping ourselves.

Whew!  Vacations are hard work with kids.  :)

So we woke up and off we went to Busch Gardens.  It was our first trip there, so entrances, parking, tickets, park layout, all of it was new to us. Somehow we managed. :)

Brandon's smile.

BG does have a great Sesame Street kids area.  Plenty of rides they can all fit in, a water/splash pad and a cool tree house are there.

"No want to touch Elmo, daddy!"

Katherine practicing her camera skills.

Not gonna exaggerate, it was HOT!  Thank goodness for the Iceploration show that's in the A/C.  Brandon fell asleep and we gave our feet and sweat glands a break.

After the comfort of the A/C we all rode in the SkyLift to the opposite side of the park.  Jim took Brandon back to get the stroller while I waited in line with K & N for the log flume ride.

Here's one suggestion I have BG: put an estimated wait time at different stations throughout the line so mothers with tired children can gauge whether or not it's wise to stand in line and wait for a ride she's not exactly sure they can all ride on.

Oh yeah, and please make the ride height requirements easier to understand.  I've been at this "standing in lines and measuring for the right height" thing for a while and the height requirements were very confusing.

So what do you do with two very jumpy, antsy children while waiting in line for 30 minutes?  [Ouch, even as I type it out it sounds miserable.]

You encourage them to make funny faces at the camera and take lots of pictures.

Can we say camera hog?  Let your sister have a chance.

Ok, done with that ride.  Got Nathan's clothes too wet for his comfort.  It's off to our comfy resting spot for naps so we can come back closer to supper and enjoy the fireworks.

Vacay 2013 - Part 1

Our summer vacation spot this year was the Clearwater/Tampa area.  We opted to buy some Busch Gardens passes and try it out this year.

One unfortunate event that happened before we left the house was Jim's cell phone belt clip broke.  Jim without a phone clip = unhappy man = difficult coexistence for us all.  The Verizon store, the ReTech store and Wal-Mart in Ocala left us with nothing.  At least not the one he was looking for, so when we arrived in Tampa we stopped by a Target.

Here, the children are entertaining themselves in the electronic aisle while daddy looks for a suitable clip.  Now that I think about it, I don't think they've ever tried on "real" headphones and listened to music before.

Our first stop, after the hotel and settling in and finding a clip and supper, was Clearwater beach.  It was voted "Florida's best beach town" and boasts sugary white sand beaches.  Beautiful, it was.  What we failed to plan for was one road in and out of the area on top of rush hour.  Oh well, we showed up a little later than we expected, but they got in some good sand and water time and a show by Aaron Bonk.

Reminiscing about Nathan when he was 22 months old in St. Augustine.

 

Brandon 26 months old.

 

 

Thus begins a series of pictures of me on the beach.

 

Don't you just love the attention to detail (I say sarcastically).

 

What a great place to practice your cartwheels!  Much better than the living room.

 

Jim saying, "I love the beach."  (again, said sarcastically)  Must explain why he was aiming for the shots of my rear end the entire time.

Shoveling/slinging sand.

 

Pouring water on mommy's leg is fun.

 

Her grand creation in the sand.

 

Here's Aaron Bonk, the "Object Manipulation Specialist" that put on a juggling/variety show on the boardwalk as we were leaving.  Nathan was enthralled and we made sure to thoroughly explain to him that balancing swords or knives on his forehead or swinging around fire-laced whips were NOT going to happen in our house.  No matter how much he practiced.

Katherine's Kafe

Our sweet little girl wants to start a restaurant of her own one day, and name it Katherine's Kafe.  She wants there to be a butterfly garden inside that is free one day a week and the other days patrons could enter with a minimal fee.  She wants to serve normal kid stuff, PB&Js, grilled cheese sandwiches & chicken nuggets, along with spaghetti, hamburgers and pizza for the adults.

She loves to surprise me by preparing supper some nights.  Secretly, I think she does it because she hears my constant disdain of preparing healthy, good-tasting meals.  But ultimately, she does love preparing food for others.

Here, she prepared supper for us all.  All by herself.  Makes mommy so happy and proud of her. :)

Even included dessert.

City farmers

Here's what city-folk do when their farmer-husbands bring home delicious fresh vegetables.

School room turned to vegetable processing room.

 

There were 5 bushels of just the Mississippi cream peas.

Thank goodness Bamah and Papa have an automatic pea sheller.  We're still enjoying those peas well into August.  Mmmmmmm.