Williamsburg-Day 3

Alternately titled: I'm the worst American ever

Ok, probably not the worst, but not great.  I love my country.  I am grateful that I live here in the United States.  I'm a patriotic person...I support our troops and am sincerely thankful for the sacrifices they and their families have made and are still making.  However, when it comes to our nation's history...I get a big, fat fail.  I just can't get into it.  I've never liked history.  Much to my history teacher brother's dismay, I cannot name the first five presidents or tell you for sure who was on what side in which war.  I didn't even know colonial Williamsburg was more than a replica.  "You mean, this is actually where the real colonial Williamsburg was?"  As hubby just shakes his head.  I was about as interested in DC as C was.  And the best part of my day at colonial Williamsburg was my root beer, followed closely by getting on the bus to take us back to our car.  Like I said, not the worst, but not great either.   

Meltdown. 

Some kid had some cars that he chose not to share with C.  I really felt like saying, "Well, now you know how it feels for other kids when you won't share with them."  Ok, so I did say that...exactly.  It didn't help, obviously.

But, pointing out all the giant piles of horse poop on the street certainly did!  We just started pointing and yelling, "Horse poop!"  Yep, he thought that was hilarious.  Hey, you do what you can when you, I mean when your kid, is bored!

Roller Coaster Ride!

C loves roller coasters.  In fact, that was the whole reason we decided to go to Busch Gardens in the first place.  He had told us that he wanted to ride a roller coaster for his birthday.  Since C picked hubby to ride with him everytime (sigh) he captured the experience on camera for me.  He just held the camera out in front of C and snapped pics during the ride.  I love it...like one of those cartoon flip books.

Williamsburg-Day 2

Sunday started off great!  Hubby called the bluegreen resort people (we were there to listen to a timeshare pitch, remember?) and said that we were MD residents and had read we didn't have to attend the presentation so how could we get our Bass Pro gift cards?  We had read in the fine print of our paperwork that MD residents were exempt from attending the bluegreen presentation but figured that we would still have to in order to get our gift cards.  Much to our surprise it was as easy as stopping by the presentation center and filling out a form.  So, a big thanks to whoever in MD worked that out!  After a big pancake breakfast at one of the tons of breakfast joints in Williamsburg, we were on our way to Busch Gardens.

We had shown C the website before our trip and he had played around on the interactive park map, so I guess he had a vague idea of what to expect.  He was so excited when we pulled into the parking lot.  "Busch Gardens here we come!"  He yelled.  He literally hopped the whole way to the tram he was so excited!

We made many trips on this sky ride since it was a quick way to get to different sections of the park.

We knew there was a Sesame Street section for kids at the park and thought we'd be spending most of our time there.  Busch Gardens is divided into "countries" and each one actually had two or three kid-friendly rides, so there was something for us to do everywhere we went.  The Land of the Dragons was great for kids!

Our little dinosaur!

This area had a bunch of kids rides right next to each other.  The lines were short so C just went from one ride to the next and back again!

They also had a giant tree house/climbing structure.  Hubby and C were up there for a looong time. (C wanted to do it 'all by himself') ;)

Ahh, the kiddie bumper cars.  Where parents, us included, can be heard hollering at their clueless kids, "Turn the wheel.  No, turn it the other way!  Push the red button with your foot.  You have to turn the wheel and push the button at the same time!"  C got the hang of it pretty well, after he freaked out thinking he was stuck the first few times he ran into the side.

Eventually, we made it over to the Sesame Street water playground!  C loved this and probably would've been content to spend the rest of the day here.

They turn off the water for the little show.  That was how we convinced him to go check out some more rides.

I love his faces on this ride!

The teacups!  One of the few rides we all went on together, and it was fun!  C kept sliding in between us laughing and telling us to "spin faster!"

Busch Gardens was totally worth the trip to Williamsburg!  All three of us had a great time!  (And there was only one mini-meltdown.  Which hubby noted is less than C usually has at home!)  We were there for almost 10 hours!!  And surprisingly, hubby was the first one to throw in the towel.  We definitely plan on going back a few more times while we live out here.  C was less than an inch from being in the next height category, so it will be fun to see what new rides he can go on the next time.

Williamsburg-Day 1

We affectionately began calling this our "worst vacation ever" as it took us FIVE hours to travel 120 miles.  (Have a mentioned that the traffic is pretty much the only thing I hate about living here?)  We had planned to go straight to Busch Gardens on Saturday morning around the time it opened.  But, since we didn't get to Williamsburg until after lunch time, we decided to save that for Sunday.  We grabbed some lunch in a restaurant that turned out to be much fancier than we thought (thankfully C was well behaved!)   

We still had a couple hours before we could check into our hotel room, so we went to the Virginia Living Museum.  And just like that, our vacation started looking up. :)  This place was great.  It reminded me of the museum back in MS that C loved...only way better.

The things he says...

Mom, I wish you only had one eye.

C: I'm holding your nose so you don't smell any gross smells.
Me: Oh yeah?
C:  Yeah, like Daddy's hair!

C: Why does it have a number four?
Me:  Because that's how old you are.
C:  When I clap my handson my belly I don't look four.

Running out of the closet after hiding from Daddy
Skadoosh!

I love you Papa.  You're the bestest banana ever!

Dad, do you ever eat cigarettes?

Hubby: Do you know what camping is?
C:  Camping is when you eat marshmellows.

You're a woozel! (usually screamed at us while throwing a fit)

Me:  I love you sweetie.
C:  I love you sweetie mom.

So much for catching up on the blog while my folks were in town.  I got caught up in enjoying the company of my family, reading a good book, and sometimes just sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing.  I still need to write about our trip to Williamsburg, C's birthday, my parents' visit, and C's party!

Soccer!

Soccer got rained out last week, so this Thursday was C's first practice.  This is his first time participating in a team sport!  Thankfully it is "clinic soccer."  They go through the drills with a parent and they will maybe scrimmage a little bit toward the end of the season.  (Although after watching a bunch of 3-4 year olds...and some serious soccer moms...run around crazy for 45 minutes, I'm not sure a scrimmage is in their future.) :)  C didn't have cleats, or shin guards, or his own ball (I'm telling you, some of these parents are serious about their kids' future in soccer!)  That didn't stop him from having a good time with Daddy. 

Warming up a little bit before practice starts with his friend Kaylee.

Stretching!

Working on passing with Dad.

Hubby must have showed him how to use his foot to stop the ball 10 times.  But, every time hubby passed it to him, C would just laugh and jump over the ball!  That is, until Coach Grace showed him how to stop the ball.  Apparently, Coach Grace is some kind of soccer goddess because he took her word for it. ;)

Dribbling the ball through eh, close to the cones.

Water break!

Soccer is hard work!  He was worn out!!  Next time I won't take him to Baltimore and spend the entire day at the aquarium before practice.

Tomorrow morning we are off to WV for my nephew's "almost 1" birthday party.  Pray the cakes survive the drive!  Next week my parents will be in town so look for lots of posts.  I'll have the time because when Papa is around, C is completely oblivious to my presence.