Busch Gardens

We had a voucher for a hotel stay to use before the end of the month, and we've been wanting to go to Busch Gardens. As FL residents, we can pay for a day and come back until the end of the year.

So, after bringing my mom to the airport Saturday morning, we were on our way. We got there about lunch time, ate, and all the boys wanted to do was get to Sesame Street. The park is really spread out, but really beautiful to walk through. They've done a great job with all the plants and buildings. It's supposed to be in Africa.

As soon as we got to Sesame Street, we saw Abby Cadaby. Alexander wanted to get right in line, but as soon as we got up to her, he was very shy. That happened with pretty much all the characters, so that's why you'll see me in the pictures, too.



Both boys saw on the computer that there was the Grover Airplane roller coaster, but Alexander was one inch too short. He was pretty upset that he couldn't go on it. But he was able to go on the rest of the rides in Sesame Street. Here are Bob and Glenn on the roller coaster (Glenn actually went on it 5 or 6 times over the two days).


Here they are driving The Count's car:


Glenn in Elmo's three floor tree house:


The boys loved the obstacle course:


Alexander was small enough to go under all of these instead of having to go over the lowest ones.


This was like a large bounce house floor. Thankfully they didn't allow kids much bigger than Glenn because when the larger kids bounced, the smaller ones were bounced off their feet. They were tired by the time they got in here and didn't even stay in the whole time they were allowed.


The safari carousel:




We had flavored ice freezes and they turned our tongues colors. We took this picture while waiting for a train ride.


Alexander loved the train


We were on the train and after getting to the opposite side of the park, they kicked us off because of an impending thunderstorm. Of course our stroller was on the other side of the park. So, we camped out for a bit while the worst of the storm went over. Alexander and Bob were getting cozy:


Then Glenn realized I was taking pictures


When it wasn't pouring, we made our way towards our stroller, and saw a movie theater that we thought was going to show the Sesame Street gang in 3D. Unfortunately, we did not look at the sign, which showed the Sesame Street show was only in the morning. The show we went into was with pirates. Both boys were scared and we had to leave before it was over. When we finally got to our stroller, it was pouring, so we left and went to our hotel.

For our second day, the boys of course wanted to go back to Sesame Street. On our way, we took this picture:


Elmo and Big Bird are Alexander's favorite Sesame Street characters. We saw Big Bird right away and he ran up to the line. But, again, he suddenly got shy. He did give Big Bird five.


We then got to see Elmo, but they didn't allow personal cameras in that area. But he didn't hug him like he did the last time he saw Elmo last year (at Sea World).

The boys went on a lot of rides:




At one point, Alexander was enjoying himself so much on the swings, he closed his eyes. I tried to get a picture of it, but was too late.







We had lunch with Elmo and Friends. The boys were very hungry since they were too busy to snack. So, they weren't too interested in the characters. Glenn loves to see them from far away, but will not get close to them. So, that's why you don't see any pictures of him with characters. Alexander had been exited to see Ernie, but was a bit nervous when he came to the table.


I wanted to talk to Cookie Monster, but wouldn't even look at the camera when we were close to him.


We got in a parade with the characters, and Glenn actually held Ernie's hand. I was shocked. He had a big smile. I think Alexander thought he was going to get stepped on and made me carry him:


Bert had missed our table, and at this point we were completely done eating. When Bert finally came by, Alexander was very excited. It took a little coaxing, but I got him to stand with Bert.




Alexander was crying just before we left because he wanted to hug Ernie, so he ran up to him and hugged him just before the characters left. There wasn't time to get a picture.

We let them play in the water before going home.


And here's one last photo of us at the lunch with Big Bird and Elmo (notice how the boys were really into meeting them):

Glenn Lost Another Tooth

In March, Glenn had his partial taken out. In case you don't remember why he had a partial, I'll recap. When he was 3, in preschool, they were pretending to be worms or insects or something. And a boy that was a little too into it kicked Glenn in the mouth. He lost the top two front teeth over the next year and then we got a partial put in to help him with his speech since it was still developing and wouldn't get his permanent teeth for a long time. Since he lost a tooth on his own at Christmas, it was time for the partial to come out. He was excited until we got to the dentist. Then he was nervous it was going to hurt. His gums were pretty sensitive for the next couple days since they had pressure on them for so long. I think it made him look like a first grader.

The bottom tooth he lost at Christmas has been coming in this past month and since it's so much bigger than the space left for it, it pushed out the other front tooth. It had been hanging on for the past week and finally came out while he was eating a cookie. Glenn came running to me to show me. I asked him where the tooth was and he said it fell on the floor. I looked over and London was licking the floor. So, we believe it is now in London's stomach. Glenn wasn't worried about the tooth fairy, though. He swallowed his last tooth while eating Cheetos and the tooth fairy still came. Speaking of which, the tooth fairy better get on with her duties...

Bob finished his jury duty. After 3 days of jury selection and a week and a half trial, he found out he was the alternate. So, he was thanked for his service and excused. So, now he's back to regular life. It was nice having him home every night, but he had to work in the evenings so he could stay somewhat caught up at work.

We had our first crop of snow peas this week. It took a long time to pick them all and get them ready, but they were sooooo good. Glenn loved taking them out of the pods (even though we said he could eat the pods).


We had our first "fire camping" (as Glenn calls it). The boys have been mentioning a lot lately that they wanted s'mores. So, I went to buy the stuff yesterday, and all the cheap graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate were sold out. Our community was having a campout at the soccer fields, and apparently bought Publix out. But we still got our fixins, just had to get cinnamon graham crackers instead (it was actually pretty tasty). Of course Alexander knew we were going to make s'mores all day today and kept asking for marshmallows. Finally we made them, and they were a delicious sticky mess.

My Crazy Child

Bob just took a video of Alexander riding his bike tonight. Make sure you have your sound on; you'll see why I say he's crazy. :)

Those silly leprechauns...

Glenn's homework this week was to build a leprechaun trap. But he came home sick from school yesterday, so I knew he wasn't going to be able to bring his trap to school today to catch leprechauns. So, we put the trap out at home. It has Lucky Charms glued to the ladder and leads up to the top with a golden pot filled with Lucky Charms. But the plan was before the leprechaun got to the pot, it would fall through a trap door. We even made a little toilet for it (at Glenn's request). But he left Glenn a note saying that he'd have to work harder than that to trap him.



He made quite a mess.


All the cabinet doors were open. He found what he was looking for. He found our box of Lucky Charms and left a trail all over the house, to the bathroom (where he used the toilet, the water was green). And he dropped shiny coins all over the kitchen, which the boys loved collecting. They were quite a team.



And here's a picture from last week of Bob and Alexander fishing:


In other news, Bob had jury duty for the first time in his life, and he got put on the jury for a 2 1/2 week trial. They went through three days of jury selection and the trial started today. I feel bad for him because after being in court all day, he has to work in the evenings. But it will be interesting for him to be part of the jury.