Busch Gardens-Williamsburg

Sophie and I by hot air balloon at Busch Gardens

Once again, the girls loved the Sesame Street area at Busch Gardens

                                         

The girls while we were waiting to ride something (there were long lines for some rides the first time we went because it was on the weekend)

Abbie and Sophie riding a boat ride

                                               

The skyride

Abbie drives a mini-Dodge'em car

Abbie flies a plane

Ladybugs ride

Sophie and Abbie met an authentic Leprechaun

Recently, we traveled up to Virginia to visit Matt's family in Richmond.  It was a long road trip but overall the girls were good travelers. We had a really busy but fun week.  On Saturday, we visited Busch Gardens, and the weather was great!  There was a big crowd but we had a lot of fun!  The girls enjoyed riding all of the kiddie rides.  Sophie rode the big bumper cars with her Daddy and loved that!  Abbie rode the little bumper cars 2-3 times and was super cute.  She drove around in a circle most of the time.  Sophie also rode a couple of the wet rides with some of the adults and had fun.  We enjoyed seeing a couple of the shows too!  They were having some cooler weather the first few days we were in Virginia which was really nice.  On Sunday afternoon after church, we just took it easy.  It ended up at that Tom and Teresa's church was having VBS that week which we hadn't realized beforehand so the kids went to VBS on the first night.  On Monday, we headed back to Busch Gardens for more fun and then headed over to Virginia Beach where we stayed for a couple of nights.  

                  

Dollywood

Abbie enjoys the Tea cup ride at Dollywood



Abbie, age 22 months, enjoys her first tea cup ride at Disney World in Oct. 2009.



Abbie and Sophie ready to ride with their Daddy.

having fun on the ride

Aunt Leia, Daddy, Abbie & Sophie got soaked on this ride!

After we left the Wilderness Lodge, we checked into a nearby hotel for the next 2 nights. Then, we headed to Dollywood for the evening. The girls had a blast in the kiddie area riding the carousel, the ride pictured above (Star Shooter or something), the teacups, and a few other rides. If you paid for admission after 3 PM one day, the next day was free. We went back on Sunday and had a fun time though it was pretty hot and crowded. There were a few rides that Abbie wanted to ride repeatedly. The mini-drop tower ride shown above that took you straight up and down kind of bounced you as you came down. I rode it a couple of times but each time after I rode it with her, I said someone else is going to have to ride with you the next time. I didn't get sick or anything but my stomach would drop every time. Sophie and I enjoyed riding the swings together. Some of the rides and shows brought back good memories of Opryland for me where I spent a lot of fun times growing up! Abbie was sad that she wasn't able to ride a few of the rides. Sophie rode one bigger indoor roller coaster with me, her Daddy and Aunt Leia. During the ride she said, "My eyes are wide open but I can't see anything" (it was pitch black for part of the ride). After being told that she wasn't tall enough to ride the Scrambler, Abbie said, "I am big because Jesus made me big!" So sweet!

Fall Vacation-- SeaWorld Day 2

SeaWorld Lighthouse

Katima and her new calf born Oct. 9

We all enjoyed the Killer Whale show.  We sat several rows up so we were out of the splash zone.

The girls loved the rides in the kid's area at SeaWorld.  There were no lines to ride, unlike the Magic Kingdom.

Abbie and Uncle Matt pose for a picture in front of a tropcial aquarium.

Ah! There is a stingray on my head.

We visited SeaWorld for a second day on Tuesday before we headed home.  There are so many shows and exhibits at SeaWorld that you really need two days.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Martha came with us to SeaWorld this time.  Phil decided to sleep in this time at the hotel, but he joined us in the afternoon at the park.  It was exciting to see a newborn killer whale during our visit.  The calf was about 10 days old during our visit.  The baby whale was nine feet long and 350 pounds at birth; it will be a while before we find out if she is a boy or a girl.  After seeing some shows, our family visited the kids' area: Shamu's Happy Harbor while the others in our group rode some thrill rides.  Abbie and Sophie had an awesome time riding the kiddie roller coaster, the carousel, and other rides over and over again.  There were no waits for any of the kids' rides, which was wonderful.  After 1.5 hours of nonstop fun, we headed over to meet Phil, Martha, and Matt on the other side of the park.  The girls enjoyed some cotton candy compliments of Uncle Matt.  We visited one last aquarium with stingrays and tropical fish before we headed back to the hotel.  The girls were tired from three days in a row at theme parks, and they were in bed by 7:30 PM.  Phil gave us a ride to the Orlando airport the next morning and we all headed home.

Fall Vacation--The Magic Kingdom

It was a beautiful fall day at the Magic Kingdom

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Abbie was OK with getting close to Peter Pan.

Abbie loved the carousel.  She wanted to ride it again and again.

Abbie enjoyed Peter Pan's flight this year with Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt.

The whole group at Mickey's Toontown (slated for demolition next year).

Matt V. had the highest score on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin thanks to Abbie's skillfull maneuvering.  He obtained the rank of Space Ranger 1st Class.

Abbie is decked out with glow-in-the-dark stuff for the night parade.

The Main Street Electrical Parade is back at the Magic Kingdom.

In January, we participated in the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program by volunteering at a thrift store one morning.  By doing so, we received two certificates for admission to a Disney theme park for one day.  We finally used our certificates to take the family to the Magic Kingdom this past Monday.  Uncle Phil came with us, and we met Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt at the park.  We started off by riding the Dumbo ride, the carousel, and Peter Pan's flight.  We alsosaw Mickey's PhilharMagic movie before moving on to the Tomorrowland Speedway, and Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor.  Surprisingly, Sophie really wanted to ride Space Mountain with her uncles and aunt.  She survived.  Our family returned to the hotel in the afternoon for naps.  At night we returned to see Mickey and Minnie's house and we watched the Electrical Parade.  It was a fun, LONG day.  We didn't get back to our hotel until very late!

Fall Vacation--SeaWorld Day 1

We met Abby Cadabby at SeaWorld.  Our Abbie is still scared of people wearing costumes.

Sophie met some old sea hags.

SeaWorld had all kinds of photo opportunites with different characters.

Sea Lions

The Penguin Encounter

Sophie at the underwater viewing area for dolphins

On Sunday afternoon, we drove from the beach to Orlando to visit SeaWorld.  On the weekends in October, SeaWorld has a Halloween Spooktacular program, where they have all sorts of Halloween festivities including trick or treating.  We spent most of the afternoon letting Sophie get pictures with different characters and getting candy.  Abbie is still scared of people dressed up, so she stayed away.  In the late afternoon, we visited the penguins, sea lions, manatee, and dolphin exhibits.  The girls loved the underwater viewing at the dolphin area. We had a great time, and we saved some attractions and shows to see with Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt Riley on Wednesday when we would go again to SeaWorld.

Busch Gardens

Here we are at Busch Gardens in the Sesame Street area of the park. Sophie had been recently when she was able to spend a few days with Matt's parents by herself but she was excited to show the rest of us everything, especially in the Sesame Street area. It's a relatively small area of the park with just a handful of rides but the girls enjoyed each of them. Sophie was able to meet all of the Sesame Street characters but Abbie wanted nothing to do with them. They also put on a live show that we could watch. It was cool for us parents too because we grew up watching Sesame Street. =)

Sophie with Bert & Ernie

Sophie & Abbie

Sophie, Mama & Abbie riding the Elmo ride

Aunt Leia, Daddy & Sophie riding the roller coaster in Sesame Street land. It was actually a pretty decent sized roller coaster. I was a little surprised because I thought it would be a real "kiddie" roller coaster but it had a decent sized hill, some big curves & it was pretty fast. Sophie loved it though!

Virginia visit--Water Country

We travelled to Virginia to visit Matt's parents at the end of July. We visited Water Country USA waterpark in Williamsburg on a nice sunny day. Sophie and Abbie were so excited at the park entrance as you can tell by the picture. The girls had a great time splashing in the pools and playing on water slides.

One kids' pool had several animal-shaped water slides Sophie and Abbie enjoyed. For some reason Abbie did not like the whale slide, at first (You can see her leaving the scene in this picture). I'm not sure why she didn't like it, but she eventually warmed up to it.

Sophie and Abbie also enjoyed sliding down this slide and catching each other. One thing about kids and slides is that they will go back repeatedly about one hundred times. They also enjoyed going down a double inner-tube slide repeatedly.

Animal Kingdom

Matt and the girls playing the drums

Tom, Teresa, Abbie, Phil, me, Sophie & Matt at Animal Kingdom

a giraffe we saw right next to us on our safari ride

While we were at Disney, we visited each of the four main parks for at least one day each. I loved Magic Kingdom with the kids and I also really enjoyed Animal Kingdom. On Wednesday, when we went to Animal Kingdom it became extremely hot and stayed that way for the rest of our trip. My parents and my sister, Martha, headed back to TN on Wednesday while the rest of us stayed in Orlando. Matt and I and the girls as well as my brother, Phil, moved over to the timeshare where Matt's family was staying because there was plenty of room there. We ended up splitting Animal Kingdom up over two days. I really loved the Finding Nemo show there and the Lion King show was good too. I also loved the Mt. Everest ride there and the safari thing was cool too. While we were in Orlando, they were experiencing record highs for October (in the mid-90's). We weren't really counting on it to be that hot but at least you can go into some indoor rides and shows and cool off. Plus, the girls went back each day for a nap so some of us could usually get a break from the heat. All of the parks had some fun things to do. All in all, it was a wonderful trip! I look forward to going back in a couple of years when Abbie can enjoy it more.