Busch Gardens Day!

We decided to take advantage of our free admission day for 2009 and head to Busch Gardens. When we arrived it was quite crowded, so we decided we were only going to do kids stuff (normally we'll take turns on roller coasters, or at least Al will go). The weather was beautiful though and we were able to have a great day!

Tyler's first "mission" was the Land of the Dragons, complete with all the kids rides.

After quite a while in that section we wandered off to have some lunch. Jason spent some time bouncing away and attracting plenty of attention.

Jason spent a good portion of the day happily in his Moby Wrap, and I learned that "wearing" your child can attract some very strange looks. You'd have thought I had two heads. He was comfy though and I was fairly comfortable (as comfortable as you can be lugging around 17lbs). He'd poke his little head around at people and smile. He had a blast. And he took 2 short naps in there, which was good considering those were the ONLY naps he took while in the park.

After lunch we took a ride on the skyride, and ended up half-way around the park without a stroller. We looked at lots of animals as we made our way back to the stroller.
We saw lots of cute animals. Tyler is fascinated with Meerkats.

Eventually Tyler was just worn out and Jason needed to eat, so the boys and I head back to Land of the Dragons while Al ran ahead to get our stuff. After a quick meal for Jason and rest time in the rocking chair at the nursing station for Tyler, we did some MORE rides and then hit the water area. This time Tyler wore a bathing suit in the water, instead of getting his clothes soaking wet! He had a blast!

After water time, Tyler got in line to go on "the dragon water ride". While in line he met up with a little boy and they rode together. They became fast friends and rode lots of rides together after that. Tyler convinced him to go on the ferris wheel and this little boy convinced Tyler that the boat ride isn't as scary as he had imagined. Sometimes peer pressure is a wonderful thing.

After some final rides we decided to head on out of the park. I had made the mistake of letting Tyler have some of my soda at lunch. Despite the fact that it was caffeine-free, he was a wild child. I swear sugar is like a liquid crack for him. He's had soda once before in his lifetime and it will be a long time before he has it again. The sugar high, coupled with the lack of "rest time" determined that it was time to go. We did make a quick stop to see the primates (my favorite).

And then, 8.5 hours after arrival, we were off. Despite some "in need of sleep" issues, we had a great time. Even Jason wore himself right out and actually slept in his stroller for the first time since he was a newborn!