Florida with the kids: April 4, 2013

Dianne used to teach 7th graders, and she told us that their favorite field trip was Busch Gardens, and that we should not miss it. The kids had never heard of it but we were all very glad we took Dianne's advice!

It was a cloudy day, with a 60% chance of rain, but I had bought the tickets in advance, so away we went!

As soon as we were in the gate Toby headed to the nearest roller coaster! It was not very crowded, so when he asked to go on it a second time we agreed... Then we set off for the Stanleyville Train Station to get a tour of the park. We saw the flamingos on the way to the train.

From the train we saw many African animals in natural habitats. We also saw more roller coasters!

They shut down the rides around 11 AM, so we went into the bird area. The kids had fun feeding the birds, until they shut that down too. We went to lunch to wait out the tornado warning.

Finally they opened up the rides again! Toby went on yet MORE roller coasters and Adam climbed the playscape. Then we all went on the water rides and had a blast! It changed Adam's whole outlook on rides! After that he wanted to do more rides, so Toby went with him on the kids' roller coaster and we put him on all the rest of the kids' rides. This boy is ready for the real thing now!

Adam and I toured King Tut's tomb while Toby and Dianne went on the Cheetah roller coaster.

When we were ready to leave, we realized that Toby had missed one of the 5 coasters in the park, so we walked over to the last one.... he rode it twice of course!

Friday morning we had to catch an early plane so we were up and on the road about 6 AM. It was good to come home, but what a whirlwind tour it was! This is one grandma who rarely makes cookies, but how many kids have photos with their grandma on the water ride at Busch Gardens?