Busch Gardens

We finally took the kids to Busch Gardens. Josiah was able to ride a lot of rides. He enjoyed the little rides in the Sesame Street area and throughout the park.

He even got to ride the log flume.  That's him in front of Chris in the very blurry picture.

Lydia could ride most of the rides except for the big rollercoasters. 

Josiah and Lydia rode the little horses.

Wesley and I rode The Loch Ness Monster.  Of course, he loved it.  Last fall he rode his first "upsided down" rollercoaster at Disney World.  This one seemed a little slow to me but it was fun and Wesley loved it.

Chris rode Escape from Pompeii several times since there was no line.  That's them in the front.

Yes, I put my 22 month old on a ride that scares me and I stood on the ground and took pictures. 

He put his hands up in the beginning.

He got a little concerned when the ship started going higher but he never cried.

Wesley and Lydia rode the gliders like the Wright brothers.

Chris and Wesley on Mach Tower.

There they go!

All the way up there and then it drops one time.

While Wesley and I rode the newest coaster, Verbolten, Josiah took a nap in the stroller and Lydia got a waffle cone. 

Josiah especially loved this ride.  He giggled the entire time. 

While Chris rode The Griffon I rode the sky ride or "little cups" with the kids.

Lydia finally got to ride a rollercoaster over in Sesame Street. 

Elmo's drop ride is more my speed than Mach Tower.  I rode it earlier in the day with Josiah and here Chris rode it with all the kids. 

Elmo's Wiggle Worms. 

While I rode Appolo's Chariot, Wesley and Lydia played Whack-a-Mole.  She won! They had a rematch while Chris rode the coaster and Wesley won.

About half an hour before the park closed there was a huge rain storm.  It only last about ten minutes but it rained very hard.  We hundled under the awning of the tea cups and mostly stayed dry.  As the rain ended we saw a beautiful rainbow. 

Water Country USA

Our family often visits the same places over and over again but this time we tried a new place - Water Country USA. We had a great time and we all hope to go back next year.
Here is Wesley on one fo the five attractions that Josiah could not ride.  Wesley was beyond excited all day. 

Josiah rode most of the waterslides.  He was a litlle cold at times (the water on this slide was very cold) but thankfully most of the water was warm.

 

Lydia could ride all but two of the waterslides.  Here she is riding in front of Josiah and Chris.

Josiah wore this lifevest the entire day except when we ate lunch. 

Vanishing Point was one of the attractions that Lydia couldn't do.  That's Chris going down the super fast slide.  Wesley, Chris, and I all loved these slides.  The tube slides are also super exciting because you stand up and then the bottom drops out and you feel like you are falling straight down for a second or two before you feel the slide behind you again and go through these curves shown in the picture. 

Here is another fun slide the whole family did. 

Josiah rode with Chris on these double tubes.

He couldn't ride this one but the rest of us enjoyed it.

Josiah and Lydia waited patiently for the rest of us to do Vanishing Point.

We ended the day in the wave pool. The water was warm but it was cold when we got out.   The park was not crowded at all so we got to ride everything multiple times.  We were all very tired when we left.  Josiah stayed awake all day but was asleep in his carseat before we even left our parking space. 

Wesley begged to go to one of his favorite restuarants, Captain George's Seafood Buffet.  We all enjoyed dinner there. 

Cunningham Falls State Park

Maybe I will be able to start blogging again.
Last weekend we went camping at Cunningham Falls State Park. This was our fifth year camping there and we had so much fun. 

We enjoyed the short hike to the falls.

And we saw this black rat snake.

Josiah liked being in the backpack carrier.  It was about 4:00 in the afternoon and we were afraid he would fall asleep but he didn't.

On Saturday night we went to hear the park's naturalist talk about four owls that are native to the area.  It rained through the entire presentation but it didn't rain hard.  We all liked seeing the owls and we got to hear this horned owl hooting. 

Josiah loved everything about camping.  I think he had the time of his life.  He got to play outside the entire weekend with me following him around trying to keep him safe.  Chris had to do all the setting up, cooking, cleaning, and packing up to go home.  He would do that anyway but I couldn't really help him because I had to keep up with Josiah.

We let Wesley try coffee for the first time.  He said he liked it.  Chris didn't want to put too much creamer in it because he was hoping Wesley wouldn't like it.  Wesley hasn't asked for it since then. 

We took a few toys for the kids to play with while camping.  Wesley spent a lot of time riding his bike.  He also played soccer with some of the other kids.  All of the kids played with the stomp rocket. 

We spent most of Sunday playing at the lake.  I love seeing Wesley and Josiah playing together. 

Chris canoed with Wesley and Lydia.

Josiah had fun getting in and out of this kayak.

I kayaked by myself since they only had one person canoes.  I loved that half hour of alone time!

Lydia played with this boy almost the entire day.  His family was camping in the campsite behind us and the two of them hung out a lot. 


 
We didn't get to have a campfire on Sunday because it rained from 8pm to 1am.  After sitting in the van for an hour, we all just went to bed at 9:30.  The next morning was dry and beautiful so we fed the kids s'mores for breakfast.  We made Peyton ask his mom if he could have a s'more for breakfast. 

I hope I will be able to convince Chris to go camping at least one more time this summer. 

Happy Halloween

I can't find the time to blog for some reason.....

I should have taken Josiah picture when he was standing on the kitchen table. He started climbing on the table this weekend. Oh, the joy!
Lydia dressed up like Belle and Josiah was Tigger.

Wesley was Captain Hook.

It is so hard to get a good picture with three kids looking at the camera. See?

Josiah let me carry him until I put him down one time then he just wanted walk!

There he goes.

They had so much fun!