What's more fun than a day at Busch Gardens?

A day at Busch Gardens with you grandparents and cousins, of course!


The girls rode "Elephant Run" three times. The first time Ava rode with Honey and Samantha rode with me. Then Honey and I realized that the boys are old enough to ride with an adult so the girls rode with each other and Papa rode with Tyler and Lincoln rode with me. After that "run" as I was climbing off the ride with Linc, the girls turned around and said, "We want to ride again without any adults or babies!" They're so old. They wanted to ride by themselves. So, the adults and "babies" stood by and watched the girls go around and around one last time, by themselves. They threw their arms up in the air and screamed and giggled and it was so much fun to watch. They're big. They're officially big girls.

Well, they were big, tough and brave until the freaky Frankenrock show at the Fest Haus began...

And then they climbed into the adults' laps (but who can blame them, really?)...

Just for the record, Tyler really enjoyed Frankenrock...

The boys had their share of fun and independence as well...

Teacup fun!

This was Lincoln's FIRST time on the teacups and he loved it (despite his face in this picture)...

The boys...

This was Samantha's first time on the BIG swings. She was nervous, but not as nervous as Honey. I'm pleased to report that Samantha learned that she likes the big swings and she couldn't wait to ride on them again :-)

Bumper Cars! Samantha was not a fan of Bumper Cars. They had to stop the ride to let her off. It was also late in the day and I think that had a lot to do with the situation. Maybe next time.

And, this is when we knew it was time to go home...

Even the big, tough and independent girl succumbed to sleep on the drive home...

I can't wait for today! We're all going on a bike ride! Samantha is going to test out her NEW retro purple bike!! Pictures to come...