Family Fun at Busch Gardens

A couple of weeks ago we returned to Busch Gardens for a day o' fun. Wait, stop the presses! We went to an amusement park! Something new and different! And, spoiler alert: Ellie played at the water park! This is a totally original blog post about things that have never been done before!

I kid. But really, are you sick of hearing about us at amusement parks? Apparently this is what happens to us when we move to Florida: we become amusement park junkies. And we haven't even started in on the whole Disney/Universal bunch. Maybe we'll save those for next year.

But, in this case, Busch Gardens was opening a new show: Madagascar Live, featuring the incomparable Heather Baird as vocalist. Opening day was May 18, when my cousin Molly and her son just so happened to be in town. My mom wanted to go to Busch Gardens that day anyway, so I suggested we all meet there to see Heather's new show and let the babies check out some animals.

Madagascar Live at Busch Gardens...featuring my sister on vocals back there behind the giant lion!

As per usual, we wanted to wait to head out until after Ellie's nap. (Nap times are precious, man. Don't mess with 'em.) Our plan was to let her sleep until her usual 2:00 or so, and try to get there in time to catch the 3:00 Madagascar show. If we missed that one, we figured we would catch the 5:00. Eric had a test that morning (more on that later) and he got back home around 1:30. By that time, my mom had been texting that they were at the park and were already in line for the 3:00 show. An hour and a half early. WHAT.

Ellie was still asleep, but we went ahead and woke her (she had already been sleeping two hours, so it wasn't a tragedy), grabbed lunch to feed her in the car and booked it out of here. We made it to the park as fast as we could and tried our best to get back to the Stanleyville theater in time. My mom was saving seats and I knew Molly, my aunt Debbie and baby Santiago were just ahead of us. They made it into the show just in the nick of time, but alas, we arrived at about 3:03 p.m. and were too late. (Whomp, whomp.) But we were nice and exhausted and sweaty after our sprint through the park, at least. Good times.

We let all the show-goers know that we would be waiting outside when they were done and sadly, gave up on the idea of seeing Heather's show that day. A line was already forming for the 5:00 show and no way would Ellie tolerate standing in line in the heat for two hours to catch a 20 minute show. We'll have to go back and try again another day, when the crowds aren't so crazy.

While we waited, we took the opportunity to lather up with sunblock and cool off in the Tidal Wave splash zone.

Splash!

When the show was over, we met up with the rest of the group (including Heather!) and hung out for a bit.

Eric and Santiago meet again (dun, dun, dun!)

The grandmothers and their grandbabies

Have I mentioned that Ellie's latest "thing" is giving kisses?! MOST AWESOME THING EVER. And she kissed Santiago. PRECIOUS.

Santiago and Auntie Heather

Ellie hanging out with Great Aunt Debbie

Ellie planning out the rest of our afternoon

Kisses for Santiago!

Heather had to go back to get ready for her next show after a bit, so we said good-bye to her and then went off in search of animals. We got sidetracked by the toddler water park, however. Although they didn't take much advantage of the actual water features, Ellie and Santiago did a little climbing and crawling to stretch their legs a bit.

Two sets of three generations in this picture!

Molly and Santiago

The babies and their paparazzi

This girl loves climbing these days!

Then, it was onwards towards the tigers. This time I accompanied Ellie into the little tiger-viewing box, and Molly, Santiago and Aunt Debbie all tried it out, too.

Left: Ellie and her Grammy checking out the tigers; Right: Tiger asleep near the viewing box!

Ellie and me in the viewing box on the left, and our view of the tiger on the right!

Cousins and babies!

By that time, we were getting a little worn out (it was hot outside), so we stopped to rest and cool off in the Desert Grille. Many of us (babies included) enjoyed some snacks and beverages, and we happened to catch the show in that theater while we rested. I can't say that Santiago loved it, but Ellie enjoyed it so much that she couldn't resist the urge to stand right up and dance along. That girl, man. She's awesome.

It all started off well enough, with both babies pretty intrigued...

And then Santiago decided this show gets two thumbs DOWN.

Meanwhile, Ellie grabbed a snack and watched the performance.

Santiago composed himself and spent some time "sitting on the dock of the bay," if you will, while Ellie jumped up to sing and dance along.

By that time, the babies were pretty exhausted so we decided to call it a day. Although, of course, we couldn't resist a quick stop at the elephants on our way out.

Elephants!

We bid farewell to our group at the tram stop (we were parked close enough to walk) and headed home. It was a quick visit but we had a great time with everybody. And the coolest part? It was only the first time we would get to see Molly and Santiago of three in three weeks! As this post goes live, we just wrapped up another visit with them at my family reunion in Cleveland, and we'll see them again this weekend at their home in Illinois to celebrate Santiago's first birthday. Hip, hip, hooray!