Busch Gardens, Part I

Vacation 2013...Well, we had planned to go to Cancun and had our passports ready to go. Since my sister works for Delta, it allows us to fly at a discounted rate. However, the only downside is that we have to fly standby. The benefits definitely out-weigh the risks, but it does make planning a vacation a little more interesting.

We had our passports, place to stay, and rental car all ready for us in Cancun. The only problem was that we weren't able to catch a flight there. The flights were completely full and we would have to waste several days of our vacation waiting for a flight out, so we decided to vacation elsewhere. We all woke up at 3 am to leave for the airport, but I checked the flights before we left and saw that they had filled up over night. We decided to change our plans and called the timeshare to see what our options were. We had four options: 1) some small town in Texas 2) Colorado 3) Virginia and 4) some small town in Florida.

So, since my Dad loves history and we love the beach, we decided that Williamsburg, Virginia would be a great compromise for all of us. I think that we all had pretty low expectations since we all had our hearts set on Cancun, but we ended up having a blast. It was probably one of the most relaxing vacations that we have ever been on. We weren't sure how well a 2-yr-old would do in Cancun, but he had a blast in Virginia. 

Since we were making plans at 3 am, we didn't have a lot of time to research the location. Once we arrived, we found that there was a Busch Gardens about 20 miles away. We got a great deal on tickets to where we could buy a pass and re-enter as many times as we wanted throughout the entire vacation. It was perfect for our little family! 

Here's how we spent our time at Busch Gardens: 

Family Pictures 2013

Pa's Birthday Lunch

We had the privilege of spending Pa's birthday with him this year. Blake's parents were in town to celebrate with him as well, so we all went to lunch at Ted's. 

Blake's Aunt Dar and Uncle Phil sent these bright orange
balloons with some goodies attached. 

We ate at Ted's where they sang "Happy Birthday" and made Pa wear
the sombrero. This made Pa's and Beckett's day. In fact,
Beckett can still sing their version of the song if asked.

We snapped a few family shots at the end. We were looking
right into the sunlight (which isn't obvious
on anyone else's face but mine).

Four generations :) I'm thankful for every single one of them.

Apparently after lunch, Mrs. Bonnie, Mr. Randy, and Pa took a
celebratory trip to Bass Pro to visits their friends, the Robertsons. 

Swim Lessons

Beckett took swim lessons in July at ORU. We were very pleased with the two week program. There were a ton of kids, but they had them split into much smaller groups. There were only five kids in Beckett's group. They worked him hard and wore him out! We will definitely be back next year! 

Day 1: checking things out

Daily stretches (this was his favorite part of the lesson)

Pep talk from Daddy

After his first lesson. Can you tell that he cried the whole time
(much like many of the other kids)? There's no explanation
for why he cried. The kid LOVES water. 

Floating on his back

On Day 1 of the lessons, they take them
to the end of the diving board to check it out.

On Day 2, they take their first jump off of the diving board.
He did great on the first jump, but I believe this was the
next day when he actually knew what was coming. 

The kids were all freezing every time they stepped out of the water.
He got braver every day and did great by Day 3. 

Kaki was his cheerleader for the week. She bribed him with candy after
every lesson if he jumped off the board without crying. You could tell
 that this wasn't her first rodeo because all of her tricks worked like a charm :)