Busch Gardens and The Zoo

Wowzers!  The last couple of days have been very exhausting, but a lot of fun.  We've been wanting to go to Busch Gardens, and we decided to go this past Friday on Rick's family day.  We invited my sister Sarah to come with us, if she could get off work, which she did.

He was pretty upset for a large chunk of the trip. 

But it was only because he was so tired and cranky.

We headed out around 9:00 because we didn't want to get stuck in traffic.  We picked up Sarah in Arlington and headed down for the rest of the trip (about 2 1/2 hours) to Williamsburg.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch while we were down there, and I had the most delicious chicken noodle soup ever.  I wish I had just ordered a bowl of that as my lunch, it was so good.  And, I talked about it the rest of the day (probably a good indication that I am pregnant).

 We went into Busch Gardens and headed over to the Sesame Street Forest of Fun.  Evan went on one of the rides there.  He wasn't so sure about it... He was just staring at Sarah and Rick.  I stood out because I wasn't sure if I was allowed on any rides at all.

Sarah with a very flattering hat.

Evan getting used to his wristband.  They measured the kids and gave them wristbands so they didn't have to be measured at each ride.  Evan didn't cooperate and sat down instead. 

Rick and I in trouble. 

Evan in Oscar's Yucky Forest.  We think he got his tick here.

Loves climbing stairs.

He's so cute. 

He was talking to us about something here.

Sitting on Daddy's shoulders while waiting for his first ride.

Evan and Rick on the gliders ride.  He wasn't upset, just a little unsure.

Evan in his stroller staring off into space.  He didn't nap at all when we got there, even though his car nap was only 5 minutes or so. 

Our family.  Rick is trying to clap to get Evan's focus toward the camera.  This is right before the tick discovery.

Post tick... Evan feeling okay.  No longer in his cute little muscle shirt though!

Rick made me walk across the rope bridge after them. 

Nessie attacking Evan monster. Evan didn't like that at all!  Bahaha.

Watching the horses pass. 

Such a stud. 

Wow.  I am so glad I married this guy.  He's such a stud.

We then headed down to the Land of the Dragons.  We stopped at the carousel to go on with Evan.  In line, I noticed something funny on Evan's arm pit.  He was wearing a muscle shirt, and Rick and I took a look at what I thought at first was a little cut and scab. I noticed that it didn't look normal though, and I asked Rick, "Is that a tick?"  Rick replied, "Looks like it."

So, we ended up taking Evan to the First Aid station where they removed the tick for us, and we've been keeping an eye out for any inflammation.  I still can't believe that Evan got a tick at Busch Gardens... weird.  We spent the rest of the evening just wandering around, buying souvenirs and enjoying our time together.  It was a lot of fun and I was really glad that we could all go.

On Saturday, we headed to the zoo.  We parked at the closest, non-ghetto metro and took the metro in to DC.  It started raining as soon as we got above ground from the metro, but we stuck it out and spent a few hours at the zoo.  I'm afraid that I was the one that cut off our trip though, because I was so tired and sore from our trip to Busch Gardens the day before.  We hopped back onto the metro after a couple of hours and separated from Sarah.

On the way to the Metro station.  Evan could handle the car ride, as long as Sarah didn't get too close. 

Not so sure when the metro started moving.  Poor little guy. 

Trying to see the animals?

Cheetahs!

I got some pictures of my favorite animal:  the Cheetah. 

In the reptile house.  Rick trying to point out stuff to Evan, but he wasn't interested.  Some of the people there too!  Wow.  The parents holding the kids on to the little counter top in front of the glass. 

"This is why I'm hot"

And somebody was so tired that he fell asleep on the metro.  He even stayed asleep during the car transfer.  He was tired.

I am glad that we were able to go to the zoo and Busch Gardens.  We try to get out and do stuff, but sometimes it's really hard (especially with the heat and humidity here).  Our next trip here on the east coast will probably be the Renaissance Festival or Hershey, Pennsylvania for Evan's birthday.