Busch Gardens

The day we left the beach was Paige and Virginia's birthday so we decided instead of going straight home we'd head to Williamsburg and spend the day at Busch Gardens.  The weather forecast didn't look great for the day, but we decided we'd go and hope for the best.  We got to the park right around 10 and the weather held out until about 4, so we got in 6 good hours of park time, which was just about perfect.

The whole time we'd been talking about going to Busch Gardens I'd been talking to Paige about riding the Loch Ness Monster with me.  She kept telling me she was scared of the roller coaster, but I still managed to talk her into going on it.  She loved it!  We all did!  We loved it so much that we went on it 4 times that day and were headed to it for a 5th ride when the storm rolled in and they stopped the coasters.

Paige getting ready to ride the Loch Ness Monster!

Ben and Virginia ready to get on the Loch Ness Monster.

Paige hanging out in a dinosaur egg.

Paige and Virginia riding the kids' Loch Ness Adventure.

It didn't measure up the Loch Ness Monster.

Paige and Virginia hanging with the Statue of Liberty.

Paige and I ready to go on Verbolten.

That one was a little scary for the girls so we only rode it once.

Ben and Virginia on Der Catapult.

Paige and I on Der Catapult

We also went into the aviary and fed the lorikeets.

The lorikeets are incredibly friendly when you have nectar for them.

And, of course, we stopped by to see the clydesdales.

Just before the rain started we stopped to get this picture of Virginia and Paige by the sign about their favorite roller coaster.

We came prepared for the rain.

Trouble makers in the stocks.

The rain let up enough for us to head out of the park so we stopped for a quick picture of the birthday girls by the sign.  We all had a great time at Busch Gardens!  It was a wonderful way to spend Paige and Virginia's 7th birthday!

We were spending the night in Williamsburg and when we got to our hotel we learned they had no electricity!  We got checked in and took our stuff to our room and then we headed out to find some dinner.  At a delicious dinner at a Chinese buffet, complete with sushi for Paige, we went to KMart and picked up some cards so we could play games in the hotel room.  It was a good thing we got those cards because we played for a little while before the power came back.  Once we had electricity we got ready for bed and got a good night's sleep.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then headed over to see our friends Christine and Van and meet their little guy, Lucas.

Paige and Virginia had so much fun playing with the 6 month old Lucas and his toys.

Ben and Lucas.

Paige and Virginia with Lucas.

We had a great, but short, visit with Christine, Van and Lucas.  It'd been way too long since we'd seen them and hopefully it won't be nearly as long until we see them again!