Surprise Adventure

After our day in Jamestown on Thursday, we checked into a hotel in Williamsburg and surprised the boys with our plans to go to Busch Gardens for the first time the next day. In hindsight, we should have waited to tell them until Friday morning... they were a bit too excited to go to sleep despite our best efforts. They eventually settled down after a little rearranging.

To give you some background, my husband grew up very close by Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. (Dorney Park is an amusement park with lots of roller coasters.) Between the engineering and adventure involved in roller coasters, he is captivated by them. He worked at Dorney Park for several years as a kid and loved it. It is not unusual for him to tell the boys stories about roller coasters he has ridden or to show them You Tube videos of roller coaster rides. I think you get the idea... the little boys were not the only ones excited for our day at Busch Gardens. :)

It was fun to observe how each boy reacted to the adventure. Not surprisingly, Luke was cautious and tentative. Some rides he was adamant about not riding, others he would quickly change his mind about once he saw how much fun his brothers were having. Ethan was very eager and happy to try anything, as was Aaron.  We were blessed with wonderful weather and good time together as a family. Here are a few pictures from our time there.

Of course they all needed to ride the luggage cart.

We had an air mattress on the floor and a pull out couch for the boys. 

First roller coaster ride!

They loved it so much they wanted to go again with Mommy. 

This expression is priceless!

Of course when Luke and Aaron saw how much fun Ethan was having, they wanted to go on too.

They were so sweet to want to ride together on this one. 

Luke's favorite ride! (He's in red and Darin and Ethan are slightly behind him on a double swing.)

This ride is crazy. Darin rode it two times and would have loved to ride it more. The boys and I watched from below for Daddy's blue shirt to whiz past. The grin on Darin's face was enormous each time he found us after his thrilling rides! :)

Of course Ethan loved the horses!

It's been a hard adjustment to reality now that we're back from our trip, 

but I'm thankful for our time together.