Busch Gardens

We visited Busch Gardens today and the boys did great. Nate is easy at this age — he is happy to be carried and watch the world go by and nurse every once in a while. He is even younger than Alex was on his first trip to Busch Gardens, but was just fine. Alex once again had a great time playing in the splash zone of Shiekra (and I was smart enough this time around to bring a bathing suit and sandals for Alex to romp around in) and we took advantage of the baby swap rules to get Alex on the log flume (or as Alex liked to think of it, the water roller coaster) twice in rapid succession. Alex even played a few games of chance and won a tiny green teddy bear (which will be his show and tell item next Friday; nice and green for St. Patty’s day!). We rode the train around the whole park and got pretty darn close to some zebras and a nest of ostrich eggs. I finally got to ride Shiekra (couldn’t when it opened; I was pregnant with Nate!) and we also enjoyed Montu. It’s great that both coasters have something nearby to occupy toddlers — for Shiekra, the splash zone, for Montu, a sandbox. Those two things are pretty much Alex’s idea of heaven on earth.

The best part of the day is a tie between seeing Alex have so much darn fun, and all of the wonderful things people said to us about both boys. Someone said to me that Nate was “literally the cutest baby I have ever seen!” and Alex had lots of people admiring him when he was running in and out of the water.

And my heart was also warmed by the woman with whom we struck up a conversation while waiting to swap out on Montu. I had just changed and nursed Nate, all while watching Alex play in the sand. I had to call Alex out of the sand box for a moment because he was getting a little too rambunctious with the sand. Then Mike arrived for the switch-out, and she struck up a conversation with him. I joined in when I returned, and as we were leaving she said to me, based on the way I had handled Alex’s sand issues, “by the way, you are a very good mother.” Really made my proud. I mean yes, she was a total stranger, but it was a nice little bit of validation nonetheless.

Finally, can I just say that Mike is an absolute chick magnet when he has the boys? All the ladies came up to him to coo over all three of my men while I was on the coasters.

(pix to come)