Feeling Spontaneous: Eliot's First Busch Gardens Trip

Do you ever do things that you think seem reckless, but they're not?  They're just fine, actually?  That was us yesterday.

Both of our weekly meetings were canceled.  We didn't have much work to do.  I told Chris I felt cooped up.  "Let's go to Busch Gardens!"

Chris and I grew up an hour from Busch Gardens.  I went as a kid and a teenager; Chris went constantly in the summer with his friends when he was in high school.  However, he and I had never been together--and we've been married for almost six years and dated three years before that.

We don't do much spontaneous these days, so it felt wrong.  It felt like I should get a permission slip filled out first, but we didn't have any commitments, Busch Gardens is an hour away, and we had been planning to go whenever it warmed up enough.  Plus, if you're a Virginia resident, you get a season's ticket for pretty much the price of one admission.  We figured this could be something fun to do with Eliot on days that we don't know what to do and we feel like getting out of town.  It's far enough to feel special, but close enough to be convenient.

We waited until Eliot's naptime and put him in the car to sleep.  And then we drove!  He passed out right away and woke up 15 minutes before we arrived.  Maybe that seems silly to go in the afternoon, but it would be warmer (55 degrees?) and we knew we'd only stay a short while with Eliot.

Eliot loved the train.  He loved pointing at all of the castles and dragons.  He met Elmo.  He rode three rides.  And one of those rides, he had to ride alone.  And we were so nervous, but he demanded to go on the ride since it was little ladybug cars.  He just went along, and I thought he was looking for us for a second, but when he saw us, he just yelled, "Vroooooom!"  I need to learn to trust him more and allow him to grow in his independence--he's bigger than I think he is.

Eliot also had a great time at Land of the Dragons.  How he understands the difference between a dinosaur and a dragon, I do not know, but he gets it.

We stayed for about two hours until Eliot seemed tired, I knew I was tired (pregnant ankles...), and it was growing colder and windier.  I think we left the park at just the right time, and Eliot only got upset as we were leaving because he wanted to ride the train again (but we'd have to go around the whole park to get to the exit and it was really too windy).  Next time, little buddy!

And there will be a next time!  Chris is talking about going again on Monday when it is warmer.