Florida Aquarium And Busch Gardens

Jacob and I (ok, mostly just “I”) have been wanting and waiting to take our little family to the Florida Aquarium and Busch Gardens for quite some time now.  This is part of my quest to go to all the fun things we can do while Josiah is old enough to enjoy things, but is still free :)  The plan was to go the first available opportunity once the weather turned more mild.  In a last minute decision (8pm the night before – totally not the norm for us), we finally decided to go this past Sunday and Monday.  Thanks to Gram we had a free place to sleep that night in Tampa.

We first went to the aquarium, and I have to admit, we were a little less than impressed, but we enjoyed ourselves.  Josiah’s favorite things were the owl, the blue crab, and the ducks.  He also thought it was cool that he got to see Nemo!  Jacob and I learned that when doing that kind of thing, you have to learn to look at everything with the attention span of a 2 year old.  A tank with 20 different types of fish in it only takes a minute or less to fully take in.

Josiah and Daddy looking at a duck!  He said, “touch it, Daddy!”

Not a great picture, but you can see Josiah and Jacob’s reflection in the glass checking out a gator on the other side.

Checkin’ out the blue crab.  Don’t you love how Josiah hangs his finger on his pants pocket?  He’s such a big boy now!

 

The next day we hit Busch Gardens.  We waffled on whether or not this would be a waste of money and while we are glad we didn’t splurge for the year passes, we are glad we did it.  In typical Josiah fashion he had more fun running around (with Jacob!) than he did riding rides or looking at stuff.  The boy is happiest when he is going full speed on his own two legs.  He did ride his first two rides, but he was not too impressed.  He was only tall enough for a couple anyway.  He did get to enjoy the train and looking at all the animals, too.  My personal favorite was the pet show. 

Josiah’s first-ever ride!  He was SO excited while waiting in line.  He kept saying “my turn!”  He was worried, though, because he wasn’t sure how he’d hold on to the acorns he collected while steering the car.  He was so relieved at my idea of storing them in his velcro-safe pocket :)

I just knew Josiah would love the Sesame Street show.  He dragged me out by my hand to rejoin his Daddy and a sleeping Elijah.

Elijah thankfully slept through the rides and what little of the Sesame Street show we watched.

  One of Josiah’s favorite parts was running through these tunnels and listening to his screams echo.

Naptime, anyone?

  Elijah was feeling refreshed from his nap, though.

This cutie was a hit on the train.

He’s teething.  Can you tell?  He’s not much of a drooler so I kind of think it is cute when he does.

Some of the animals we saw:

  Saying bye bye to Big Bird.

Josiah liked the cool plant-animals (I know they have a name that I can’t come up with right now.  Topiaries, maybe?)

The tired parents posing in front of the over packed car preparing for the long drive home.  It wasn’t smart to leave Tampa at rush hour :)

Our ride home was a bit of an adventure in and of itself, as can be the case with two young kids, but we made it home and finished the trip with Josiah’s all time favorite…pizza!  It was a bit late and it made the next working day seem harsh, but we all survived and had a good time doing it.

As we were leaving BG, Jacob and I talked about what made the trip so good and all we kept coming up with was the fact that we did it as a family and without deadlines.  It was so nice just to connect with one another and play with the four of us together.  It is healthy to just be a family sometimes.  We didn’t have any bickering or stress, but lots of smiles for no apparent reason.  I guess that is what a vacation does…we felt the same way after we took Josiah to the mountains two years ago, but we haven’t done anything since.  We need to make a point to do it on a small scale more frequently.

Josiah’s souvenirs…pebbles and acorns.  Who needs an Elmo doll?