Virginia Beach and Busch Gardens

I'm still playing catch-up from my travels to DC so bear with me.  The very first week of my trip was spent in Virginia Beach with my parents, three younger siblings, and youngest niece, Allie.  Allie was starting kindergarten a week after Mommy and sister were starting school so she needed a place to hang during that week.

Here we are all excited to leave for the beach.  Wahoo!

2 1/2 hours later: not so excited.  When will this car ride be over?

I was actually pretty terrible at taking pictures during the trip.  The one day I remembered to grab a few was the day we went to Busch Gardens.  I'm a roller coaster girl and Busch Gardens has some good ones including a new one called the Griffon.  

Doesn't that look awesome?  I was DYING to go on it, but Baby McGregor held me back.  Worth it in the long run, but bummed me out for the day.

Since my pregnant self couldn't go on any of the rides, I spent the day with Allie.  They recently opened an entire section devoted to Sesame Street so that was the first place we hit.  Lucky for us, a show was just beginning!

I didn't realize how exciting an Elmo show could be, but Allie was thrilled to see him!

  I tried to get a candid shot of her watching the show because her face was awesome, but that girl is all too aware of when a camera's on her.

After the show, the characters came out to take pictures.  You had to pay to be with Elmo so we decided to go hang out with the others instead.  

I think her name is Zooey.  It's been a while since I've watched Sesame Street.

I asked Allie if I could be in the photo with her and Cookie Monster (he's kinda my favorite - I like to think we're kindred spirits) and she said no.  Sigh.

I have no idea what her name is, but she was Allie's favorite.  Oh wait, I think her name is Abby Kadabby or something like that.  

And you can't forget Grover.  He's a classic.  

This was some dragon ride that Allie waited for forever to get on.  Grandpa took that hit and waited with her while Mom and I sat in the shade.  When she finally got up to the front she refused to get in her dragon because it wasn't the purple one.  So a few other kids went in front of her and she patiently waited for the beautiful purple dragon to return.

Apparently it was totally worth it.

I did get to go on one particularly awesome coaster:

Don't knock it, folks.  It was much faster than you think.   And it was Allie's first roller coaster experience which made it extra worth it.  

The best show we saw all day was definitely Celtic Fyre.  

Good singing, good dancing, awesome musicians.  It was a blast.

I did sneak away with my Dad and Tessa for one quick ride on The Curse of DarKastle.

Similar to the Spiderman ride in Orlando, it's a 3D, multimedia experience with a moving car to simulate what you see on the screen.  Very well done, very fun.

By the end of the day, though, we were all tuckered out and ending up leaving in time to go have dinner at a Bar-B-Que joint back at Virginia Beach.

My roommate slept well that night!

Little Miss Greenbelt

I was so lucky to be in Maryland this year for the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival.  It's a great time to see old friends (people come out of the woodwork for this thing) and visit my old stomping grounds.  It was especially fun because this year my 6-year-old niece, Ashley, was competing in the Little Miss Greenbelt pageant.  The entire Silvestro clan (sans my older sister, Julie, who lives in Utah) along with a ton of other friends of our family came out to support her.  And while I REALLY don't like the whole pageant ordeal, I have to say it was really fun cheering Ashley on.  The emcee made a comment at one point that we were the most spirited crowd he had ever seen in his 20-something years of hosting the pageant.  We like to think that mostly had to do with us. :)

When I first got to the festival, I happened to catch the Little Miss Greenbelt contestants lined up for a photo shoot.  So I stepped in behind the photographer and grabbed a few of my own.  Ashley's in the hot pink dress with the slew of missing teeth. 

Here's my sister Lauren with her husband Kurt and their very close friends, the Meyers.  Lauren had gotten to the fair at 10am that morning to lay down tarps and reserve seats for everyone, which proved to be an excellent idea.  Even though the pageant did not start until 5:30pm, most seats were claimed hours before.  We were all right in the front, though, thanks to this uber excited mother.  

My dear friend from high school, Missy, came out to support Ashley, too.  Missy competed in the pageant for years.  In 10th grade I even choreographed her dance for the talent portion.  It was awesome.  And by awesome I mean terrible.  But we thought we were the bomb.

Mom and Dad enjoying some pre-pageant entertainment.  Dad loves his popcorn! :)

This guy was rocking it out!  He could work those hips!

These ladies needed some dance partners but I couldn't convince Carlton and Bradley to go help them out.

Precious.

But who were all of these people dancing to?  THIS GUY:

The man himself.  I think he really believed he was Elvis...a fifty-something version of Elvis.  This picture doesn't truly capture the orangeness of his skin but you do get a good feel for his bedazzled outfit.  I mentioned to my Dad, who 20 years ago was known for a pretty unforgettable Elvis impression himself, that his old outfit was never bedazzled like this guy's.  Dad's reply:

"I didn't need it."   TOLD!

At first I thought the Elvis dude was funny because he was so into his performance.  At one point I even started cheering for him yelling "I love you, Elvis!" but then he noticed what I was doing and started singing to me and I got really scared.  Lesson learned.

Finally, the pageant began.  I didn't take a ton of pictures during because I was too busy screaming.

Ashley strutting her stuff.  She looked pretty darn cute.

Proud mom and dad watching her strut her stuff.  I think Kurt may have cried.  Although, he'll tell you there was a lot of dust in the air that day...

Ashley won Miss Congeniality, Miss Photogenic, AND 2nd Runner-Up!  Work it, girl! 

Lauren couldn't stand the excitement of it all.  

Notice the happy smile on Ashley's face.  She was just thrilled to be a part of the whole experience.  Now notice the girl to her right.  She also placed as a runner-up but she threw a FIT right there on the stage because she didn't win.  It was atrocious.  That is the exact type of kid who should NOT be doing pageants.

After it was all over we made Ashley take lots of family photos.

with Aunt Krissy

with Mom

with younger sister, Allie.

with the entire Silvestro clan (minus Julie - we missed you!)

And then we couldn't resist a few more family shots.

Silvestro girls - Lauren, Krissy, and Tessa

Silvestro siblings - Carlton, Lauren, Krissy, Tessa, Bradley

 My cutie patootie of a niece, Allie.  

Thanks, Ashley, for giving us all an excuse to get together.  We had a great day!