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!