Day 2...Monday, August 3rd

We started the morning bright and early heading to Busch Gardens.

Mom and Dad rode in our car to the Park.

This was probably Nicki's boys' favorite ride, the Tram Car. One of the days we parked so close that we didn't need to take the Tram and they were upset!

Steve and Danny


The rest of the Gang up ahead...

This was by-far, Joshie and Ryan's favorite ride!

Danny spent alot of time just observing....

OK, so the next set of pictures were in Octoberfest, a huge dining hall in Germany! It's my favorite, and most expensive, place to eat in BG. The mere fact alone that it is air conditioned says it all. At about 1:30pm, dancers and a band come out and perform songs and dances for you. The kids loved watching.

Just getting done eating- pizza, mozzarello sticks, french fries with cheese sauce, two lunch meat wraps and some of Baba's ribs...

Mackie and her "snugglebuddy" (that's all she called him!)

After lunch, Matt wanted to stop and win the girls some prizes. He is really good at playing games! A few posts later, you'll see all of his winnings. I must add, that I did beat him at the water game!

We took the SkyRide over to another country. I rode with Gia and Jess. It was so cool to be up so high, right next to the roller coasters. Gia's favorite ride, was the Lochness Monster, a double looper, upside down. Check out the picture!

This was us next to the coaster as it went upside down! (ok, duh, Michelle, everyone can see it is upside down...)

As we left the park for the day, I made the girls photo-up in these things. Too funny, especially Mackie's! (For those of you that don't know Mackie, she talks from sun-up to sun-down and halfway through the night! I'm constantly revoking her speaking privileges...)

Day 3....Tuesday, August 4th

Mom and Nicki made a fabulous breakfast of eggs, pancacks, bacon and sausage! The boys were up and out early to enjoy their first round of golf today. It was cool because when they got to the 13th hole, we could go out and observe. Which, I must say, was pretty interesting to get 7 children silent while they teed off! But we managed! After taking some group shots of course!

Mom, Nicki, Steve and I headed to the pool for the day to have some fun in the sun! I don't have any pool pics, must not have taken camera out, but I do have this adorable shot of Kay before we left!



After a day spent at the pool we all got dolled-up to head to a seafood buffet Matt read about in a magazine. I was personally psyched because I had read over the menu on-line about 15 times and couldn't wait to get there. I'm not gonna lie- I was a tad nervous because I kept thinking "What if it's lousy?" But thankfully, it was out-of-this-world DELICIOUS!!!! It was all home-made courses from endless snow crab legs, clams casino, mussels, salmon, prime rib, chicken, ribs, crab imperial, oysters, crab bisque, and tons more....Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention the endless choices for dessert. I didn't sample any of those...not an once of room was left in my belly! The kids enjoyed the desserts, for sure!

As we walked back from the pool, with the exception of height, I was shocked how much they look alike, and how tan they are!

Before the Buffet...

Get a load of Joshie and Ryan- Shark Boys!

I love them!

Kaylee taking a rest at dinner.

Gia, literally digging out the clams with her fingers, and loving every lick of them. She had, no lie, 4 gianourmous plates full of clams!

After dinner we headed to BG to enjoy a Kinetics Night-time Light Show. It was really cool!

Day 4...Wednesday, August 5th

So the plan for today was to wake up early, and head to Busch Gardens before the main park opened. Pop-pop had the kids make a list of 4 of their favorite rides and he guarenteed they would get to do them. Gia, Jessie, Nicki and Pop-pop were one group. Matt, Mom, Steve, Mackie, Kaylee, Ryan, Joshie, Danny and I were another. Gia must have had a rough night sleep...because this is how she looked when she got up...Have you ever seen messier hair?! I mean, I think something is really living in this nest!

This was Kaylee still sleeping at 8:00am while we were rushing to get ready to leave for Busch Gardens.




But not my Mackie, she was up, dressed, and already eating Pop-pop's oranges, ready to go!

Pop-pop cooking breakfast

The gang ready to go....we enjoy torturing them with this type of photo everytime before we leave! (We do this on every vacay.)

Once we got to the park, my group took the kids to see an Elmo 4-D production. Thanks to Nicole, I learned that 4-D means you get wet, and things really come out like bubbles! This was Kaylee attempting 4 glasses....

After BG, we headed back to the resort for lunch. Then off to Water Country, while Mom and Dad stayed behind with Danny. The kids enjoyed the water park...Me? Not so much! I guess I'm just getting old, but not a fan of getting my face and hair soaked with water, especially community water that just seems yucky! By the time we got home and ate dinner it was like 8:00pm....shewww..what a long, but fun, day!

Day 5....Thursday, August 6th

The boys played their second round of golf today, while we had a delicious breakfast compliments of Nicki's pancake cooking! When Matt and my Dad get to the 13th hole, we ran out to watch them in action.

Mom decided to go out a sneak a hit. Wow, to be honest, she did better than my Dad...just don't tell him that!

Matt taking his shot...good form!

And my Dad...

As the guys finished their round of golf, we got the kids ready to head back to Busch Gardens for our last time :(

Kaylee is just too stinkin' cute with tiny braids and big smile!

All the children dressed and ready to roll...

Gia and Ryan on the tram car.

Daniel was a trooper! He spent most of the time in the stroller and you never ONCE heard a peep out of him!

In the front row is my Dad, Gia and Jess. 4th row back is Nicki, Mom, and Matt. Matt and Mom are waiving and Nicki is holding on for dear life! Holla!

Dad, Mom, Nicki and Steve went on Apollo's Chariot- a really wild roller coaster that only secures you with a handle that comes between your legs. As they waited in line, Matt and I entertained the kiddies.

More of what Danny did best!

Kaylee and Mackie begged to play Whack-a-Mole and I finally gave in. The first to get to 100 points wins...Mackie was struggling at 10 and Kaylee was doing awesome at 60. I decided to help Mackie out and apparently got too excited because we ended up beating Kaylee. Mackie was thrilled; Kaylee was devastated.

Mackie in action.

Kaylee's devastation

Mackie's excitement

Matt felt really bad for Kaylee so he wanted to win her something. A family of 6 were already seated so this prize was for the large one...and I mean large! So of course, me being the positive one, was like - you'll never beat those two other guys! Don't waste your money! Well, well, Kaylee's frown sure turned upside down, because Mr. Leo was soon hers!

Oh yeah! Kaylee rode around in the stroller all day, carrying Mr. Leo! Too funny! Once they were done the roller coaster, we let the kids ride some fun rides just their size.

It started down pouring rain! The weirdest part was all the rides kept going. Even the huge coasters still carried passengers up in the pouring rain! While it rained, we devoured the most delicious waffle cone ice creams, and then once it stopped, headed back to the resort. The kids piled all of Matt's winnings on the couch, with a couple purchases, and this is what it looked like...

Oh, HELLO, Kaylee!