Busch Gardens

October 11, 2010

Busch Gardens

As part of Waverly's Make-a-Wish trip last year, she was given an "amusement park passport" entitling our family to visit certain amusement parks for free. Her pass expired on Sunday, so we thought we would use it one final time to visit Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. We had a blast!! They have a Sesame Street area of the park for kids which was fantastic. They had kiddie rides, a live show and a sprinkler park.

Oliver relaxing in the grass

Oliver loved exploring the grounds

Close-up of a smiley Wavey

Oliver meeting Bert & Ernie

Waverly hugging Bert

Oliver on a little boat ride

Matt and the kids buckled in for a drop ride

Waiting at the top for the drop

Oliver loved it - Waverly not so much

Pretty girl on the carousel

Oliver clapping for the Sesame Street show after playing in the fountains

Comments

Aubrey. said…

We need to put this place on our 'to do' list. Looks like a blast!

October 12, 2010 at 7:42 PM

Joanne Huff said…

Hi Shannon,

Such great photos here from your fun trip this weekend. The one of Oliver grinning ear to ear but Wavery looking not too enthusiastic on the ride with Matt is SO cute. I don't know how to explain it, it just kind of reminded me of a lot of things you typically might see with siblings.

I'm so glad you all had such a great time! Joanne

October 12, 2010 at 8:57 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.