Busch Gardens Theme Park 2012

We made our annual trek to Busch Gardens yesterday to use our FREE pass for the summer!

It worked out well with Mike having the week off, so he could enjoy it with us! We went with our BEST Navy friends (who Mike went thru OCS with way back when....9 years ago...) Dan, Jessica, and their kids Kolbey (2-1/2) and Beau (3 mos).

It was a beautiful day, sunny, breezy, and NO LINES for anything!!!!

Compared to last year, both girls were more eager to try all the rides and push the limits.

Abby was 42" tall this year, which is the minimum for most of the suitable adult rides that she could go on, so she accompanied Dan & Mike on a lot of them, which was a thrill for her! She is our little roller coaster girl!

She even went on 2 of the 3 water rides in the park. Her not so favorite was the boat ride that is basically a large drop into a splash/spray of water......But her favorite if you ask her was the Log Ride!! She wanted to do it again, but none of us wanted to get that wet again! 

Maddy on the other hand......not so thrilled with the Log Ride and residual wetness....Ooops!

PS: You don't see myself or Jessica photographed....both of us are easily affected by motion sickness these days so we left that to the dads!

 Mike & Maddy on the Up/Down bouncy ride in Elmo's World (Kiddie area)

 Maddy piloting the airplane all by herself!

 Kolbey & Abby in their airplane

 All three girls in the hot air balloon

 All three girls in the zoomy zoomy in a cirle ride......video to post soon!

 Carousel--a classic favorite

Kid version of the swing ride.....that is about how fast it went as photographed....Abby then realized she was tall enough for the real swing ride and hopped on that with Mike. She LOVED it!!!! No fear! 

No more kid rides for this little adventurer!

 Tea Cups! The dad's took all three of them for a VERY fast spin ride

 Helping to spin their tea cup!

 Abby's most frequented ride of the day.....Kids roller coaster in Elmo's World. By the end of the day she was getting on/in and off all by herself as I watched from afar!

 Meeting some characters!

 Lunch show at the Beer Garden......Brats and more brats (the sausage variety :)

 This is Maddy's version of "cheese" for the camera....nice.

Trip to Monticello (without kids!!!!)

Well we finally made a trip to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home/property in Charlottesville, Virginia) , and as we had hoped, it was kid-free too!

My awesome friend Danielle watched the girls overnight Monday/Tuesday so that we could getaway!

Monticello has been on our to-do list for the area for the last three years!

And to make it even better, it is part of the summer military free entrance museum program! So we got in FREE!! (reg $24/person). That made the tour much more enjoyable :)
So we dropped the kids off Monday morning, and headed off to Monticello for the tour. It was a warm, muggy, and drizzly afternoon once we arrived. But it let up just enough to enjoy walking around the grounds a bit after our tour. Then we headed up the road a bit to check-in to our Bed and Breakfast retreat for the night! It was a quaint but very private home with 5 rooms, each with their own full bath and jacuzzi tub and a hot tub to use out on the back porch. It was our first time at a B&B, and we loved it. We ventured into Downtown Charlottesville for dinner at a Sushi restaurant! We woke up this morning to a 3 course breakfast, then headed out for some more touring and then home to get the kids.

It was a nice way to enjoy ourselves alone as Mike's departure date quickly approaches.

The front of Monticello (4 story building designed by Thomas Jefferson over MANY years)

A nice girl in our tour took a photo for us!

 Walking through the underground tunnels of Monticello- There were many specialty areas such as the kitchen, beer and wine cellar, lots of storage rooms, and the toilet!!

 Inside the beer room underground

 Everything on the property is very well maintained and lush green right now!

 Walking down towards the garden/vineyard!

 The property looks out over the Blue Ridge Mountains

 

 A bit of sake and beer down the hatch.....and this was my dinner date for the night!!!

CAMPOUT!

We had a camp out at home last night!

Abby has been talking a lot about camping lately (mostly because of an episode of one of her favorite shows she saw on TV where they did it). So before Mike left, we wanted to fulfill her request!

Seemingly easy enough since we didn't have to leave our yard (or pack our car and venture to a far off destination). She LOVED it!!!

And she even slept the entire night out in the tent with Mike to our surprise.

I thought maybe she'd last an hour or two then ask to go inside.......but she proved us wrong!

 Her camp chairs......she is sitting next to Barbie of course!

 Loving on her dad! She was very grateful for the camping experience! **And told us repeatedly that because we did the camp out for her , she promised to be a good girl and not hit her sister for a few days :) We laughed, and agreed that was a good plan.

 As soon as Maddy was in bed and asleep, we went outside, started up the fire pit, and as dusk approached, began roasting marshmallows of course! Abby was a PRO s'moores maker! She was roasting into the wee hours (10:30pm by the time we sent her in the tent)  for all three of us! Her favorite part was letting the marshmallow catch on fire, then blowing it out all by herself.

'

 And success! She said they were delicious......then she realized you could skip the cracker and chocolate and just eat the marshmallows.....

 6am.......sound asleep! Pretty sure when Mike's back next Summer, we will have to do a real camping trip!

Old/New Videos to Post

The girls love being videotaped, and more often than not I am able to capture their silly moments!

Here are a few I've forgotten to post in the last month or two....excuse the few that are sideways, just turn your head! ENJOY!

Here are the girls dancing after watching the movie "Beethoven"

Here is Maddy before her haircut last month, being silly in the tub

Abby jumping into the pool a few weeks ago

And my favorite-- Maddy saying "Uh-oh its an accident"

Best Friends and soooo alike

 These girls crack me up. I catch them all the time doing things similarly, or just laying on one another during their downtime! Truly similar in so many ways!!

Maddy Potato-Head

Maddy is definitely the typical 2 year old, and wants to try to do everything on her own.

Her usual response to our help is "No, I do it"

She found the potato head box yesterday and has been busy!

This is her creation today as she ran to me in excitement to show it off! I think it had 4 sets of eyes on it!!

She was apparently making her own potato-head face to go along with it! Our silly little girl!!

Beach Shots!

 Jennifer took these of us with her phone at the beach one night after dinner!

Mike and I have a beach shot like this from WAY back in the day when he started training in Pensacola, I should post it and compare how we've gracefully aged over the last 9 years!!! :)

Swimmer Sisters!

SUMMER 2012......Begins.....

And this being our 4th summer with a pool, the kids have really become one with the water.

Abby still swims all by herself in the deep end with no floaties, and Maddy can swim anywhere with her floaties on! She has changed so much from last summer, where all she wanted to do was throw things in the pool. Now she willingly gets in, and she and Abby play games and entertain themselves in the pool.

Since I didn't get any photos of them swimming at the party yesterday (where they swam for HOURS AND HOURS......we were all poolside from 11am-8pm!!!!), here are some from this afternoon!

 BE WARNED!!!! Abby now knows how to effectively fill up and use the water blasters!

  Jumping off the diving board!!!!

 Maddy LOVES throwing the dive sticks in for Abby to rescue!! They make a great team!!

Memorial Day 2012

In true Smith style, as far as pool entertaining goes, we hosted our.......3rd Annual Memorial Day Pool Party yesterday! We hosted about 20+ adults and 20+ kids for the day for an awesome lunch and great swimming.

I'm trying to spend more time enjoying myself while entertaining, so I spent more time poolside with friends and neglected the camera til the end of the party. But I snagged a few shots just as proof!

 This was towards the end of the party, but the place was packed earlier in the day!

 

My yummy contributions for the day.......ABOVE: Patriotic Bundt Cake; BELOW: Marshmallow Pops (half were red with sprinkles for the kids, and the other half were smoores, with chocolate and graham cracker crumbs......HUGE HIT)

 I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend too, remembering those who have sacrificed all, and those who still do so on a daily basis by serving our country close to home, and abroad.

Mommy and the Girls

Mike got a rare shot of me in front of the camera......and I got these silly faces.....geez....

 Abby really knows how to turn on the charm!

Cousins!

This past weekend Mike's family from Pennsylvania were in town....Dave, Jennifer, Matt & Emily

They came for Matt's wrestling tournament for the weekend, but we got to spend some family time with them as well. Abby was in LOVE with Emily, as usual, and treasured their time together in the pool, at the beach, and she especially loved that Emily slept in the extra bed in her room one night too! Probably her favorite part :)

 Getting ready to head to the beach!!

Emily got dirty with them, building sand castles..........wish she lived closer....this would make my summers (and days at the beach) so much more enjoyable.

 The girls, enjoying their new beach chairs!! No more eating on sandy towels for these kids!

Maddy Silliness

Maddy has become quite the entertainer these days!! She comes up with these things out of nowhere.

The other day she insisted Mike drag her from the hallway while holding his ankle! She loves being silly and definitely keeps us entertained and on our toes!

Just a little Maddy Wednesday!

 Proud Mommy Moment........Maddy was enjoying some time in the playroom this morning, these colorful letters were all scrambled up in a pile (the usual playroom mess). She ran to get me while I was cleaning house and pulled me to the toy room to find THIS!!! She lined them all up, by color in a row!!!! And she was SUPER proud of herself too because she knew what she did! LOVE THIS KID!!!

 And the potty training practice continues......nothing like trying to eat a snack on the potty with the dog waiting for you to drop something....Roxy never gives up.