"Christmas Vacation" Day 4 - Busch Gardens Tampa!

...after a low key day we were all up for more adventure today.  Anthony picked Busch Gardens as our Theme Park for the day...we drove to Tampa, traffic was good (which was nice), and we got there around noon.  It was an awesome park, several good roller coasters and also very cool animals to look at - we even took a safari ride and fed giraffes!!  

getting into the park and figuring out the lay of the land (or really, where all the good roller coasters are!)

we had our sights set on this one - The Cheetah Hunt!

the kids said it was Awesome, it used G force to keep you in your seats and Magnets to give it bursts of speed!

the boys Monkeying around! 

lunch break!... then on to the Serengeti Safari Ride!

we got to feed the Giraffes lettuce....their tongues were like 18inches long!

Our new favorite friend - the kids wanted to take him home!!

"Christmas Vacation" Day 3 - Shopping and a Football Game!

We all slept in after the excitement of the past few days!  So kind of a lazy morning, the girls got ready to go shopping at the Outlet Mall nearby and the boys got ready for the Champs Bowl game - Notre Dame vs Florida State!!  The boys hit a couple of stores (Nike and Adidas) before heading down to the game but the girls enjoyed a few more "hours" of shopping!  The Coach store won as favorite!

the professional shoppers!! 

Citrus Stadium, Champs Bowl

Getting set for the game!  Wow, great seats - thanks Duane!!

parachuters landing on the field!

Go Irish (Cade and Anthony yelled!)

fireworks after the Florida St Victory - Go Florida St (Duane yelled!)

"Christmas Vacation" Day 2 - SeaWorld!!

After a good nights sleep, we were up and ready for day two!  And the park is...SeaWorld!!

our first ride - Atlantis!

soaking wet after the ride!! 

in line for the Kraken - the best ride EVER!!!!

grabbing a "snack" while waiting for the Manta roller coaster, another great ride....nice Turkey Leg Antman!!

Wow the Shamu Theater was spectacular!!  

a magical night for all...feels like it is still Christmas to us!

"Christmas Vacation" Day 1 - Universal Studios!

On December 26th, we took Carson and Cade along with two of their friends Olivia and Anthony to Florida for a warm winter getaway!  Our late night flight on the 26th went well...except the shenanigans of Olivia and Carson (I felt sorry for the woman sitting next to them!)  But we made it, checked into our condo and started the next day bright and early at Universal studios!

see what I mean...who would want to sit next to these goofballs?!!

Now lets get to the fun...

fun on the Jaws ride!!  Not too scary!

Woo Hoo!! Duane got us on the Fast Track - no lines!!  THANK YOU!!

NOT Real!

waiting for the Red Rock-it Ride - some roller coasters are worth waiting for!

after the Red Rock-it Coaster ride...AWESOME!!

fun at the Universal Parade!

Ending the night with dinner at NBA City - What a fun day!!

...and then the fun of Christmas Night!

Kirsten, Mike and Lila and Jen, Jason, Celia and Ruby all came to celebrate Christmas with us around 5pm on Christmas Day.  We enjoyed opening gifts and eating Christmas dinner together and having that meaningful family time...creating more memories that we will cherish forever.

Miss Lila showed up first, so she got to her stocking right away!!

then everyone else came and the present opening started!!

Carson created individually decorated converse for each of the girls....they LOVED them!!

Lila with her new Baby!

more Hawkeye Sports Memorabilia for Mike!

 after the gifts were opened...the dancing started!!

but there was still some very special gifts to be experienced...The Cars were unveiled!!

Lila in her new convertible camaro....just like Grampa's!!

 and Celia and Ruby in their razor go carts...like their Dad's Ranger!!

I'm not sure who liked the go carts more, the girls or Jen!!

and finally the most special gift of all...wish lanterns...we all lit them and sent them off to have our wishes come true at Christmas and always!