"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

It's Spring and Caleb is astutely noticing that we have not been to Busch Gardens this year. The passes still needed to be purchased but he was pretty focused even saying that we’ve usually gone before now. He’s right, but days were slipping by fast. Still Caleb had a sincere desire to go. Jessica mentioned it to Chris worried that there were no more days to take off. Chris on the other hand explained that this is one of the many reasons he has the job he does so he can take off and spend time with us. So two Fridays ago and sitting on the surprise for probably a week we headed out at 6 am to Williamsburg. Four stops and four hours later we arrived to share the park with a few other people. Lines were no longer than 15 minutes. We had a lot of fun. No new rides were added to anyone’s repertoire. Rebekah is an inch shy of getting on Apollo’s Chariot, much to the joy of Chris and Jess. Caleb is about 2 inches short of Riding Loch Ness. Both will make it by the end of the summer. Elijah is looking at next Spring before taking on the Big Bad Wolf. Highlights included Caleb’s ride on the Big Bad Wolf—his FAVORITE. Elijah enjoyed the two train trip on two different trains. Rebekah liked the Loch Ness Monster the best. Jess and Chris were able to tackle the major coasters. Well, Jess didn’t want to wait in line for Loch Ness on our second pass through the park. She did hit a huge boon on Apollo’s chariot facing a 20-minute wait when it promptly closed due to a car stuck on the track. As people flooded out of the queue Jess moved up and got on a fixed ride in 10 minutes. Utilizing the child swap option Chris got on right after her. Out of love and only love, Jessica took Rebekah and Caleb on Roman Rapids. We think Rebekah got the worst of it but all squished around the park until lunch. Lunch was taken at the Smoker’s Traphouse in New France. For the first time we got 3 sampler platter, a pickle, a salad, and a corn on the cob. It was all gone. We did go in search of icecream but $5.89 for a waffle cone just didn’t sit right with us. Griffin was closed until about 4 pm and we decided to pass altogether instead heading to the new Forest of Fun. A lovely place where EA rode his first official coaster (twice, once with Mama once with Daddy) Chris and Jessica enjoyed meeting the original cast (Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Grover, and Bert and Ernie) from Sesame Street while our children were unsure and unimpressed. Eventually the new crew came out with Abbie, Zoe and Elmo. This made them happy. Unfortunately while the new area is fun with endearing rides and a great water play area, there is NO SHADE and Chris and Jessica gave up endeavors after 30 minutes of sitting and watching. We left the phone at home and needed to call Chris’ parents. The pay phone wouldn’t let us use our calling card so after many attempts, Jess headed to guess relations to a real phone that took the card. Having looped the park 3 times and satisfying everyone’s desires, we headed home at 530 with a stop at Wendy’s for Frostys.

School closed fast with reviews and checking skills for the kids. Word Families are well in hand (CG and RE). Letter matching is under control (EA). Bible knowledge is flourishing. Reading levels are at 2nd grade for Rebekah and 1st grade for Caleb. Math is loved at the moment so why rock the boat? Principal Daddy ended school Tuesday afternoon after realizing we have nothing left to do. Yay!
We had a new park surprisingly go in last week. It is within walking distance. It went up in 3 weeks. So exciting! We still intend to build the backyard playset because the new park is too far to go without a parent. They finished the pavilion after we were there.
Oh thanks to the Durnils we also had our first dip in the pool last week.