Spring Break 2012

My mom and I took the boys to Florida for Spring Break and we had a fantastic time. We left at 3:30 am on a Saturday and arrived in Oldsmar by 7 pm. Seeger had to nap during the trip!



On Sunday, we woke up and headed straight to the pool.


While mom and I got ready to head to the store, Seeger had a snack and did some reading in the sun room.


We went to store to stock up on groceries and decided to catch a movie.


We made it back to the condo in time to catch the NCAA Selection Sunday. Nicklas wanted to keep track of the seeding - especially for IU. Even Seeger got in to and made his own bracket.


On Monday, we headed to Busch Gardens for the day. I'd never been so I didn't know what to expect. My mom isn't in to roller coasters which works out because she was able to hang with Seeger while Nicklas and I rode every one they had in the park. Here is Nicklas waiting for our first coaster.


The cool thing about Busch Gardens is that it's also a zoo. There were all sorts of animal habitats. After a few coasters, Nicklas and I met my mom and Seeger near the tortoises.


Then we all rode the Sky Ride - my mom's favorite ride - to the back of the park.


We rode the log ride, which Seeger wouldn't have done last year. Luckily, he's getting a bit braver. Seeger and I rode in one log and my mom and Nicklas rode in another. (I'm not sure what my mom is doing in this photo but Nicklas at least looks like he's having fun!)


I bought our Busch Garden's tickets online and they had this deal for an extra $10, we got all you can eat for the day. Bonus! We took advantage of this deal when we went to Universal in August so I knew it would be worth it. The food was pretty good. For lunch we had bbq.


The boys loved that they got dessert with every meal.


The entire time we were at the park, the boys kept talking about the Canyon Falls ride. They really wanted to ride it but I wasn't too keen on getting soaked. I thought I could distract them with things and they would forget about Canyon Falls but I wasn't that luckly. Eventually, I took them on the ride. Of course, we all got soaked. It was fun though and they loved it.


Nicklas and I went to ride a few more rides but first we stopped to check out the animals - my favorite is the giraffe and Nick's favorite is the elephant. (Mom took Seeger on the train to see other safari animals, including HIS favorite, the rhinosaurus.)




Another photo from the Sky Ride.


I mentioned that Seeger is getting a bit braver with rides but I was still surprised when I suggested he ride the Cheetah Hunt roller coaster and he said, "Yeah, I've been wanting to ride that." My mom decided that if Seeger could ride it, she would too so we headed to the line. The whole time we were waiting, I kept expecting Seeger to chicken out. But he didn't and he LOVED the ride. His first big roller coaster - yeah! Here's a photo of it.



We stopped to get dinner on our way out of the park. The boys were so full and tired.


My mom and I were both impressed with Busch Gardens. The park is clean and staff are very friendly. They had lots of big rides and the wait times weren't bad. We rarely waited more than 30 minutes. We were a little bummed that we didn't get to see the ice show - Icepoloration. I wanted to make sure we saw a show since that's my mom's favorite thing to do. We arrived at Iceploration about 15 minutes prior to the start but the venue was full so we didn't even get to go in. I was bummed but it gave us more times to ride coasters.

The next day, we headed to Clearwater Beach. Since it was the start of university spring breaks, we decided to avoid the public beaches and spend the day at the State Park. We chose Sand Key. The boys loved the ocean - though Nicklas was a bit disappointed that the waves weren't bigger. They played in the sand and asked that I bury them.










We decided to treat ourselves to dinner that night. Since we were at the beach, we stopped at Frenchy's for grouper.




On Wednesday, I took Nicklas to Lakeland for the Detroit Tigers spring training.


I wasn't too excited about spending my day watching baseball but it was beautiful out and they offered concessions so I had a ballpark hotdog.




After the game (against the Mets) we made our way to the digout area so Nicklas could get some autographs. We didn't get through the crowd in time but a camera guy gave Nicklas a baseball so he was happy but still bummed about missing out on autographs.


When we were walking out of the park, we saw a big line off to the side of the parking lot. We decided to check it out and heard that Prince Fielder, a new superstar trade of the Tigers, would be signing autographs. So we got in this long line and hoped for the best.



As he started signing, I thought there's no way he's going to stick around for the 150+ people but he did. Very impressive! He must have signed autographs for over an hour. What a great picture of him with Nicklas.


He signed Nick's jersey. Nicklas was a happy boy.


The next day, we headed back to the beach. This time we chose a beach closer to Oldsmar and bit further away from the Spring Breakers. We got to Honeymoon Island fairly early. There weren't many people there.


Check out the boys from my seat under the umbrella.




The beach did get busier but mostly with snow birds and families.


Seeger and I made his best sand castle yet.


Nicklas was anxious to get back to the condo so we didn't say as long at the beach. He was eager to watch basketball so we dropped him off and headed back to Frenchy's in Clearwater Beach because Seeger wanted to see the sunset.


We had a snack and Seeger chose dessert.


Later that evening, we watched the IU game. Yeah for the Hoosiers win! Nicklas almost made it to end of the game though he missed the last minute of play. Luckily it wasn't a close game.


Friday was a quiet day. We hung out at the pool, did some laundry, cleaned the condo, and watched some great NCAA basketball. (Go Lehigh! Yay Norfolk State!)


Saturday was our driving day. We wanted to make it home in time for IU's second round game. It was an exciting one and Nicklas definitely didn't fall asleep during this one.