Erikobby's World: 'Twas The Weekend Before Christmas In The Washington DC Area

Because we are absolutely INSANE, we decided to go to Busch Gardens and DC for a 3 1/2 day trip...returning home on Christmas Eve. Yeah. We're crazy, so what? It was an AMAZING trip though, and if we're moving to OK, one of the last times in a while we'll see our temple all lit up for Christmas. :(

December 21st

We left for Busch Garden pretty early so we could get there around when it opens. We made pretty good time, but then the GPS tells us to take a ferry. A WHAT???? Thanks, Sydney (since she has an Aussie accent and all haha). The line for the ferry was INSANE! We were wondering why we were off the highway for a bit when we knew you could take the highway there. UGH! Luck was on our side though because we were one of the last (I think maybe even THE last) cars that got on that ferry. Thank goodness, because there was no getting out of line once we were in line plus it was another HALF HOUR until the next one! It was a fun ride, but reallly??? Stressful!

Driving toward Busch Gardens was crazy! There were signs up saying that even though you bought a ticket to get in, if it's full, you're not guaranteed to get in. HOLY CRAP NOOOOO! We were certain we were going to get turned away and Bianca, who knew she was going to see Santa, would have the biggest meltdown ever. Ooooh boy! Luckily the parking lots are bigger than they look from the road and we got in with plenty of room. PHEW!

What a great day to come though! The weather was insanely beautiful. Like no jackets and short sleeves weather. IN DECEMBER. IN VIRGINIA! They decorated it up beautifully! I love Christmas stuffs.

We let Bianca go on a ride next. At first she liked it because it was a horse...but then...well, watch the video. Oooh Bianca, we love you.

We walked around some more, enjoyed all of the lights. Then I took Bianca on a ride, which she loved, probably just because I was there, haha.

We walked around until it was our time to see Santa and eat! It was the best Santa experience ever! They sat you down for a buffet dinner, you watched a show with Santa and his Elf, then you got to go up and meet him (and Mrs. Clause walked around meeting people too!). He was the BEST Santa too, so nice, lively, and sweet. Bianca was in pure awe. It was great and the food wasn't too bad either!

We walked around after for a while. Lines were kinda crowded for rides, so we didn't go on any, but we did get to see a couple of shows. One show, Gloria, was really cool. It told the Christmas story with music and crazy lighting behind the actors. It was a gorgeous production! We also let Bianca play a game. It was where you pull a candy cane out and it told you what size prize you won (perfect for a 3 year old). She picked out a puppy and named him Busch haha! He became friends with her Christmas bear she picked out at the Salvation army and loves so much.

Fake snow! So cool!

The one thing we did want to go on before we left was the train! It was fun. Cam needed his puffs to get him through the train ride, but we all enjoyed ourselves.

We headed to the hotel before the park closed, which was smart on our part with traffic and all. When we got there, as usual Bianca started doodling, but this time she actually drew something...A SMILEY FACE! Well, and frowny faces, but we had never seen her do that before! Guess she picked that up in school. So cute!

December 22nd

We woke up early this morning and drove to Bethesda for church! It was weird being back in that ward. Kinda feels like our "home" ward, since it was where we got married and I got baptized and where we really started our lives together. They had a cute Christmas program. It was crazy to see how big all the little ones we remembered from there got. We were able to say hi to a few people and ate some lunch. We went to our hotel and got settled in. Then we set off for DC! I love seeing DC during the holidays where everything is just so pretty. Our first stop was the mall to see the Christmas tree! It was so pretty and Bianca had fun pushing Cameron around the mall in his stroller, haha!

We ate at, where else, T-Coast for dinner! YAY!!!! That will always be one of my favorite restaurants! After that we were debating whether to go to the zoo for the Zoolights exhibit or not. The weather said it was going to rain, so we weren't sure what to do, so we went to the stop to check it out.

Well, it was on the verge of raining, kinda drizzling out a bit. I swear, we walked back and forth toward the zoo 5 times before making a decision (one of those times included going into the Pet Co there, since we told Bianca we'd be seeing animals hahahahaha). But then we made our decision. We decided to do it. When else would we be in this area again at this time with Bianca at such a magical age? It was nice. It hardly rained, we got to see a couple of animals (only a few were awake), and the lights were great! It was worth the walk (sorry, Bianca. She did not have a good time walking around without her stroller).

Before we decided to go...told her this was the animal we were going to see LOL!!! Hey, she was fine with it, for the moment!

Tried to get daddy in a pic, oops! Sorry baby!

We were exhausted walking back to the metro (especially poor Bianca who didn't really get a nap today), but we made it back to our hotel and crashed!

December 23rd

Today was another busy day, but with less walking. We took the kids to Imagination Stage to see the show "Aquarium," which was Cameron's first show, aw! And he got to go to it on his 11 month birthday, how sweet! The kids loved it! We did have to bribe Cameron with a few Cheerios during the show (shh!), but other than that, he was great. Bianca was super into it and got to be a part of the show, which is what I love about children's theatre. I would love to do that someday, man!

LOOK AT BETHESDA GAS PRICES!!! DO NOT MISS THIS!!!

Next we went off to Foong Lin to eat lunch, of course. Cam was kind of a mess there, he didn't feel like eating apparently. Oh well, at least the cuisine was yummy. I miss good Chinese food. Then we hung out, went up to Rockville just to see how much has changed, since the kids fell asleep anyways in the car. Then we went to our old Target to grab a few things. I forgot how pretty this part of MD is, even though traffic is still just as horrible or even maybe worse.

When it got dark enough, we headed to the TEMPLE!!!! My favorite thing to do at Christmas ever would be going to the Festival of Lights. Sure, it's guaranteed to be cold, but it was so pretty and ahh! I miss living 10 minutes away from there, that's for sure. We decided to hang out outside first, to look at the Nativity scene and to TRY to get some pictrues of Cam in front of the temple for his birthday. Yeah, wasn't happening, so we went inside to try for the money shot. (BIRTHDAY PHOTO SHOOT PICS IN HIS BIRTHDAY POST!)

It was very nice inside. I got Cameron's picture after many tries since he is pretty mobile now. Then daddy walked around with Cam and I took Bianca around looking at everything decorated up. She made a friend and they ran around together. It was super cute! :) They played until it was time to go in for the performance.

Then we get a good isle seat for the performance! And we feed Cam a couple of puffs to keep him quiet when a sister missionary tells us to leave because of it. Silly Cameron. I took him out, but I was sad I missed the show. :( Oh well. Cam and I had fun in the hallway though! He crawled around the tree and was having a grand old time. Daddy said Bianca liked the show, she got a little antsy, but that's to be expected.