Friday - Day 3

You ask anyone in my family, they will tell you that this was the favorite day of the whole vacation!  And it's already been a whole week since we were there.  :(  We decided to travel down to Williamsburg, VA to relive another moment from our honeymoon.  We went to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg.  Ryan and I loved this park when we were there before and we loved it that much x10.  First off, the drive down there is gorgeous!  Every time we've been in Virginia, we talk about the beauty of it.  You cannot see beyond the roads because of the trees.  So you constantly feel like you're in a forest.  So we took the 2 1/2 hour drive down there.  As we hit VA, Darek asked, "So are we going to go pick up our new baby brother now?"  I guess because he knows he was born in VA, that it's where we go to get a baby.  It was the sweetest comment and took a lot for me not to cry. 

We arrived at the park about an hour after it opened.  I won't go into detail about the rides we went on, because I will sound like a complete roller coaster nerd if I do.  I'll just say that the rides were incredible!  Some of my favorites from before were still my favorites now.  And although I can't remember a lot of specifics from almost 13 years ago, the park was just as beautiful as I remembered.

We went on as many family rides as we could, since Darek was 46 inches and most of the rides required him to be 48 inches.  We enjoyed Escape from Pompei a lot, since that was one that was fun for all and got us soaking wet!  Ryan and I took turns going on the big rides with Alex while the other stayed off and went on the littler rides with Darek.  Lucky Alex got to go on all the big ones at least twice! 

There was a very overwhelming moment for me as I went on the flying swings with Darek while Ryan and Alex were off on Apollo's Chariot.  I sat there, flying through the air, with my beautiful little boy thinking back to my honeymoon.  I was this very young almost 19 year old, madly in love (almost stupidly in love), thinking of the perfect life that laid ahead of me.  We'd go to school until our first child was born, then because of all the money we were making, I would stay at home without an issue, keep having children, build our dream home, have my 5-6 children by the time I was 30, be the incredible PTA/soccer/church/everything Mom that I had always wanted to be and we would all live happily ever after.  So very naive.  But as I looked down at my beautiful little Darek, I realized how grateful I was that all those "dreams" didn't come true.  Because he would not be there with me.  Nor would Ian be waiting for me in Heaven.  Are there some things from that 19 year old's dreams that I would have loved to have?  ABSOLUTELY!!!  But I would not trade even one of them for my boys.  I'm sure people were watching with much curiosity as tears were flowing down my cheeks.  But it sure was an interesting and emotional flash back for me to return to that newlywed mind and remember all the things that I had wanted and was positive I would have.

As we left the park that day, all the boys could talk about was coming back again one day.  I made a comment that maybe in another 12 years we could come again.  Then I wanted to throw up as I realized that in 12 years, Alex would be 22 and could be married with his own kids and Darek would be almost 17 and would be a senior in high school.  Yep, I'm okay not thinking about that right now.  I'll enjoy my 10 and 4 year old for now.  But we all have said how much we want to live in VA.  We have some pretty deep ties to that state and feel a huge since of belonging there.  But for now we are here and have no plans otherwise.  But I would not be opposed to it if it happened down the line. 

Anyway, here are a few of the pictures we got that day....