Our Day at Universal

Well, it was supposed to be just a short visit at Univeral's Islands of Adventure today, but we ended up staying for about EIGHT hours! A long time, when you thought you'd be home swimming in the pool by mid-afternoon.The kids and I got a late start (that's in OUR book ... we usually like to be there when the park opens) but we made up for lost time by heading straight to Seuss Landing, the part of Islands of Adventure with all of the kids rides.

And I think we rode each ride in Seuss Landing twice. The Carousel was a big hit ... As was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (it's like Dumbo) ... but only with Abby. Tyler was not feeling the urge to ride on/in a fish! Good thing Abby is a brave girl, and didn't mind riding a few rides by her lonesome. Don't worry, Tyler and I were good cheerleaders, and I think she was proud of herself!As you can see, I couldn't resist buying Abby and Tyler "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" shirts. Here they are making their best loopy faces (Thing 1 and Thing 2 aren't known for being the calmest of Seuss characters).After one of the shows, we were able to meet several characters, including Sam-I-Am (from Green Eggs and Ham), who is NOT pictured here, and the Grinch (below). I decided not to include the photo of the Grinch making a nasty face at me. Tyler talked about it all day. Guess I should be flattered that he was upset that the Grinch was mean to his mommy!
I love this picture of Thing 1 and Thing 2 (the real ones AND the Schnittker versions) ... And I thought it was so cute that The Cat in the Hat made Abby stand next to her passport before he signed it. Guess he wanted to make sure it was authentic! We are all about the water areas at these theme parks! I must admit, they do cool 'ya off. I must have been in the high 90s today!I think IF we had stopped there, I wouldn't be as pooped tonight ... but we didn't stop! Abby and Tyler convinced me to trek down to Universal Studios to visit the rides in their kids' area: Woody Woodpecker's Funzone. They had a blast climbing all over the giant-sized objects in Fivel's Playland ... ... they really enjoyed the Barney and Animal Actors shows (although Abby wasn't gung ho about either one at first), and they discovered their favorite ride of the day: Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster (narrowly beat out Tyler's favorite at Islands of Adventure: the High in the Sky Trolley Train Ride.) Tyler and I "escorted" Abby up to the coaster twice before he worked up the nerve to try it himself, but he ended up riding twice ... and he LOVED it! Check out his "I did it!" pose, and Abby's approving "thumbs up!"

What a GREAT day with my little friends. Tomorrow we take it easy in the morning (phew!) and then Grandan, the kids and I are headed to an afternoon/evening at Busch Gardens in Tampa, where we will meet up with Aaron. Now, don't get me wrong ... we love all of these freebies (the kids would kill me if I turned them down) but I'm going to need a vacation to recover from Roadtrip Week! The KIDS are going to need to drive ME back up to Tallahassee.