St. Pete's Beach Vacation - Day Three

Tuesday morning arrived with a late start due to getting back late from the Tampa Rays game the night before. This was our big day at Busch Gardens.

They just may have some of the most beautifully landscaped habitats I've seen anywhere.

There were plenty of Florida's lawn ornaments walking around.



Around noon, the sky started getting dark and the rain moved in so we found shelter in some dry exhibits. The tiger below is obviously not real, but it was definitely a pretty good replica.

The rain moved out pretty quickly, the humidity level shot back up and the kids wanted to try out some of the rides in Timbuktu. Ryan flew his helicopter...

...while this beast reminded me that I'm getting way to old for this stuff. Ashley loved it while I held on for dear life.

Lots more beautiful animals to see. Some real...

...some not, but very playful regardless.

We weren't sure what to expect when it came to Ryan and rides this year since he was still so scared of all of them at Disney last year, but he LOVED the water rides. We first took the kids on the Log flume ride where the last drop is pretty steep. Then we took them on Congo River Rapids. Ryan loved that one and would have ridden it over and over again for the next two hours, had we let him.

Bret and Ashley wait for the Congo to take off.

The whole day was pretty much Busch Gardens and nothing else. We did so much walking that day that by the time we got back to the resort, we were ready to collapse!

I'll work on Day Four tomorrow...