There are certain moments throughout Motherhood where you feel like you have no confidence & you have no idea what you are doing as a Mother. Those feelings often occur after your sweet, adorable child decides to have a massive tantrum in public or something along those lines...
But then there are other days when you feel like you can tackle the world! Yesterday was a confidence builder for me as a Mom. I did what I never imagined myself doing...
I ventured to a major theme park with my two year old ALONE.
(Applause please.)
I knew we could do it! I was prepared. I knew where to park. I knew to make sure to look at what parking lot we were in, so I could find our car later. I knew what time the shows were. I knew the fastest path to get to Sesame Street land in the park. I knew to pack a sandwich lunch, bananas and juice boxes to avoid spending an arm and a leg on park food. I knew where to wait for the characters to come out, so we'd be first in line for pictures with them. I knew when to get there & when to leave to avoid a giant exhaustion meltdown (from both Connor and myself!). I was prepared, fully armed, and ready for an afternoon at Busch Gardens by myself! (Our year passes to Busch Gardens were SUCH a good choice).
The 3.5 hours at the park went a little like this...
We played in kiddie pond splash area for about 20 minutes before deciding to grab a good seat for the Sesame Street character show. This was Connor's blank stare just mere seconds before his life got that much better when his buddy, Elmo came up behind him.
Here he comes!
This picture is terrible, but it marks one giant milestone for Connor. As Elmo approached us, Elmo did the unimaginable. Elmo hugged Connor. For anyone that knows Connor (or has paid attention in previous posts about characters), Connor only loves characters if they are a good two feet away from him. If they get any closer, he begins to panic--pouty lip, deep breathing, fear-for-his-life panic.
Well...that was until this very moment where Elmo broke the ice. Elmo swooped in for a hug before Connor knew it was coming, so once Elmo had Connor wrapped in his lovely red fuzz-of-a-body, Connor learned that he was in fact surviving the encounter! From that moment forward, Connor shouted "Emmm-Mo, Emm-Mo!" and clapped his pudgy little hands...and his fear of characters was officially gone! Praise you, Mr. Elmo character guy!
(This photo is about 1 second before Elmo hugged Connor. I was trying to capture the moment, while deathly afraid of a giant freak out attack from Connor. Owell!)
Once the character fear was gone, we hopped right in there with Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby for a picture! We took extra long since Connor want to keep hugging Abby instead of looking forward at the camera.
Photo attempt #1: Connor not looking.
Photo attempt #2: Mom not looking.
Connor could not get enough of his Sesame Street furry friends, so we headed over to visit Big Bird. Just moments after this photo was taken, Connor reached up and grabbed Big Bird's beak. Was I able to capture that adorable moment on camera?! Nope. Owell! Just believe me when I say it was cute!
After hanging with the characters for pictures, we headed over to the giant splash fountain area for kiddies. Connor was in heaven! He splashed, he splashed and he splashed! He did it all while running around at full speed! That was until we realized this:
We chose to be in the splash area at the very best possible time. It was character lunch time in the tent right next to where we were playing. It was about 10 feet away from where all the characters went in. So instead of paying $50 for Connor and I to have lunch with them, we got a free front row seat to all the characters before, during, and after the lunch show. Connor was beside himself when he saw Bert and Ernie pass by.
Connor followed Bert as far as he possibly could!
Then back to water play time!
It was easy to pick Connor out of the group of 15-20 kids...he was the one running a marathon around the other kids.
Seriously never stopped moving...
After we ate our packed lunch of peanut butter & jelly with Elmo fruit punch juice box, we dried off & headed over to see a few animals before we left.
Here's my adorable big bird checking out the tigers...
But then there are other days when you feel like you can tackle the world! Yesterday was a confidence builder for me as a Mom. I did what I never imagined myself doing...
I ventured to a major theme park with my two year old ALONE.
(Applause please.)
I knew we could do it! I was prepared. I knew where to park. I knew to make sure to look at what parking lot we were in, so I could find our car later. I knew what time the shows were. I knew the fastest path to get to Sesame Street land in the park. I knew to pack a sandwich lunch, bananas and juice boxes to avoid spending an arm and a leg on park food. I knew where to wait for the characters to come out, so we'd be first in line for pictures with them. I knew when to get there & when to leave to avoid a giant exhaustion meltdown (from both Connor and myself!). I was prepared, fully armed, and ready for an afternoon at Busch Gardens by myself! (Our year passes to Busch Gardens were SUCH a good choice).
The 3.5 hours at the park went a little like this...
We played in kiddie pond splash area for about 20 minutes before deciding to grab a good seat for the Sesame Street character show. This was Connor's blank stare just mere seconds before his life got that much better when his buddy, Elmo came up behind him.
Here he comes!
This picture is terrible, but it marks one giant milestone for Connor. As Elmo approached us, Elmo did the unimaginable. Elmo hugged Connor. For anyone that knows Connor (or has paid attention in previous posts about characters), Connor only loves characters if they are a good two feet away from him. If they get any closer, he begins to panic--pouty lip, deep breathing, fear-for-his-life panic.
Well...that was until this very moment where Elmo broke the ice. Elmo swooped in for a hug before Connor knew it was coming, so once Elmo had Connor wrapped in his lovely red fuzz-of-a-body, Connor learned that he was in fact surviving the encounter! From that moment forward, Connor shouted "Emmm-Mo, Emm-Mo!" and clapped his pudgy little hands...and his fear of characters was officially gone! Praise you, Mr. Elmo character guy!
(This photo is about 1 second before Elmo hugged Connor. I was trying to capture the moment, while deathly afraid of a giant freak out attack from Connor. Owell!)
Once the character fear was gone, we hopped right in there with Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby for a picture! We took extra long since Connor want to keep hugging Abby instead of looking forward at the camera.
Photo attempt #1: Connor not looking.
Photo attempt #2: Mom not looking.
Connor could not get enough of his Sesame Street furry friends, so we headed over to visit Big Bird. Just moments after this photo was taken, Connor reached up and grabbed Big Bird's beak. Was I able to capture that adorable moment on camera?! Nope. Owell! Just believe me when I say it was cute!
After hanging with the characters for pictures, we headed over to the giant splash fountain area for kiddies. Connor was in heaven! He splashed, he splashed and he splashed! He did it all while running around at full speed! That was until we realized this:
We chose to be in the splash area at the very best possible time. It was character lunch time in the tent right next to where we were playing. It was about 10 feet away from where all the characters went in. So instead of paying $50 for Connor and I to have lunch with them, we got a free front row seat to all the characters before, during, and after the lunch show. Connor was beside himself when he saw Bert and Ernie pass by.
Connor followed Bert as far as he possibly could!
Then back to water play time!
It was easy to pick Connor out of the group of 15-20 kids...he was the one running a marathon around the other kids.
Seriously never stopped moving...
After we ate our packed lunch of peanut butter & jelly with Elmo fruit punch juice box, we dried off & headed over to see a few animals before we left.
Here's my adorable big bird checking out the tigers...
We checked out Mr. Otter, Mr. Tortoise, and Mr. Alligator before exiting the park.
We had an amazing Mommy-Son bonding day and I can't wait to do it again!
