altarflame | Our Lakeland Trip, Volume 1. (Reply)

I have soooo many pictures and stories about this trip, because we really, really crammed a LOT into it. I'm putting the first 20 pics in this post because I am too tired to do more and really, how many do you want to look at at once?

We listened to two volumes of Queen's greatest hits basically the entire time. This first entry's theme song will be "Killer Queen" which you can click and play behind the cut. Because really, it was always on in the van, and we were always singing it when we were out because how catchy can you get? That lilt, I swear.

Killer Queen - Queen

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My Nana, who had a horrible couple of strokes a few months back, and Pa, who with my Mom has taken care of her daily throughout.

I like this picture because he is smiling, she is in her normal clothes, and she is sitting up. They're mobile here. It often feels much more desolate in her room when she is laying in bed, and he is sitting in a chair. We visited her for an hour or more each day we were gone except for one. I felt crazily depressed by it everytime we left, some combination of my empathy in a facility like that, Grant and I's hospital triggers, and my Nana being so very, very helpless and out of it really sapped me emotionally every time.

These guys were also either bored or uncomfortable for a lot of it, but Grant did a valiant job of leading Simon Says and otherwise keeping them entertained and acting natural while in the room.

At Carrabba's. Italian Outback is what is should be called, good grief I could move into that place! As it was we only went once, largely due to costs...This is Aaron's "Mean Old Man" face.

I keep wondering how big this afro can get before it starts to fall. It is really awesome to watch his hair go from totally wet to gradually puffing into this...it just swells as it dries.

Busch Gardens; we have season passes, so could go for free. And MAN, was this time better than the first time! I have such a new lease on life, or something...I got on a roller coaster for the first time in years, and generally just had fun. I walked out of there feeling better about everything, just from seeing how different this one place is before and after several months of counseling with emdr.

Butterfly sucking nectar out of a flower.

This thing was huge.

Isaac is like, WHOA THIS IS GREAT and Aaron is like, yeah whatever I ride rollercoasters.

Merry Go Round.

They have this big lorrie exhibit - the birds just fly around loose and you buy a little cup of nectar to go in with. The birds come from everywhere to lap it up. Grant is typically leery of parrots but did well.

You can see the leeriness.

Tidal Wave - Ananda and Aaron and I are on the back.

And here, we're waiting to get splashed by it by the next group of people on it.

About to get splashed by the Sheikra -

It is highly effective.

We hung out near the Sheikra getting soaked for probably half an hour. There is always a small crowd of kids standing there, getting excited each time it comes by again.

I got Isaac this bracelet. He was SO happy about it. It is completely perfectly him.

Ananda, Aaron and I rode this and G took pics from a bridge.

Then he got on it with them, and I put quarters into sprayers with Isaac, Jake and Elise, and we waited for thme to come by and hit them with jets of water.