Children’s Gasparilla

Our first Gasparilla as Tampians!  It certainly did not disappoint and will be such a fun “season” to look forward to every year. It is truly just that...a season here. Gasparilla is a huge pirate parade/festival where the pirates invade the city!  The children’s parade was so much fun and I know in the coming years the boys will be so into it. We met up with one of Jimmy’s co-workers and his family to enjoy the parade.  We ended the night watching the fireworks from our apartment.  I am already going to start recruiting our Charleston people to make it an annual trip with their kids to visit us!  Any takers?!?

Busch Gardens x 2

It took awhile for us to finally check out Busch Gardens!  Mainly because it took awhile to weigh the options of regular tickets vs year passes and then the different year passes, etc. But, we have year passes so will be visiting a lot now that we are learning the ropes.  I was nervous that there wasn’t much for our boys ages, but there really is!  Our first visit we spent checking out the Sesame Street area!  There is a precious show featuring Cookie Monster and Grover, bumper cars, rides, sand play area, bounce area, etc. I was so happy that both boys could ride most of the rides!!  Our second trip we set out to see a different area of the park to see the animals.  We saw all sorts of animals and then took the safari train ride to see the zebras, giraffes, kudus, etc. Both were super fun and we can’t wait for our next visit!

Play Grounds

We are slowly making our way around town checking out all of the fun places. This particular day I took the boys to an indoor play place called Play Grounds. They have jump houses, slides, ball pits, etc. And coffee for parents!  The boys had a blast and it’s a good thing, because Charlie Banks was invited to 2 birthday parties there this weekend.

Aquarium

We took Jimmy for his first aquarium visit!  We are getting good use of our membership!  We love when Daddy can come on adventures with us.