Howl-O-Scream Weekend

So about three weeks ago we went to a wedding in Portsmouth and then to Busch Gardens for Howl-O-Scream the next day. Before then my brother texts me and says Happy Anniversary early, I'm paying for you and Aaron to go to Busch Gardens with me and Jess. I was like NO WAY too expensive and he said "get over it, pack your shit." How AWESOME is that???? He couldn't stand me when I was little...I guess he loves me now :) Such an awesome surprise! Aaron was stoked and I was excited/scared for my life because....I am a roller coaster weenie! I haven't been to Busch Gardens since I was 16 with all my BFFs for my birthday. I think I rode on the Big Bad Wolf (which isn't there anymore) and that was all. So I am being told by Jason, Jess and Aaron that I WILL ride the coasters and I need to get over it. So I say okay fine....we'll talk more about that later ;) PS it made me feel better that Jess was scared of all the haunted houses, haha.

This is Jake in the back of Aaron's truck on to way to Grandma's house (my parents). They kept the pups for us while we stayed the night and went to BG the next day. Sandy was shoved up in the corner...she's not fond of truck or car rides.

So Saturday we are off to Portsmouth! A close family friend is getting married- they got married in a church and had their reception at the Virginia Sports Museum- how awesome is that? I've never thought of a museum being a reception site, it was definately unique. I haven't been to Portsmouth often, my parents were both raised there and they always say they could not wait to move after they graduated from high school.

This is the view from our hotel room in Portsmouth! Very pretty, but we weren't in the hotel much.

After the wedding our parents gave us a tour of the area of Craddock in Portsmouth where they grew up. I told my dad he should be a tour guide because he loves doing stuff like that. So they were in front of us in the truck with my Dad's cell on speaker phone and we were behind them in Jessica's car with Jason's phone on speaker phone. It was funny like we were on an actual tour. It was neat to see where they lived, their schools, churchs and to hear for the 100th time (ha daddy I love you :)) how my dad and his friends would get into trouble where. So we went on the the reception afterwards. had good times, good food and good drinks.

Pic from the Wedding!



Called it a night semi-early because Jason had us on a tight schedule of leaving for BG by 9am so we could be there when they opened. Of course Bojangles was first on the agenda.

This is the first view of inside of Busch Gardens I see and I look at my family and say oh HELL no. I'm not riding that no way, no how, ain't going to happen!

So we get into Busch Gardens and Jason and Jessica are practically running to Apollo's Chariot (roller coaster) and I'm like hello can we just slow down. I said we will be here for like 10 HOURS we have plenty of time to cruise the park. Before I know it I'm strapped in the roller coaster and going up the track and up and up and UP. I kept saying I"M NOT READY!!!! And then the first drop....it was big, I"m not going to lie. And I'm going to say something that I don't like saying...Aaron was right (don't tell him I  said that!)...he told me to keep my eyes open and it wouldn't be as bad. He was right, it wasn't as bad and it made it more fun to see everything. The ride was over in what seemed like 5 seconds and Jason said let's ride again before the lines get long. Ok we ride again and I get off my head is spinning and I feel like I'm going to throw up! So then we run over to Alpengist (another coaster) because I said that was the only one I liked  when I was younger. It wasn't terrible, hanging from the track made the drops not seem as bad but OMGosh the head shaking. It was not smooth at all, so after that ride I said OKAY I need a break! I'm such a weenie, lol. The last roller coaster we all rode together was Lotness Monster. I was weary but it was actually my favorite. It's an older coaster and It goes into a tunnel which makes it fun. So after that I said NO MORE COASTERS, I"M DONE. The two new ones are Griffin and Verbolten which were temporarily closed for maintenance (makes you feel safe right?) So after awhile the two new coasters opened up. While Aaron, J and J rode those two, I went to the car and got jackets, phones, etc. You wouldn't think it would take me long to walk to the car but it did because we were on the opposite side of the park from the car. So Jason calls me when I'm almost back to meet them at Verbolten and says we're going next after the yellow car....

.

So I'm on the bridge and see the yellow car pass and I think oh they are next so I will take a picture of the next car to come through. Well sure enough it was them and if you look really hard you can see Jessica's pink shirt in the very back! I thought it was pretty awesome I got this pic, too bad its not more close up!

Also while I walked to that car I stopped by the animal exhibits and took pictures, you know me I love my animals :)

The bald eagle, the sound they make is not what you would expect...it was funny to listen to.

The Clydesdale :) They are so pretty!

And the wolves!

In line for Bumper Cars!

Show during lunch. It was kind of silly but nice to do something different.

After lunch I made the executive decision that we were going to a show called Pet Shinanigans :) I thought since they got to ride all of their roller coasters I should get to see a animal show and they had no problem with it. If they enjoyed it well I don't know... it was very kiddie but I liked it.



The mail puppy would steal her lunch whenever she read the paper

The Parrot who could do math problems, smart guy and I think he was in his 50's!

After walking around more it got close to Howl-O-Scream time so we took the skyline to kill sometime until the haunted houses were going to open.

Us on the skyline with Griffin right behind us

View from the skyline!

Yay! It was finally haunted house time!! I do not like scary movies at all, but people jumping out at me wasn't so bad. The wolves were the first to come out (people with wolf masks on), they were funny. Aaron said I'm going to keep an eye on the bushes cause that is where people will hide and right has he said that someone shook a rattling can right at him from the bushes! It could not have been more perfect timing! We did 5 of the 6 Haunted Houses, you could hear me and Jessica scream in every one of them but it was fun. Going on Sunday was definately a plus because the lines were not long to wait in at all!!

So we left the park around 9:30, talk about a long 11.5 hours. It was so fun, thank you loving brother for treating us and even driving us home! We were so tired we stayed at my parents house.

I leave you with this picture, do you see that 90 degree drop?? HELL NO. The people in the front were literally hanging at a standstill. Maybe next time I'll get on there but NO NO NO. Too much for this gal. Happy Wednesday :)