Elmo, Abby and Zoe, Oh My!

And Bert, and Ernie, and Big Bird and Grover and every other loveable muppet from Sesame Street... Kate has had two weekends filled with all things Sesame Street. First, we caught Sesame Street Live two weeks ago with the entire playgroup, again. See her here to the left with Lexi. What fun to watch them all interact so much more than last year! She totally loved the show.

The next weekend we visited Busch Gardens with Aunt Jen and Grandma Sandy to see the new Sesame Street Safari of Fun tot section, have lunch with Elmo and friends and, of course, check out the animals.

Kate kept saying how excited she was to go all day on Friday before we left. When she awoke from her nap, the first thing she said was, "it's time to go to Busch Gardens!" The cutest thing is that she was just as excited to go stay at the hotel (despite the fact that she has to sleep in a pack n play that she has long outgrown). When we arrived at the hotel, she was surprised to recieve a Build A Bear Safari outfit for her bear Cupcake that came complete with binoculars, canteen and butterfly net. Her stay at the hotel just elevated way beyond, "I'm so excited!"

We trekked over to Tampa on Friday afternoon to stay the night so we could get to Busch Gardens first thing in the morning to take advantage of the nice, cool morning weather and avoid the crowds. We succeeded on both accounts. Kate waited only briefly to ride everything in the place, watched the A is for Africa show, met and had pictures with Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster and Big Bird before heading into lunch with Elmo and Friends for more photo opps and play. She then frolicked in one of the two water features before heading into the rest of the park to meet up with some furry (and some not so furry) friends. The greatest thing was how independent Kate could be at this park. She rode several of the rides all by herself as most are made for 52" and below! See her above on the swings!

The animal exhibits were terrific, but nothing compared to the Bengal Tiger exhibit...not even when trainers were chucking raw meat at the lions for their afternoon feeding. The tigers played and frolicked, walked right up to the glass for an intimite view. And, as if that weren't enough, we were able to walk up a ladder to a plexiglass box where we found ourselves face-to-face with a tiger. In fact, many of the animals seemed active and playful throughout the day. Perhaps they too were feeling frisky in the "coolish" weather (I think the high was around 85 degrees and sunny, but hey, it's not 95 degrees, anymore!). We were highly impressed with the beautiful Asian elephants, especially the one who was playing with a ball. In all of our visits to our local zoo (where we have Asian elephants), we have never seen such playfulness or activity.

In all, we had a terrific day. Check out the rest of our pictures on our Picasa Web Album. As we were walking around, I found it amazing that Keith and I had a great time without stepping foot on a roller coaster. It's amazing the joy we find in watching Kate and sharing in everything that is so new to her. We are so lucky. I've been thinking a lot about that this week. While things are not as bad for us as they are for many during this economic downturn, they certainly are challenging and frustrating (enter new air conditioner here). Despite the struggles, I can't help but think these will be some of the best days in our lives.