Week of June 10 - The Road Trip, Part One

I have so many photos from our Road Trip late last week that I'll have to break them down into multiple blog posts. Even then, I am in the difficult task of picking and choosing photos. For proud Dads (like me! I'm a proud Dad!!), that is of course a good thing :)

So in Part One, we will cover the trip to Bonfante Gardens (now called Gilroy Gardens). For those who are not familiar with the gardens, they are a very nice amusement park for families with younger children. This was Emily's first trip to the gardens, and we had no idea in advance what her reaction would be to moving rides. I am happy to say that she loved it!!

We started the day with the classic merry-go-round. The merry-go-round was in fact such a hit with Emily, that we went back several times during the day for another ride. The first time, we took it easy by choosing a horse that did not go up and down, but that was so much fun and Emily was handled it so well, we moved to the moving horses for the later rides. Big fun for Emily, as you can see in these first two photos.

Next it was time for Emily and Mommy to take a ride together in the Strawberry Patch ride. That was also a big hit for both Emily and Mommy.


Next comes the Flying Gold Fish Ride, which is perfect for Emily's age. Also a big hit.

Next up, the Race Cars! Go Emily!


And in Emily's world, we simply have to take time out to chat up the other kids from time to time. LOL, never fails, and Emily sets the agenda and discussion most times too. My daughter, the social butterfly, who the orphanage declared to be a introvert by the way. :)

Next we moved on to the water ride, which turned out to be Mommy's favorite, and Emily thought it was excellent too.


So one thing I really love about the gardens is that they actually have gardens, and waterfalls, and lots of other nice landscaping to interest the kids. We were not sure what Emily would think about waterfalls, but it turned out they were also a big hit. I was amazed, considering how she reacted the first time she saw the Shower at home (big crisis that was).



And, what kind of gardens would this be without one of those elevated People Mover rides? So with that, off we headed for some people movement, and as we can see, Emily has once again taken charge of Mommy's purse.


Now, if you talk with my wife you will find out that I, the Dad, aspire for my daughter to one day be a roller coaster girl so that we can ride the big rides together at Great America. My wife hates roller coasters, and so I really need a roller coaster companion in the family. I am happy to say that I think Emily is up for the challenge some day. You want proof, you say? The final ride of the day at the gardens was the orbiting Balloon Ride. This is a ride where we climb into a balloon ride basket that hangs from simulated hot air balloons that hang from steel arms. When the ride begins the balloons (with their baskets) are lifted into the air (about 6 feet) and then the whole ride begins to spin in a circular direction, at a pretty good speed I might add too. So, what did Emily think of this ride? It was "good!" (with the classic Emily thumbs-up sign with her hand). The ride was at Nancy's comfort limit but Emily was totally into it and having a blast. As you can see in this next photo, Nancy is showing signs of reaction to dizziness, but Emily is having a blast as the wind flows through her hair. That's my future roller coaster girl! Go Emily!! Mommy on the other hand is kind of a wimp :-P


So, after 4+ hours of fun and rides and sights at the Gilroy Gardens, we finally packed up and called it a day, heading over to the Hilton to stay the night in Gilroy before heading to our next stop on our road trip in the morning, the Monterrey Aquarium. And what do little girls do after a busy day, when you load them into their car seat? They fall into a deep nap, as we can see in this last photo. We timed it, she was fast asleep at just over 3 minutes from the time I started the car. We did not even get clear of the parking lot before she was fast asleep. :)