Casual Fridays

Annnd...it's Friday again. Three quick topics for today starting with: Busch Gardens!

We went yesterday, and since it's Cody's birthday month, we got to bring Reagan for free. We had an absolutely awesome day, and since our passes expire in a couple weeks, this may very well have been our last trip for a while. We, of course, ducked into the Animal Care Center first thing, but all they were doing was a check-up on a disgusting milk snake so we didn't hang around too long. We then hopped the train, and it was apparently the perfect time to check out the animals. The giraffes were so close to the track, the train actually had to come to a complete stop while one of them crossed right in front of us. It was a pretty rainy morning so the park wasn't crowded, we had relatively short wait times on all the rides (we rode Kumba 4 times! well, I rode it 4 times. the boys rode it 3 times), and since we were already all wet from walking around in the rain, we braved the Congo River Rapids and got thoroughly soaked. No problem drying out because the sun came out, and it turned into a truly gorgeous day. We also rode the brand new rollercoaster, Cobra's Curse. Except for the very first big drop which legitimately freaked me out, it was a pretty fun ride. One final anecdote from our Busch Gardens visit: check out the pic of the tortoises in the very top lefthand corner of our collage. We stopped to check out the big guys, and the tortoise on the right in the photo was several yards away from the one on the left with several large boulders separating them. As we watched, he got up and made his way over the boulders to lay right next to the first one. It was like he just needed to be by his friend. I thought it was pretty much the sweetest thing ever. (Doesn't take much to make my day, I know.) All in all, a 10-star day at Busch Gardens and a great way to conclude our year as annual passholders. It's really such a great park. 

Our next topic: puzzle! We bought this puzzle shortly into our second year of our marriage, and our first attempt to put it together met with a little disaster in the form of one of our favorite nieces. We had completed the border and the entire heart when she decided it would be fun to destroy our progress, little sneak. 2 year olds, amiright? The puzzle went back in the box, and it was a while before we could bring ourselves to try it again. This puzzle has some of the most bizarre shaped pieces I have ever seen in my life, and what was most frustrating was trying to complete the border when apparently, flat edges do not always a border piece make. Oy. We finally decided to tackle it again though, and (thanks to some major help from the Puzzle Master, Amy, at our little '06 reunion a couple weekends ago) we finished it Monday night. And let me tell ya, it was a good feeling putting that last piece in place. #success

And our final topic: Jason Bourne. We went to see it last night, and I have to say: disappointing. Especially after watching the first three in anticipation for this event, the new one seemed even more poorly cast, predictable, and (dare I say it?) contrived in comparison. I really was so underwhelmed. And the thing is, I didn't even have unrealistically high expectations for this film to begin with so the fact that I still was this unimpressed is a pretty big statement. Meh. No stars for Jason Bourne. Give it up, Matt. If you've seen it and loved it, I would love to hear you try to change my mind down in the comment section. Make my day.

So that's it for today. Have any of you been to Busch Gardens lately to ride the new coaster? What did you think of it? Any other Bourne fans out there? (Because I am a fan of the original trilogy.) Would anyone like to share any heartwarming animal anecdotes á la my tortoise story? Feel free!