Allison was in the middle of her midterms last week and requested a trip to Busch Gardens. She also wanted to enjoy the HallowScream Event-lots of spooky mazes to walk through at night.  She couldn't talk any of her friends into joining her(not fans of spooky stuff).  She was also looking for some pumpkin cheesecake. Tom, Scott and I had attended the opening weekend in September and had a great time. We were up for another visit. We drove to Salisbury last Saturday morning. Tom had gotten in late Friday night/early Saturday morning from a business trip to Chicago. His plane was delayed, so we got off a little later Saturday. But in time for a quick lunch with Allison in Salisbury. I also dropped off some Halloween treats for her and her roommates.

We arrived at Busch Gardens about an hour before all the Halloween events opened. Tom even let Scott get in some driving experience down the eastern shore. Scott also discovered the wonders of traffic jams. We sat outside Busch Gardens at the gate waiting to get in, but Allison heard through social media that the event was already sold out and the park was filled to capacity. We have season tickets, so we were not out any money, but we were out of opportunity.  We had to regroup. Allison found a substitute goalie for her Sunday afternoon Field Hockey games. We were going to drive back and watch her play. Instead, we headed to dinner Saturday night at our favorite chinese buffet and then the hotel for a pay for view movie. Tom was pretty much done for the night. The kids and I scared ourselves with The Conjuring 2 from Netflix. We decided to head back to Busch Gardens on Sunday morning. Even though the HallowScream mazes were closed, we figured we could get our fill of rides, decorations and Halloween shows(and pumpkin cheesecake for Allison). We had a great time running around the park with limited crowds. And we decided to try something new. They set up Escape Rooms in which you have to solve a brain puzzle to get out. We had 30 mins to solve the puzzle. I joined the kids for the challenge. Our theme involved assembling a puppet. We had a live actor in the room with us(crazy dollmaker) giving us verbal cues. We quickly figured out that we had to assemble a puppet, but there were lots of pieces all over the room. We kept assembling dolls and the actor kept taking away the pieces-until we found the pieces with clues attached. Ahha! We actually managed to locate all the pieces-body, legs, head and arms, but could not figure out the last clue-how to get out-when we ran our of time. We needed to place the puppet into his trunk(your'e kidding). We kept placing the puppet on the stage as the last clue described participating in the Final Show. Oh well. I thought we did a pretty good job considering you had to turn wheels to open hidden drawers revealing clues and doll parts, and we even found doll parts in the curtains and behind picture frames placed in the wall. The team reports it is 50/50 on who solves it and who does not. No matter, it was a fun experience to enjoy with the kids.

We did not stay in the park too late since we had a long drive back. It takes about 5.5 hrs from home to Busch Gardens via Salisbury. So we dropped Allison back off at school after going out to lunch, and then drove back home. We got back early enough for Scott and Tom to work on their homework. Tom is busy working on his online class. Scott is always just busy. His Video Game Club is up and running this semester. He is on a short break from Robotics before they get building for next year's competition. He did have another jewish holiday off from school, but was scheduled to work instead. And since Tom was in Chicago, it was up to me to leave work and get him to and from work. Fortunately it had been a slow week at work, so I was able to go home after picking up Scott after his shift.  And we are still busy with Boy Scouts each week. Scott is currently his Patrol Leader, so he just has to keep his group informed on any upcoming events that they want to participate in but it is getting harder for the high school aged boys to balance all their activities.  And for us parents to try and keep up!

Enjoying Halloween at Busch Gardens!

 We attempted to put in a garden this year, but it was mostly eaten by the rabbits and deer and squirrels! Last year we tried to grow watermelons and 1 rouge plant came up and gave us this tasty treat this year!