Sisters in Tampa!

Last weekend, I took advantage of the fact that it was a long one and went on a little trip with my sister. This getaway was a Christmas gift to her and we finally had the time to make it happen. 

Giving away a vacation is an extravagant gift, I know. But it seemed like the best way to get a lot of bonding time together all at once. Jada and have an 11 year age gap between us. Yea, I have no idea what my parents were thinking because she was 100% apart of the plan, but I have actually always loved our age difference. I used to change her diapers and give her baths. I taught this girl how to read and took her trick or treating every halloween-just us girls, since my parents weren't invited. But it can be hard for us to bond right now with me being away for graduate school and her getting older and having her own life. She graduates from high school this year, meaning she's headed off to college. In fact, we worked on a few last minute applications over the weekend. Since we don't know where she's headed yet and I have no idea where Tom and I will eventually be settling down, I'm hoping to spend as much time together as possible over these next few months while we're still somewhat close by. So off to Tampa, we went! 

We spent Saturday at the Florida Aquarium and Sunday at Busch Gardens. More on both below. Then, on the Monday holiday, we visited the most unique place that I will share on tomorrow. 

After flying in early Saturday, we left the airport and headed straight to the Florida Aquarium to kick off our weekend getaway. 

 these spotted jellyfish are the best!

pretty in pink! 

these are spoonbills by the way, they are native to Florida 

cute snuggling lemurs--I like to think that they are sisters 

Had to share the best hotel we stayed at with a view of palm trees right outside our window. 

Also, they had a restaurant built in, which always means room service. Yes please! 

After sleeping in Sunday morning, we headed to Busch Gardens Tampa! I gave Jada a choice between Disney World and Universal Studios, but she requested Busch Gardens instead, which was the best idea. We had both visited Universal last year and have been to Disney together, so visiting somewhere new made the most sense. And as it turns out, we both agree that Busch Gardens Tampa is the best amusement park that either of us have ever been too. 

the park is split into sections with different themes that are so well done 

 there is also a zoo built into the park with the best animals that you can see while you walk through on your way to the rides. It's basically two major attractions built into one with the zoo and the rides 

Speaking of which, we could not get over how unique the rides were! I've never been on roller coasters quite like these. We did the fast pass for the day that allowed us to ride every single roller coaster in the park. We even did a few more than once! 

we also did the safari that takes you through the park and educates you on the animals there

loved that they had a white and black rhino to help with conservation since they are going extinct

dip n dots ice cream daily over the weekend because it's Jada's favorite 

also roller coasters are even more terrifying at night 

This was not my typical weekend trip, but I planned the whole thing with my sister's interests in mind. It's not always easy to get along with or bond with a teenage girl, but I'm so glad that I'm making the effort to do so because time together in the future is not guaranteed. It was a full and hectic weekend and I'll have even more to share tomorrow from one last adventure we had.

linking up with hello Monday//weekending//