Cake Elmo More Please

We visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg again this weekend, and Ashley was even braver than she was during our last visit. She had very definite opinions about which rides she wanted to go on, and it didn't seem to matter that I was often skeptical.

And she really knows how to charm the ride operators too. When one of her favorite rides was over, she would bat her eyelashes, smile sweetly and sign 'again' at the ride operator. They, of course, would ask me what she was saying. I would explain, and they would immediately gush, "Of course you can!" She really knows how to work it, doesn't she?

Even though the rides were thrilling, the most exciting thing of the day rocked her world as we stood in line for lunch. Right there amongst the strawberry shortcake, cherry pie, and chocolate cake was the sweet face of Elmo smiling from the top of a cupcake. Needless to say, it ended up on our tray.

The rest of the day and night, even after we were headed home, Ashley kept signing, "cake Elmo more please." I hoped that she would forget eventually, but it didn't seem like that was happening. So today, once again her dear brother, Chip, came to the rescue.

As Ashley asked for what seemed like the 1000th time for "cake Elmo more please", Chip baked her some cupcakes and decorated them to look like Elmo. They weren't exactly like the ones at Busch Gardens, but this was one time that Ashley's significant vision impairment actually worked to our advantage. She recognized Chip's cupcakes as "cake Elmo", and life was once again quiet in our little corner of the world.

Thank you, Chip!