Lots of fun... and heat in Virginia

The last week of June was spent vacationing in Williamsburg, Virginia with the Buskirks and Johnsons. We stayed at the beautiful Historic Powhatan Resort which was nice and close to the historic sites along with Water Country USA (awesome water park) and Busch Gardens.

We spent the week sleeping in, eating, visiting a few historic sites, riding rides at Busch Gardens, and lounging in the Hubba Hubba highway (lazy river) at Water Country USA.

One of the days we headed down to Virginia Beach and Norfolk. While we explored the playgrounds and Chick-Fil-A in Norfolk and lounged at the beach, the Buskirks & Johnsons checked out the Battleship Wisconsin... and then we met up later for even more beach time. We loved Etta's recommendation of the beach right behind the Neptune Statue on the boardwalk. There was a playground, a cool sandbar, lots of umbrella rentals (we scored one for free), and a nearby Ben & Jerrys. 

We played and played until our kids were zonked. We got out of the water and dressed just in time... since not long after the winds started, sky started lightning and thundering, and tons of sand came whipping at our legs.

I was seriously running for my life while I tried to help Andrew and Catie to safety... while knocking Andrew down and running into things. It seriously felt like a scene out of an end of the world movie. Andrew is still talking about the sand twister we saw right behind the Neptune statue.

We got drenched but made it to our car unharmed and then waited out the storm until we couldn't wait any longer... and then we just send Kevin in to Ben & Jerrys by himself to get us some ice cream. We couldn't miss out on the great ice cream just because of a storm. He willingly sacrificed his dry clothes and walking through a torrential downpour for a huge sundae... after all, our family motto is "Enjoy the journey, stop for treats."

We also enjoyed the entire journey back to Williamsburg that took an extra hour or more because our cell phones died and my usual perfect sense of direction only got us as far as the city of Williamsburg... which we then drove around for an hour plus until we found our way back to our hotel! Thank goodness! Andrew says we're never allowed to not charge our phones all the way again.

We also spent an awesome day at Busch Gardens. The kids loved the splash pad in the Sesame Street Forest of Fun area... and Catie was especially excited to meet her favorite celebrity- Elmo.

There were also fun Catie and Andrew sized rides and playgrounds, so we had a blast. Leah, Kate, Shari, and Liesl joined us to take the little kids around the park while the Johnsons and older Buskirks went on the big rollercoasters.

My favorite picture is of Catie waving. She was my cute little buddy while we watched everyone else go on some of the rides. She waved at the Super Grover rollercoaster every time it went by because she thought Andrew and friends were on it... even though they were just in line for a very long time.

I would've taken her on other rides, but she thought the speaker playing music was Elmo actually talking to her, so she was content to talk to the speaker, dance to Elmo music, and play with her trains... so I just sat down and watched her. Did I mention that it was hot? Like 90+ degrees... and that was actually cool compared the how hot it was later in the week. Hot + pregnant = me eating a lot of ice cream while we were at Busch Gardens.

On water park day we made a quick stop at Williamsburg to see the historic sites and check in with the Johnsons. This small collage documents two of the three places we hung out while we were there (the stocks and the rocky street- looking for the Johnsons). Williamsburg is an awesome place full of loads of cool history... but it just isn't too fun when you have a preschooler who is afraid of people dressed up pretending to actually be in the military... and a toddler who wants to eat rocks... and sit in them and play. Add the almost 100 degree weather and we had a recipe for quite an entertaining afternoon.

We got some pictures by the stocks, found a cannon that was exploding, and then high tailed it back to our car (with a looong detour on the shuttle) and headed to Water Country USA for some time in the wave pool. Pregnant + hot = ice cream sandwiches, wave pool relaxing, and lots of time in the shade. I loved the water park!

Our last day was spent in Yorktown. The indoor sites were underwhelming for the toddler and preschooler (and the outdoor sites were insanely hot since it was 100+ degrees by this point), so we headed to Ben & Jerrys with the Buskirks!

The little kids were appropriately decked out in their tie dye shirts (with no coordinating at all). While we waited for the ice cream Andrew, Leah, and Catie danced all around the store.

Andrew kept the day entertaining by locking himself in the bathroom. After a lot of tries to get him to open the door, we discovered that the deadbolt lock was tricky even for the most talented employee (it got stuck easily)... so we called in the big guns and the police arrived. They brainstormed every possible scenario to get into the bathroom (including climbing through overhead vents). Finally the owner showed up with some tools and randomly figured out how to knock some very tight bolts off the door. Thank goodness! The next move was calling the fire department and using chain saws to get the door down.

Meanwhile, Andrew was a great sport and stayed calm for the first 15 minutes... and then started to cry and get sad for the next 5 minutes or so. When they finally got the door off the hinges and removed it, we found a dirty-faced tear stained boy inside. He got free ice cream from the owner (which he declined, then changed his mind about, and then still didn't eat it... )

We ended the day at the water park and then had an evening of eating chocolate chip cookies and chatting at our timeshare hotel room with all the grown ups while the kids slept.

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast all together before we headed off to North Carolina to visit Chris, Sarah, and Izzie!

Lots more posts of vacation coming soon! Can I get another vacation to recover from all of our vacations? This time I want one where I can just sit poolside all day every day.

Thanks Shari for the fun trip!!

It is entertaining to note that I managed to avoid being in a single picture during this entire vacation. Since I spent most of it in my swim suit, I feel great about that. None of you need to see me in a swimsuit!