~~~ Happy, Happy Spring Vacation ~~~

~~~ Click on images to enlarge ~~~
The kids recently had their spring vacation. We decided to go to VA Beach. We knew it was too cold to do the normal beach things but were excited to go hang out and fly kites and roast marshmallows to make s'mores. We rented a beach cottage in the Cape Henry/Fort Storey area. The kids thought it was great that we had a house on stilts near the water. They also thought it was great to be able to walk down the front steps and gather shells. They took pride in every shell and brought them in to give them a "bath."






Unfortunately for us, things did not work out to be what we had planned. It was terrible weather and we were lucky to catch a glimpse of the ocean every now and then. The constant drizzle, the mass amount of fog and wind caused us to change our plans. Instead of flying kites on the beach we went to the aquarium. Instead of roasting marshmallows, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. We still had fun but it wasn't what we planned. On the last day we checked out of our cottage and toured a bit of the historical points in the vicinity. The picture of the kids by a cross: "Here at Cape Henry first landed in America, upon 26 April 1607, those English colonists who, upon 13 May 1607, established at Jamestown, Virginia. The first permanent English settlement in America."
We wanted to take the kids up in the lighthouse but decided it wasn't worth it since we knew there wouldn't be much of a view.













Only a few miles after leaving the beach area... viola... no fog! It was such a sunny beautiful day! We headed towards Williamsburg to go to Busch Gardens. It was great! I am no longer able to go on the thrilling rollercoasters or spinning rides because I get queasy. So I get to watch from a distance. I think the fastest ride I went on that day was either the carousel, the log ride, or the tram ride in the parking lot! The kids had a lot of thrills! I was a bit apprehensive about letting them go on some things but they got to ride on their first loop-de-loop rollercoaster called the Lochness Monster (they went two or three times). They also rode a "big" ride without being accompanied by mom or dad for the first time. Granted their first was only the log ride, but hey... mom's have a hard time accepting that their kids are growing up! With that ride I was mostly concerned about whether or not they would obey the ride rules and stay seated with their "hands inside at all times". We moved onto a bigger and more thrilling ride to go unaccompanied on... the Battering Ram (the big ship that swings). Oh... scare mom... look at Karter in the picture, he looks like he's going to be thrown out! Then he gets all cool on the second time around and puts his hands up in the air. Oh, silly boy!