What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Because it's October and I figured I'd better finally write about it.

There were so many pictures to upload--that's why it's taken me so long. Whatever Kodak Gallery has done to its site, I don't like it. Stuff takes forever and putting picture titles on there is totally cumbersome. The problem is that I don't want to switch to a new service because I have so many things archived on their site. So wah wah wah. I'm dealing with it already.

The boys and I were on the road for three weeks and a day in July/August. That was a long time. But it was a great trip. We saw a lot of people, took a lot of pictures, as you'll see, and we were ready to come home at the end. That's the best kind of trip in my book.

I'll link you out to the pictures at the end, but here's a rundown of what we did.

Ohio
We were flying out of Denver so we took the opportunity to drive down the day before our flight and go to the Denver Museum of Natural History and Science. That might not be the actual name, but close enough. It was the second time the boys and I had been there and the first time for Eamonn, so it was fun for them to see it with him. Many of the exhibits are permanent, but they have some good rotating ones. In fact, it always cracks me up when I think about something a friend said once, "There's a good exhibit on natural disasters this month." It just struck me as funny.

We also squeezed in a clinic visit the day we left.

And then we were on our way. The boys love the whole airport/flying/travel process. Me? Not so much. But I do it to get from here to there.

Ohio was hot this year. Ridiculously hot. Last year, the weather was so nice, we often turned off the air conditioning. This year--no way. In fact, the boys frequently walked around saying things like, "Why is the air so heavy? The air makes me sleepy." I felt much the same.

We did have some rain, which was nice. I miss rainstorms here. So we went to see a movie. Something about Cats and Dogs who were spies. I fell asleep.

We saw tons of family and friends, including spending the night at my Grandpa's. They don't have air conditioning. And as much as I wanted to bark at the kids to get outside and play while we were there, I didn't badger them too much because after 8am, it was mostly miserable to be outside. We did help Grandpa fix an electric fence that was down--and I will mention briefly here thay my sweet Grandpa put my hand on a fence THAT WAS STILL LIVE--but I won't hold it against him. For much longer. He also took the boys on a tractor ride which is really their favorite thing. Right after eating homemade ice cream.

We went to the Ohio State Fair again. I think I talked briefly about that when I did a few posts at Mom's. I was hungover. It was a difficult day.

Eamonn arrived. We went to a water park. That was very fun. I sunburned my chest. That wasn't fun.

Virginia
Our trip to Virginia was in two parts: Norfolk for Eamonn's cousin's wedding and Williamsburg for family vacation time.

I really liked Norfolk. It, of course, sits right on the water, which I dig. I like being able to see the ocean or other large bodies of water. The focus was the wedding, which was beautiful and please note I didn't take any pictures for some reason (mostly because the purse I took was too small to hold the camera). We had a great time with Eamonn's cousins, some of whom we hadn't seen in awhile. We did have some time on Saturday morning to visit the USS Wisconsin and the attached museum, which the boys loved.

I went and got a pedicure. Which I loved.

And then we went on to Williamsburg.

Which I totally loved.

I did wonder if Finn would be too young to appreciate it. He wasn't. Both boys had a great time, as did we. There is so much to see there. We did the different locations in chronological order, based on when they were settled/took place:

1. Jamestown--Sunday
2. Williamsburg--Monday, Tuesday (and then I went back and did a walk through Wednesday evening)
3. Yorktown--Wednesday

I read about doing it that way in a book or on a website or something. I don't know if it made any difference to the boys--I think maybe they looked at the whole thing as just a bunch of people dressed in costumes in three different locations.

Whatever. It was fun.

So if you're wondering about taking your kids to Williamsburg--do it. However, don't go in August. In fact, I recommend October through December. The last time I went, it was October 1990 and my friend Karen and I went. We had a great time, but even in October, it was pretty humid. Of course, a hurricane had just rolled through. I laugh looking back at the pictures, some of which are pratically duplicated for our 2010 trip.

The saving grace of our trip was the $10 souvenir mug which you could use for unlimited refills of various and sundry drinks. My kids drank more high fructose corn syrup laden lemonade in the two days we walked around Williamsburg than they have in their entire life.

It was hot, people. Oppressively hot. At one point, after lunch on the second day in Williamsburg, it was so hot I wanted to lie down and scream. But I figured that might be bad for morale, so I didn't. You'll see how sweaty we look when you see the pictures.

A huge, huge highlight of going to Williamsburg was getting to meet blog friends, Beth and Hannah. Beth had been providing me with Williamsburg advice prior to our trip. Her son attends William and Mary and they live about 90 miles away, so they've been to Williamsburg a time or ten. In fact, I believe Beth told me Hannah was "over" Williamsburg, which made me laugh. After four days in the heat in the area, I was over it, too! So Beth and Hannah graciously drove 90 miles to meet us! It was very exciting and we had a great time visiting.

And I'll tell you something else--after weeks of "quality family time"--the boys were so excited to have someone else to talk to. They enjoyed showing off their swimming and diving skills for Hannah. I think they were so relieved to have an audience who appreciated them and wasn't lecturing saying things like, "don't splash me, you're being too loud! Don't run around the pool!" etc. Ah, parenthood.

Anyway, our whole sweaty summer vacation is available for viewing HERE. Kick back, relax and enjoy with an ice cold glass of high fructose corn syrup.

Or hot chocolate now that it's October.