Father's Day

While Daddy was still on his Father's-Day-Vacation, I kept the kids busy with a trip to Maymont, lunch at Mimi and Papa's house, shopping at Trader Joe's and Stranges, planting some new plants in our yard, and then a trip to the pool to cool off!  Maymont was having activities about bees and native plants and Mom met up with us there.  The kids' favorite was holding some huge caterpillars and then later visiting with the goats!

 This sweet little baby goat kept chewing on the metal door latch and the kids thought it was hilarious.  They were so adorable!

We also made cards for Daddy.  Sadly this is the ONLY picture we got of all of Father's Day.  We tried to spoil him and made a dinner of his favorites.  Mary Angela's pizza, broccoli, salad, his favorite beer, and key lime pie and strawberry ice cream for dessert.

KD Celebration!

After I picked the kids up on the last day of school, I told them I needed a little bit of time to chill out and rest........and then......we were going to Kings Dominion!  They looked so surprised, it was really cute.  (We've never been in the evening before and especially not on a school day.)  Rob was still at work, but as a Father's Day request he was headed to the river (alone) for some relaxation.  So I was brave and drove up there with the kids.  We had such a great time.  They did really well with taking turns deciding on which rides to do and there were hardly any lines for anything.  

We rode a bunch of rides and I convinced them to try the Stunt Coaster.  They loved it so much, we rode 4 times!  Then they talked me into white water canyon....which of course we got completely soaked.  They thought it was hilarious.

Right around this time Rob posted on his facebook page "My current situation:"

So I replied "And mine:"

 Ha!  It was a little nuts, but we were having a great night.  So now we are soaking wet and really really hungry.  I tried to convince them to do a couple more things and then get dinner on the road, but they really wanted to stay.  So we got Chick-fil-a in the park (which is SO NOT the same as going to any other Chick-fil-a!)  It took forever and because it was so much more expensive I just got 8 nuggets and fries to share and then had already promised milkshakes from Cook Out on the way home.  I figured we'd eat this, do 2 more rides, then Cook Out so we could get more food. 

We had decided on the Eiffel Tower and then Fielder wanted to try Berserker (so he says) and then done.  We got to the top of Eiffel Tower and realized it was windy so we were freezing cold.  We looked around for a minute and got back on the elevator.  That's when we heard the guy working say "there will be a slight delay."  Uh-oh.  The elevator was broken!  And they wouldn't let us use the stairs!  And we were cold and I had to pee!  YAY.  We made the best of it, enjoyed the view, talked with other people, watched the sunset.....all in all we were up there for about an hour.  They finally had told us to take the stairs down 1 flight and use the other elevator.  Except, we were at the back of the line and didn't make it on the 1st elevator trip - and then THAT elevator broke!!  So back up the stairs and eventually they fixed the elevator.  They handed out cut-the-line passes to use on another trip.  There really wasn't anything you could do but laugh.  (The girl that was trying to get to the jail in time to see her kid's dad did not laugh....)

 It was a great view of the sunset - we could see the city and the mountains off in the distance.

By the time we were free, Fielder changed his mind about Berserker and we were done!  I had no idea we'd still be there that late but at least they got to see the park at night and the fountains all lit up.

I was at least smart enough to have brought pajamas for them to change into - so at least they got to be dry.  We were cracking up laughing piled up in the back of the van changing clothes in the dark.  Then we managed to find the Cook Out and waited ever so patiently for our turn to order milk shakes (the lady in front ordered one of EVERYTHING on the menu.)  Fielder was almost completely asleep, but they both really wanted those milk shakes ;-)  (I did too!)  We finally got on the road and made it home around 10:30. 

Happy #14!

Happy 14 year anniversary to us!  Wow!  Rob was very sweet and surprised me with flowers.  Given that it was a regular-old-Tuesday, we didn't do anything else to celebrate.  Next year is a big one though and hopefully we can plan something!!  (even just dinner without kids?!)

Girls Weekeend

Our family friend Linda so generously invited Claire, Mom, and myself to another Girls Weekend at her house in Va beach and I certainly would not say no to that offer!  Claire and I were so excited to get away and spend some time together.  It happened to be the weekend of the Patriotic Festival which included some country music concerts each night.  Friday night after we arrived, we walked over to the boardwalk to check things out.  Claire wasn't super interested in the concerts, but it was neat to see their tour buses and trucks lined up on the boardwalk.  She at least got a chance to get her feet in the water and then we walked back to Linda's for ice cream.  (We had heard the rumor that Linda wasn't eating sweets anymore, but luckily she had a little ice cream stashed away for us!)

 The next morning I got up early to check off the #1 item on my to-do list, which was a run on the boardwalk.  I love running there when it's quiet and not so many people out.  I got to catch a little bit of the sunrise and then made it down to the King Neptune statue. 

I also got to see this crazy looking hovercraft thing on the beach.  There were all kinds of military things set up for the festival.  I texted Rob a picture and it turns out he has been on one of these a few times in the Navy.

After breakfast, Mom treated us all to a Dophin cruise!  We saw them last year on our weekend trip and thought it would be fun.  

 It was a beautiful morning and so pretty to see the beach from the water.  You really can't see in my pictures, but there were people parachuting onto the beach all morning for the festival.  Really neat to see from the boat!

We cruised down to the lighthouse where there were a bunch of dolphin.  We also learned some interesting facts about dolphin, including how they sleep with only half of their brain at a time so that the other half can get them to come up for air!  We also learned that dolphin evolved from land living mammals and went to live in the sea millions of years ago.

 After our cruise, we came home and immediately packed our things for a trip to the beach.  We were trying to beat the rain!  We spent a couple hours at the beach (so crowded!!) and then came home for lunch and a rest. 
Claire loves Linda's house and her animal friends that come to visit.  She has some ducks that seem to have made their home in Linda's back yard and she also has squirrels and birds that stop by for peanuts.

We had a delicious shrimp dinner and then tried to go check out the concert events on the boardwalk, but the rain did arrive and caused some delays.  It was  a crazy scene and after strolling around a little in the rain, we headed home.

 Morning #2 I made it out for a shorter run, then went for a bike ride with Claire, and a trip to the Aquarium!  We fit in as much as possible in a short weekend!!

 Claire LOVES the otters and couldn't wait to go back to see them.

 We thought this was too funny.  Especially because she had decided her animal project at school would be called a "Snotter" (snake and otter combined)

We did the aquarium at just the right time.  It had started to rain and everyone in Va Beach decided to come to the aquarium.  We went home for lunch and then it was time to hit the road.  I had so much fun spending quality time with Claire (and Mom and Linda too!) and I'm so thankful for the weekend away!

Of course, while we were gone, the boys had fun too :-)  Rob kept this kiddo busy with a trip to Sweet Frog, a birthday party, a workshop at Home Depot, the Star Wars movie, and a rainy day at Kings Dominion!!

Our yard

I have really been enjoying our new back yard!  I can't take credit for any of the flowers yet since they were already here when we moved in.....but I'm doing my best to learn about them and take care of them.  The roses on the side of the house have been beautiful!  They are proving tricky to take care of, but I'm trying to keep them healthy.  I texted the picture of the rose to the previous owner and she replied back that the roses were her grandfather's which they had transplanted when they moved in 8 years ago, and they had thought for sure none of them would bloom again.  

Fielder is also enjoying learning about plants and flowers.  He asks 1 million questions, but is usually satisfied with the answer "you'll have to ask Mimi or Uncle Andy, they are the experts."  He tells me that Uncle Andy knows the most, then Mimi, and that Mommy doesn't know much at all.  True story.

 In our boxes, we've had lettuce and spinach and Fielder's green bean plant is growing pretty well now too.  Mom helped put in some other flowers transplanted from her yard and we planted some marigold seeds.

Hydrangea is one of my favorite...this one only has a few blooms, I'll have to find out what to do to help it for next year.

The daylilies are beautiful now.  In the fall, I'll divide them and work on another bed for next year.