We decided against taking in the sites at and around Williamsburg, mostly due to our new aversion to walking. The kids are pretty much over walking. And I have some decent shin splints going on especially in one leg that makes walking a challenge. They do feel better today but not up for a hike.
Today we moved on to Virginia Beach. Nice beach. First time I’ve ever been to a beach when the temps were not in the 90s or at least felt like they were. No noticeable humidity. Very nice.
Last night we stayed in Williamsburg. The hotel was very cool. It also was our least expensive night’s stay of our vacation. I do not know how I managed to find this place but it is a brand new hotel. Only opened 6 weeks ago. Smells brand new. Only cost us $89 and it sleeps 6. I knew it was going to cause problems for us when we moved to the beach today. Our oldest child admitted she’s afraid this hotel will fall down. We all loved the hotel last night. Here are some pictures.
Our room (after we had started moving in):
If you did not notice, this room had a flat screen LCD TV.
The kids and Jeff enjoyed the pool and hot tub while I did some laundry. I think there were only about 3 other rooms being rented that same night.
Here is the lobby. That is a fountain flowing down the wall on the right side in the first picture.
Yesterday when we went to Mt. Vernon, we saw an orientation video that showed us what a great military leader Washington was. It did a nice portrayal of George Washington and included a battle scene with some Indians. After we were done, I asked Sean what he learned from the video. He said, “I learned that Indians are a lot scarier than I thought!” The battle was a bit graphic but it did show how brave Washington was and how smart he was as a leader.
Today, we walked our feet off in D.C. I’m pretty sure I left my feet somewhere near Smithsonian although the pain in my ankles would indicate they are still attached.
We did have great weather today. The sun did pop out in the afternoon, there was a nice breeze and it was not humid.
Here are some pictures I took with our new video camera that also takes pictures. I found this camera on Amazon and it does a pretty good job of picture taking. It is not as handy for framing photos and viewing them afterward as my SLR but given that it fits in the palm of my hand, it works great for a trip like this.
It was neat to see how the sun changes the way the Washington Monument looks.
As Sean says, the Lincoln Memorial is “HUGE!”. Lincoln’s statue is 19 ft. tall. We also visited a museum that had an exhibit just for Lincoln and it included his top hat and pocket watch and clothes and items related to his assassination.
It takes several hours to visit George Washington’s estate. It is hilly so tiring but beautiful.
Slave cabin.
Sheep.
Wool from sheep.
Preschool is over for us. It is a sad and a happy time. It is always sad to close a chapter of our lives that has brought much joy but it is also a new beginning which brings joy as well.
That hole in the flower bed the kids dug earlier this spring has served a purpose. It continues to grow and now is serving as a retention pond, apparently. Who needs swing sets and bicycles when you have a personal sized retention pond to entertain them.
And no, they did not ask first before they got this muddy. But I am getting better about not exploding and just opening the Oxi Clean and tossing it in with the clothes in the washer. Sigh.
These two do not go together. I have removed gum from Sierra’s hair before but it was never a whole piece and never had such a long time to adhere itself. She lost her gum out of her mouth at church and by the time we could get home to work on it, it was a lost cause.
Introducing the new Sierra:
She was really concerned at first but once she saw how it was turning out, she really liked it. I like it too. I have been trying to get her to let me cut it for a while because of all the dead ends and so it would be cooler and easier to care for this summer but she was not interested in the least. I am glad she likes it. It has thickened quite a bit since she last had it this length which must have been a long time ago. I think the extra weight might have removed the curl that she used to have in this picture, but it does kick up a little.
It is amazing how much kids change in two years at this age.
22 years ago Jeff and I were married. It was a sunny spring day. We spent one night in Indianapolis and then the following week I had finals and Jeff worked about 72 hours doing billing. Do not ask me what I was thinking when I planned it for that day. The following week we left for South Carolina and Florida for our honeymoon. Seems like yesterday. Well, not really, ha.
Mom made the dresses. My maid of honor and I made the boutonnieres and bouquets. I finished mine at 2:00am.
Looking at these brings back memories. I miss those who have gone on before us… my Papa (left), my Granny (right), Jeff’s dad and brother. I am thankful for 22 years of blessings.
We got our two new guinea pigs today. They all seem to be getting along so far at least during play time. Jesse seems very happy. She’s not usually very active but was running around trying to keep up with Gretchen. The new ones are much more active than the others have been. Here’s a good shot of Jesse.
At the top right is Gretchen. We do not know how old she is. At the bottom is the baby, approximately 4 months old.
We have a lot of white fur running around.
Below is Jesse on the left with Gretchen our new guinea pig. Gretchen is big and then there’s all that fur.
The kids have named the baby “Pip”. I think it’s appropriate considering she does the most squeaking. Here she is being brushed by Sierra.
The house did not get cleaned but we had fun. The guys went to Cincinnati Zoo for a sleepover and learned about nocturnal creatures and visited the zoo. Us gals took in a movie and saw How To Train A Dragon. Loved it.
After the movie, the oldest girl was ready to go out and get a new pet snake. Somehow, I do not see the connection between the really cool dragons in the movie (I’ll spare you the details so as not to spoil it for you if you have not seen it) and snakes. We are not getting a snake, let alone a lizard. Now, if she can find a dragon like Toothless, I might consider letting him fly around the backyard.
One nice thing about soccer is that it gets my Saturday started early. 8:00 games get me up and going earlier than I usually am during the week. The bad thing is that I usually start feeling a nap creeping up on me about mid-afternoon. Sean has one more week of soccer. I do not know if we’ll sign him up again. He has fun but he is not totally into it as he should be for a team sport. We may be exploring other options such as gymnastics a little more seriously.
Here he is playing goalie. He loves playing defense.
I think he enjoys the individuality of gymnastics.
Got a good deal at the CROCS outlet today for Sierra. She tried on several pair before we decide on which size and color… the $9.99 price tag helped. I got her a little flower to go on them for learning her memory verse.
So, we get home.. and a while later she brings me the crocs and is upset. She says, “Some kid put these on there and I want them off.” She was trying to pull the crocodile off .. the little piece that connects the ankle strap to the shoe.
She decided the “crocs” on her CROCS were UGLY. I spent 15 minutes trying to explain how lucky she is to have a new pair of “real” CROCS and why there are crocs on her CROCS. Finally, with the help of the other two kids and daddy, she put the shoes back on and wore them until bedtime. Phew! Good thing because I let her wear them home.
When you have a teen that wants to study a Shakespeare play, you better run with it before the phase passes. This is especially the case when said teen is most productive when she is interested in something and pretty much not productive at all if she could care less about the subject.
This is not typical disinterest but instead has the added complexity due to autism which makes it practically impossible to concentrate on certain subjects if they are not on her radar. With Autism Spectrum Disorder, the disinterest is something like ten times the normal level of apathy that one might normally expect.
Do I really want to try to teach Shakespeare? Not so much. So, I ordered a study guide for Romeo and Juliet from Progeny Press. Progeny Press produces study guides from a Christian perspective. I will go through it and then we will begin studying Romeo and Juliet. It looks almost like fun. I do not recall using fun and Shakespeare in the same sentence when I was in high school, so this might prove to be interesting.
This afternoon the two youngest were working on a neat “game” (as long as they call it a game, they’ll play it) where you put the states where they belong – see http://www.history.com/interactives/place-the-state-game. Somehow, while they were working.. er, uh, playing, an argument began with the older one.
Sean the 1st grader is telling the 9th grader where Washington, D.C. is but she is adamant that he is wrong, it is in Washington state. I tell her that he is right and she wants to know when did they move it (luckily she does have a sense of humor).
Ok, I can see it now… I will be blamed for this. She’s homeschooled. Problem is, where was she when she was supposedly learning all this stuff like U.S. geography? Right. Public school. Just how much other stuff did she either forget or just never learned from Kindergarten through 6th grade that we need to review.
The 1st grader (always homeschooled) knows where Washington D.C. is.
I rest my case.
We are discussing taking a trip to Washington, D.C. and possibly visiting a beach on the coast while we are in that area. The kids are pretty excited. The number one request from the younger two is to get a TV for the van. What they mean is a DVD player. They have both ridden in “video vans” (as Sean called them) while on fieldtrips with preschool and think that is a necessity. I remember Sean kept asking if we could get a video van after his fieldtrip a couple of years ago. I have resisted this up until now because I prefer the kids learn how to entertain themselves with books or drawing/coloring or just playing educational games with their video games. They do a good job of this but they’ve never had to entertain themselves for more than 3 or 4 hours. There was one in the sale ad for a very good price so we will probably break down and do that. We also make several trips up north for appointments so this could be a sanity saver for me.
Here’s a picture I took last week of one of my tall tulips. I love the markings. I’m sure it took a long time for these flowers to evolve to such beauty (sarcasm). Thank GOD for his creation.
