Last weekend we hit the road for a quick road trip and over night in Chincoteague Island. It is our second road trip with 3 and I have to say the kids do pretty well. There are moments of pure insanity involved in each day balanced with pure bliss watching the kids soak up the beach and enjoy some family time away from home!
We decided a couple of months ago to plan a couple of getaways to places that are unique to this part of the country in the event that we are not here long term….Colonial Williamsburg made the list. Jackson is loving history in school and we knew it would be a fun way for him to learn more. We loaded up Friday and braved our first road trip with 3 kids. We spent a day in Williamsburg, a morning in Jamestown Settlement, and filled in the rest with swimming, shopping and eating out with me not having to cook! All in all the trip went off without a hitch. At this phase of life we can expect sibling squabbles, overtired children, at least one blow out diaper in public with few wipes in supply and too small backup clothes stocked in the diaper bag. We were surprised at how much the kids enjoyed the activities and how well they got along over all. And well, we won’t go into more detail about the blow out diaper. Here are some picture memories of our day in Williamsburg (sparing the pics of crying, tired feet, hungry tourists, and sleepy babies :)….
If you are traveling to Williamsburg with kids here are a few tips to share that we learned along the way…
A picnic blanket is a must! We bought our picnic from The Cheese Shop which we recommend if you get in line super early! We waited in line for 30 mins to get our order but it was delicious! They have a famous house sauce that you should try! Once you get your food or bust out your prepacked lunch there are many shady grassy spots but few benches…a picnic blanket would have been golden!
Make reservations if you want to eat at one of the old time restaurants. We got dinner reservations at Josiah Chownings Tavern which was very casual and had fun musicians walking throughout. The food was reasonably priced (about $12 for adults) and worth the experience. I will say that America had not yet had it’s gourmet rise so it was basic fare which the kids loved!
If you are from Virginia you can buy a yr pass for the cost of the day pass and return anytime in the year.
While there are tons of activities going on throughout the day our kids favorites were marching with army fife and drum, watching the canon practice, walking out in the field to “enlist” and march with the new soldiers and the active participation things. We went for a long morning, went back to the hotel for naps and then went back for the evening events. There are many activities geared towards adults and teens. I personally think they could do more family friendly activities for young children but all in all our kids enjoyed it and didn’t know what they were missing in the older activities.
This year there is a spy game going on. You can receive texts with clues and go on the hunt for people with more clues throughout the day. Seth and Jackson could have done this for days. I could see this being really fun with teenagers.
More on Jamestown Settlement soon…
I’m back! I flew back Sunday afternoon after a fun weekend of talking…well, we did far more than talk but basically while we did everything else we talked. I was brought up to speed on what teenage girls are faced with today, soaked in Annie’s parenting experience and wisdom, along with her gorgeous decorating taste, ate yummy meals, and did not respond to the early morning and throughout the night wake ups (thanks to super dad at home). I drank coffee each morning and took a shower that was unaccompanied by knocks on the door and “I’m starvings”. I watched a hilarious chick flick, giggled with the girls, laughed so hard I cried, and reminisced on when these big girls were itty bitty and was reminded of the need to once again SAVOR these boys in the now. They will indeed grow too fast and the Kindergarten boyfriend/girlfriend talk will soon be the real deal with them having to make real life decisions.
I have lots of pictures to share…some of the trip in general and some of the house because I just had to share that too. I haven’t organized my thoughts yet on how I’ll share those but I promise I’ll get on that soon!
In the meantime just wanted to give you all a shout out so you didn’t send out the search and rescue. I am here, we are well, just a bit overwhelmed on how to begin to catch up here.
Here are a few pictures to get me going and to give you a sneak peek at Annie’s house…
I arrived home to see my guys, two of whom seemed to have grown a foot while I was gone and one with a giant goose egg on his forehead. The night before I came home Seth got up in the night to go to the bathroom thinking he might throw up (TMI, I know) instead of throwing up he woke up later on the floor. He had passed one somewhere in there and hit his head. Unsure of how long he’d been unconscious. He says it was a ploy to make me never want to leave again. The bump on his head is turning a pretty shade of green. The boys and Seth had a great weekend together, despite Seth’s incident. After they picked me up at the airport we headed to Gravelly Point Park (just next to Reagan International Airport). For you locals who haven’t been you must take your kids! When the weather warms up pack and picnic and make the little drive.
I will be back on here tomorrow to share with you some of the fun ideas Annie passed along that she used with her kids when they were younger!
Yep, I’m leaving. Not for good, just for the weekend.
When we came back to the US it was our goal to spend this time back home to be intentional about relationships that often take the backseat when we are abroad. One of those relationships for me has been our dear friends the O’Leary’s. Most of you know the story, I babysat the O’Leary kids when they were itty bitty and now they are teenagers! Growing WAY TOO FAST! In early January I decided to try to sit down and look at the calendar for a time I could take one of the boys with me to visit. As I looked at the calendar and talked to Annie we realized with the kids sports starting up again January was the time to come. So, me and my not so spontaneous self up and booked a flight to go only a couple of weeks later…which happens to be today. We went back and forth about me taking a boy or not and Seth encouraged me to go alone. (His opinion may or may not have been influenced by ticket price rather than wanting both boys for a weekend alone but that’s not important! ) I took him up on his offer and reluctantly bought a solo ticket on a late night flight . You know how I hate to leave the kids but I know I need to sometimes and I know it’s important for a mental health break every so often…. You know how it is. Maybe spontaneous is going to be my new normal so I don’t have enough time to talk myself out of things.
The O’Leary girls are going to the Grammy’s so our mission for the weekend is to shop for Grammy dresses and I am taking my camera so I can finally photograph Annie’s lovely home to share with all of you! Other than that we will just be relaxing and having girl time. I want to soak up these teenagers before they up and leave the coup. I am very much looking forward to some grown up time to catch my breath after some busy months with little ones and life in general. And it won’t be so bad to sleep through the night and let the boys be boys for a weekend 
I envision lots of sausage and macaroni in their weekend despite my diligent meal planning for them!
The fridge is stocked, they are pumped for a daddy weekend, Seth is all set and I will be home before they miss me!
Hope you all have a great weekend and hopefully I will come back refreshed and with lots to share next week!
