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…

After leaving Seth’s family we headed on to see my family in Ft. Worth. My brother and sister-in-law had just welcomed our new niece Grace into the world the week before so we arrived just in time for some great cuddles! Graham and Tina are wonderful parents and seem to be taking parenthood in stride! Grace is a sweetie pie and loved to be held and admired! I didn’t get nearly enough pictures of Grace since I was normally trying to hold her.  The weather was HOT while we were there so we made the most of indoor activities for the most part, aside from a few pool outings!  At the end of the week my grandmother flew in from Florida to meet Grace! We lucked out and got to see her as well.

Lots of my pictures are still on my phone but here are a few to get started!

We spent the first week of July with Seth’s family having a reunion with the whole gang. It had been years since we had all been together so it was fun to catch up!  We have added kids and continents. We packed the week with lots of fun at the beach, family farm and in between.

The thing our little family needed to do differently throughout the week was to find some balance with some times just as a family, removing the boys from the crowd and helping them to have some quiet! Even an extrovert like me was in need of some down time in a clan of 16 around the clock! You live and you learn.

Here are some picture highlights from the fun trip!