The Rich History of Virginia

After a very exhausting first day of vacation in D.C. and Mt. Vernon, day 2 of vacation needed to be a slower pace so the family could recover. We headed into Williamsburg and mosied around. We saw some of the colonial area and just took in the scene. It was pretty mellow.

Then we paid attention to our grumbling stomachs and stopped for brunch at one of the cute restaurants in the brick sidewalked shopping area.

Very focused on his coloring.

Cade got antsy at the table (as he often does), so Mike took him for a walk while I finished breakfast (Dylan was content to sit at the stroller next to the table). Cade found a new friend...a horse that he fed some leaves.

Then Cade led us back to our car and we made our way back towards our condo. Just down the road from our condo entrance, there was an awesome park. We stopped there and played for a bit.

Follow the Leader

I can't believe I didn't get more\better pictures of this playground. It was really awesome. There was a pirate ship, extensive connected walkways and even a old west set up. The boys loved it there!

We rounded out our lazy day with naps and feeding the birds. Right behind our condo was a small pond. Spring is baby season and there were a lot of them around us. Goslings and ducklings were all over the grounds. We enjoyed watching them and feeding them all week.

Dropping Food to Them off Our Deck

Our lazy Sunday was supposed to be followed by an exciting Monday. Our plan was to use our pre-purchased Busch Gardens tickets to spend a day at the amusement park. What was the biggest disappointment of our trip, Monday morning we found out that the park was not yet open on week days. Wah wuh! Totally a big bummer. Our one shot to go was the day we spent lazing around the day prior. However, as tired as we all were, we wouldn't have been able to enjoy it anyway. Plan B was to take a short drive to Jamestown and explore.

We drove the scenic Jamestown Island loop before heading back to check out the settlement museum.

Pelts

The boys liked looking at the displays in the museum and loved walking around the Native American and colonist settlements. They especially liked touring the recreation of the ships that brought the colonists over.

The state bird of Virginia is the cardinal.
Appropriate since we saw them all over the place.

Cade and I enjoyed watching (and hearing) the musket loading and shooting demonstration. I honestly can't say that the day was very informative for me. Walking through museums with a 2 and 4 year old doesn't allow much time for reading and learning. So, after 2 days of exploring the rich historical culture of that area, I learned not very much. But, it was fun to see anyway!

Where George Washington is Buried

After our morning at the Natural History Museum in D.C., we jumped in the car and headed just a short drive south to Mount Vernon. A few weeks before the trip, Dylan had asked where George Washington was buried (remember, this is the guy obsessed with spooky stuff like gravestones). I didn't know so I looked it up. When I realized it was right by where we were going to start off our vacation, I knew we had to add George Washington's home and final resting place to our trip. Luckily, after our late night of traveling the day before and a busy morning, both boys fell asleep on the ride there so we hung out in the parking lot for a while and let them snooze.

Once everyone awoke, we started our trek of the grounds. We walked a bit, saw some animals, witnessed some old fashion sheep shearing and read some interesting facts about our nation's first president, George Washington.

Then we made our way over to George's crypt. Every day, there's a ceremony there at 11 and 3. We timed our schedule that day around making it to the 3 o'clock ceremony and it worked out quite nicely. The ceremony included putting a wreath in between George and Martha's coffins, a reading of his prayer (which I can't remember is his Earnest Prayer or a Prayer for Guidance...either way, I found it really moving) and the group saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I must admit, it was very (surprisingly) emotional and powerful to recite the pledge, hand over heart, just feet away from a man that was an extremely pivotal person in making this country what it is today. I may have even gotten a little choked up!

After the ceremony, we continued to tour the estate (or as Dylan likes to call it, George Washington's city). Then we made our way up to the house. When we bought our tickets, we were assigned a time that we could get in line for the house tour. Since the line was long, Mike held our spot and the boys and I wandered around a bit. But, being the well oiled tourist machine that it was, the line moved pretty quickly. The house tour was nice but not quite as informative as I think I would have preferred. You were pretty much shuffled through, had guides in each room there for questions and occasional they would announce some pertinent info on their area of the house. However, for being able to do this with 2 small boys, I don't think any other fashion of tour could have worked any better.

The Mansion

Fantastic View of the Potomac from the Back Porch

We then made our way to the museum where we saw a recommended movie about some of Washington's pivotal battles. Dylan's favorite spot was a set up of the inside of a bunker with a sleeping man in it and a video of troops training on the lawn outside the window. We had to circle back to see the sleeping man a few times.

After a few hours spent there, we got in the car for the 2 hour trip down to Williamsburg where we would stay for the remainder of our trip. It had been a long 24 hours and it seemed we'd never get to the condo. We stopped for dinner, the grocery store, the gas station, and CVS before we made our last stop at check in. It had been a long day and we were all ready to get a good night's sleep.

The Boys at Dinner
Dylan was wearing his new "George Washington" hat.

Our Night (Day Really) at the Museum in DC

We've been doing some traveling lately. While on a week long family vacation that ended in time to get home and relax for Memorial Day weekend, we found out a date for Mimaw\Pipaw camp was set and Dylan and I pretty much immediately started planning our travel again. All that craziness left little to no time to blog about it. As I fully expect lots of family fun to be packed into summer, I'm going to get these vacations in the books quickly.

First off, we did a trip to DC and Williamsburg, VA. Several people have asked how we picked this location. Well, we basically looked at a map, found places with less than a 2 hour flight (flying more than that amount of time with a 2 year old is basically a nightmare) then found where our time share had some weekly deals. That landed us in Williamsburg. We decided to fly into DC (about 3 hours from there) since the boys enjoy watching the Night at the Museum movies and we thought they would enjoy the Natural History Museum.

The trip started on Friday, after a full day of work for me. After a bit of a flight delay and a long line waiting to rent a car, we were en route to our hotel very late. The boys were definitely tired, but with lots of entertainment from Mom, they did pretty well until getting in the car. The boys fell asleep on the way to our hotel and very easily tucked into bed when we got them up to the room. In usual form, the late night didn't deter their internal 7am alarm clocks.

We all got up, ready, packed back up and walked the mile down to the national mall, picking breakfast up along the way. With a little time to kill before the museum opened, we took some time for pictures and wandered through a sculpture garden.

Cade and I with the very newly re-opened Washington Monument.
On the first day it opened earlier in the week, my brother Jody got to tour it.
We missed "Uncle Jody" in DC by just a little over 24 hours. :(

Finally convinced Dylan to get out of the stroller for a picture with us.

Sitting with the Statue

Cade and I with "mudman" (as we named it).

It was at this point that we got yelled at to not touch the art. Little late for that since I had already sat on it! If we weren't supposed to touch it, why the heck didn't they put up a sign?!?

Oh. Oops.

Seriously though, maybe somebody can explain to me how us touching metal artwork that sits outside in the elements year round is doing damage. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Me and My Boys and the Capitol Building

Family Portrait!

Then it was time to head into the museum! Big bummer upon entering was finding out the dinosaur section was under renovation and not open. Sad for us. However, it didn't end up putting too much of a damper on the day because the boys were very entertained and very done after we saw what we saw. I will say this - the museum lives up to it's hype. It is really incredible in how it does its displays and in the variety of super cool stuff there is there to see. We loved it! Seeing the mammals exhibit (essentially all taxidermied animals) was my favorite part. I don't understand how we didn't end up with good pictures of it.

In the Rotunda

Skeletal Remains of Spooky Sea Creatures

Being Eaten By a Giant Prehistoric Shark!

Being tired (and generally lazy if the stroller's around, Dylan pretty much stuck to seeing the sights from the seated position. That is, until we got to the mummies. Then he popped right out and was fascinated!

Boy Mummy

His interests were also peaked in another exhibit on that floor - The Gems and Minerals (including the Hope Diamond!). Seems I'm not the only person in the family drawn to sparkly things.

The Hope Diamond

Huge Crystal

Crystal of a Different Kind - Equally Cool

There was great gift shop with the gems and minerals section. I am big on getting the kids small souvenirs with museum experiences so they can have a memory to take with them of the day. But it has to be relevant to our experience...not any random trinket that's offered. Dylan picked out a fantastic and relevant souvenir...a crystal! And let me tell you, in his imaginative play, that crystal has done some amazing magical things since he obtained it.

After our museum trip, we wandered back to the hotel through yet another sculpture garden. Pretty cool art all around the national mall.

Metal Tree

While I would have at least liked to walk around the mall and show the kids some of the other memorials, we had an aggressive schedule for the day and needed to head to the next item on our itinerary. Back at the hotel parking lot, we were already packed up and ready to go. Next stop, Mount Vernon!

Because What Else Would I Want To Do For Mother's Day?

What more does any Mom want to do on Mother's Day than look at some battleships? No, seriously. This was my idea. Going to Battleship Cove in Fall River was on our summer bucket list and I figured that we wouldn't have to fight the crowds on Mother's Day. Plus, it was a gorgeous day...perfect for being by the water. After we drove home from NH and Mike got home from soccer that Sunday, we loaded up the boys in the convertible to make the hour long trip down.

Cruisin'

And, in one of those very few days in life, the boys actually did what we had hoped. We drove the few miles to the highway with the top down and the boys loved it. Put the top up before hitting the fast road and within minutes, the boys had fallen fast asleep. Yay!

Snoozin'

We were right about not battling the crowds. While we certainly weren't the only ones there, it mostly felt like we had the run of the place. Dylan loved exploring, Cade loved following his brother. I had to help Cade a good bit on the steep stairs up and down but he faced them head on like a champ.

Dylan loved the "shark" boat.

Watch Out Bad Guys!

In the Sub

Big thresholds for my little guys to get over in the submarine.
Small doors for my big guy with back pack to get through.

The Big Ship
USS Massachusetts

In The Cafeteria of the USS Massachusetts

Lots of very not private bunks on that ship.

And a jail!

Appropriate shirt for Mother's Day, don't ya think?
(I "heart" Mom)

As with all good family trips, the kids started losing it towards the end of touring the big ship. It was kind of a mess for a bit but once we got back up on deck, they hit a 2nd wind and had fun playing again. Once back in our neck of the woods in Massachusetts, we topped the day off with one of our favorite family dining spots, Bertucci's. As usual, they messed up just about every facet of my order (I seem to have a special gift of pretty much every restaurant or fast food place doing that) but the afternoon had been so lovely, I didn't even mind being the last one at the table to get the right drink and food order.

I used to think Mother's Day was all about spoiling Mom. And, well, I guess it is. However, after becoming a Mom, I now know all too well that happy kids make a happy Mom. Since my boys were happy, so was I.