Beach Day with Grandma

My mom came out to Virginia and I was lucky enough to have her visit me for a couple of days. We had a beach day with my playgroup and it was a lot of fun, although a bit warm. William has been afraid of the water ever since a big wave knocked him down early in the summer. My mom worked her "Grandma magic" on him and he ventured out into the waves with her. We had to retreat after a couple of hours because of the jellyfish invasion. Good times!

Salad Chips

I steamed a couple of artichokes for dinner last night. As Sean and I were peeling off the leaves and eating them, William kept asking for 'Salad Chips.' He was eating his chicken pot pie so I didn't know what he was referring to. Then I figured it out. The artichoke leaves look kind of like chips and we were dipping them in melted butter and mayonnaise. They were also green, like a salad. Salad Chips. What a clever little guy. I shared mine with him and now he is a big fan of the 'Salad Chips.'

Happy Birthday, America!

We had such a great day on Independence Day. We went to Colonial Williamsburg and it was fantastic. We had a picnic at the Governor's Palace. They provided a boxed lunch style picnic and commemorative blanket. We found a place on the palace grounds and enjoyed a feast of chilled fried chicken, turkey and cheese wraps, ham sandwich on focaccia bread, cole slaw, potato salad, giant cookie, and red, white, and blue cupcakes. Like I said, a feast. While we ate, there were period costumed characters that put on a show with traditional dance, jokes, and magic tricks. We were a little too far away to hear what was going on, but William had a good time running around on the lawn. When it started to get dark, we went to claim our spot for the fireworks viewing. We ran into the Livesays and the Satterfields and joined their party. Then there was a fife and drum parade and mini concert. Then it was time for the main event. I was a little worried that William would be afraid of the loud noises from the fireworks but he loved it. He was willing to sit and wait for the next fireworks show. Poor guy, he still thinks that fireworks happen every night. I'm so glad that we got to do something memorable as a family this Independence day.

New Bedroom

Here are some pictures of our new renovation. I didn't take any 'before' pictures because I was ashamed of my tiny room with an awkward closet, dingy moulding, and halfway painted blue walls. I'll try to describe the closet before the makeover. The closet was the width of a bedroom door and the depth of a non-walk in closet. It was joined to another closet in the laundry room on the other side of the wall. So Sean had to walk across the hall to get to his clothes and we had a strange secret passage from the bedroom to the laundry room. We needed a change so Sean sealed up the laundry room closet entry and widened the entry in our room. New doors, moulding, closet system, and paint finished the job. A quick rearrangement of our furniture and we love our tiny, but pretty, room.

Summer Vacation

Sean has been working like a madman (10-12 hour days, twice a week staying overnight onboard, working weekends, etc.) getting his ship ready for their big inspection. We planned to have a small vacation to Williamsburg. He had his leave approved and we were looking forward to having a great time at Water Country USA and Busch Gardens. But things were getting backed up on board the ship and Sean's week off leave was reduced to 1 day. Thankfully, he was able to get the day we went to Busch Gardens.

I had to go it alone with William at Water Country USA, but we met up with the Candlands and they were a big help. William was such a turkey when it came to walking from attraction to attraction. He would whine for me to hold him until my arms were about to fall off. He wouldn't eat when it was lunch time. He only wanted to eat when everyone else was done and off to the next fun thing. I don't know what his deal was. I now know that amusement parks of any kind are definitely two parent activities. I'm so glad that Robyn and Peter were there to help me wrangle William when I was ready to just melt down.

After a little rest time we went out to dinner and stroll down Colonial Williamsburg. The kids got a kick out of chasing the fireflies. I wish I hadn't been so exhausted because I love Colonial Williamsburg and I would have loved to stay longer. But when the sun went down, it was definitely time to go back to the hotel.

Sean met us that night and we were up and ready for Busch Gardens the next morning. It was blazing hot and I had to buy a T shirt to change into because my layered outfit was stifling me. William had a great time (in between meltdowns) riding the rides and running through the fountains. His favorite rides were the Log Flume (we rode twice in a row in the evening) and Prince Elmo's Spire (a droppy-bouncy ride). I'm glad he had his cousin, Ryan to ride some rides with. We were exhausted by the end of the evening. It was a nice little vacation. After Sean is finished with his inspection, we'll get to take a good long time off and relax properly. Until then, it's same old same old. . . .