Our First Trip To Virigina

Let me tell you, this one made me nervous! A road trip to a new state sans hubby and three kids. I was so close to talking myself out of this one. But the more I talked to people, the more I was convinced I could do this. Safely. 

Since we have moved to the East Coast, we have traveled around NC and to Myrtle Beach, SC. The build up to deployment kept us close to home most weekends due to an unpredictable work schedule. 

Soon there will be school activities to keep us home, so I wanted to go somewhere during this small window of opportunity. Virginia was the best choice because it is close and there were some free things for military families.

I would have loved to share all those things with you but...I lost my phone. Oh yes, after decades of phone ownership, I finally had the dreaded experience of losing my phone! I'll give you the short story of the incident because the long story is only good face-to face.  We went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. I was playing the role of dutiful mom--otherwise known as "holder of the stuff".  Then my children rode the ultimate roller coaster, Verboten which they determined I had to ride. So, I left the bag with the tween boys who I really didn't trust to not leave the "stuff" somewhere to be stolen. So, I put my phone in my trusty front pocket and thought everything would be just fine. 

Nope, not even halfway into the ride I put my hand on my pocket to confirm the phone was tucked away safely and it was gone. The gal seated behind us said she heard it fall early in the ride. Either scenario means the phone now resides in a pond or cracked to pieces on a cement floor. Unless the Otterbox case could save it which my Otterbox has definitely protected my phone from some big falls. Anything is possible!

What was suppose to be a fairly inexpensive trip ended up costing $$$. I can't help it because I love my iPhone products, so you gotta pay the price. 

But now you know we went to the amusement park and the next day over to Colonial Williamsburg. We didn't spend much time but enough to see a reenactment of the colonists storming the Governor's Palace and visit all the buildings in the town. Derrick was really into it because he just spent his 5th grade year learning all this American History. We did about 6 hours of exploring but I think you could do more. Colonial Williamsburg offers free admission to military families each calendar. We will definitely be back to visit. 

At the edge of Colonial Williamsburg sits William & Mary college. It is the second oldest college in America and educated a handful of presidents. Thomas Jefferson, ring a bell?

 It is a beautiful campus. The buildings are gorgeous. If I were young and smart and highly motivated, then this would be my college. 

We have definitely added exploring college campuses to our adventure list now that Kyli is an upperclassman. She isn't into the college campus viewing like I would hope. But, I love it, so she has to go nonetheless. I'm hoping she gets motivated by osmosis or luck or something. Otherwise, I will be having to come to terms with my "broken" dreams. Which in the grand scheme of things there are worse "broken" dreams to have and it is her journey to navigate. 

I would never have said that 5 years ago :) 

See what having a teenager does to you?

At some point, you just want them to make it to 18 alive and with a resemblance of a relationship in tack. 

Speaking of disgruntled teenagers, she has peeked her head out at me to discuss getting a cat no less than 3 times while I write this post. 

Cats are great and all, but her little brother is allergic. 

Getting a cat is out of the question.

She says, 'It's ok I'm going to get one anyways'.

Because she wants to get me all worked up.

My response (when I'm in a good mood): That's interesting.

That is her signal that she isn't getting a fight. 

It only took me a year to learn that response. 

End tangent. Virginia was great. I'll post my Colonial Williamsburg pictures tomorrow!