We Survived... Although not sure those in Virginia can say the same

Katie R.

We will did it.  We survived.  I would even venture to say that it was a good trip; however, I don't want to be too cocky as I'm not sure what those in Virginia are saying right now.  Here are the highlights:

To Virginia:  The kids, who are pretty good travelers, managed to have no problem getting up at 3:30 when the alarm went off.  We made it to our 4:15am shuttle and to the airport in plenty of time.  The deal was Wes would sit with Joe and I would sit with Andrew but after the take off and hearing "I want my mommy" we switched (over the seats) and I got Wes the remainder of the trip. Lucky me. The only reason we made it through was the nice man, complete with dreadlocks, who switched seats with another family so they could all sit together and unfortunately he got stuck with us.  He was a good sport Wes put his bare feet on him, had him put his tray table up and down 20 times and finally would only let that gentlemen unbuckle his seat belt.  There is a special place in heaven for that guy.  Then on the way to our final destination we stopped at the air and space museum to see a real space shuttle and even better for my kids... a Mars rover.

 

 

 

During our Visit:  We stayed with Joe's cousin, her husband and their two kids.  They were the most amazing hosts as we are less than ideal guests.  First Wes called everyone stupid every 30 seconds so he spent a good deal of his holiday in timeout.   Andrew and his cousin instantly became "best friend cousins" and they had a good time playing together.  Joe's cousin even hosted Thanksgiving at her house which consisted of 25 adults and 4 kids.   We even got a night out for awhile but had to come home early as Wes was causing Nana and PawPaw all kinds of problems.  Yep he hates us.  C if you are reading this thanks again for having us. I know you said come back sometime in the summer, but I promise we won't take you up on that offer. 

 

The kids had a coloring contest with donations.  I think they raised about $30 to put in the Salvation Army bucket.

25 adults, 4 kids and 11 desserts.  Sounds about right (only a small portion shown here)

Playing in the best friend cousin's room

Jamestown on a pirate ship. 

 

 

And we're done

We're from NH.  We definitely make sand castles when it's 50 degrees.

Don't let the smile fool you.  Feel asleep when we got in the parking lot.  Beach day was a gigantic fail.

 

 

Traveling Home:  We left the cousins at 8:30 in the morning to get out of their hair and to visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore.  After a 3 hour drive we arrived and enjoyed the aquarium.  The kids were done after about an hour but it was $91 for admission (Wes was free) and we had 4 hours until our flight so we forced them to look at more fish.  Finally we arrived and had 2 hours until our 7:40 flight which was perfect for checking in, dinner and boarding.  The minute we arrived I got a text saying our flight was delayed until 8:30.  No problem, we'll get dinner.  Joe and the boys decide the want Chipotle.  2 kids with giant burritos on the seats in the airport.  Absolutely the worst idea ever.  Rice freakin everywhere.  After trying to clean in up without success I decided our best plan of action was to choose different seats and pretend the mess never happened.  Finally we boarded.  Here we are on our return flight.  See anything wrong with these pictures? 

 



 

 

The lucky mommy I am both kids wanted to sit with me.  And at 8:30 after already traveling for 12 hours we decided it was best.  Luckily Wes fell asleep before the fasten seat belts sign went off and Andrew played games on my phone so it was an easy flight, I even read SkyMall.  After a shuttle to our car and the car trip home it was midnight and we all fell asleep in our own beds.

 

I have to say that it was a really good trip.  My better then I expected; however, I may already be blocking parts out of my mind.