What Happens After 36?

Free Cake to whomever can answer that question correctly!
Yes, indeed it is the one blog posting a year where I (Bill) get to write a few words.
On Saturday we celebrated Tara's 36th birthday. As we brainstormed over how to spend the day, I thought about all the favorite things Tara would do in her college days before 3 boys started taking so much of her time. Disco Dancing! Tara would often drag me to the D.I. to find old (and often smelly) disco era clothing to I could accompany her to the local night clubs for a round of disco dancing (after the first time I did happen to notice that we were the only ones in disco attire). Since the boys may not be into dancing (read the first day of school post), I figured the next best thing would be disco roller skating. I wanted a place that would be less crowded so we could hopefully have the DJ (term used loosely) quiet the Britney and put on some classic Bee Gee's or Queen. With a bit of creativity, we decided on the Xanadu Skate Center in West Valley (Tara would not even attempt an Olivia Newton-John impersonation [lame]).

Because the rink was uncrowded, we were able to get every 3rd or so song to be a disco tune. We even got a shout out to Tara congratulating her on her 36th birthday with a Michael Jackson tribute song (Thriller) dedicated to her special day. What a blast!
After skating Tara took the afternoon to lay low and rest up for our walk across town to Oasis Cafe courtesy of Lisa's babysitting offer. After a quite and very tasty dinner, we retired to watch a movie at home. All in all a pretty great tribute to our wonder and sweet mother/wife. Happy Birthday Tara!

Get A Life!

Ahhh... the dreaded first day of school (or the happily anticipated, depending on who in the family you ask.) Today it has come. I woke up early and made pancakes with Bill while the boys got themselves ready to take on the world. William is tackling 5th grade this year as well as a brand new school--middle school--complete with lockers, 6 periods and hopefully devoid of all the social awfulness that is junior high. He was feeling very nervous before yesterday's orientation/dry-run day. Once he had a chance to practice changing classes and finding his way around a new building he was feeling much more secure and ready for the challenge. His Super-Mama came to his rescue, when she discovered he had been reassigned (due to over scheduling of classes) out of his "elective" class-band to physical theater. I spoke to the physical theater teacher (who is lovely) to find out what the class would entail. As soon as William heard her say the dreaded word "dancing", he groaned an audible groan. That poor boy has been worried about having to take a "dance" class at his new "arts" school since he decided he wanted to apply back in February. I didn't want his first period of every day to start off in such a negative way for him, so I spoke to the very accommodating principle who changed him back to his original schedule. No dance class (yet) for him. (Addendum: William came home from school and told me he had been given "dance" as his "arts period class". We knew he had a one in four shot of that happening for that hour. Seems the Universe is determined to see him shakin' his groove thang.) He said he has his "dream" schedule. Hopefully, today will be a wonderful experience for him. He has risen to all the new responsibilities we have allowed him this summer and I am feeling like he is ready for more. I think he feels the same.

To be done with co-oping for him feels strange. I am feeling more disconnected to his educational experience than I ever have. I remember at an open house for his school, a parent (from the same elementary school William came from) asked what the parents can do if they aren't in the classroom every week and the principal answered "Get a life!" (only half jokingly) I guess it is time for me to do that.

Romney also had a big transition day, entering first grade. A whole day at school, 5 days a week is a big change from the 4 half-days he had in Kindergarten. He was most nervous about eating lunch at school, but it was one of his favorite parts from his first day. Romney isn't as keen to change as William is. William seems to love the whole going off to school more than Romney. Romney would be happy to stay home learning with me all day. His teacher is marvelous and assured me that this year we would "tap into what makes learning fun for Romney". With a teacher like that, how can he go wrong?

And how was my first day with the kids in school? Odd, but good. I had 3 hours of walking time, which was helpful in burning off the nervousness I felt for my boys' eventful day. I am looking forward to some free time, although I have no plan as of yet to what I am going to do with all of it. I guess I will find "a (new chapter to my already happy) life". . .

First And Last Time For Everything

My first (and with any luck my last) attempt at taking a bridal portrait. After 7 hours of shooting and editing, I was reassured-- I do not EVER wish to be a bridal photographer. I tried to talk her out of using me for her wedding by offering some bridals and to let someone else shoot the whole wedding. What I got, instead was shooting BOTH the wedding and bridals. Still not exactly sure how someone who has no problem saying "No" got roped into that! When I figure out that most puzzling piece of this story, I should blog about that! (Alan, are you out there? Want to take the wedding on?. . .)

Birthday Boy

Today is the anniversary of one of the greatest days in the history of our fair planet... the anniversary of Bill's birth. From humble beginnings on a military base in Del Rio, Texas 34 years ago today, he has grown into our family's favorite superman.

He celebrated the occasion by taking the day off from work and waking up late (greeted by his favorite breakfast made with love, although perhaps not by the person with the most cooking talent) and headed out on a long bike ride up Mueller Canyon (Bill kindly shot this photo and a few others while on his ride). After the bike ride we headed to his favorite sandwich shop for a birthday lunch and then for some birthday bike shopping. (Bill found his most perfect bike today and it will be his graduation present from the kids and I when he receives his Masters degree in December!) We ended the day with a walk to the Gateway for a Brazilian meat-fest at another Bill favorite and came home for brownies, ice-cream, a Chelsea soccer game watch party and a movie. All in all, I hope he felt he had as fantastic of a day as he deserves for being such a fabulous human being!

I am so grateful to be part of your life. I adore you and so do your two sons! Thanks for the surprises and laughs and happiness your very existence brings to us all. Happy 34th birthday, you get more gorgeous every year ( Which makes me look bad, but I still love you!)

Last Museum Of The Trip

Have you ever wanted someone's head on a platter? All you have to do is head over to the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond to get your wish. We slept in again. Packed out and then let the boys play Wii for an hour before saying goodbye to Williamsburg. We had planned a later afternoon flight to give us another vacation day, instead of just a travel day. It worked out fabulously. We ended up at the Science Museum and we all loved it and wished we had more time than we did. It is by far the greatest kid museum I have visited (Which begs the question: Why can't we put together a decent children's museum in Utah--home of the large Mormon family?) All of the exhibits were very engaging and both boys stopped for several minutes at every single one. There was an area devoted to space, an area to genetics, and area that touched on senses. There was an area for marine science and a CSI area.
We were there for 2 hours and could have stayed another 3. It was insane the cool things there were to do there. There was a section where you could simulate manipulating a vehicle in space to see how it feels to be an astronaut trying to do a repair or dock at the space station. The boys waited for a turn on these crazy chairs and thought it was one of the best parts of the whole trip.




Our flights home were easy. We did have to change planes in Minneapolis, but it was super smooth. We had an entire row (6 seats) for the 4 of us. The boys took one side of the aisle and Bill and I the other. They played so great together the entire trip and the ride home was no exception. They were sweet to and supportive of one another and played their electronics the entire way. It was almost like having a "date", they were so maintenance free. All is all, this one will go down in our family history as a WONDERFUL experience!

Best Ever

Bill and I were reminiscing as we sat in our hotel room amongst our packed baggage about how lovely this trip has been. We both agreed it has been our favorite trip of all time. (Seeing as how Bill and I just came home from Ireland/England not too long ago, this is a big statement. ) We loved having time as a family all together with no other distractions. We learned a lot about each other and really enjoyed one another's company. It was stress free and had equal parts new adventures balanced with a healthy dose of familiar and comfortable. Doing the more "planned" D.C. half of the vacation was perfectly balanced by the more "relaxed" Williamsburg half of the trip. I wouldn't have planned or done anything differently. The only thing I would have changed was the heat/humidity factor. The bonus is I am not coming home feeling like I am itching to move back. Winters and Summers are even more brutal here than in Utah, when you factor in the hot or cold wet air.


Today started out like most of our Williamsburg days, in the pool. We swam and then ate and then all wanted a chance to get out of the heat for a while before we enjoyed our last evening at Busch Gardens. We found that two family movies were showing and picked the movie and the theatre with the best starting time. We ended up at Aliens in the Attic (very cute and funny) at a theatre called "Movie Tavern". One would think that perhaps the name would have given us a clue that it was a bit different than a "traditional" movie theater. But remember, we are in Williamsburg-- home to things like Taverns and figured it was just a cute, colonial sounding name for the local theater. We were shocked when we walked in to sit down and found long counter tops as well as office chairs to sit on. No rows or fold down seats here. I suppose you are to order dinner and bring it in to eat while you watch. The kids thought it was most awesome! I just wanted normal cushy chairs that have retractable arm rests so I could cuddle Bill and zone out for 2 hours.



After our movie, we headed straight to Busch Gardens to give all 3 coaster enthusiasts a chance to conquer number 5 on the list of big coasters. The one we had saved for last was the biggest, scariest, knarliest looking coaster I have ever seen. I am and always have been a big coaster rider. I never have fear for these things. I figure if they let you on, it's safe (smart, I know, but it has always proven to be the case). The Griffon is the first to really make me think twice before getting on. If not for William wanting to ride it again, after riding with Bill, I would have considered chickening out. William's enthusiasm for this ride was contagious and I got on. The first hill is a crazy dive into the rest of the coaster. The car is only 3 rows of 10 and the thing doesn't just climb up the hill and let you go. No, it takes you to the top, then lets you start to go over the edge, only to make you hang there looking at the 250+ foot 90 degree drop awaiting you. You have no idea when it will release you, but I started counting and made it to 5. I was so scared I couldn't even manage a scream for the first part of the fall, but by the end of the first hill, well put it this way, poor William may need hearing aides by the age of 12. It was such a fun, yet frightening ride. We all loved it, but only William braved it twice.

I won't have a chance to blog tomorrow, but the plan is to visit the Virginia Science Museum in Richmond for a few hours tomorrow before catching our plane to come home.
So after riding the best coasters ever, staying in the best hotels ever, surviving the hottest weather ever, and enjoying the best family ever, we are concluding our best vacation ever.

Day of Rest

My camera took the day off (Romney needed it's batteries), but that is ok since we did as well. We woke up super late again and took our time getting out of the hotel. We had a nice leisurely lunch and then headed to Virginia Beach for another day of fun in the surf.



By the way, in case you are ever in the area, it is illegal to swear on the streets of Va.Beach. I had to really watch my tongue. (Ok, so maybe not :). The boys had a blast using their "found treasure" of a boogie board from the first visit as well as body surfing. They were in the water for the entire 3 hours. The pail and shovel and kite joined the camera in having a day-off. It was the most relaxing, lovely way to spend a 100 degree day. This is what I call "vacation".

Southern Food, Ferry, and Fun

Sleeping late is becoming a habit. I didn't even know my children knew how. I guess the key is to tire them out late at night until they almost pass out-- then, and only then, will they sleep past 7 or 8. Today was another late start day. This time we surpassed our sleeping in record by all 4 of us sleeping until 10. Heat and humidity were our constant enemy in Washington D.C. Until today, Williamsburg has been pleasant and not unbearably hot. With that intense heat, we thought a morning full of swimming was in order and that is what we did. After swimming it was time for a late lunch and we headed out without a plan. We headed toward Jamestown and came across "Old Chickahominy House". Bill and I picked it for it's name. We had both done youth camps at laughably disgusting place called "Camp Chickahominy" and it has become a joke between us how awful the place was. We thought it would be funny to see what this little restaurant would contain. It was a gem of a place. Half restaurant/ half antique boutique, it was filled to the rafters with stuff. The restaurant side was furnished like an old southern plantation home and had a fireplace (thankfully not lit) in the tiny little dinning room. We ordered biscuits, virginia ham, chicken noodle soup and fruit salad. The fruit salad was a decidedly Southern concoction: iceburg lettuce, canned peaches and pineapple smothered in ranch dressing and cheese---ewwwww... Only Bill could stomach that, the rest of us gagged as we watched him eat it. The rest was delicious. The best part of the "Old Chickahominy House" was by far our server; a charming black woman who had such a quality about her. We would ask her a question and it would undoubtedly get a southern "mmmmhmmm" answer. When Bill couldn't decide which pie to choose, she told him if he didn't like the less familiar flavor (buttermilk/lemon) that she would bring him a cherry pie-- but then brought him both with a wink and a "mmmmhmmmm". People seldom believe me when I tell how southern Williamsburg is. They think Northern Virginia which culturally speaking has nothing to do with more central/coastal Virginia. That is why it took me 2-3 years to shed my accent on the vowels when I moved to Utah.
After our perfect southern lunch, we thought we would drive to Jamestown. We were hoping the kids would be interested once we got there, but they weren't. We weren't in the mood to force them into touring the settlement when they were so clearly not into it, so we drove on. We saw signs for the Jamestown ferry and thought we would see how much it would be to cross the James river with the car. When we saw there was no wait and no cost, we thought NO DOUBT! and jumped right on. We had a nice 30 minute drive through rural Virginia on the other side, before deciding we were bored with our Deliverance tour and jumped back on the ferry to head to Busch Gardens once more .

William was nervous about heading back to Busch. He wanted to ride the roller-coasters but was afraid he would chicken out. We started out mild by riding another 4-D ride. After the DarKastle debacle, both kids were very angry when we had them ride this ride. Every one we asked said there was nothing scary in this ride, but my kids no longer trusted that and were both pissed to be on it. It was a cute ride where the riders are magically shrunk down to fit in a matchbox and taken on a magical ride through Ireland. William, after it was over, relented and confessed it was pretty tame and fun. Romney never would. He would not ride any rides at all this time around. Every thing was either "too babyish" or "too scary" we could not find anything he would get on. So, we just had a tour of the roller-coasters. Our first one, was the Lochness Monster. This was a ride that I loved as a teen. One of the two roller-coasters in the park at the time. William was nervous, but wouldn't give up. He rode it and loved it and rode it again.

After seeing William enjoy a ride, Romney wanted to ride the little airplane ride, so we walked 1/2 the park to get there to give him a turn. He buckled up in the airplane and waited for the ride to start. During this wait he decided that he wanted off, and was too scared to ride. This ride is so tame, they won't even let the adults ride with the kids. I told him to stay on since he had picked it and he enjoyed and rode again. My brave Romney must have been traumatized by the Big Bad Wolf from the first visit, and now was finding it hard to find his courage again.



Today was "William takes on all roller-coasters day". He rode 4 out of the Big 5, and only 4 because we ran out of time before the park closed for the 5th. We will have to plan another night to let us all (minus poor Romney) try out that last, scary ride. Even I feel a little fear for this last coaster, so I am impressed William is dying to ride it. I can't wait to watch him conquer his fears and take it on!

Navy, Norfolk, New Shirts, and Neptune

One perk about being on vacation is the ability to sleep in. All of us took advantage of that perk this morning and woke up around 9:00. The first thing William asked was "Can we go play shuffle-board now?" With no real schedule, we said why not and grabbed some equipment from the resort. William had played in Yellowstone and was a "pro", and taught the rest of us the "rules". Romney and William could not get enough of this game and played for around an hour.


After a rousing game of senior citizen shuffle-board, we took off towards the south east, headed for the Naval Ship Yards in Norfolk. The only things I remembered about Norfolk were: you have to cross two bridges and go through one underwater tunnel to get there, I went to many great concerts at a Venue called "The Boathouse" (which reminds me, I should look it up to see if it is still standing), and it was scary crime wise and that is why I never went without the lure of a great band in town. We did see some seedier parts of town on our drive to the harbor, but Bill was determined to take the boys on a tour of the USS Wisconsin warship. Of course, they loved it! It was a perfect boy destination. We all decided after touring it, that we did not want to live on a boat for any long period of time!




The boat was actually docked in the harbor as part of the Naval Museum, and admission was free. It had an amazing view of the harbor, being on the water and a great set of binoculars on board. The boys loved scouring each corner looking for treasures not yet discovered and pointing out cool things to Bill and I after they were done.




After finishing at the boat, we started the second half of our day, by heading to Virginia Beach to play in the sand. On our way to the beach, Bill and I simultaneously remembered the fashion importance of having a 17th street surf shop shirt when we were kids. I mean, you had to have one. The shop was famous for it's great t-shirt designs which changed at least quarterly. It was very hip to have a retired, cool design. We decided it would be fun to buy the boys one to take home, even though it was merely a souvenir to them. Every time Bill and I see them wearing their shirts it will now bring back all kinds of fun memories, and we will get a grin out of it.

After the successful t-shirt hunt we finally found a prime parking spot and headed to the actual beach. We had stopped at a Wal-mart to try and find some beach toys. They were sold out of the convention equipment, but we did find a wonderful turtle shaped kite on clearance. We also got creative and found a big red salad bowl in the kitchen items and a spade from the garden center and left feeling like that would do the trick. We were right. William was our kite master, playing with the kite for at least an hour, before going in the water. Romney had a blast digging tunnels and making holes in the sand looking for water. With the boys too busy playing with the new gear, Bill and I had to take our own sorry-looking self-portrait to get a photo of us on the beach. We were enjoying relaxing together on the sand and watching our offspring frolicking.


Having found water, Romney could not wait to get himself fully immersed in the whole water experience. He would cover himself in the wettest sand (almost mud) and then lay face first in the surf to wash it all off with the waves. He loves to get out in the water and has no fear (although, I am sure I have enough for both of us).





William had no trouble getting our turtle into the air. It practically flew itself up into the sky with the nice breeze we enjoyed. Once it was up, William worked on trying to get it to do tricks for him. He was great at making the turtle look like it was swimming in the sky.










At the point that the sun was just about to go down, we called the kids out of the water. They were both disappointed to leave, but we were nervous that they would be freezing and once the sun went down, they would have no way to warm up. Plus, we were all hungry from our long day. We found a charming greek place right on the beach with amazing service. All of the servers had very thick accents and the owner was delightful and took great care of us. We sat out on the patio and watched the waves rolling in and felt the cool evening beach breeze as we waited for our food. At the end of the meal, two belly dancers came out to entertain the diners. Bill and I loved it and found it hilarious. William and Romney were repulsed.

One final note to the day: Water seemed to be the theme of the day, not only from our boat tour and beach time, but Romney was so well hydrated he had to use the restroom every 8 minutes. It was difficult finding that many places to go away from the hotel room. The good news is if you ever need a restroom in Norfolk or Virginia Beach, I can help you locate one.

"They Practically Named This Town After Me"

In a number of newpapers and blogs is a section called "Overheard" where funny things people overhear while sharing public spaces have a forum for publication. While our family was strolling down the pedestrian only streets of Colonial Williamsburg, this is what Bill and I over heard-- William on the cell phone with his buddy Oskar: "Yeah man, they practically named this town after me". And later same conversation: "Let me check my bars, oh wait they are good considering I'm in the 18th century."

The kids woke up before the alarm went off this morning. Both were outrageously excited to play with their plastic soldiers. This is what the floor of our hotel room looked like (and it was only half of the battle happening at the time). I am thinking that though I may not enjoy the soldiers myself, they will provide hours of imaginative play for the kiddos. And for that, I suppose I am grateful.

After we pulled the little ones away from their play long enough to shower and eat, we headed outside. On the way to the car, the boys begged to play the giant chess set they have set up on the sports court. We weren't in any big hurry, so we stayed and played. William has gotten so good at chess, he regularly beats Bill or they come to a stale-mate. Today was no exception. They stale-mated with just 4 pieces left of the board. It would have been HOURS before any one's king was cornered enough to loose. We chose to call it a tie and go about our business.

First item on our agenda: drive the Colonial Parkway to another one of my old neighborhoods and find the last house I lived in. We found it, and it was much changed, but fun to see. Then we continued up the Parkway to the Yorktown Battlefield. I didn't think the boys would be very interested for staying long here-- there isn't really that much to see, just a bunch of hills, trenches and flagpoles really. I was wrong. Romney was hot and bored, but William was totally into it. He just kept peppering Bill with questions about what happened and why and how the Rebel Colonies ended up winning the Revolutionary War there. We stayed for over an hour and William was soaking it all in. Romney did too, for the first half, but was baking hot by the second half. However, he must have taken something from all the history he heard, because afterwards he did feel inspired and wanted to hit the toy store to buy a special Revolutionary War set of soldiers to play with.



Our next stops were part of a nostalgia tour for Bill, whose family lived about 20 miles away in a town named Poquoson. We stopped by his elementary school and his middle school, his church and his old home. It was fun to have Bill feel that strange, almost de-ja-vu like feeling I have been experiencing for the past few days. He kept saying "this feels so strange." And really, it does. It is also a lot of fun. We got to hear fun stories that Bill hadn't thought about, but were jogged loose from his memory by seeing old sights. It is nice to get to feel more connected to those years in his life.


After subjecting the boys to a nice long day, we stopped for ice cream and headed back to Colonial Williamsburg. Yesterday, it was dark when we finally started walking around, and I wanted to see the place in some day light. The boys also had not had a chance to see any of the buildings yet, so we parked the car at the end of Duke of Gloucester Street that we had not yet walked down and walked back to the toy store (Remember, we on the hunt for Revolutionary War plastic soldiers).

It was just after 5:00 p.m. when we arrived, and all of the costumed workers were walking down the street (usually in big groups of friends) back to their vehicles to get home. They made for a lovely photo and also must have impressed William (who was impressed they had cell phone coverage in the 1700's--wink, wink).







We listened to a fife and drum crew while watching a military brigade set off the cannons a couple of times (another impressive moment for my boys). We offered the boys the chance to go back to Busch Gardens for the evening, but they said they would rather just get some take-out, go back to the hotel and play in the exercise room and swim there. Pretty easy to please, I say. Today we enjoyed taking a leisurely walk through history (both from the 1700's and the 1980's), loving our moments together as a family and enjoying some relaxation after our museum blitz in D.C.

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?

The short answer to that question is definitely, Romney. But more on that later. . .

Our first full day in Williamsburg and all 3 of my boys were revving to go to Busch Gardens. Our original thoughts were that we would go every evening for a few hours when it got a little cooler in the day, as we had a week long pass, but $12/day parking and an 84 degree day made us rethink that first plan, and we headed over for as much fun as we could all stand for one day.

The park was my home away from home most of the summer, with a season pass and a desire to be out of the house as much as possible and it brought back fun memories to go back and visit. However, like the town of Williamsburg, the park has grown by leaps and bounds. Always a very beautiful theme park, that aspect remains unchanged, but now with 5 major roller-coasters and countless other additions, it is simply amazing now. We spent 7 hours today and didn't get even 1/2 way through what we wanted to. Bill rode his first roller coaster in this park when he 11 years old -- The Big Bad Wolf. A hanging coaster that was pretty revolutionary for it's time and is still a great ride, is being retired (don't ask me why, I just don't know!) on September 7th. Bill was very sad about this news and we had to hit that ride first. Only problem: it didn't open until 12:30 so it was more like his 3rd ride. It is also a coaster that all 4 of us are tall enough to ride (no, not me, Romney is the short one for now). Romney was gung-ho to ride, until we got to the front of the line, when he said "I can't do this!" Like any good mother would do, I encouraged him to try. He willingly got on the ride and pulled his harness down over his head and then panicked. He started saying "Let me out of here. I can't do this. I am too scared". But it was too late, the ride started moving and he was in for good. We started up the first hill with him screaming "I can't do this!" I was holding on to him to comfort him, but he screamed the whole entire ride, and at the end got off said "I AM NOT DOING THAT AGAIN." A few minutes after ending the ride he was still not wanting to ever go on it again, but was so proud he had accomplished riding a grown-up roller coaster and said he had good memories of it. Good parents that we are, Bill and I could not stop laughing during the ride with poor Romney screaming "I hate this!" for the 40 or so seconds of the ride. There was not a lot we could do at that point other than laugh.
While we were waiting for the Big Bad Wolf to open up, we went over to ride a few more rides. We all stood in line for one called "da Vinci's cradle" -much like a magic carpet ride around and around--we got to the front of that line and Romney decided at the last minute he did not want to ride, so William and I got on. William wasn't sure if he liked it at first, but mid-ride, I caught this face which I believe answers the question of whether or not he enjoyed.
Lunch after the Big Bad Wolf was a carbo-loaders dream (or an Atkin's dieter nightmare, you choose). The boys were in food heaven, and gobbled it up quickly. Our big mistake here was not adding some protein for William who had a major blood-sugar crash a few hours later and boy did we all pay for that, mistake. We fed William again this time with some protein and he was much happier (and so were we).
We rode all sorts of amazing rides we had never ridden before. One called the DarKastle, which was a 4-D haunted house. Bill and I found it fun and clever, but William hated it and Romney thought it was only ok. We rode the Alpingeist, a new Bill and Tara favorite. It was a super, smooth fun ride and we both enjoyed. We still have much to cover there and will be heading back as much as we can.


Famished after Busch Gardens, we drove to an old favorite of mine for dinner, THE CHEESE SHOP, in Colonial Williamsburg. They had changed locations, but not cuisine. It was a delicious end to a day full of thrills. We finished the day off with a sunset stroll through Colonial Williamsburg. The boys found The Toymaker of Williamsburg shop and, of course, we had to go in. They bought a giant bucket of plastic toy soldiers from different countries, split them up and started planning their battles. They couldn't wait to get back to the hotel where they laid them all out on the carpet and battled. It was so sweet to watch them together (the whole war thing I could do without).

Being back is a surreal feeling. It has been a very long time since I have been here, and this town and my adventures here shaped who I am to such a major degree. It is familiar and foreign all at the same time.

Amtrak Adventure

Phase two of operation family vacation started today. We packed up early and headed to Union Station for our Amtrak portion of our journey to Williamsburg. I have ridden on a train once before (also from the D.C. area to the Williamsburg area). It has been so long, I couldn't remember anything other than thinking it took FOREVER, stopping at every tiny town to let people off and let others on. I was a bit nervous that today would be a little miserable. It was not. It was entirely pleasant. No traffic stress and an express shot all the way to Richmond in 2 hours made this leg of our journey fantastic. The boys had been super excited to ride the train for two reasons: First, they had never done it before and it looked cool. Second, two hours of uninterrupted video game time is like heaven for my two boys. We put the kids on one side of the aisle and Bill and I had the other and had 2 hours of uninterrupted conversation time, which is like heaven to these two adults.

We arrived, picked up our luggage, rental car and lunch and took off toward Williamsburg. Our hotel is located in one of the two neighborhoods I lived in here. It is actually part of a Marriott time share resort villa thing and they have great free activities for the kids and family as well as amazing on site amenities and we were thrilled when we got here and discovered all we could do. The boys in Washington D.C. seemed to always want to "just head back to the hotel and play", but with no pool, no grounds, and nothing but a charming neighborhood surrounding it, it seemed silly to just hang out in a tiny room for part of the day. Here we will be able to "just stay and play" for part of the day without feeling like we are wasting valuable vacationing time.

We talked our way into getting a day pass to go see my old houses in the gated community (the gate guards have become extremely anal and wouldn't let us in, so we talked to the sales office who called over and made an exception for us. It was amazing that I could remember both addresses, seeing as I can't remember what I had for dinner last night. We also found our way to the Ward house where I spent what felt like an amazing amount of hours as a teenager for youth activities. What we also found is that this sleepy little historic/college town has grown immensely in the 18 years I've been gone. I thought time stood still when I leave places and was shocked to discover it had not (wink, wink).

Done With D.C.

Last night, Bill and I spent some time looking through our touristy guide book and scouring the web looking for a way to spend our last day in Washington without torturing the kids, who are completely done walking through museums. We landed upon a blog from a local D.C. man with children who had a ton of information on the best places to head with kids. His personal favorite was a museum neither Bill nor I would have ever thought of-- The National Building Museum. In fact, I had no idea our nation even had a NBM. We took him at his word and rode over to check out what could possibly be so great about it. We also took the “build a 7 foot arch" challenge that the blog owner said he had never accomplished and wanted photo proof of anyone who did. Our main challenge: height. We were simply all too short to hold onto the arches while someone placed the capstone at the 7 foot mark. We got close though.

The man is a genius (and we owe him a big thank you for the tip). The place was perfect. It appeared that we weren’t the only tourists who had no idea that there was an NBH, and it was empty and clean and lovely. With only a handful of local mamas and nannies visiting with their children, our children felt like they had hit nirvana after the crowds on the mall. The museum had “toolboxes” for the kids to check out that would allow them to explore the museum, but our boys were not interested. Rather, they just wanted to head to the area with all the building blocks, train sets, giant legos and other construction items. They decided together to build a castle and enlisted our help (a few other children came over to take a turn “helping” as well).


After having so much fun there, we took a lunch break and then headed over the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Bill woke up early and headed out solo, while the boys and I slept, to get tickets to this popular tourist stop. We had a wonderful time on the tour learning how they print our paper money and looking at the amount of bills they had recently finished. Not everyone can say they have seen what $32,000,000 looks like in person. It was neither as big nor as impressive as I imagined it to be. It took up surprising little room.


We decided to scope out Union Station to know where to go for our Amtrak ride tomorrow. However, it was only 3:30 when we had accomplished all of the above and we had run out of things to do. The only thing left was to head to the American History Museum to kill some time before dinner. This ended up being a lovely stop that included a few hands on activities for the kids. Highlights: Seeing C3P0, Kermit, the Ruby Slippers, playing in the science center, building ramps for marbles out of spoons and spatulas, wind surfing and building with pattern blocks against an angled mirror to create beautiful designs.

Our day rounded out with me packing while the boys watched National Treasure. Highlight of the day: Romney saying “My teacher was right. Washington D.C. is really fun and cool.” That was the best!

How To Torture Your Children

Yesterday, a portion of our blog was dedicated to Romney’s public transportation prowess. This morning while walking to the metro, he bragged about how quick he was getting there and how he knew how to get on all the trains. Today, he not only talked the talk, he walked the walk—or more appropriately—read the newspaper. He looked like a true commuter as he picked up and started reading the days news as we traveled. As we exited he asked Bill why the Redskins still didn’t have a kicker and could he please pick up his own copy of the paper to take with him for the day. I may have a city boy!


We had contacted Senator Hatch’s office before the trip to set up a tour of the Capitol Building and had our time slot this morning. If I don’t vote for Hatch, (who has been in office ENTIRELY TOO LONG, in my opinion), yet have to endure him as a state senator, he (or his poor intern) may as well get me tickets to whatever it is my family is interested in doing while in this town. The unforeseen problem to this plan: half of the family had a total disinterest in seeing the capitol . I will also admit, this was not the highlight of my trip. The kids were bored and restless, the tour guide was impossible to hear above the other 5 tour guides (with groups of at least 30-40 people) in the room with them.


We snuck away from our tour group and kind of had our own little tour of the old senate chambers and the old representative chambers. Pulling away from the group was advised against at the beginning of the tour, so William –our favorite rule follower- was very distressed by the fact that we left. I don’t know any fun factoids because we did this more or less on our own (as alone as you can get with that many people roaming the commonly toured areas with out wandering too far and ending up arrested), but I did actually see objects other than the person in front of me ‘s head. We hit the gift shop in the Capitol and were all surprised when Romney had to have a copy of the Declaration of Independence. We made him wait the length of the tour to really think about it, but at the end of the tour, he was totally convinced and bought himself a copy. He had Bill read it to him at our second stop on our “trail of children’s tears.” After the Capitol visit we headed across the street to do a walk-by the Supreme Court building then headed to the National Archives for another go-round at getting into see the Declaration of Independence. The fact that it was still a 45 minute wait and we were a group of hungry kids and adults, we changed course and stopped at the National Gallery of Art for lunch at the café and some art viewing in the air conditioning. The kids were so not having this. They complained about looking at every single work. When I pointed out it could be worse, they could be outside in the scorching heat waiting in line, they said they would rather be doing that than looking at paintings. Disappointingly, I was able to only make it through the modern collection before being led back into the heat.

Our last stop of the day was in the 45 minute line at the National Archives. Luckily, the line seemed to move quite quickly and it was only outside for about 10 minutes. We did make it in to see (on our third line attempt) the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The kids actually really enjoyed some of the archive exhibits, which were very interactive. This surprised Bill and I. We thought for sure the kids would want to rush back to the hotel, the place they had been begging us to take them to since noon, but they took their time and enjoyed the information. We had a nice evening back at the hotel eating dinner in and watching a movie, building William’s model airplane souvenir and playing some games. I think our D.C. fun may be winding down just in the nick of time.

D.(isco)C.(cows)

What’s in a name? It depends, right? There’s nothing like planning a trip to Washington D.C. to find out the children accompanying you have no idea what the D.C. stands for. So far the suggestions/guesses include: Disco Cows, Dolphins of Color (after buying a Washington souvenir t-shirt with multi-colored dolphins on the front of it.), Devoid of Carabiners (after looking for a clip for Bill’s water bottle), Discount City (after noticing how many street vendors there are along the mall.), etc. This is after we read books all through June about American History. I suppose none of them touched on the whole District of Columbia part.


This morning we woke up to quite a heavy rainstorm, but braved the walk to the metro and then from the metro to the Washington Monument because we had tickets to enter (and ride to the top). (By the way-- a sure sign that you have been using a lot of public transportation: Your children echo the recording that tells you to watch the closing doors and then jinx the lady on the recording. Video of that may one day appear here.) The kids have been asking to do this since we arrived and saw the strange pencil shaped monument. We waited in said rainstorm for about 20 minutes and made it past security, (always a bit dicey with Romney testing how many pennies he can get in his pocket past the metal detector) and up the elevator. The views are wonderful and it is a nice place to get a feel for the layout of the city. We all enjoyed this “must-do” activity.


The rain let up a bit by the time we were finished and out of the monument, but it was still drizzling so we headed over to the National Aquarium for some indoor (but not a museum) fun. The kids (especially Romney) were both mesmerized more than I had imagined. Romney would spend 15 minutes at each tank just studying the fish and plant life. Big hits were the sea turtle (no surprise there), watching the piranha feeding frenzy, and the frogs. It was not a very big aquarium, and it is located in the basement of one of the federal buildings, but the kids were enjoying it so much, we spend a couple of hours there.


Next stop was supposed to be the National Archives to view the Declaration of Independence. We got there and found a 45 minute line to view it, so we decided to try it on a weekday and spend some time at the National Zoo looking at the pandas. We had a great time at the admission free, lovely zoo. I am not a huge fan of zoos in general, but this one was great as far as zoos go. Both kiddos loved the animals, but especially Romney, again, who fell in love with the 4 year old panda and the 8 month old baby gorilla. Lowlights: Watching a gorilla throw up over and over and then lick it all up-- ewww!

The boys were dying to have dinner at the hotel, so we called it an early night when the zoo closed at 6 p.m. and headed back the hotel (a couple mile hike) ate dinner and let the boys have some down time in the room. We will sleep early and happy tonight!