Recovery mode

While we were gone, Lucky stayed at a nearby kennel. He has an obnoxious habit of barking nonstop in places like this. It's extremely embarrassing. One vet would even put him in "isolation," a room designed to lessen stress on the dogs--but this vet's purpose was to lessen stress on everyone that had to listen to the barking.

I guess all that barking tired him out. He came home and did not move from this spot for 16 hours. Poor doggy!!!!



A neighbor came by and fed the kitties while we were gone. Pumpkin (I'm sure it was Pumpkin) kept knocking the food container over until it finally broke open. (We'd wondered why all the cat food was gone when we came home.) Our neighbor told me how he looked and looked, through all my cabinets and closets, for a broom and dustpan. I told him, "But we don't have a broom and dustpan!" "I KNOW," he replied. "All I found was your vacuum cleaner, and the hose wasn't big enough to suck up the darned cat!!"

Pumpkin's not taking any chances. Next time we go, she's planning to come along.



Vader's just happy to have Robert's legs to lie on again.



We took Jean back to the airport yesterday. I love our airport. It's smaller than Sam's Club, but the parking lot is bigger. The overflow lot is usually "closed," because the regular parking lot just doesn't get that full.



As life slowly returns back to normal, Trevor treated us to breakfast this morning. Robert and I slept and slept; I could hear Trevor banging around in the kitchen, and I woke to the most wonderful smell of eggs. But Trevor knows my preferences well enough and instead poured me a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats, along with a glass of milk, so they wouldn't get soggy. :) Thanks, Trev!




No one can imagine school starting back up tomorrow, but someone has to plan for it...

Weekly Menu

spaghetti, breadsticks, salad

giant burritos

french onion soup, bread, salad

roasted chicken

waffles, bacon, grapefruit

taco salad

shrimp in garlic wine sauce, rice or noodles, broccoli

YOYO


Lunch (with or for):
smoothies
grilled PB&J
Linda's Marinated Mozzarella
parmesan pesto things

On the back burner:
BLTs, cabbage salad
taco salad
chuck roast--shredded beef tacos? perfect pot roast?
Laura's chicken thing??
Indian butter chicken, rice, canned pineapple

Williamsburg--Day Four

After eating breakfast and saying goodbye to Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb, the kids swam one last time. Janet and Alex and their kids were so very nice, and we really enjoyed them. I am so glad that we were all able to go together; it was a treat for the kids, it was a treat for us.




We all packed up and headed toward home. We were so close to the beach and so many other things, and it was very tempting to drive just another 30 or so miles east--but then we'd have to turn around and head home anyway, the deciding factor for me.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel just past Charlottesville for lunch, oblivious to whatever had gone on just twelve hours earlier. I'd think the place would have been swarming with police, but that wasn't the case. Is anyone else addicted to this silly peg game that we always play at Cracker Barrel? I seem to be getting stoopider and stoopider, haha.



It was a gorgeous drive home, warm and sunny day with all the trees and bushes in bloom.

I am really looking forward to spring!

* * * *

Robert, Kristine, Gwen, Janet, Holly, Nate, Alex, Trevor, Bob, Jean, Barb
(Dave's behind the camera)

Barb and Dave--thank you SO very much for this wonderful week! We had a terrific time, unforgettable for all of us, and we are SO grateful!!!!

Williamsburg--Day Three

On Wednesday, we visited Colonial Williamsburg. The place is huge, 300 acres, one mile by one-half mile. Located in the center of the city, anyone can walk the grounds, but purchased passes are required to enter the dozens of buildings and other attractions. There are also various programs and talks scheduled, which change each day. The sheer size and many choices were a bit overwhelming; I would recommend doing your homework ahead of time to get an idea of what you'd want to visit!

The Capitol building where Patrick Henry made his famous Caesar-Brutus speech in 1765.


We walked up the streets visiting such buildings as the bakery, gunsmith, silversmith and more. The staff was dressed in period costume and very knowledgeable; interesting to talk with.

Colonists used whatever natural materials were available. I was fascinated by the many paths made of crushed seashells.



We broke into different groups, continuing to check out buildings and stores, and listening to different lectures/tours. We ate lunch at Chowning's Tavern Garden before joining up with everyone else again.

There are so many trees in Virginia that we've never seen. I think this is a white flowering pear tree.



The kids played among the cannons.




The Roscoe Cole House.



We were tiring out quickly, and Holly and I made our way back to the bakery to buy "cakes" (cookies) to take home.





Colonial Williamsburg was so interesting! There was no way that we could see everything offered, it'd definitely take a two day trip (at least!).

Trevor and Janet's kids swam again before dinner. . . We ate at a great restaurant across from the hotel that Barb found on the internet. No surprise that the kids swam again after dinner, before settling in to play and watch TV.



Another terrific day!!!

Williamsburg--Day Two

The hotel's breakfast was awesome, with loads of different choices, cereals, sausages, bacon, eggs, yogurt, fresh fruits, oatmeal, juices, bagels, waffle bar, muffins, toast and more.

We headed out to Busch Gardens, where it was opening week. It's no secret that I'm sometimes all foam and no beer. I knew that Anheuser-Busch Brewery was next to Busch Gardens. I thought it quite coincidental that Busch Gardens had Clydesdales. I'm not sure at what point I finally made the connection, but we were well inside the park.



The park is divided into different European "countries," England, France, Germany, etc.

I'm thinking of the possibilities for the left side...

One of the kids' favorites of the day was The Curse of DarKastle, a 4-D "ride."

Trevor emerging from DarKastle...

Holly spies the camera before I can click...

They went on the swings...

Trevor's in the black shirt in the center.

Holly thought it looked fun enough to try too.

I told myself I'd ride one roller coaster. We hopped on The Big Bad Wolf. I felt a little bad for Holly who probably wondered why I was holding my breath and squinting really hard. I was trying to keep my stomach where it belonged. And it worked, no repeats of whale watching, thankfully!!! But I decided that one roller coaster was enough.

We all reported back to Robert.

Trevor stops to smell the flowers.

The other favorite ride was Escape from Pompeii. It was sunny but cool, and the lines for this water ride were non-existent. Trevor begged to go on, and we finally agreed (to let him go on with someone else, haha!).

Barb and Dave bundle up to take Janet's kids and Trevor.

The smile says it all!

Dave and some of the kids in the teacup.

Barb made sure that ALL the kids won stuffed animals!

The girls.

Everyone decided to head back to Escape from Pompeii. There was no line, and you can see how empty the boats were. I'm sure people were worried about getting wet, but it wasn't really happening. They rode several times, and here's Holly's first.

Holly's wearing green in the center row, next to Barb in the red jacket.

It's not clear, but I had to blow this up to show them both yelling!
Janet and her daughter are in the light blue.

Reliving it...

again...

and again.

Random shot.

We toured the animal attractions, including the Clydesdale horses.

The bald eagles are rescues, physically unable to return to the wild.

We watched the wolves and trainers working together.

Everyone had a full day, and we watched The Griffon several times. I could have watched for hours. (And the computerized tour on that link makes my stomach jump, yikes!)

Pausing for a few seconds before dropping 90 degrees at 70 mph.

...floorless cars, inverse loop...

Busch Gardens was a BLAST, and we had a super DUCKY time!!!!

Another of Barb's winnings.

We hit the hotel in time for the kids to swim...


eat pizza in our rooms for dinner, swim again and even catch American Idol.



Just ducky. (wink)

Williamsburg--Day One

In addition to just enjoying the pleasure of our company (haha), Barb and Dave were here to treat us to several days in Williamsburg. Barb is a terrific planner and planned everything. Since I'm usually the one stressing planning our family vacations, even this part of it was a treat for me!

We left a few hours behind Dave, Barb and Jean. We haven't been any further east than Roanoke, and we enjoyed the drive across Virginia.



When we hit Richmond, I saw my first 8 lane highway in seven months. Woo-hoo, driving in the big city!! I also found out that driving the posted speed limit of 55 would be a death trap. I was flying along at 70, but I don't think I passed a single car.

Our vacation was one big party. Dave's sister, her husband, and their two kids from New Jersey joined us, as did Dave's dad. All of our hotel rooms were down the same hallway, and it made everything just that much more fun. Trevor's first order of business was the swimming pool.


As we'd pulled up to the hotel, we were thrilled to see that it was right next to CHILI'S!!!! Chili's is also Barb's favorite place, and dinner that night was an easy choice!

After dinner, there was another dip in the pool. It was especially fun for Trevor to swim with Janet's kids, and they quickly figured out they were cousins-in-law.


Later on, the kids enjoyed getting to know each other a little better, with the girls playing cards, and the boys playing Star Wars. It was a great start to a great time!