traveling through virginia

We couldn't leave Fredericksburg without letting the boys go for a drive in their red car! 

The boys went for one last swim as well.  C took a break from the pool to pose with his friend, who happens to be a beaver (statue).

P used his break to show off the wooden shield he and Poppa Fred made to go with the wooden sword he picked up at Medieval Times.

Then we hit the road and headed to Virginia Beach to spend a few days with Grandma Hen and Granddaddy Rooster.  Upon arrival, we headed out to inspect Granddad's garden.

P and C love the water, so swimming twice in one day was a real treat!

After lots of fun with both sets of grandparents, we all settled in for a restful night's sleep!

our Fourth of July

We started off the Fourth of July with a delicious red and blue breakfast!

P woke up first, and he sang "Happy Birthday" to America before blowing out the candles on the blueberry muffins.

C slept later, but when he woke up P was more than happy to repeat the song with his little brother.

Once everyone was up and dressed, we took a trolley ride.

We ended up at George Washington's boyhood home.  The boys got their faces painted, learned about the American flag, and got to experience games and activities from our country's past.  Growing up, people told my friends and I all the time how lucky we were to live so close to such wonderful places in our country's history.  We had no idea how right they were.  I have a much greater respect for the historic places near my house now!

We ended the day at a local park with some wonderful music and fireworks!

Fredericksburg fun!

July in Christmas

Hey, you've heard of Christmas in July, right?  This is the opposite - here we are in Advent, almost Christmastime, and I'm getting around to blogging about July.  Hence the post title.

At the start of July, we headed to my parents' house for a visit.  My mom had these festive cupcakes waiting for us.

We went to Carl's for dessert after dinner the night we arrived.  As always, the ice cream and the landmark were a hit.

Carl's was a great start to our visit with family!

beach wrap up

Before leaving the beach, we spent some more time at the ocean.

These photos illustrate C's three step process for creating a sand mermaid tail.

I loved watching the boys play in the ocean.  I have always enjoyed the ocean, and it was so much fun for me to watch them having fun!

The boys decided to dig for oysters.  They watched for air bubbles after the waves receded, and then went to work.

We walked to a local cupcake place for a delicious treat.

We had a BLAST at Myrtle Beach this summer.  Thanks so much for taking us, Amanda!

Medieval Times

Yup, here on the ol' blog we're still at the beach.  Well, we're at the beach, but the boys are in the pool.  :)  They spent lots of time in the water this summer - the ocean, the pool, and the jacuzzi were all big hits with P and C.

We spent most of our time at the pool closest to our tower, but we did head to the "family pool" one day.  P stayed in the water for most of our visit, but C spent a good portion of the time on the slides.  P joined him for a few minutes.

We came back from the pool, gave the boys a bath, and dressed them to go to dinner at Medieval Times... and then C fell asleep on the couch.

Fortunately, he was able to rally for the dinner show.  P was super excited to get to "the real castle".

The boys really enjoyed the show, and P has been asking to go back to a Medieval Times since we went.  When dinner was over, the boys posed for photos with several of the knights.  C posed with the princess as well.

We all enjoyed our evening!

Broadway at the Beach!

Why yes, it has been a long time since I wrote.  Do me a favor and pretend like I'm blogging somewhat close to real time, okay?  Great!

In these photos, yes, it's June.  We headed to the Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, mainly because they had a live mermaid show and we knew C would LOVE it.  Right at the entrance to the aquarium was a huge dinosaur exhibit.

We checked out the dino exhibit, and then headed straight for a photo op with a REAL, LIVE, mermaid.

C was so enthralled it was hard for the Ripley's photographer to get a picture of him, since he wouldn't look at the camera... he was busy staring at the mermaid!

We headed to the rest of the exhibits and the boys had a blast in the play area.

The touch tank was a big hit with P and C as well.

We even had a visit from the aquarium's mascot.

P is, ahem, a tad picky about his food choices, so we suggested this "pirate restaurant" for lunch, in the hopes that he would enjoy the atmosphere and eat something on the menu with minimal complaining.  I'm happy to report that our plan was successful.

Lego was having a Brickation at a storefront on Broadway at the Beach, so we spent some time there.  It was really cool - everything was free and we all enjoyed our time creating and checking out others' creations.

While we were building, Amanda visited the bakery next door and picked up dessert.  Yum!

C had to have a photo with this "Lego mermaid".

C also built a Lego mermaid of his own.  He posted his creation on the Brickation wall.

We returned to Ripley's Aquarium so C could catch the live mermaid show.  It was incredibly crowded, and he had to sit on Daddy A's shoulders to see, but he was thrilled, and that made it worth it.

After a fun filled day, we headed back to the condo for a restful night.