We thought we'd be visiting Seth's brother AND his family, but the Navy decided to deploy him, so while we were spending time with his wife and daughters, Uncle Kent was busy serving our country in South and Central America. We missed Uncle Kent, but we loved the time we got to spend with his family and the Boston cousins.
Tuesday, July 30
Our flight would be leaving very early the next day, so we drove to Salt Lake this day and extended our trip a bit. Ana really wanted to do baptisms for the dead in the Sale Lake Temple, so we drove to Utah, parked next to Temple Square, and Seth took the older girls in the temple (they had a 2-hour wait and were allowed to do three names each since there were so many youth there) while I took the younger girls inside the Tabernacle and Church History Museum. We met back up at the north visitors' center and spent some time in the Family History Library before getting dinner at a ramen restaurant and heading to the hotel to sleep.
Ana, Seth and Bekah after doing baptisms in the Salt Lake Temple.
Winnie and Miriam in the Tabernacle.
Writing about the Book of Mormon in the Church History Museum.
Miriam's response. "The Book of Mormon is a friend, a companion, the word of Jesus Christ."
Posing next to one of the entries for the Church's art contest. It is James 1:5 spelled out in ASL.
Bekah and Ana enjoying their ramen.
Wednesday, July 31
Our flight left at 7 a.m., so we woke up early, ate breakfast at 5:30, checked out of our room and rode the shuttle to the airport. Everything went smoothly: getting through security, waiting to board, our flight from SLC to Chicago, catching our connection from Chicago to Richmond, getting our rental car, driving to Norfolk, getting in to the house we rented. Once we got settled into the house, Seth and I ran to the Walmart that was a 2-minute drive from the house and stocked up on corn dogs, pancake flour and the like. We took it easy the rest of the evening and rested up for the next day.
Seth, Miriam and Winnie waiting at the airport for our flight.
Winnie checking out the air blowing on her before takeoff.
Aunt Melissa had suggested an itinerary for everyone, but the weather forecast led to us rearranging a few things. So we got ready at our house, then drove to Melissa's place to meet up with Grandma Susan, Grandpa Dennis, Uncle Jason, Calvin and Lily. They had arrived the day before on two separate flights. We got our stuff together and went to Cape Henry Lighthouse, ate lunch at Bobo's (which had delicious fried chicken, sides and ice cream), then played at Oceanfront Beach before heading back to Melissa's for dinner.
Ana standing next to the Cape Henry lighthouse with the newer lighthouse in the distance. From preservationvirginia.org: "Cape Henry Lighthouse is the first federally funded public works project of the newly formed United States government. It was authorized by George Washington and overseen by Alexander Hamilton. The Lighthouse is situated near the “First Landing” site where English settlers first set foot on their way to settle in Jamestown. Built with the same Aquia sandstone as much of Washington, D.C, the lighthouse guided sea travelers to safety for almost 100 years. The distinctive black and white striped “New” Cape Henry Lighthouse was built in 1881 but remains closed to the public."
At the top of the lighthouse. It was so stinkin' hot up there. Grandpa Dennis and Charlotte opted to stay at the bottom.
Winnie and Emma coming down from the top of the lighthouse.
Miriam and Rebekah headed down the stairs of the lighthouse. Miriam (as mentioned before) doesn't like heights, so ascending and descending the stairs took a lot of courage.
The whole group at Cape Henry. Top row: Rebekah, Analee, Lily, Calvin, Grandpa Dennis, Aunt Melissa, Emma, Grandma Susan, Uncle Jason. Bottom row: Miriam, Seth, Charlotte, Andrea.
Checking out the beach at Cape Henry before getting lunch at Bobo's and playing in the ocean for real at Oceanfront.
Cousins at the ocean.
Eating fried chicken at Bobo's.
Winnie digging in the sand at Oceanfront while the rest of the kids (and some of the adults) play in the waves. And, oh boy, were there waves. Kids and adults were diving into them and having a grand ol' time.
Friday, August 2
After breakfast at our house, we went to Melissa's. She drove two groups through the naval station and told us about Kent's work, the admiral's house, the ships, planes, etc. The younger kids stayed at her house and painted rocks.
We had lunch together at her place and celebrated Emma's birthday (she had turned 7 on July 31, so it was delayed a bit) with cake and presents. We spent a couple of hours going through the aquarium, then played some Jackbox games back at Melissa's.
Emma, Winnie and Charlotte painting rocks (or perhaps themselves).
Singing "Happy Birthday" to Emma before she blows out the candles on her spectacular cake.
Winnie and Emma walking into the aquarium. They needed to be twins, so Aunt Melissa provided Winnie with an outfit.
Canoe cousins.
Lily and Miri getting eaten by a shark.
Seth and Winnie looking at rays and sharks.
Ana in the mirror tunnel on the way out of the aquarium.
Saturday, August 3Saturday was a fun, easy day. Melissa took those who were interested to the greatest thrift store. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to bring home any of the beautiful furniture that was there, so we just picked up a few T-shirts and a pair of shoes.
After lunch at our house, we met back up at the beach super close to Melissa's house. The waves were smaller than at Oceanfront, but we still have plenty of adventures. Seth and Jason found some great sea life specimens to show the kids.
We got cleaned up from the beach, then dropped the kids off at Melissa's for a night of pizza and movies while the adults went to dinner at a seafood restaurant.
Bekah digging in the sand while the kids play in the water.
Ana watching the water she dumped in the moat of her sand castle.
Ana and the moon jelly she found in the water.
Seth pretending to eat the blue crab he caught to show the kids.
Seth tried to dispense cocktail sauce onto his plate, only to have the top come off and the contents go everywhere. Someone had shoved something into the tip of the container, so when he squeezed, the whole thing exploded. Poor Melissa on the other side of me even got some sauce on her. (And the man sitting behind us may have ended up with some on his pants.)
Seth, Susan, Dennis and Jason on the pier outside the restaurant.
Sunday, August 4
We had to say goodbye to Uncle Jason and his kids the night before, because first thing Sunday morning, Seth and Grandpa Dennis drove them to Richmond to catch their flight back to Boston. The girls and I got ready at the house, then Aunt Melissa picked us up and took us to church. It was fun meeting the Young Women Aunt Melissa gets to work with, and the people in their ward were very inviting.
After church, we met back up with Seth (who had arrived back at our house shortly before church ended) and enjoyed lunch and some quiet time (in other words, naps) at the house. We played some Numenera (kind of like Dungeons and Dragons), then went back to Melissa's to hang out with her and the grandparents. We had planned to go walk a nature trail that day, but it turned out to be really hot outside, so we chilled inside instead.
I don't think we took a single picture this day. We were taking our "day of rest" seriously.
Monday, August 5
We packed lunches and headed for the botanical gardens. This was probably my favorite place that we visited in Virginia. The gardens are expansive, the weather was lovely and I got my steps in. After the gardens, we went back to Melissa's and hung out until dinnertime. Then Grandpa Dennis treated us to Captain Ray's buffet.
Seth, Ana and the others walking down the steps at the gardens. According to virginiabeach.com, "The Garden is spread over 155 acres with more than fifty themed sections. The garden has twelve miles of walking paths, a picnic area, the Garden Café, Gift Shop, water fountains and lots of benches."
Rebekah at the pond.
Looking for turtles in the water. Aunt Melissa lured them out with pieces of bread torn off her sandwich.
Turtles like these! At one point we could count nine turtles on our side of the pond.
Sweet picture of Seth holding Miriam's hand.
Winnie the mischievous imp walking through ankle-deep water.
Getting our feet wet at the splash pad.
Seth showing the kids a cicada exoskeleton.
Winnie in the hobbit hole doghouse. There was a "Barkitecture" exhibit with lots of different fun doghouses.
Seth taking a picture of the butterfly on Winnie's shoulder.
Ana with a butterfly.
One of the bonsai trees on display.
Emma and Winnie dressed up for dinner. When Emma asked her mom if they could wear dressups to dinner, we didn't know they'd become superheroes.
Tuesday, August 6
Our flight to SLC didn't leave Richmond until after 6 p.m., so we had plenty of time to do and see more in Norfolk before heading west. We packed everything up at the house, checked out, and headed to Melissa's and then downtown Norfolk to the Nauticus maritime museum and science center. When we were finished at the museum and touring the USS Wisconsin, we went back to Melissa's for lunch, then said goodbye to our Virginia family and headed to the airport.
We dropped off the rental car, went through security and waited at our gate. And waited. And waited. Boarding started late. The plane took off late. We fretted over the possibility and then the assumption that our connection in Chicago would leave before we got there. The super nice flight attendant that sat next to us in the back of the plane lamented with us, then gave Seth all the strategies for talking to the airline agent in Chicago.
We landed in Chicago, found that we had, in fact, missed our connection and spoke to an airline agent and secured hotel and food vouchers.
The line of people waiting for hotel shuttles was crazy busy. The shuttle driver took pity on all of us tired, cranky travelers and squeezed us into the van. (One guy rode in the back with all the luggage, and Winnie rode on my lap. I'm sure he would get in trouble for allowing more passengers than seat belts, but we were extremely grateful to him.) We got checked into the hotel (they didn't have rooms that slept 6, so we got two rooms and Bekah and Ana got a room to themselves) and crashed for the night.
Winnie looking out over the bay from the deck of the Nauticus.
Seth and Rebekah trying out the controls from a battleship.
Bekah and Ana playing a giant game of Battleship.
Winnie petting a tiger shark.
Winnie balancing on an enormous chain on the USS Wisconsin.
Seth the Game Master during our airport round on Numenera.
What five travelers look like when they're patiently waiting to board a very late plane.
Wednesday, August 7
Our flight to Salt Lake didn't leave until after noon, so we slept in, had free breakfast at the hotel and chilled in our room until it was time to leave. Checked out, rode the shuttle to airport, went through airport security again, used our food vouchers to get lunch at the airport, boarded, flew, landed in Salt Lake, rode the shuttle to hotel, picked up our van, drove home. We arrived 12 hours later than we thought we would, but in the end it all worked out (minus the Teen Maker Space event we missed at the public library).
Things we learned on this trip:
- The ocean is hungry for sunglasses. And snorkel masks. First Seth's prescription sunglasses got washed off by a wave. Then Andrea was desperately trying to help him find them, and the next wave took hers. Later a wave washed the snorkel mask off Ana's head.
- Cousin time in the best time. Miri and Charlotte would play upstairs until adults questioned what trouble they were getting into (Answer: none). Winnie and Emma tried on all the dress-ups. Bekah, Ana, Calvin, Lily and others played Jackbox games. Everyone played with Rosie (Melissa's dog).
- Never trust Seth with cocktail sauce at a seafood restaurant.
- A cricket in the house makes it hard to sleep at night.
- Our girls (and Seth) could play at the beach for hours upon hours. Andrea can play for about an hour, then she spends the rest of the time sitting in the shade.
- Rebekah wants to eat her weight in sushi at the buffet.
- When six people have to share one bathroom and shower after a day at the beach, Ana is the best at following the "quick shower" rule.
- Idaho thunderstorms have nothing on Virginia thunderstorms. (Miriam can attest to that after needing to come in our room for comfort during our first night in Virginia.)
- Winnie can (and will) turn cartwheels anywhere. From the beach into the ocean. In the airport. On a battleship. At church.
- Getting the girls out of bed right after we had tucked them in for the night during our last sleep in Virginia is totally worth it if they get to see fireflies for the first time in their lives.
- Melissa is the best planner/travel agent ever.