Williamsburg with the Crook cousins!

This was such a fun trip...I wish we could do it again!

Hanging at the hotel

We drove down Tuesday morning to Williamsburg, VA to meet up with my sister Michelle and her family. We arrived a little before check-in time, so we made a pit stop at the Yankee Candle Factory outlet and sampled some fudge, popcorn, and candle fragrances :). Cute place to spend 45 minutes. At 3 pm we checked into the Colonial Williamsburg "Governer's Inn"- definitely a budget hotel, but not bad for the price - and met up with the Crooks. The cousins were so happy to see each other. It had been a year since we had seen them last.

The weather was super hot the whole week we were there. We decided for Tuesday night we would go to Busch Gardens. Being Tuesday, there were hardly any lines and we were able to get on almost every ride in the park. We made sure we rode a few water rides to keep cool. Of course, Eliza loved the roller coasters and wanted to go again and again. Unfortunately, she was a little short to go on the two best roller coasters, Griffon and Apollo's Chariot - I even loved those.

Big thumbs up for Griffon

The big plunge of Griffon

Michelle and I hanging out in the Italian gardens

Wednesday morning, we went to Water Country USA. Because the weather was so hot, it was the perfect place to be. The lines weren't too bad for the tube rides, so we had a ball going around and hitting them all. The girl cousins liked hanging out in the wave pool and the moms liked

lounging next to the wave pool :). The dads liked napping next to the wave pool.

The girls posing with the dive team

That night, we decided to head back over to Busch gardens and hit a couple of the shows we hadn't seen plus the fun roller coasters again. The "Celtic Fyre" show was very good.

Thursday morning, the Crooks went off to Yorktown while we hit the shops of Colonial Williamsburg. I actually saw a wooden top game I hadn't seen since I was a little girls. Such nostalgia. Thursday was, by far, the hottest day of the week. I think the outside temperature was 105 with a heat index much hotter. We walked around the historic homes for a bit and the girls played some old fashioned games, but by noon, we were ready to go back to the water park!

When the Crooks got back to the hotel, that is exactly what we did. Later that night, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. I think that was the highlight of the day for my children :). They

still talk about the breadsticks.

Friday was Colonial Williamsburg day. We saw a reenactment of the reading of the Declaration of Independence as well as the invasion of the "Red Coats". All the actors really got into their roles, so it was fun to watch. We saw a few more shops and historic homes as well.

Posing with the redcoats

In the afternoon we took a break and the kids swam in the hotel pool before we headed back to colonial Williamsburg to do a "Ghost Tour". The narrators were quite convincing with their ghost stories. Eliza had fun carrying the lantern as we would walk from house to house.

Tickle, tickle

Walking on the ghost tour

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we said our goodbyes to the Crooks. We headed back to Busch Gardens for a couple of more rides (and ice cream) while they headed down the highway to Virginia Beach. It was sad to know we wouldn't see our cousins for a while again :(. We were so glad we got this time to spend with them.

Eliza is picking a winner Anna is flying high

Julia is loving her ice cream!!

Top Honor

Anna got this trophy for being the top "Language Arts" student in the 7th grade. Congrats, Anna!!

Anna's birthday celebration

Wills, Anna, Allison, Claire, Emma, & Heather

The day has come, that Anna is a teenager! She celebrated with some of her friends and had a great time. She has been a fun kid and she is really doing so well. We are very proud of you Anna.

16th Anniversary getaway

Yeah, we did it! We got away for a few days and headed down to Asheville, NC. Why North Carolina? I was just browsing vacation deals and trying to find a new part of the country we hadn't explored that we could drive to in a day. This fit the bill. I also found this cool "Go Blue Ridge" card online that allowed us to do all the activities I talk about below for $100. We had so much fun! Here's what we did:

Day 1

We saw the girls off to school and then drove over to Hwy 81 via the Skyline Drive in Virginia. I heard the views can be spectacular, but unfortunately it was very overcast and we could only see a little distance. We did have a fun hike down to a waterfall, to get a break from the driving for a while. After a pit stop in Johnson City, TN for a yummy dinner at the Olive Garden, we turned onto Hwy 26 and saw absolutely gorgeous views of the Great Smoky and Appalacian Mountains. We checked in to the hotel and got a good night sleep before our next days adventure.

Day 2

We started the day driving over to the Smoky mountains and taking a jet boat ride. After a few spins on the lake we headed over to Cherokee to the museum and village there which described the Cherokee customs and culture. Very interesting.

The Jet Boat tour guide

After eating dinner, we headed to the movie theater across the street and saw Iron Man 2. The movie theater was different. Every other row the seats were taken out and a serving counter was put in. Since we had just eaten, we didn't order anything, but very different.

Day 3

We started out the morning going down to Chimney Rock State Park to do some hiking. The park was quite pretty. The "Chimney Rock" actually has an elevator shaft that will take you to the top to see some spectacular views. Down below you can see the Lake where they filmed Dirty Dancing. There is also a waterfall over to the side you can hike over to. The fun part was descending down. Some cavities were very narrow to get through.

View from the top

At the top of Chimney Rock

The narrow passage to get down

The view from the bottom

After Chimney Rock, we headed over to the Biltmore Estate - a mansion constructed by George Vanderbilt. The mansion came complete with innumerable bedrooms, a library Anna would die for, indoor swimming pool and bowling alley and an estate landscaped with more than a million plants. Quite impressive!

The Biltmore Estate

A beautiful rose in the gardens

This was supposed to be a ladybug. Looks more like an alien

After finishing touring Biltmore, we headed to downtown Asheville and quickly visited the art museum before going on a comedic bus tour of the city of Asheville. Our tour guide was quite hilarious

Day 4

The last day, was the day I most anticipated. It was my first time going white water rafting. It was a blast. We almost lost our tour guide on one pass. They didn't tell us what to do if that happened :). But we made it.

Following our great adventure on the French Broad River, we headed over to the Bon Ami mine. Austin loved looking at all the old machinery.

We got a kick out of seeing the bathroom carts with their color coordination...yuck!

Austin made me pose for this one

After touring the old mine, we tried our hand at panning and found a few pretty rocks for the girls. Our next stop was Grandfather Mountain off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Talk about spectacular views. My favorite by far.

Wow, he's so strong!

This picture does not do justice to the views

At the mile high swinging bridge

After sadly leaving the Blue Ridge mountains, we headed back north to reunite with our kids. On the way through Virginia, we stopped by Souther Virginia University to see where our church offers summer programs for teenagers.

When we got home, we found all was well. Julia and Anna had both gotten sick while we were gone. Both probably from food related causes. Sadly, Julia was on a field trip with the band so had to come home a day early and miss going to Hershey Park. They were spoiled thoroughly by Christie & Chris, though, while we were gone. We were very thankful they were well taken care of. We also got home in time to celebrate Anna's 13th birthday with a cupcake. Wow, we have two teenagers now...another good reason to have an escape :)

Eliza riding her bike

Eliza finally broke away from her training wheels. She took no time at all to get the hang of doing things! Enjoy the videos:

Grandparents visit

We were so happy to have 3 grandparents visit last month. Some how they always seem to come at the same time...unplanned. My parents were returning from their stay in FL and Austin's dad was flying over from Amsterdam to renew his visa. No matter when they show up, we love to have them :)

While my parents were in FL for the winter, they bought a home near Ocala. They wanted their own place for the few months they go down there. The house is nice and should really fill their needs. We don't mind the fact that they're not far from Disney either!

A good day for kite flying

Eliza went with a few of her friends to Longwood Gardens for a kite flying activity. They had so much fun...very cute girls.

Playing in the children's fountain

At the fountains overlook

Eliza showing off her new kite

Letting it fly

Eliza next to her favorite flowers in the yard