Vacation Part 2

It was now Monday night.  So we get settled in our new and improved living conditions.  And breathe a sigh of relief.

We had planned on touring Williamsburg, then Yorktown, then Jamestown, doing a day at Bush gardens, and taking the family on a dinner cruise around the bay. The kids were all finally asleep. We smiled at each other, the Admiral and I, and turned on his computer to look at ticket prices, time, and where we needed to go to schedule such things.

Bush Gardens: Only open on Saturdays and Sundays until Memorial day.

We are only here until Friday. Well crap.  That sucks.  We all really wanted to go, and it was one of the things we were really excited about.  There was even a whole preschool place, and the littles would have had a ball.

Dinner Cruise: Only available on Saturday and Sunday until Memorial day.

Are you freaking kidding me??  This was THE thing I really was looking forward to!  I remember going on the dinner cruise when we were in band on one of our trips!  It was super fun!  I was really excited to take the kids on it.  We panicked and looked up Williamsburg, scared that we would not be able to get in there either.  But good news, it is always open.

Disappointed, but still hopeful for tomorrow, we go to bed, in our new, bug free room, (because you know I was checking that thing inside and out.  I am not kidding, I flipped beds, and looked behind pictures and in closets, and under cabinets.)

We get up the next day (after being woken up at least twice by Mini me in the middle of the night, who just cannot seem to sleep all night long while we are away.)  And try to figure out what to do about breakfast.  Everyone is starving, and the Admiral is kind of obsessed about making sure that the place we go to has good reviews online.  So far the usual suspects are not looking good, Cracker Barrel: 3 stars, IHOP: 2 stars, even McDonalds: 2 stars.  So we find a Dunkin Donuts and the kids squeal with delight.  We order donuts, and I order oatmeal (because of the whole gluten free thing I have to do.  I have and will be eating oatmeal for breakfast almost everyday.)  The toddlers eat almost a whole 25 pack of donut holes.

This will be the most they will eat at a main meal all week.

  As we are walking out to the car, I notice that Little Man is walking funny.

"What is up little man?  What is wrong with your leg?"
"Knee hurts."
"When did you hurt your knee?"
"Fell down."  Then it dawns on me, he fell down at the other hotel!  Oh crap, he is limping.  This is not good.  I tell Admiral.  I said, "I think we need to get a cheap stroller.  He is not going to make it all day if he is hurting now."
"Oh it will be ok, if it starts bugging him, I will carry him."
"I really think we should get a stroller."
"I can carry him, it will be fine."

I really think that my husband over estimated just how far, and how long the boy would be walking, and underestimated how heavy he was.

He ended up carrying him almost the entire morning.

When we leave to go back to the condo for nap, we stop at Target to pick up a cheap umbrealla stroller.

They are completely sold out.

So is the closest Wal-Mart.

I get the kiddos back to the condo, and Admiral and YRH go out and find a walmart a little farther away and have success!  We are ready to rock and roll!

We spend the next couple of days touring Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.  It was amazing.  There is really alot of cool stuff to do and look at.  Had we not had toddlers, we would have probably learned a lot, seen a lot, and done a lot.

There is a reason that kids 4 and under are free.

We were dragged away from anything that was: not of their interest, too loud, too dark, too scary (or as Little Man called it Boo-key), too quiet, and too over their head. Really I feel like anyone who is or HAS children 4 and under should be free, seeing as they really are not getting the most out of the experience. They did, however, enjoy the gardens, running around the parks, the blacksmith shop, the kitchen where the lady had a cat, and the jail.  The did not like the "storming of the palace" reenactment, any of Yorktown, the capitol, going into the belly of the ships, or the magazine (where the artillery is held which was YRH most favorite place in the whole world).

We felt bad about Bush Gardens and decided to devote an afternoon to mini golf, and this really goofy and expensive place called "GO-carts Plus"  where we literally threw away a ton of money on 4 rides. We rode: The train for the littles (this just was a little train that went in a circle 4 times.)  The Go carts for Admiral and YRH, a very very small roller coaster that could fit in the backyard at my house, and bumper boats.  I am not kidding, or even exaggeration when I say we dropped more money on those four rides than we did on dinner at a really nice, fancy restaurant the following night.  But I will say the memories of that will be in my head forever, so it was money well spent.  We left soaking wet and happy, and rode that high all the way back to the condo.  We put the kids to bed, and for the first time all week, we had that feeling, and small little peace that we imagined when we planned our vacation.  Sitting on the couch, watching TV, tired from the day, but smiling at the memories.

The next day was our last full day there.

And it was also the day that will live in infamy as: The Day We Learned Just How Important Nap Is.

TO BE CONTINUED...