Vacation Roundup--Updated with photos!

Thanks to all of you who have e-mailed asking about our trip! Wow! You guys are really great! So… not that I expect you all to want to hear every detail of our little family life, but I thought I would give you a little summary of our trip.

Well, our vacation actually started the day before we left, if that makes any sense. Last Friday night, we were able to go to a circus here in our hometown, and it was great!!! If you have a chance to see Carson & Barnes, I highly recommend it. I had never been to a tent circus before, and it was such a fun atmosphere! The kids really enjoyed it—especially the part where they got to eat a snow-cone—and Jon and I had a great time too. There were some really cool things there (like some cool acrobats and even elephant rides!) and some really bizarre things (like a contortionist—UGH!), and overall it was just a great way to start our week of family time.

The next morning we left our house bright-and-early-ish J and headed to my parents' house to start our big adventure. This was the first time Jon and I have had a chance to go on a trip with my parents, and it was so great! Not only did we enjoy getting to spend the time with them, but it was really neat for me that the kids got to see them every day for a week. Even this morning (two days after we got back) Matt woke up saying, "Papa? Papa? Papa!"

Anyway, our main destination for the trip was Colonial Williamsburg. However, we rented a house out there, and the house was only available for four nights. So first we went to DC, which is basically right on the way for us. Can I just tell you, Priceline is a wonderful thing??? We were able to get a 4-star hotel in downtown DC for just $75 a night! Yay!!!

We had a great time in our nation's capitol, even though we weren't there for very long. We only hit a couple of "attractions" but they were all so worthwhile. We did get to see one of my very favorite things there, which is the WWII memorial. It was just as beautiful as I remembered it, and the four of us (Jon, the kids, and I) enjoyed sitting on the edge of the fountain with our feet dangling in the water. We also checked out the Native American Museum and some absolutely beautiful gardens by the Smithsonian Castle. Oh, and we found a fabulous place to eat near Chinatown. If you are ever in that area, head straight for Clyde's! It is AWESOME—a very nice place to go on a romantic date or for a more formal dinner, but also very kid-friendly.

On Monday we headed to Williamsburg and our house with the indoor heated swimming pool… or so we thought. We got to the house and headed straight for the pool. "Oh," we thought, "we must need to turn the heat up." But alas, it was no use. The boiler was broken. And unfortunately, it remained that way for the duration of our trip. Those of you who know us "in real life" may start to think that we have some sort of "heated pool curse" after the OBX fiasco last year… I'm starting to wonder about it myself. J So anyway, that was a REAL bummer, because I don't think the air temperature dipped below 90 degrees the entire time we were there! It was unbelievably hot and humid… OY! Jon and I ventured into the pool a couple of times, and the kids loved to play AROUND it—you know, by tossing in balls and such that they expected us to fetch for them. J But that was about the extent of our luxurious pool time. Oh well.

But the "historic triangle", as they call it, was very, very cool. And you are talking to a girl who is NOT into history. At all. We didn't get to see much of Williamsburg, to be honest, but I enjoyed what we saw, and I loved Jamestown and Yorktown. The museum at Yorktown is one of the best I have ever seen, and we loved getting to see the artillery demonstration and learning about the medical practices of the day and… so many things. And I feel like there's still so much more to see! I can't wait to go back—but maybe in spring or fall, when it's a little cooler. J

Some of my favorite memories of the week, though, are just of the time together. Watching Matt explore and play in a shady spot in Williamsburg, while everyone else was on a tour of the governor's palace. (He absolutely did NOT want to sit for that!) Seeing Grace just cling to her daddy, so happy to have him all to herself for a week. Making smores in the fire pit in the backyard. Playing cards with my parents after bedtime, which we haven't really had a chance to do since we had kids. And even just having time to myself—the few days that we did get in a nap time, I was typically the only one who didn't nap, and it was wonderful! I read, I prayed, I even exercised.

And now we're home, which has also been good. We had to check out of the house on Friday morning, and Jon and I drove straight home, pulling in around 10 PM Friday night. It made for a long day of driving, but it has been so nice to have the entire weekend at home before getting back to reality on Monday morning. We all overslept this morning, so we didn't make it to church, but we are enjoying time with the kids and getting the house back in order.

Here are a few highlights of the trip. Enjoy! (The pictures are a little small for my taste, but I'm not sure how to do it any better... But if you click on the slideshow below, it'll bring it up the picture you clicked on a separate window that is bigger. Then you can click on "View Album" and see all the pic or a bigger slideshow from there.)

I'll get back to my regular posting soon! :-)