Kings Dominion 2010

 

Daddy had a little vacation time to use, so he took the whole week off, and we had a fabulous family week.  Pancakes for breakfast, fun bike rides, a trip to the movie theater, and Kings Dominion.  As usual the start to our trip was eventful.  We were on the road 30 minutes behind schedule and realized about 15 minutes down the road that we only had 3 of the 4 tickets we had purchased on-line.  Thankfully, after a second trip home, it was smooth sailing.  Before entering the park, we stopped at Burger King across the street to share a couple oreo blizzards.

Do you notice something strange about the above picture?  Yes, it's Linus from Peanuts, and not Dora or Diego.  No longer is Kings Dominion a Nickelodeon theme park--it's now all Peanuts characters.  What child knows Peanuts characters?!  As the characters were out and about it was funny to watch, as no children or 1 or 2 children went up to them.  That was not the case last year with Dora, Diego, Scooby Doo, Blues Clues, the Backyardigans, Sponge Bob and others.

Katie's Shower Cake

Charleston 2010

Again this year, we joined Matt on a work trip to Charleston, and had a fabulous time, though our hotel room was tight with 2 double beds and 1 large dog crate.  The kids LOVE going to hotels.  I suspect it's because they can jump from bed to bed to their hearts content.  Of course, I LOVE going to hotels because we wake up and have breakfast already made, and there are no dishes to do!  The week was filled with many adventures, including nightly trips to the beach, the Charleston Aquarium, the Charleston Waterfront Fountains, and an amazing county park. 
 

The Charleston Aquarium was loads of fun!  At the end we even got to watch 2 divers in the humongous tank feed the fish and swim with them.  It was awesome.
 

At the aquarium, they had an awesome petting pool where the kids go to pick up and hold starfish, anemones, and stingrays. 

Ahoy there mateys. The kids had a great time playing in a real boat, that was forever docked in the aquarium.

This is the county park I was talking about.  The playground was huge, there was a dog park, a water park, a marsh with trails, and lake.  It was incredible.  Though it was terribly hot, we spent hours here.  Here are Maddie and ry at the top of a very large rock.

Lake Day

We love these special days at Jordan Lake with our church.  It is a great time of fellowship, and special to witness baptisms.  In addition to swimming and playing in the sand, Matt and the kids love going out on the boats and riding the "rafts" that are attached to the boats with ropes.