Our First Trip to Jamestown

Last week we went to Jamestown with a group of our homeschool friends. We'd had some cool weather earlier in the week, but Thursday was a lovely day to get out. Even better, it was National Park Week so there was free admission. The kids were mostly delighted to run in the fields and grass, which was fine since we didn't plan or prep ahead of time for it to be a more educational field trip type activity. Next year in history we will be covering Jamestown and it will be a better time to come back and read all the signs and take a tour. Still, we saw the remains of the homes in New Towne, walked in the 1607 fort, and saw wildlife along a raised walkway they have over the swamp. They also had a little museum inside where the kids got tags with the picture of an object on it. If they found the object pictured and told the front desk a fact they learned about the object when they returned the card, they got a prize.

We caught a couple minutes of an archeology walking tour and it was really interesting! Even The Big One was listening intently, and probably would have continued with the tour, had he not been even more interested in following his buddies. Maybe I'm just behind, but I had no idea that they were still doing active archeology on Jamestown. I guess we've been learning so much ancient and medieval history that I figured that those more "modern" times had everything known about them.

The Little One especially enjoyed seeing Pocahontas.

A Week of Wonderful Weather

What lovely weather we've had for the last week! Some of the days it was almost too warm, but we managed to get out a do a number of things outside the apartment and enjoy some family time.

Saturday we all went out to the movies. The kids had gotten theater gift certificates for Christmas and The Big One chose to use his to see "The Croods". It was a decent enough kids movie. The visuals were really nice and inventive, and the story was a neat idea, but overall it was a lot of the same kinds of things happening over and over. Even the kids felt that way. It was family friendly, though, and had some cute moments. I may have cried, a lot, at the cheesy Disney-like ending.

With his Christmas gift certificate was also a coupon to have dinner out, so The Big One picked a great local seafood joint called "Red Lobster". It was a fine choice by me for the cheddar-bay biscuits alone.

We had a couple trips to Fort Fun this week, which is the kids favorite park here so far. One evening we went after dinner so Matt could also come along. Tuesday was (or would have been) my grandmother's birthday, so in her honor I wore sparkly earrings and a necklace she'd given me and we went to walk on the beach. The Little One wore sparkly jewelry as well, "So I can be beautiful like you, Mommy!" I thought about how much my grandmother and the sassy Little One would have gotten along.

Fort Fun and Huntington Beach

Grandy, me, and Poppy, circa 1986

Wednesday and Thursday we had our first full two-days with Matt that didn't include 4-8 hours of driving, since he left for job training mid-January. The weather stayed sunny and went from mid-70s temperatures to mid-80s, so we went to Virginia Beach. Well, we didn't really know we were going there originally, but we wanted to go exploring. We drove down to downtown Hampton, didn't see anything to do, and so decided to keep on going. The kids were not thrilled about our "adventure". Luckily, I had packed snacks.

At the beach we played tourist and walked along the boardwalk and the main street, getting salt-water taffy at Candy Kitchen and frozen custard at Kohr Brothers. We were not the only ones who had the idea to go to the beach. I wondered if people took off work or school just to go outside. It looked like it must have been mostly locals out, and I quickly learned that the beach magazine we were handed was a marker for people from other shops to come out and try and sell stuff to "the tourists". So next time, we go as locals.

On the way home we decided to get dinner before making the trek back to the peninsula, as we've heard retched things about the bridge-tunnel traffic at rush hour. We figured if we were stuck in an hours-long back up, at least we wouldn't be hungry. We went a little out-of-the-way and stopped at a place my cousin recommended called Woodchicks BBQ. I love barbeque, and it was totally worth the stop. Yes, I eat mostly vegetarian, but for barbeque, I make an exception. I got something called a BBQ Sundae, which I ate until I made myself quite sick. I took the picture in the collage below after eating off the top layer of meat. It was really packed in there. Not even The Little One complained about her dinner, which is truly rare. Thanks for the recommendation, Ryan!

We took a kind of backwards way home and had fun trying to hold our breath through all the tunnels and make wishes. I made it through two tunnels with my breath held the whole way, so I get two wishes!

This week's homeschool park trip was to a new (for us) park called Deer Park. They had some equipment I hadn't seen before, like this giant nest-like swing, and some classics I haven't seen in awhile, like a merry-go-round. I managed to spin Brodie until she flung off and bit her tongue, and reminisced about the merry-go-round my cousins, brother, and I used to play with at our family's farm. If someone didn't fling off get hurt, you just weren't trying hard enough.

Matt and I also got a bunch of little paperwork type moving things done. We got new licenses and plates for the cars. We really live here now! It was a bit of an ordeal, though. Thursday I got up early to be at the MVA when it opened and sat and waited until they announced that their computers were down and we were welcome to wait but they had no idea if they would come back up. So I left and tried another MVA. I followed the directions on my GPS, parked, and followed the signs with arrows pointing "MVA this way", but after 20 minutes of walking around I never found it. I decided to give up and just go home. At that point it was late enough that even if I found another MVA location, it would probably be mobbed. I laughed at myself for wishing in the tunnels for "patience" - like in story books, you have to be very careful with your wishes and the way you make them, as they just might come true, and not the way you want.

I got it all done the next day, though. I always have a chuckle at people who have to take pictures for IDs, as they always repeat mine looking to get a better one, and it just doesn't happen. This lady advised, "Try to keep your lips together." Of course that can't really happen. When my picture still wasn't good on the second attempt, she looked down at my old ID and I guess saw that that's just how my picture is and gave up. Sorry, lady.

After the successful MVA trip I played Super Mom and baked chocolate banana oatmeal muffins, made a big salad, cleaned the apartment, washed everyone's sheets and my laundry, baked hot dog and hamburger rolls, and did school with the kids.

Somewhere between the heat and the sketchy amount of exercise I've been getting lately, I ended up with a couple of migraine days this week. One night, to try to calm my head before bed, I decided to paint. I started just painting random warm and cool colors, and then kind of ended up with these bison walking on water. The one is a little stumpy, but that's okay.

I really need to add more cardio to my exercise routine. I think the improved blood flow and cardiovascular fitness really helps my headaches. I had been doing sets of jumping jacks, high-knee marching, and running in place in between my weight sets with my previous routine, but with being in an apartment now I can't do all that banging around. I've been too scared to go to the community fitness room, so today Matt checked it out and found there was no one there. I ran on the treadmill for a bit. I've read good things about tabata training, so I'm making my new goal to be able to sprint for all 8 rounds. Today I got through 5, but had to take a break before completing the last 3.

Friday's Family and Friends Update

This week has really gone by fast. I can't believe it's already Friday again!

Last weekend we made the four hour drive back home to visit family for Easter. The kids had their DVD players and were well behaved for the ride. I've been pretty strict about TV time now that spring break is over, so it was a treat for them to watch for so long. We enjoyed time with both of our families. The kids got to play with their cousins for awhile, which I know they've been missing a lot. There was a ton of food and especially candy. Sunday night after dinner we made the trek back to our apartment, and arrived a half hour or so before midnight. The kids slept most of the way, of course.

While it was really nice to be back home with family we love and in a comfortable environment, the time and hassle of packing us all up, unpacking, and driving is probably going to prevent us from making the trip as often as we'd like. The cost of gas is no joke, either. 

Monday I woke up with a cold, the kids didn't sleep in at all, I had all the bags of candy and goodies to put away, and about 30 seconds after breakfast The Big One started with the "I'm boooorrrrred" thing. I was not in a good mood. Luckily, the weather was lovely, sunny with temperatures in the low 70s, so I decided to take a sick day from school and we went to the beach.

This is Buckroe Beach. The water is technically the Chesapeake Bay, but it's parallel to the little opening to the ocean between the tippy end of the Delmarva Penninsula and Virginia Beach. It wasn't anything tremendously special. The area around it seemed a little run-down, and there's no boardwalk or shops or anything like that, but it's a beach. It's less than 15 minutes drive from our place and it seemed like a relatively quiet, fairly clean beach where probably mostly locals go. There was also a park with a playground there, which the kids were excited about and ran straight for. The playground is all fenced in, which is good because there were a ton of kids everywhere, and I couldn't keep track of both of mine all the time. Then we walked out on the sand and the kids went down to feel the water. Big surprise - it was cold.

This week is spring break for most people, so there were a lot of people out in the nice weather. I'm learning that as soon as the temperature gets to mid-60s around here, sandals and shorts become acceptable. There were people out in their swimsuits, laying in the sun. The first day of April! As you can see, The Little One, who insists on dressing herself with no outside suggestions or interference, fit right in.

By Tuesday my cold was worse - just typical springtime cold with a runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing, sore throat, and cough. The temperature outside went back down to the 50s. We spent the day indoors, in pajamas, catching up on school. I even let the kids watch TV for about a half hour so I could take a nap.

Despite all the lemon-echinacea tea and Emergen-C I was drinking, I only felt mildly better by Wednesday. Again, we didn't do much of anything special. The Big One has been quite entertained by a "Brain Games for Kids" book I found on his bookshelf. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when he completes it all, as he's been spending most of his non-school time working on it. The Little One has been busying herself with whatever, as always, but has been enjoying color-by-numbers I print from online. She begs me to do "school time" with her, but refuses to do any of the activities I suggest and won't write her name with lower case letters, despite knowing how.

Thursday is homeschool park day, and we visited a new place called Bethel Park. I forgot to take pictures. It is the most "off the road" of the playgrounds we've been to so far, though I could still see the main road off in the distance. There were a lot of fighter jets flying around, but I'm learning that is the norm around here. I guess I'm still new because I still look up at them rather than try to talk over the noise. This park was in the trees and shady, so it was quite chilly, at least it was for me standing still. There was a lake with people fishing, and a big paintball field across the way. I believe the other moms said the park is military affiliated.

There were more kids at the playground this week, despite it being cold, and my kids seemed to play more easily with everyone. They were sad when it was time to leave, rosy cheeks and all. I enjoy that at this group the parents can sit and talk while the kids run around, and though we are keeping an eye on them, no one is hovering over their kids or judgmental about letting the kids do their thing. I'm looking forward to getting more involved with the homeschool activities in the area.

Last night The Little One decided to cash in the rewards pins she'd been earning and saving (a whole post on that coming soon) to bake cookies. She was pretty delighted with her "special recipe", which is chocolate chip cookies with assorted chocolate Easter candies stuck in the top. The Big One said they were the best cookies he'd ever had and that The Little One will be allowed to work at his restaurant one day.

(Sorry, I did not clean my kitchen to make these pictures "blog worthy". I am not a food blogger.)

A Week and Half in Hampton

People have been asking me how things are going and how I like it here, so I thought it was time for a quick family and friends update.

So far everything is good. It's still only been a week and a half here, and most of that first week was unpacking boxes, but I feel like we've done a lot toward starting to make this place "home".

In the apartment, most everything is put away. We still need a bookcase for the living room so we have a place for the Oxford English Dictionary, and I need to figure out some sort of accessible but neat storage for the play room. I'd also like to get a fold-out thing that will fit in the playroom so we can have somewhere for guests to sleep when the visit. I'd love for people from home to be able to visit often. We have most of our pictures hung. All the curtains are hung, including the Ikea curtains I had planned to hang in the old house six years ago, but never got around to altering to fit. Plus, this week the kids and I started back into the routine of school.

I kept the same color-scheme of red, blue, green, yellow, white, pink, and obnoxiously bright.

The kids and I have had a chance to do a good number of outside activities this week while we work on meeting people and making new friends. On Tuesday there was a bowling night for our apartment community. I believe it was mostly staff members in attendance, but it was a nice group. The kids fit in right away with the other kids that were there, and they all cooperated with bowling together. The older ones helped the little ones and the little ones cheered for the big ones. It was really cute. I had a nice time, too, but didn't really talk much. I guess I'm just more shy than the kids are.

We joined a homeschool group that meets weekly to play at different parks in the area, and this week we also went on our first park trip. It was a bit chilly so there weren't too many families there, but the two that were there were very nice. It seems like this will be a good state for homeschooling, from my conversations with the moms.
The Big One struggled a little at the park. Though the kids were around his age, very friendly, and were playing things he liked (boy things with zombies and sticks and bases and stuff), I think he was a bit overwhelmed and I'm sure is missing our old home as well. The Little One was her usual self.

The park was called Sandy Bottom. It is in the woods and has a large lake with paddle boats and canoes for the summer, camping areas, and walking trails. I thought it was interesting that next to the playground there was a swamp.

After our time at the park there was an Easter Egg hunt at our apartment community. I assured the kids that it wouldn't start right on time at 3:30 and that we'd be fine arriving a little late, but when we pulled up at 3:38 all the kids were sitting around in the grass counting their eggs already. The staff here is super nice and re-scattered some eggs, and our two kids got to have their own private egg hunt. Prizes were awarded by age brackets based on who had collected the most eggs. The staff had saved one prize for people arriving late, and since we were the ones who were late, we won the prize. So, it really worked out in their favor that we weren't right on time.
After the hunt the kids and parents gathered in the club house for coloring and playing, and the Easter Bunny made an appearance for the littler guys.

Matt is enjoying his new job. Today they had a welcome cook-out for him and the other new guy, and the kids and I were allowed to come. Everyone was incredibly nice and welcoming. They fed us really well, and then let us go up in the tower. The Little One called out with delight "It's flying!!" when a plane took off.

I did make the mistake this week of showing the kids how to do temporary tattoos by themselves, then walking away to take a shower. The Big One has been meeting all these people this week with a lightning bolt tattoo on his forehead.

This weekend we are driving back home to visit family for Easter, which will be nice. It is kind of tiring to be around people you don't really know all day. Being home alone with two kids in an apartment isn't much better. I've been missing family and friends at home, as well as our old house and yard.

I am also looking forward to the weekend after, however, when we will finally get some time with all four of us just hanging out and exploring the area. Last weekend Matt drove home and back to get the cats, so we still haven't had a good day with him here and nothing pressing to do since he's returned from his eight week out-of-state trip.

Things I like about here so far:
-Close to everything. Everything is less than 30 minutes away, and most things are only 5 minutes. There is all the shopping and food you could ever need or want.
-Everyone's really nice. Everyone.

Things that aren't too great:
-Major roads are everywhere, so everywhere is near a major road. I guess I'll get used to the road noise, but right now it seems so loud. There has been a major multi-lane rod or highway easily visible at all three parks we've visited. It's just different than being out in the country.

We're here!

Things moved kind of fast, and then I was without a proper computer internet connection for a bit, so my appologies for not updating sooner.
We made it to Hampton!

Last Tuesday, just a day after my last post, my dad and I decided at 5pm to get a uhaul truck and move on Wednesday morning. I had some great family and friends ready to come help as soon as I called, and we had the storage shed where the majority of our belongings had been stashed packed into the truck within a hour or two. I was glad to have my dad manage the loading, as I had no idea how was best to fit everything into the truck and tie it down. Early Wednesday morning we recruited my brother-in-law and his girlfriend, and took the drive down to the apartment. Everything was unloaded within an hour, we reassembled the furniture that needed it, and were back home by bedtime.

Thursday I had an all-day trip to Ikea, after the first store I went two didn't have the bed I wanted for the little one, so I had to drive an hour to another Ikea, and got stuck in rush-hour traffic on the way home. I love Ikea, I really do, but just like Target I can't get out of there without spending all of my money.

Last Saturday, I got to pick up my husband at the airport after eight whole weeks away. Luckily, his flight arrived a little ahead of schedule so I didn't have to wait in the "cell phone lot" very long. What a sad place - a bunch of people sitting in their cars, anxiously looking around and peering at their phones, waiting for their arrivals to call. With each car engine that started everyone would jump, like "maybe mine will be next!" Anyway, it's very nice to have him back again.

After a very brief visit with family we packed up the cars with what we could fit (in the last minute rush on Tuesday night I didn't get to / forgot to pack up some of the things that could have actually gone then) and went down to the apartment for good this time. I wish I had kept count on the odometer how many miles I drove in that week. My butt was tired of sitting.

The rest of the week has been primarily composed of unpacking boxes, washing everything, and putting things away. The living room is mostly done, except it is large enough that we can 'float' the couch away from the wall and make a little arts and crafts area behind it. The dining area is done except pictures on the wall. The bedrooms, kitchen, and bathrooms are done. The kids decided to share a bedroom (with just beds and book shelves in it) so the third room could be a playroom. That is the last remaining room to finish. I just don't know how to tackle the piles of toys and games, so for now they are just that - piles.

 Kid's bathroom - They picked the shower curtain themselves! I promise the colors match more in real life.

 Kid's bedroom - The Big One has Super Mario themed things, the Little One has My Little Pony and Tangled

I've taken the kids out for a few adventures. The first nice day we had I told them we could go to the park, which to them means a playground of course. So, I looked up a park on my phone. It was called "Carosel Park", how could I go wrong? Well, it was just that, a Carosel, which was closed for the season. They cried and I scurried to look up another park nearby. This one was called "River Walk Park", and again the name was quite literal. It was a walkway by the river. Again they cried, and again I scurried to look something else up. Finally, we ended up less than 2 miles from our apartment at "Bluebird Gap Farm". I finally did it!

Bluebird Gap Farm is somewhat like a petting zoo, except the animals stay in their enclosures, so unless they come to the fence, which I'm sure they will if you buy the feed, you can't really pet them. They have a variety of fowl including a gorgeous male peacock, horses, pigs, cows, llamas, goats, a deer, and other animals. We didn't go to the rabbit house. They also have a lovely garden and, to the kid's delight, a playground! Best of all for me, it's free admission. Though at that point I would have been willing to pay to avoid continued tears.

Yesterday we tried again to find somewhere to go. This time we only had to make one stop - I made sure I researched the playground aspect beforehand. We went to Huntington Park, which is right on the James River. It has tennis courts, a fishing area, a War Museum, a boat launch (is that what you call it?), a beach, and Fort Fun. Fort Fun is a large playground area on a little bluff right along the water. It's really neat how they laid it out, and was very clean and well maintained. There is section that had fake trees and rocks and a 'fort' area to play in, two big playground ships, and an area for younger kids that was similarly themed. Plus things like swings, and something I haven't seen at a public park in awhile - a tire swing.

The kids enjoyed playing there for a good hour, despite the cold wind that was hurting my ears. The Little One wanted to go walk on the sand of the beach. On the way out of the parking lot I decided "I know where I'm going", and did not turn on the GPS. I turned the wrong direction right away and ended up going over the James River Bridge. The kids were not happy about that. They have no sense of adventure.