Virginia Beach 2007

As sure as the sun rises in the East, July means one thing for Nana and Poppop: Their yearly trek to Virginia Beach. This year our whole clan, along with Uncle Jason, Aunt Debbie, and cousin Nick, was fortunate enough to be able to tag along.

After an interesting lunch at the Laurel Dairy Queen (not all DQ's are created equal), a 5 hour drive (peppered with the periodic potty break), Alex's inaugural crossing of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel (Can you guess how excited he was?), and the navigating of a hotel parking garage (clearly designed by trolls...trolls are bad) we found ourselves on the 8th floor of the Clarion overlooking the wide sands of Virginia Beach and the Atlantic.

We were blessed with beautiful weather the vast majority of the week which allowed for long days spent on the beach, playing in the sand and swimming in the water. After each day on the beach, all 11 of us would gather for dinner at a local eatery; good times!

Despite the sweltering heat and the late-afternoon thunderstorm, one of the highlights of the week was our Thursday trip into Williamsburg to visit Busch Gardens Europe. In attendance were Uncle Jason, Aunt Debbie, and our entire clan: Yes, even Aidan. It was his first time in an amusement park. Some points worth mentioning include Aidan's first time on rides (he was kind'a indifferent), Alex's tackling of the Big Bad Wolf (he loved it), and Amanda's and Abigail's ride through Escape from Pompeii (Yeah, they may have been a little young for this. Now we know...). Oh! And Uncle Jason did get his chance to ride Griffon.

All in all, everyone had a great week and came away with all their internal organs intact.

Fun in the Sun

This past weekend afforded the family the first time this year to head to the shore.

Sunday morning, facing mild temps and loads of sunshine, the whole clan, along with cousins Allie and Joey, packed up early and headed out from Grammy and Granddad's beach place. A short drive later we made camp at Cape Henlopen.

This was only the second trip ever to the beach for Aidan and held may firsts for him: First time he stepped into the ocean, played in the sand, etc. The result: He loved it. The child has no fear and would have run full-bore into the ocean if given the chance.

Movin' On Up

Following in the footsteps of many a great American, not the least of which includes her older brother and sister, Amanda, on Wednesday, June 6th, celebrated her graduation from Kindergarten.

The ceremony included the graduating class's renditions of many patriotic songs as well as a little ditty called First Grade, First Grade (sung to the tune of New York, New York) and ended with each of the children being called up on stage and given their certificate and a new Bible.

Field Trip Trilogy Complete

Rounding out the field trip frenzy that was May, on Wednesday the 16th, Amanda, along with her GCA Kindergarten class and Mom, headed down to Filasky's farm in Middletown.



The morning started off with the kids following the story of "Cabby" the cabbage seed. During the course of the story, Mrs. Filasky, one of the operators of the farm, demonstrated a device that plants the cabbage seeds en masse.

As the morning progressed, the kids toured the greenhouse to see how plants grow, they planted their own basil plants to take home, and got some free time to play in the inflatable train.

And Ms. Abigail Goes to Bombay Hook

'Tis the season...for field trips. On Wednesday, May 9 (I know, that was almost a month ago; sorry.), Abby and her 2nd grade class, along with Mom, headed to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.


First, the class went to the saltwater pond. There, from a floating dock, the kids saw fish, a blue crab, an eel, and used nets to catch Grass Shrimp.

After lunch, they headed over to the freshwater pond. Unfortunately, outside from a few ticks, the kids didn't see much wildlife here.

Ultimately, Mom declared the day a success as none of her group fell in the water.

Mr. Alex Goes to Washington

On Friday, May 4th, Alex's 4th grade class, along with an army of parents, hitched a ride on 3 charter buses and headed for the nation's capital: Washington D.C.

After an uneventful 2hr bus ride, we landed smack in the middle of the mall; outside of the Museum of Natural History. Our primary interest for our limited free time lay elsewhere, though: The Air and Space Museum. After a short walk across the mall, we spent the majority of our time admiring things such as the 1903 Wright Flyer and the more recent SpaceShipOne.

When free-time ended, we re-boarded the buses for a guided tour of Arlington Cemetery. After a good deal of walking we viewed areas such as John F. Kennedy's grave and the memorials to both the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters. We were also able to view the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. All of this was very interesting and very sobering at the same time.

From there, we boarded the buses again and headed back into D.C. for the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. Each of these impacted the children as it did the parents and raised much good discussion.

Obi-Wan has taught you well...

The best memorable quotes from the kids tend to originate from their younger years. It's not often that Alex, now 10, comes up with something this notable.


Sunday night, over dinner, we were discussing future pet names. Currently, we have 3 hamsters; 2 of which (and their wayward siblings) share Star Wars themed names. So Alex says;

"If we had a hamster that could hover, we could name it R2D2."

And Daddy's thinking, "If we had a hamster that could hover; EBAY!!!"