Saturday, August 15, 2009

Virginia Beach!

We had the opportunity to spend several days with good friends in Virginia Beach this past week. All of us, including Erika, endured the 7+ hour drive down and back in tight quarters, but it was all worth it! We had a wonderful time...the kids swam in the ocean and inground pool, relaxed in the hot tub, and challenged each other at pool. We played pinochle, hearts, golf. We ate constantly. We laughed. The adults lost to the kids at Taboo. We drank a *little* alcohol. On our way home Thursday, we drove onto Chincoteague Island and paid the $5 to enter the wildlife refuge. We spent about an hour driving around the refuge and saw wild horses, deer, cool looking birds, rabbits....and am sure we missed much, much more! We, however, did not miss the mosquitoes...LOL!! At one point we opened the windows to take pictures of the neat looking birds and in swarmed hordes of mosquitoes!! We promptly closed the windows, drove off and spent the next 20 minutes killing all the ones who didn't make it out safely!!

Driving over Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel:

Not a clue what this was, but thought it looked neat!

Entering one of the tunnels:

We had to drive 6+ hours to find this road:

Trying to amuse oneself during the loonnnggg drive:

Oh, my...we lost Erika! (Does Alyssa look happy about this?!?!?)

Rachel and Alyssa:

Katie and Alyssa:

Sea Bass??

Alyssa and I made dinner on Tuesday night. Chicken enchilada casserole, rice, tossed salad, applesauce for 21! It turned out great! (No, that one 9x13 did not feed all...we made three of them...LOL!!)

Hot game of Risk:

This is what the girls did to their pieces! The guys all laid on a heap...LOL!!

A view from above **Note Erika and Alyssa's play pieces to right and left, also note the boys' pieces...LOL!!

Jellyfish that Adam found:

Someone's pink nailed foot:

Some of the gals in the water:

A shark...Oh...no...now wait...just Adam!

More of the group:

Alyssa, Erika and Adam:

Adam and Erika:

Kurt getting his feet wet:

Could be my new fav:

Can't get this in PA either...LOL! You put a shot of Firefly in a glass of lemonade:

Profile pic:

Just done eating lunch:

On our way home yesterday. These are just some of the horses we saw on Chincoteague Island:

Close-up:

Neat birds:

Look at that rack!

5 comments:

sajmom said...

Can you tell more about Chincoteague Island? I'm curious because I read the "Misty of Chincoteague" books by Marguerite Henry when I was a girl.
The whole trip sounds like great fun!

sajmom said...

PS. Every time your page loads I always think those are fruit loops on the sides!!

Sue said...

How many cars did you all take on this trip? If one, is sure looks like a lot of people in one car.

Chesapeake Bay is very beautiful. Chuck and I drove through the tunnel many years ago, when we took a vacation with a group of friends to Washington, DC.

I loved that area in Virginia.

Jamie said...

fun, fun, fun! those horses are so cute =) the pic of the game pieces lined up is hilarious! (and the guys' pieces NOT organized!)

Michele said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assateague_Island

Steph, check out Wikipedia above for more info on Chincoteague. I actually learned something while looking it up! We weren't actually on Chincoteague Island as I thought we were, but Assateague Island. They didn't really give us any information when we paid to get into the refuge.

Sue, there were about 21 people in the house at any given time. Everyone but us was there for the whole week. We went from Monday to Thursday, so it was just the five of us in the Trailblazer, but with all our luggage and Adam's long legs, it made for a pretty cramped ride!! One of the couples who rented the house brought their motor home down and towed their jeep behind it. The only reason they brought the motor home was to transport some of the people and to put everyone's luggage and all the food in it!!