Yesterday was simply a travel and rest day. We were up early (no surprise there) and able to leave the condo well before the 10 a.m. check-out time. Actually, we were pleasantly surprised at how quickly we were able to pack up and get out of there! We did stop for a potty run not 15 minutes after we left...but since Ted was gassing up the Suburban, it worked out well. Plus, we got Starbucks. :-)
It was about a 3-hour drive from Williamsburg to Claire's house in Virginia, not too far outside of D.C. We stopped for a light lunch, since we had eaten an early breakfast, and got here in plenty of time for Lucan to get a good nap. I really enjoyed just sitting and visiting with Claire and Bob and watching our kids have fun together. This is an especially good place to visit for Arden, who I felt was getting lost in the shuffle of our other activities. He isn't quite old enough to truly appreciate all the historical things we were seeing (listening to explanations got "boring" for him), but he is definitely too old to be entertained by, say, playing in the dirt and rocks like Kenna and Lucan were! Sometimes I felt that all we were doing was nagging at him: pick your feet up; stop stirring up the dust; please stop annoying Lucan--he's trying to nap; please stop hanging onto the stroller--you're making it hard to push; etc. His favorite parts of the day were getting to go swim or sit in the hot tub at the condo. I do think he enjoyed some of the things we saw, but overall, I think in his mind, all we did was WALK, WALK, WALK! And sometimes he got in trouble just for WALKING!
So, being here with boys his age has already been good for everyone! (Bob and Claire have 4 boys and 3 girls and are expecting another baby!) Yesterday the boys played lots of games, and Arden got his first chance to play street hockey. Tobin played Star Wars monopoly with Luke and who knows what else with the other boys--all I know is, they were BUSY! Kenna has been in heaven with 3 little girls to dress up and giggle with. And Charis, the lone older girl, found some books on the shelf that will probably keep her busy when she's not playing with Lucan, who is just happy enough exploring a big new house.
Claire fixed us a delicious dinner (green beans, corn, salad, and chicken enchilada casserole) last night, and we settled down at a fairly decent hour. It was probably good the kids had a chance to play all day, as they were much more compliant with bedtime than they would have been if we had just arrived here at dinnertime!
Today we're back to being tourists. We'll be meeting some friends at the White House Visitor Center (in lieu of actually touring the White House), and then we'll explore some of the Smithsonians. Our vacation is halfway over, and we're enjoying every minute of it! (Well, mostly...see previous post for the asterisk to this statement...)
No comments:
Post a Comment