Life's a Beach!

Our July started and ended with the beach.

Not a bad way to go, for us

who are normally land locked.

Cam and I decided last minute

to head south and have a

little mini vacation in our new state.

First on the agenda was

 Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.  

Now don't be surprised

if you end up finding Cam and I living

there some day.

We fell in love with that
quaint historical town.

Next throw in there some outlet shopping,

2 days at Virginia Beach and

dare I say it....

you have got yourself a vacation folks!

We did it!

 We actually got to do something

besides move this summer.

YAY for us!

my batteries died in my camera early on at Busch Gardens.
So not too many photos.
Just know it was probably the hottest day of the year
great for crowd control not so great for comfort.

the boys all had a great time.
Mack decided this was the year to do some
of the big roller coasters, even if they
went upside down.

The usual thing happened with this guy as it does with most new experiences.
There was nothing I could do except drag him into the water in the beginning,
but by the end I was having to drag him out. He turned into a total beach bum!

The boys immediately wanted to try out the boogey boards and they had a blast!

The first night there we saw probably 4 or 5 different pods of dolphins swim by relatively close to
shore. It was so cool.
The next day we  saw large blue crabs, sand rays, jelly fish and lots of little fish swimming around.

Chesapeake

I love having friends.

And lucky me I have been extremely blessed

to have met some pretty great ones

over the years.

This friend in particular 

was incredibly thoughtful and had impeccable timing.

The first week we arrived in VA

 she also just happened to be

in the area visiting her family in Maryland

and  invited my fun deprived/just moved across

country/been couped up too long in hotel rooms

and cars; kids and myself

(Cam was invited too, he just wasn't able to come)

to her parents vacation home on

the Chesapeake bay for a day of

swimming and boating and delicious food.

Thank you  Ashleigh and your family for

sharing your little slice of heaven with us!

Macks first time ever tubing. He was cautiously enthusiastic about the whole thing. But ended up
loosening up after a little while and had a lot of fun.

Callan spent the first half of the boat ride clinging to my chest, then the second half
begging to go faster and he even jumped in the water for a swim. The water
was perfect. Not too salty and not too cold.  A totally different experience from the
waters we were used to in central California.