Virginia Beach

The last thing we wanted to try to do before Mark went back to school was go to the beach.  Most people around here prefer to go to Outer Banks in North Carolina. I am sure they are very nice but we decided to try out Virginia Beach. The funny thing is that the beach we went to is in the very Southern corner of Virginia so we were only like 45 minutes to an hour away from Outer Banks.  Maybe next time we will drive the extra miles to get there.  Needless to say it was a prefect beach day. Cloudy with nice breeze that occasionally let the sun shine through. It was in the mid 80's and the water temperature was awesome. It was so comfortable. Jared and Lydia were so happy to play in the sand and splash/wade in the water.  Jared worked hard at "defeating" the waves as they came crashing on us.  He was really brave and totally willing to go out farther and farther.  It is really great that we now have the option to go the beach as a vacation or even just a day trip like this week.  Its a LONG day trip (3 hours to get there) but way more accessible than Colorado ever could be. It was fun to see Jared and Lydia play at the beach.  They both loved being there. The sand was so nice and clean, parking was cheap (5 dollars for the day) and right by the beach hardly a walk at all and they had nice bathrooms and rinse off showers.  I tend to stress about parking a lot and find it so annoying to have to pay. This was a great solution.  It was a really nice outing and I am not one who dreams about spending all my vacations on a beach. I like the beach but it is not my top destination but I had a great time too.  We are so glad we made it out and hope to make more trips in the future.

On the way out we stopped at Hobby Lobby in Richmond (I really love that store. I found a lot of stuff for preschool and it was so much more affordable than Michaels or Jo-Anns which we have in Charlottesville) and then Tucanos in Newport News for a birthday lunch for Mark.  This really cut into our beach time but we still had a lovely time. Next time we will go straight to the beach and play longer.

Jared's prayer

I asked Jared to put the silverware away for me as I unloaded the dishwasher. We had just gotten back from a day at the temple and were trying to finish things up, eat dinner and get ready for bed.  He started putting away the silverware and quickly dropped a fork and it landed on his foot. Not a huge deal but still painful. He was really tired from being out all day and riding in the car so much that I fully expected a huge meltdown as is his norm.  To my surprise he calmly walked away.  Not a sound after the initial "ow!"

About 1 minute later he walked back into the kitchen calm and smiling. I asked him if he felt like screaming into a pillow (which I often want to do when something stupid happens like that) and he said:

 "No, I said a prayer and felt better"

I melted. I pulled him over to me and asked him what he prayed for.  He said he went into his room but would have to turn on the light so he walked out, looked at the front room, decided it was perfect and went there to say his prayer. He said something along the lines of:
"Heavenly Father, Thank thee for this day, help me to not have any bad moments and feel better."

I asked him if his prayer was answered and he said yes it was, he felt much better.  We talked a little bit about prayer and how sometimes prayers are answered really quickly like his and other times they aren't.  I asked him if he could pray anytime he wanted, like when he was at a school and needed help.  He said yes and that he didn't even have to say the prayer out loud just in his head.   It was such a special moment. He then put the cherry on top by saying.  "I feel like I want to cry." I said "because your foot hurts?" He said "No, because I feel so good inside, I think that was the first time I felt the spirit."  So sweet. What a great example to me. I was being totally worldly about it and he put me in my place (unknowingly and very sweetly).  I asked him if he wanted me to write a blog post about this experience so when he was older he can read over it and remember that special feeling.  He asked me to please write that he was 5 years old. (Done.)

Parenting is hard. It really is. But there are these special moments that really help make it worth it.

Day in D.C.

One thing I really wanted to do this summer was take some day trips into Washington D.C. . It is such a fun city with so much to see and do. Typically when we head over that way it is to go to the temple so we don't have time to go into the city. We finally made a trip on Monday.  I had hoped to do more than one trip before school stared but no such luck. Mark goes back next Wednesday on the 12th. We headed out around 8:40 stopping for donuts on the way and got downtown around 10:45. We really didn't have any traffic coming in and it wasn't too bad going out either.  It would have been nice to stay longer but Mark really wanted to get out of there before traffic started so we left before 2:00.  Jared and Lydia were so sad when we left.  They both asked if we could stay longer and we told then not to worry we would be back. I hope we do a better job getting over there this coming year and next time we go we stay longer.  I know they are young but they really enjoyed it! Lydia was so goofy. As we were walking around she kept asking "where is D.C.?" We tried to explain to her that we were walking thorough it but she could not quite grasp it. I wondered if she associates D.C. with the temple and wondered why we didn't see it. If she didn't see the temple how could we be in D.C.?

We did see some of the monuments but our main focus was the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.  We planned on going there then stopping by the National Building Museum (which looks super fun but is not free like the others) but got sidetracked by the National Archives Museum. Mark was telling Jared what the cool building was and Jared said wanted to go in so we did.  We didn't check out very many exhibits but instead waited in line for the main attraction, seeing the original/official Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. It was great.  It was about a 25 minute wait so not bad at all. It was really neat to see those documents.  I am glad Jared wanted to stop, I didn't even know they were on display there.  It was great.  The air and space museum was fun. Jared and Lydia have not shown a lot of interest in Outer Space things but Ihtink it is mostly because Mark and I aren't that interested in it.  We loved seeing the NASA exhibits and feeling the moon rock and they have a room of "time and navigation" with ships so our little Pirate was super stoked!

 National Archives Museum 

Air and Space Museum

 Tired, but keeping good attitudes!

 It was fun to walk around the city and we were blessed with really nice weather. It was hot but not humid at all which makes all the difference.  It was a great outing. I am glad we did it, glad that Jared and Lydia loved it and that we all can't wait to go again! Its just sonic to have that option. We were talking to a man in the ship room and he asked if we were going to the National History Museum and I said we had gone last time we were in D.C. .  He was actually visiting from Sacramento and had heard of Yuba City, even been there. It was a fun coincidence. I just love that we do have the option to do a fun day trip to a cool city like D.C. .

On the way home we stopped at Moo-Thru a very popular local ice cream place.  It is about 45 minutes from our house so we had not gone before but a lot of people here rave about it. It was delicious! They put a lot of focus on the fact that they have cows "on hand" (grazing nearby) and use lots of fresh cream. I would not make a special trip to go there just for ice cream but it is a convenient stopping place on the way home from D.C.

Skipping the pool

We like swimming in pools.  We also like swimming in lakes.  Last week we tried something different and went floating in a creek! It was a hit.  Jared and Lydia can't wait to go back. We went to Preddy Creek where we hiked the week before.  It has a nice (safe) current in not very deep water that Jared and Lydia could float down. It wasn't very far but to them it was amazing. It's funny in a way because they don't particularly like Lazy Rivers (maybe they are too deep or too crowded?) but they loved going in this creek.  When we got to the swimming hole (it's not more than a half mile, easy hike) there was a Dad there with his 2 girls so we chatted and played with them for bit.  They actually live just down the street from us (not on our street but like 5 minutes way) and he is a history teacher too! Lydia kept wanting to take her water shoes off that we got specifically for an outing like this but I would not let her. I am glad I didn't because shortly after we started wading one of the other girls got a nasty thorn in her foot! Besides that it was a perfect afternoon. 

We also went swimming at the lake with friends.  We tried out the third lake in the County, Mint Springs which is in Crozet and had a lovely time with our friend Laura and her kids.  Crozet is not very close it was about a 30 minute drive but it is in a really pretty spot. We are glad we tried it out. Jared and his friend Joseph swam out to the dock and jumped in. It was the first time for both boys and they were very proud of themselves. Its been so great watching Jared swim this summer. It is way more fun to e in water (and less stressful) when your kids know how to swim. 

I love this picture of Lydia

Posing in our cute hats! I was originally going to get a big beach hat with a really wide brim but went with the smaller version. 

Pools are great too, we are big fans of them but sometimes when we go to the lake or go float in the creek I feel like we are giving Jared and Lydia a more old fashioned "summer" which is kind of fun. 

Downtown Charlottesville and UVA

Shortly after we moved here a friend mentioned there was a free trolley ride that started at the downtown mall, went up to UVA and then looped back to the starting spot downtown. I have been meaning to take Jared and Lydia on a ride since then and finally got around to it last week. Mark was out of town in Philadelphia for 3 days so he missed out but he had his own adventures.  We spent one of those days downtown.  We rode the free trolley which was very nice and it was a new experience for our kids. The only public transportation they have taken is TRAX in downtown SLC so it is a pretty new thing to them.  Shortly after Mark and I were married I actually used public transportation to get to work.  We lived in West Jordan at the time and only had 1 car.  Mark was student teaching and then substituting so he needed the car more. Having never used public transportation before (except as a elementary student riding the bus) it made me feel pretty cool and grown up. I walked to a bus stop pretty early in the morning well before 8:00 then got on TRAX and then walked to work.  I worked as a receptionist at Stanfield Shutter in West Valley City, 3300 South. So from 7200 South to 3300 South.

 The trolley was a great way to talk about how some people choose to not have a car or can't afford one and use buses.  As we saw people biking to UVA or work it was great to talk about that option too.  It was nice to drive around grounds/housing at UVA and talk about what college is like. How you live on or off campus and have to walk to all your classes.  Even though they are little we talk a lot about when they go to college... it is one thing I really love about college towns that it is a presence there. They go there and hear about it.  Their favorite part though was the fact that they could move seats if they wanted and the freedom of not wearing a seatbelt.  The trolley was nice and as we got off they asked when we could do it again! After our trolley ride we stopped at the Chalkboard wall on the downtown mall to doodle and then spent an hour at the Children's museum. It was fun to do something new and different.

And because we love it so much we went and ran the UVA races again. Jared and Lydia did great. Lydia got second in both her races and Jared got fourth and fifth. They both did much better this time. We don't really care what place they get and hope they understand we go to exercise and have fun but it is pretty cool when they do well. After our races we stopped at McDonalds and got soft serve for everyone.  Sadly Mark was gone for this outing too but we are glad he could go as a family the week before. Until next summer! 

 We met up with our friend Laura and her fun kids! 

Peter, Lydia, Abigail, Joseph and Jared

Perfect FHE treat and surprise for after the races