We're Back

We made it. We survived our first family vacation. The short and sweet version of the story is that we spent a week in Virginia Beach. We drove there on Saturday, April 19 in a 14.5 hour car trip. We left at 3:30 am so Allison could sleep for part of the trip. The trip down wasn't bad; the trip back was a little longer as Allison was tired of being in a car seat.

We had a great time. The weather was a bit chilly in the beginning, however since a bad tornado hit the area yesterday, I will not complain. We initially did some shopping, but when the weather improved mid-week, we traveled to Williamsburg. We also went to the zoo and the botanical gardens in Norfolk, and walked the boardwalk and played in the sand in Virginia Beach.

Allison did GREAT on the trip. She loved her stroller rides, people watching, and being outside. She has picked up on the fact that people pay attention to her. She can spot a person smiling at her 20 feet away and will flash them her cheesy, toothy grin. We were asked by numerous people if she is always that happy and we proudly answered “yes”. Waitresses and little old ladies across the area fell in love with Allison on our trip.

If you want the long drawn out version, then feel free to continue reading.

Saturday, April 19 - We woke up at 3 am and were ready to go by 3:30. We had hoped that Allison would fall right back to sleep, however she sat in her car seat for the first hour with a big grin on her face. She must have thought it was really cool that she was out in the middle of the night. She finally fell asleep and slept until about 7:30. Poor dad had to listen to her lullaby CD for four hours.

Allison took a nice long morning nap but her afternoon nap didn't go as well as we got caught up in traffic in the Washington DC area. Anytime we stop or slow down a bit, she wakes up. By the time we came to Williamsburg, Allison had enough of being in the car and started to cry. Luckily she took a little cat nap around Norfolk.

We arrived at our hotel at 6 pm. A friend of mine booked us into a hotel/condo through his timeshare. We had a living room, kitchen, and separate bedroom which was nice as it gave us room to move around and a place to put Allison down at night. We had a quick dinner at a neighborhood pizzeria and put Allison to bed. She didn't do too badly; I did have to go in and rub her back a little bit until she settled down. I think she just wanted to make sure we didn't leave her at a strange place.

Sunday, April 20 - They were calling for rain that day, so after breakfast (where Brian had the worst omelet he has ever had) we got a walk in on the boardwalk. Allison must have enjoyed the relaxing sounds of the waves as she conked out for her morning nap in her stroller.

That afternoon we picked up some groceries and walked around a mall. The highlight of the day for Allison was visiting the pet shop and seeing the puppies.

We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, which yes I know is a chain, but not a restaurant that we have in Grand Rapids. The highlight of my day was taking home two pieces of cheesecake to enjoy later. I swear nothing beats their cheesecake.

Monday, April 21 - Another rainy day, but luckily it held off long enough for us to get in another walk on the boardwalk. They were calling for a large amount of rain that day, so we visited the Lynn Haven Mall in Virginia Beach. The highlights of that trip were another visit to a pet shop and also the kids play area. Allison loved rolling all over the floor and watching the other children play.

For dinner we had BBQ at Frankies - the best ribs I have had in a long time. Later that night we watched a storm come in over the Atlantic Ocean. The Hampton Roads area was hit by a huge storm system that basically stood in place. Some areas received 4-5 inches of rain. Luckily Virginia Beach didn't receive that much.

Tuesday, April 22 - Tuesday was supposed to be another rainy day, so we decided to visit the Farmers Market first thing in the morning and afterwards I was going to go to the Aquarium with Allison. We were lucky that the sun came out. We decided to drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel and have lunch. We stopped in a little town called Cape Charles. Allison was the hit of the town as she rode around in her stroller sporting her new sunglasses.

Wednesday, April 23 - We drove over to Williamsburg for a visit. Since Allison is so little, we skipped over Colonial Williamsburg and all the other historical places. We walked around the town looking at the shops and had lunch. Before going to the downtown area, we stopped off at the outlet mall, where once again Allison and mom bought stuff, but dad didn’t get anything.

Williamsburg was very busy with school and senior groups. We hit it at the worst time for lunch. Luckily we found a cute restaurant off a side road where we didn’t have to wait too long.

After Williamsburg we headed to York Town where they have a river walk with some shops and historical landmarks. On our way back to Virginia Beach, we thought that Allison would take her afternoon nap, but she wanted to do nothing with that. It made for a long miserable car ride.

Thursday, April 24 ­ We headed to Norfolk which was less than a half hour away. We first visited the zoo, which probably won’t rank in our Top 5 Zoos. It wasn’t bad, but kind of boring. Allison loved watching all the other children though, so she was happy. After the zoo, we headed to the Botanical Gardens, where they have a nice children’s garden. Allison enjoyed watching the fountains.

We were scheduled to meet my Uncle Tige and his wife Faye for dinner later that night, so we hung around MacArthur’s Center (another mall) in downtown Norfolk until it was time to meet him. We met at a cute little restaurant. Luckily we sat outside on the patio, not too close to anyone. After a long day Allison was a little fussy. We just feed her lots of puffs to try to keep her happy.

Friday, April 25 We enjoyed another morning walk on the boardwalk. Each day we would walk close to 3 miles. After our walk, we finally spent time on the beach which was sad since it was right outside our hotel room. I wish it was nicer in the beginning of the week. At first Allison didn’t know what to make of the sand, but after a while she enjoyed running it through her hands. We dipped her toes in the water, so she can say she has been in the Atlantic Ocean. After that we spent some more time playing in the sand. If you would like a full dialog of what was said on the beach, we have it all on video camera. When I was taping Brian dipping Allison’s feet in the water, I thought I had stopped recording, however I never was recording in the first place. So when I “stopped” recording I actually had started it. So the camera was on the whole time we were on the beach.

All the week’s activities must have caught up with Allison because she took a very long nap. After almost 2.5 hours, we had to wake her up. We finished our trip with one last walk on the boardwalk and dinner with an ocean view.

Saturday, April 26 - We left at 9:30 am. Our plan was to spend the night somewhere just before Cleveland, however we found out that due to many activities going on there weren’t many rooms left and the ones that were open were over $100 a night. So there I was at a travel service station off the Ohio Turnpike frantically trying to find a hotel room. I knew at that point in time, we couldn’t go much further as Allison (and mom) had had it! Luckily we found a room outside of Cleveland and only had to go an hour more. Lesson learned – book return hotel room BEFORE leaving for the trip.

Allison was very happy to be out of the car and enjoyed playing with her toys. She even celebrated her 9 month birthday in a special way, which I will talk about in her next post (when I have time). Brian and I also enjoyed watching Allison fall to sleep that night. We never realized how long it took Allison to find that perfect sleeping position; after watching her constantly move about for a full ten minutes, she finally found her spot and immediately drifted off to sleep while sucking on the corner of her sleep-sack.

Sunday, April 27 – We finally made it home around 2:30. It was a long day but everyone was happy to be home. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and doing laundry. Allison spent the day napping, playing with her toys, and rolling into Ozzie and pulling his fur.

Overall it was great a trip. I am really happy that we went. It was great for us to spend some quality time as a family. Allison really enjoyed spending extra time with dad and so did I. I just wish we could find a warm place to go to in the Spring that wasn’t so far away (i.e. long car ride).