VA Beach Vacay (part 2)

Monday morning was a repeat of Sunday morning. We met Annie and Michaela at the beach and spent the morning splashing in the waves, playing in the sand and collecting shells. I can't wait until Evan's more interested in shell collecting. It's one of my favorite things to do at the beach. I was glad to learn that Michaela was a fan... even if she did take some of the good shells I found for her and toss them right back into the waves. The jerk.

40. Collect Seashells

The beach wasn't in VA Beach proper, but in Hampton. And it wasn't on the ocean, but on Chesapeake Bay. As you can see from the pictures though, you would never know it. It was actually very nice because there were barely any waves and minimal wind. Plus, it was a beach park with a playground, pavilions and picnic tables, bathrooms/showers and plenty of free parking. Win, win, win. Annie's lucky to live so close to such a nice place.

Mr. Cool

Seeing them next to each other like this makes it not so
unbelievable that they weigh the same.
Skinny Girl + Solid Boy Forever

They look like they're about to solve a mystery. 

My favorite girls <3
Annie-Kaya

Salt Water + Sand + Baby Toes 

24. Splash in the Waves

We picnic lunched at the park and then went our separate ways for nap time.

After nap, we headed to Old Town Hampton. We visited Carousel Park, which is... wait for it... a carousel. We got there just 5 minutes before closing so we rushed to get on and were the only ones there. Evan loved riding the "horses". Maybe later in the summer he can get adventurous and get on one that goes up and down.

Weee! 

Could Annie and I be any cheesier?
"Uh, duh...hi?" 

25. Ride a carousel

After the carousel, we went to a local ice cream parlor. It's what I wanted for my birthday since we didn't do any sweets at Annie's cookout. I'm pretty sure this was Evan's first taste of ice cream. He was quite excited.

I think the picture speaks for itself. He liked the ice cream.

How do you know you're on vacation? You have ice cream before dinner. Boom.

After ice cream we went to a park called Air Power Park. It was sort of like an airplane graveyard, even though, I don't think that was the intent. There were probably 5-6 airplanes that hadn't had much upkeep and a small building (museum?) in the middle. More importantly, there was a field of clover and a playground.

I can't even begin to caption this. It's my fave.
Kids being kids. 

The kid has no fear when it comes to slides. 

Funny side note about that field of clover. It was filled with goose poop. I was walking with Michaela and told her to watch out for the turds. Later, she told Annie to watch out for the turds. Annie said, "OMG! Where did she learn 'turd'?" Haha...oops.

It was an action packed day. We had dinner and hauled everyone off to go to bed.

On Tuesday, Annie had to go back to work so we ventured to Virginia Beach. This is where our vacation took a turn for the worst. First, there was the packing. Our hotel was closer to Annie's house, which put us 30-45 minutes away from VA Beach oceanfront. Since we couldn't just run back to the hotel, we had to make sure to remember everything. And then there was the drive. And then there was the parking... hard to find, expensive street parking. And then there was the carrying of all the stuff while keeping Evan from running out into traffic. And then there was the hot sand on our feet. And then there was the tent (half tent, actually) building. And then there was the wind. Oh gawd, the wind. And then there was the kid who just wanted to climb on me... while both of our skin was covered in sweaty, sunblock-y sand. There's no feeling quite like moist sandy skin rubbing on moist sandy skin. I'd rather be dead. Apparently it didn't bother Evan though because he just kept climbing and wallering all over me. And it was hot. So, so hot. And did I mention the sand? And then there was lunch that was sandwich leftovers from the day before that no one really wanted to eat (but the seagulls enjoyed). And then there was the nap that Evan would. not. take. because of the wind and the heat and the sand. And then there was disassembling the tent and carrying all of our stuff across the hot, hot sand with overly tired and fit-throwing 2 year old. And that was the end of our beach time.

"This day is going to suck." 

"Hey, what are those birds doing?" 

"Throw us some more sandwich!" 

"Yep, this sucks." 

We're not really beach people. Everyone was much happier after a nap.

We played at the hotel pool that afternoon. Evan really enjoyed the pool. It made me excited to get our backyard pool set up for him and to take him to the pool/splash park up the street this summer.

Time to swim! 

We had our one and only seafood meal on Wednesday night. It was a total hole in the wall, but well reviewed on the interwebs. (What in the world did people do before the internet? Seriously.) Evan ate like a monster-- his fish and fries, some of my crab cake, some hush puppy, and a couple of David's scallops. The kid is a serious seafood lover.

Just hanging.

It was a very calm and relaxing afternoon/evening after our hot and sandy morning.

To be continued...