Travelogue, part VII

My mom received a free set of preschool/toddler computer games, courtesy of Highlights magazine. We have no idea why they think she still has preschool-age kids, but be that as it may, she does have preschool-age grandkids. Here is Abigail test-driving one of them. She has since become very, very good at navigating with the mouse.


Ethan likes to watch her play. So far he's not very interested in playing himself.


They had their own table in the dining room. Ethan's reading Goodnight Moon, which was his favorite book for a very long time.


My mom had a seemingly endless supply of new toys, animals, games, and books, which she wisely doled out, a few each day. This is a book about the seasons.

Travelogue, part VI

We finally reached my mom and dad's house. Their backyard is many times larger than ours (and has nicer grass, too) so we spent a lot of time in the backyard, playing baseball and soccer.



Ethan swung the bat a few times, but he was mostly interested in retrieving the balls.

Travelogue, part V

On the way out of Williamsburg (passing by historic Jamestown), it was a peaceful drive beside the James River...


...when suddenly we realized the GPS was taking us on a ferry crossing!


An extra adventure that we weren't planning on!


Ethan didn't like the wind in his face, but Abigail had a blast on the ferry.

Travelogue, part IV

We weren't allowed to take pictures at the wedding, but there was plenty of time at the reception.

It was a black-tie affair, so we made a special effort to get Ethan a tuxedo. He cleans up good, doesn't he?


As do we all. Abigail's lion went everywhere with us, and managed to get lost four times along the way, including at this reception. But somehow we always found it.

Travelogue, part III

Saturday, the day of the wedding, we spent the morning walking around historic Williamsburg. Always fun to step back in time, but more importantly we needed to get them tired out so they'd take an early nap, thus allowing us to get to the wedding on time.



Slightly lost on the way back through town, we found this picturesque scene. Complete with a live colonial frog!



We saw General Washington, and Ethan nearly forced the General to slow down, by not paying attention to his aide's cries of "Way, way for His Excellency!"

Travelogue, part II

The pace of the trip became much slower once we reached Washington, D.C. The plan was to drive around it: we entered the metro area about 2:30 from Maryland, but from then until we reached Fredericksburg (about 9:30), traffic was bumper-to-bumper and we rarely exceeded 30mph.

Travelogue, part I

We just got back from a two-week visit to the East Coast, first to a wedding in Williamsburg VA, then on to the Raleigh NC area to visit my mom and dad.

Headed into the mountains between Pennsylvania and Maryland


The kids traveled really well: I was so impressed with their patience.





The plan was to stop at parks along the way to let them run off energy, eat lunch, etc. In fact, it's quite hard to find a good park if you're not a local. Somewhere in Maryland, we gave up looking for the promised covered bridge and stopped at this old church for lunch.