trip to Virginia

The whole crew of us (in 2 cars) left Tuesday AM for Hampton, VA to visit Grandpa Andy (my ex), his daughter in law and grandkids.  We stayed in a really big beach house just a block from the Chesapeake Bay.  It was great to have a house, rather than trying to fit 8 of us into Andy's little house.  The house had a second-story screened porch - a delightful place to sit out on and enjoy dinner and evening breezes.

Wednesday we all headed off to Busch Gardens.  Andy works there so,we got in free!  Steve and Christine took the girls to go on all the roller coasters, several times, if possible.  We less adventuresome types took Alex around and went on rides for the younger and much older sets!  Actually I was the only one who didn't ride much.  I'm really not into rides, especially ones that go up and down and upside down!  The AM was rainy and cool, so no lines for rides.  Later in the day, it got HOT and crowded, but we had a wonderful time.

Yesterday we went to Virginia Beach in the AM, although it was noon by the time we all got organized and drove there.  It was incredibly HOT and humid.  Kate, Christine and I did not have on our suits and there was no place to change, so we just waded.  The rest of the crew had a wonderful time in the surf.  We had to drag them away, in order to meet Susan (Andy's daughter in law) and her kids at the Virginia Aquarium after lunch.  It was blessedly cool there.  Great exhibits.  The kids loved it and so did the adults.  We also visited the nearby science center, also interesting, especially for the kids.  The only down-side was that we stayed rather late and had to use the bridge/tunnel to get back to Hampton.  There was a 7 mile backup , stop and go traffic, before we got to the tunnel.  Luckily that was the only traffic problem.

When we got back to the cottage, there was a truck in the yard and people we didn't know inside the house.  Turns out they were the owner's son and daughter-in-law.  They came a day early and didn't know someone else was using the place.  Luckily we were all packed, so we just picked up our stuff and left.  We ate dinner with Andy at a steakhouse and headed for home.  There was a tremendous thunder storm while we were at dinner, but it was pretty much over by the time we left, thank goodness.  Later we heard that it did major damage around northern Virginia, but luckily we missed it.  It was very late when we got home, but the drive wasn't a bad one - very little traffic on the Interstates.

Today Geoff and the kids are off to the local pool.  Steve and Christine went back to Baltimore.  Kate and I will hit Michael's and maybe JoAnn's.  Pretty much a relaxing day for this gang.