Mini Vacation: Day 2

We woke up refreshed on Monday morning to a nice hot breakfast. It was complimentary with our stay at the hotel. It was one of the best hotel breakfast's I have had. They had just about every type of breakfast food and it was good and filling.

One of my favorite things about vacations is the eating out. I truly dislike cooking or preparing of any type of meal. Eating every meal out is definitely my "heaven".
Our first stop of the morning: the Visitor's Center. From there, we hopped on a bus and it took us straight to the Governor's Palace. With it being Memorial Day, Colonial Williamsburg was packed. We had an hour to spend before the Fife and Drums parade.

The Governor's Palace

Memorial Day is a day of reflection on those that fought for our country's freedom. Many spend the day relaxing, having a cookout, spending the day with family, etc. After hearing the Fifes and Drums along with watching the soldiers load their guns, take one shot and reload, I have a new appreciation for our ancestors. When most think about the men who died for our country, we often reflect on the most current of wars dating back to WWI. What about all of those who fought against the British for our Freedom back in 1775? If it were not for these brave men fighting in the War for Independence (Revolutionary War), what would our country be like now?

After the parade to honor those who paid the ultimate for our freedom, we went out on our own to do some sightseeing. Some of the areas we visited were the Capitol, Gaol(prison), Wythe House, lunch at Chowing's Tavern, the market, silversmith, millinery, wigmaker and more. The wigmaker was my favorite.

Although we were exhausted at the end of the day and saw lots of great things, there is still so much more to see and do.

We had dinner at Cracker Barrel and then went back to the hotel for a rest in the hot tub.

DAY 1: Beginning of our mini vacation

Reminder: First, turn off the music at the bottom of the page before listening to the girls sing.

We had a great Memorial Day service Sunday morning in church. It started off by having all the serviceman in attendance walk in together and place the flags (American and Christian) at the alter followed by a wreath to remember those who have died for our country. The service men filled the first 4 pews of the middle section of the church. I tried to count them all all there were about 30. They were each recognized by their service. After the preaching, there was a slideshow to honor those in our church who have served in the military.

My favorite part was listening to Haleigh and Rebecca sing God Bless the U.S.A. It's not a God honoring song that should be sang in the church but it was very fitting for the day. The girls did a fantastic job singing. Of course, I may be a bit bias.

For lunch, we drove an hour to Pierces Barbecue. Jay really loves that place so we go there as often as our schedule allows. The place is always packed out. It is really good food that our entire family enjoys.

After lunch, we drove over to Colonial Williamsburg to purchase our tickets and see what was going on down there on Monday and Tuesday.

Side note to interject: Our reasoning for getting away this weekend was to celebrate our 11th anniversary that went over a couple weeks ago with little fanfare. Jay took off Tues. so we could have a long weekend together. With Rebecca singing Sunday morning, we couldn't leave Friday night as desired. We had first planned to head up to D.C. for the weekend but they had Big Thunder Rally(400,00 motorcyclist parade) going on Monday and we didn't feel it was necessary for us to be apart of that. So off to Williamsburg we went.

It's funny how Jay and I look at vacations differently. I want to lounge and relax while he wants to cram as much into it as he can! I picked leisurely Colonial Busch Gardens and he spiced it up with Busch Gardens and Water Country. OK, back to the trip...

Once tours were booked and tickets purchased, we headed over to Busch Gardens for a few hours. The weather was great and the crowds weren't too bad.

Jay and Becca on the Flying Machine. He really doesn't like this one but will ride it for my benefit.

Jay and Rebecca on the Tea cups. Another one that he prefers not to ride. Rebecca and I on Tradewind. Emily is too short for this ride so Rebecca and I only get to ride it when he is with us to watch Emily- who usually goes to the child's version, Elephant Run. *Notice the 2 girls in the seat behind us. Funny, I didn't see that until now.Here they are on Emily's favorite Ride: Le Scoot Log Flume. Rebecca hates the water rides so we usually sit this one out. For some reason, she decided that she'd try it again. Since she didn't want to sit in the front and possibly get soaked, she sat behind Jay and Emily. She had her head ducked the entire ride and ahem, got the wettest. lol The sun was going down and it was getting chillier. She was NOT in a good mood after that ride. One last ride before heading back to the hotel. This was Rebecca's first time on the LochNess Monster. She loved it and would have rode it again except for the fact that she was wet and cold. Next time though! Emily wanted to ride this one too as she loves roller coasters but she has 3 more inches to grow. So, back to the hotel to play in the pool- the girls, not us. We were quite tired by then! After swimming, showers and the customary jumping on the bed in a hotel, we all fell fast asleep!

My Grandma

I don't want to put too much info out there on the internet of my family history but I'd love to share with you some photos of my grandma as well as my great grandparents.

This is my grandma at a young age.
Here she is again around the age of 10.

As you can see, this was taken in front of my great grandfather's store in 1939. Grandma was 16 years old. Her father owned and operated a successful taylor shop in Richmond, VA.

This phooto was taken in April 1941 at the age of 18.

This is a photo of my great grandmother, whom I never met.

Here she is again. The clothing worn to have her picture taken in amazes me.

This is my greatgrandfather, Nathan Sheer. I didn't have the pleasure of meeting him, either.

AWANA AWARDS

The AWANA awards ceremony was held this past Sunday evening at church. It was amazing hearing all of the accomplishments of each child. What was even better than that was several children over the coarse of the school year have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. That's what it is all about.

Click here for curriculum overview for Emily.

She was a kindergartner Spark doing her first book. She completed the book, did a complete review of the book and went on to do the entire workbook that goes with the first year Sparkie handbook.

She did fantastic hiding God's Word into her heart.

Rebecca was a first year T&T-er.

She completed the book and had time left over to go back and work on some of the extra credit.

Click here to view the curriculum overview for the first year Truth & Training book.

I am very proud of our girls in their ability and desire to soak up God's Word. I am so glad that there are children's ministries such as AWANA to help the children grow up into the Lord. between home, church and school, Jay and I are doing our best to train up our girls in the way they should go so when they are old, they will not depart from it.

(Shea revised version of Prov. 22:6)

AWANA Key Verse: 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." KJV

Last Friday

These photos are a week old but I still wanted to share them.

Some friends came over for a cookout.

We held it at our house because it just seemed easier with the girls being able to go to bed at a decent time with their last soccer game being held bright and early the next day.

We had a great time and can't wait to do it again.

Isn't Madelyn adorable?
A fierce game going on here. Meredith won much to Rebecca's disappointment!

I think the smoke from the grill was eating at their brains.

Atleast Mike portrays himself as normal.

Wondering where I've been this week?

You can tell it's springtime here in central Va. The weather has been wonderful. We've been living it up.
After spending the day with friends on Wednesday, I got the moving bug all over again. We figure that with gas prices on the rise, we might as well move to our vacation spot because we won't have money to travel there a couple times a year. Yeah, yeah... All talk? We're thinking that in 3 years, if my grandma has passed, we will be making the journey south.
Doesn't sound appealing for you to come visit us? Check out my new favorite blog. Greetings From Orlando The photos are amazing. I have taken the time to look through each and every post on there.--that's why I haven't responded to any of my e-mails!
I have some more photos to post from our week but you'll have to be patient with me! I still haven't uploaded them all. I have added a couple pictures in the previous 2 posts. Don't forget to see those.
Here is just a short clip of the girls playing around in the pool after the last swimming lesson. Rebecca's nose was burning from doing so many somersaults under water that she started holding her nose. In this clip, she's doing more of a spastic flip than anything else. As long as she is having fun, huh?

In His Precious Name,

Oink Oink Those are some good ribs!

Monday night, I had a "Girl's Night Out" and our girls had an evening with Daddy and Uncle Brandon. Emily pigged out on ribs. From what I heard, she enjoyed Daddy's and some of Brandon's as well.

It's no wonder she was up all Tues. night with growing pains in her knees. The child is growing so tall. She is almost 3 years younger than her big sister but is only 3 inches shorter than her. They are now sharing each others clothes.

Friends

Last Sunday, Rebecca had 2 of her friends come home with us between morning and evening services. Here they are pigging out on Doritos and watching The Parent Trap.

Rebecca's last game of the season

Rebecca is #9 and is wearing a white jersey.

Rebecca did fantastic out there today. They were fighting a losing battle but she played hard! They lost 13-3 but guess what?!?! Rebecca scored all 3 of those points. You go, girl!

Emily's last soccer game

Today was the end of soccer season. It really went by quick this go around! Usually we are dragging towards the end but not this time. I think the weather played a large part in that. They missed the first game due to AWANA games, had several practices and games canceled due to rain and it wasn't as hot as it usually is! She played about as well as to be expected. The main thing was that she had fun. She scored several goals through out the season and improved on her dribbling. We are taking a break from league soccer next season and only playing with homeschoolers. It's not as competitive and won't take up our Saturday's.

Enjoy the slide show and check out the 2 videos below of the girls.

Flippin' Saturday

***Reminder to scroll to the bottom of the blog and turn the music off before listening to the video***

Rebecca's back-hand-springs

Emily's attempt at handstand fall to bridge. This is the only requirement she needs to fulfil before moving up to the next level in gymnastics class.

New Cameras

Wahoo! I have such a great husband. I have been wanting a new camera for quite awhile. My old one is about 3+ years and kind of out dated. It was broke 2 months after it was purchased and fixed for free (thanks to Kodak) but the video has an annoying ticking sound. Actually, if you hold the camera up to your ear, you'll hear it click constantly. The microphone is so sensitive that it picks it up clearly when making a video. So, he not only got 1 new camera, he got me 2.

In the great search for another camera, Jay wanted an underwater one for the cruise and to use on rainy days. Would have been nice last WDW trip! I carried my camera around in a plastic bag so it wouldn't get wet in the rain. After lots and lots of extensive research, he found one he liked and got the newest model. It's an Olympus and takes great photo but doesn't have a very good zoom.

I've been using it like crazy this past week. I was getting frustrated with the video. I took a video of the girls doing tug of war on field day and posted it on the blog. After replaying it, you can hear several clicks throughout the short video. UGH! I thought we were going to have to return it. After talking to technical support, the man said to return it. He said that he is hearing a lot of those same complaints and they don't know what the issue is with it.

Last night, before taking Rebecca to soccer practice, he hit his foot on her cleat at just the right angle and broke one of his toes. He didn't complain, just went on to the soccer field. They even played a scrimmage game of children verses adults. At home, as he was sitting on the floor with some ice, he was messing around with the camera. Being the great trouble shooter that he is, he figured out what the problem is.

The microphone for the video is on the side where the strap is. That little plastic part on the strap bumps the camera making a clicking sound on the video. Funny, huh? People have been returning their cameras, and we would have been one of them, because of that simple little thing.

AHHH! While typing this, my new Sony camera just arrived! Yipee!!! Another new toy to play with and figure out. This one has a 15x zoom!

While playing with the Olympus, I am finding all kinds of extras. You can add frames and text to a photo. You can even make a calendar! Here is just a small sample of what the camera offers. And while I'm playing with my new cameras, the girls are having a ball taking pictures with their "new" camera (my old one). * Especially Emily. She's my little photographer.

In His Precious Name,

Field Day

The day most school children look forward to: Field Day! It not only represents a day of fun and games but it's also means school is almost over for the school year. Our co-op held it on Tues. and the weather couldn't have been better! I remember those days in elementary school as being the hottest day ever and having to play physical games that involved speed and movement- both of which I was not good at.
The schedule was as follows:

9:30 AM meet at church
9:45 AM Opening Ceremony. Games start. Games #1,#2, #3
10:50 AM potty & water break
11:00 AM Games resume Games #4, #5, #6,
12:15 Closing Ceremony Lunch(Pizza & Water)

The games that they participated in are as follows:
1. Olympic Torch Relay
2. Dragon Race
3. Javelin Throw
4. Star Ball Race
5. Standing Broad Jump
6. Tug of War

Opening ceremony
getting lined up to be put into 3 groups of 7
Emily in purple sweater towards the front of the line and Rebecca is in a white sweatshirt, standing 2 children behind Em

passing ball under legs and over head

love the "torch"

she's a winner

They received metals and paper wreaths to imitate the Greeks.

Since Brysen and Ashley were here, we made it a fun day. The weather was perfect. We stayed outside ALL day and we all slept good last night!

In His Precious Name,

Like Father, Like Daughter

Jay had taken today off to get some things done around the house. He works long days and with so much planned on Saturdays and church practically all day on Sunday, he rarely has time for himself. I'm glad that his employer has given him 3 days off this month that he can relax. And it doesn't count towards his PTO :o)

While the girls and I did a Costco run, he has been out in the yard. We came home to him weed eating the yard. After Emily helped bring all of our goodies in, she went out to be with Daddy. I went back outside to do something and this is what I saw.

She had her battery operated weed eater and goggles on and was imitating her Daddy. I'm so proud that I have a good, Godly husband that when our girls imitate him, I don't have worry that they would be doing something nasty like cussing or pretending to smoke.

I still have several pictures from yesterday's activities that I'll share with you later. Be sure to check that out tomorrow!

In His Precious Name,