VA: Day 1

One of the girls' favorite parts of visiting Auntie Jen is going to Petco since she can take out all the animals for us to see. We certainly were not disappointed.

In the afternoon, we decided to check out the Air & Space Musuem.

The astronaut pretend play area was so much fun.

 

And I think the girls could have spent all day pretending to be flight attendants on a real plane. 

Plus there were paper airplanes to fly, and IMAX show to see and lots of other cool exhibits.

And On to Virginia!

Today we got up, said goodbye to Meamaw and Grandpa and headed out for the next leg of our trip. It was a drizzly morning and then a rainy day, so though I felt bad because I couldn't find any stops for today on the RoadTrippers app, we wouldn't likely have stopped anyway in such dreary weather.

It felt like the day dragged on because everyone was tired, but we made it to Virginia in time to visit Auntie Jen's house before dinner. Gram was already there, having spent a couple days with Auntie Jen before we got there. Tomorrow we'll trade off and Daddy will drive home and we'll stay with Gram and Auntie Jen.

By the time we ended up at dinner (late) the kids were so tired from a day of traveling that everyone fell asleep and we had a hilarious "grown up dinner" with BabySlimJim sleeping on me, LittleL.G. sleeping on Daddy and MiniM.E. sleeping on a "chair bed".

NC: Day 5

Another day hanging around the house in the morning, taking it easy. Lots of walks for BabySlimJim since he didn't want to nap (he finally nodded off in the stroller).

The weather wasn't very nice, so even though MiniM.E. desperately wanted to go back to the beach, we decided to stroll downtown, stop at a playground and walk by the water to sit on the swinging benches and walk on the pier.

NC: Day 4

With all our activities, we decided to spend the morning at home while MiniM.E. fished with Grandpa and Daddy and BabySlimJim napped. 

We finally made it there after lunch. MiniM.E. had been waiting for the beach all week, begging us to go every day. LittleL.G. wasn't so sure.

The water was cold, but we found a warm wading pool for LittleL.G. and BabySlimJim to hang out in while MiniM.E. ventured toward the ocean.

MiniM.E. braved the water and jumped waves for a long time...

Until finally LittleL.G. joined in on the fun while BabySlimJim napped away...

After a bath to wash off all the sand

we celebrated the girls' half birthday with candles and cupcakes.

NC: Day 3

Today we had a relaxing morning, complete with glasses trying on sessions.

  

After lunch, we took the ferry over to Fort Fisher to visit the aquarium. The ferry ride was a huge hit. The girls thought it was so cool to drive our van onto a boat. We were lucky it was such a beautiful day for riding out on the deck. 

The aquarium was so much better than we expected. The girls loved the giant statues. And seeing all the fish and jellyfish and other sea life.

MiniM.E. thought she had found the best part of the place when we stumbled across the tiger shark touch tank...

Until we walked out to the playground and found the dinosaur walk. It was so well done!

I'm pretty sure the girls would have stayed into the night, but we had to catch the ferry back for dinner plans with Uncle Dave.