Brief Family Vacation

We took a brief family trip to Virginia Beach last week. The impetus that generated our trip was my friend renewing her vows with her husband on their 30^th wedding anniversary. I’m not sure why they chose to go so far from home, but a lot of their family and friends made the five hour trek. I was so grateful we had a vehicle that could get us there safely and reliably. Not only that, but it was comfortable too (I cannot tell you how much I love having AC in the van after years with just the windows down). The kids surprised me with how well they behaved in the van. Love Bug only asked six times if we were there yet (or he would ask what state we were in, since we were in 4 total). We only had to stop once on our drive down, for a potty break. The highlight of the journey to the beach was the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (it is both beautify and somewhat terrifying). Unfortunately, Chica Marie was asleep, but Love Bug was enthralled. Now every time we go under a tunnel he wants to know if we are under water. We had a nice time on the beach, but Primero was antsy and I think homesick. He had fun renting a motorized scooter and zipping around the town while the kids made friends in the waves and I tried to capture a picture of the military fighter jets zooming overhead. Love Bug made friends with a little girl and it was about the cutest thing on the beach that day. At one point he put his arm around her shoulders. They held hands to jump in the waves and I think he kissed her hand once. Adorbs!

 I attended the vow ceremony and reception alone, which made me feel lonely. I recommend taking a plus one to all marriage related events, even if it is just a friend. The mooring after the ceremony, I wanted to drive down to North Carolina to the Outer Banks or Kitty Hawk or some other attraction. Primero was not having it. We quarreled briefly but when the electricity went out in the hotel room, I was done with it all. We packed in the near-dark room and left in haste, still arguing over where we were headed. We had planned on stopping in with my sister on our ride home and Primero refused to head in any direction but towards home. So, we ended up going to the National Zoo in DC for a brief and sweaty visit. Primero really liked DC and the kids were really excited to see my sister’s house and play with my brother-in-law. They want to go back to sleep-over, so my sister and I are trying to work out a time when we can spend a weekend at their place. Our ride home was less-thrilling than our ride down to the beach, but Primero did some more driving, so I was ok with that. We had a nice time and I would really like to do more things like this, if it wasn’t so costly. Primero and I daydreamed of taking a cross-country road trip sometime, so now I have a new Pinterest board. It would be pretty awesome, and knowing that the kids did pretty good traveling is also encouraging. Who knows, maybe someday we will do it! I’m glad we made the trip, even if our time away was brief. I think it did us all some good to get away for a hot minute.