Canal Cruises and the science museum. And the 100 degree weather.

Despite the heat, we spent an hour on a canal cruise that is in downtown Richmond, and we got a little history tour as we go. 

Sylas with the I'm-going-to-get-you-face. Gunnar was touching him. Sigh.

 See how red and hot those boys are? Near the end of the cruise they were just laying on the benches on the boat, moaning in misery.  Welcome Richmond heat.

 Then we went to the science museum, drank about a gallon of lemonade and water each, and explored the museum with the rest of the children in all of Richmond. There had to have been about 500 school buses there.

Blowing bubbles!

In other news, I did a science experiment with the kids. Pinned here

 Also, Tamsyn got her little scaly abomination. It's actually quite pretty. Dubbed Lilly.

 And at this very moment Lohn and Tamsyn are feeding it. Behind me as I type. With a baby mouse. And it's squeaking. The two biggest babies in my house (meaning they can't abide blood, guts and needles) are feeding a live innocent baby mouse to a reptile who is about to swallow it whole. Heaven help me.

So my MIL is here for a visit!

And we are having a blast. I took her to the Zoo...

 Here she is feeding a giraffe.

 And playing with the birdies.

We took her on the sky ride. Note- I am barely stopping myself from flipping out and screaming. I don't do heights.

 Here I am with Sylas on the sky ride. See, I am not flipping out. At least not visibly. I almost lost it when they stopped once.  Isn't Sylas so stinkin' cute?!

Here we are on the train safari ride. Fun Fact-Did you know male ostriches are black because they sit on the nest at night and females are brown because they sit on the nest during the day, thus camoflauging them?

 Gunnar started swimming lessons, for which he says thanks in his prayers everyday. "And thank-you that I finally get to go to swim lessons." He's been watching from the sidelines the older two kids swim twice a day in swim and diving team for the last few weeks.

See that silly grown up lady in the back using a floaty? Thats me. Sylas is in the life jacket.

Some pictures from dive practice. They get to go to their first dive meet tonight.

And of course the super cute Sylas. I've had this towel since my baby shower, over ten years ago. Thank-you to whoever gave it, it's been well used.

We went to Yorktown. Gunnar calls it Newyork Town. Here they are showing us the diet of a revolutionary soldier. Sylas is peeking into a pot of beans and salted meat.

 Ander is breaking up the flax plant to get to the fibers under the hard outer shell. And below is Gunnar scraping off the hard outer shell. It took a whole acre of Flax to make one bolt of fabric.

We watched the kids wash dishes, learned about lye soap, and dying clothes. Life seemed so hard back then. At one point during the flax demonstration I turned around and asked my MIL, "Why didn't they just give up and die?!" Our life is so much easier than theirs. (Although, my dryer is broken and I do have to hang up my clothes on the line outside. It feels so 1800's-ish)

We are having a great time. I love having family (and friends) visit! Who's coming next???

So he wouldn't lay in the sand and make out with me.

So I am going to subject you to a few more pictures of Outer Banks.  Don't we look so happy and relaxed??? It really was a great vacation.

 All 21 of us. Lots of mouths to feed, lots of kids and lots of "Can I have another popsicle?" (I did buy 200)

 Walking on the beach with my fam. With my skirt doing a funky gather-up-on-my-waist-and-make-me-look-fat kinda of a look.

And what kind of a vacation would it be if we didn't lay in the sand with the ocean splashing around us a while we make out??? I am sure you will all agree it is a must have picture.

Lohn wasn't very cooperative. He about threw me in the ocean.

Awww, there we go. So we weren't laying on the beach with the ocean splashing around us, (and sand working it's way into uncomfortable places) but this will have to do. Should I post it on his FB?  Teeeheeee

I'm ready to turn around and drive back to the ocean!

 I'm not terribly happy about being home. Is that awful? I will be waking up with a to-do list in my head every morning again.  This week I was totally dayless, hourless, scheduleless, do-whatever-I-wantish. Absolutely lovely. A few pictures from our week...

 Boys playing webkinz together.

 I'm so happy Sylas didn't die in the swimming pool in the back yard or get swept away in the ocean. Yes, I did obsess about that.

 Heidi made us some delicious meals. She's a great cook!

I knew we would be coming home on Father's Day and that I would need to get Lohn a gift ahead of time, so before we left, I made this shirt, and the kids colored it nicely for him. It's a map of places we know, like the swimming pool, school, our home, the beach house and the ocean, Walmart, etc. The kids drive their cars on it so he can get a back massage. And yes, Lohn has Pinterest to thank for this idea!

 Me, talking on the phone wishing my dad a happy Fathers day, and getting started on my to-do list. I will be doing laundry for the next month and a half just to catch up. It's time to get back to reality!

It's all good though. Kids have swimming team, and diving team, and potty training for Sylas and summer school (taught by me) and more Virginia exploration to do this summer. We will have a blast!

Outer Banks- Day 5

The ocean is still not behaving. There was a red flag flying at the beach today. We are all praying for a calm happy ocean tomorrow so we can go swimming on our last day.

So to pass our day, we went to the Aquarium on Roanoke Island. 

 The kids donned the lab coats and took care of their sick turtles.

Then they got to pet sting rays. Heidi was smart, she took off Caels shirt. Ander was dripping wet when we were done.

 We got to watch the divers swim with the sharks. They took questions. Ander asked two. "Can you breed a shark with a fish?" and "How can you tell the difference between girl and boy fish?" Smart questions!

 When we were done with the aquarium, they went outside and hunted for Shark teeth. Tamsyn found about 20.

 After the aquarium, half of us went to the sound side and to go kayaking and swimming, and the other half went to some gardens. I elected to go swimming, and Sylas fell asleep on the way. So I stayed in the car with him and took a nap too. Good thing I did, I was starting to get a migraine. The kids had fun getting wet.

We didn't get any pictures at the sound, but the others got some pictures at the gardens.

Grandma McKee and Ethan made us a fantastic dinner, pasta and shrimp and crab. Num.

 Uncle Tyler with Cael in the hammock, hanging on the front porch. Tomorrow is our last day, and we are truly hoping for calmer winds and a happier ocean, so we can enjoy our last day here on the beach.
I am so sad for our vacation to end, but we are already making plans to do this again next year.