Virginia is for Lovers, part 2

Since Jonathan has been dying to back pack here all year long, first we had to survive the 4 1/2 hour car ride down to Richmond, VA with a very grumpy baby:

Okay, well, maybe he wasn't TOO grumpy, but he did like playing "Peekaboo" with mommy and Lucy. This was his turn.:)

To break up the drive a bit, we decided to stop in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania to check out the Civil War history there. Because it's about halfway between Washington DC (the Union capital) and Richmond (the Confederate capital) it saw quite a bit of fighting. This was a house caught in the middle of one of the battles, and it said there wasn't a spot on any wall of the house where you could fit 2 hands without there being a bullet hole.

The Confederates had dug in along this "Sunken Road" and basically mowed down the Union army as they came along, killing over 12,000, while they only lost 5,000 soldiers.

There was a neat story about the "Angel of Marye's Heights" (Joseph B. Kirkland) who was a Confederate sergeant, but was so disturbed by the cries of the wounded Union troops for water that despite venturing into the thick of a battle that was still raging, delivered water to as many soldiers as he could.

And in honor of Lucy's Grandpa Cardon, we had to stop at Stonewall Jackson's shrine. He was wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville and died 8 days later, which was a huge blow to the Confederate army. Though off the beaten path, we though we'd pay homage to one of the greatest Generals of all time---even if he was fighting on the wrong side.

Once we finally made it to Sarah and Devin's house in Richmond, Jon headed off early the next morning for his rendevous with Shenandoah. The kids and I headed with Sarah and Eva to the Richmond Children's Museum to play. It was a GREAT museum with lots of fun hands-on exhibits for the kids.

After the museum we brought the kids back home for naps and since the tour isn't exactly kid-friendly, I got to head off on my own little mission to see Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello in Charlotesville, VA.


What's weird is that I remember writing a report on Thomas Jefferson in 3rd grade and including lots of information about his revolutionary home Monticello (with its Lewis and Clark map room, dumbwaiter, plantation, etc.) but I didn't put anything about how he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Go figure. Anyway, from his hilltop home you get a gorgeous view looking into the Shenandoah Valley that's killer! It was a beautiful day!


Thursday we took the kids again and headed to the Richmond Botanical Gardens. Sarah had all kinds of great connections and got us in free! It was BEAUTIFUL with all the flowers and water and fountains, and they had some really neat things for kids to do. Which was good because within 5 minutes of being there Lucy nosedived right into the tulips breaking about 20 of them.

They had the neatest "Pinwheel Garden" that Zach was fascinated by. When the wind blew it was this mass of shimmering silver, and he couldn't stay away!

We finally got the kids settled into this enormous sandbox situated under some shady trees. It was good for about an hour of uninterrupted, peaceful play time. Now that's priceless!!

Mountain Man Jon got home late Thursday night from his backpacking excursion, so we were able to shift plans a bit and hit Busch Gardens on Friday instead of Saturday to avoid the big crowds. We were SO excited for Busch Gardens because not only did we get in free, thanks to the "Here's the Heroes" program, we also got to go with Sarah and Devin who are experts on the place. Within 15 minutes of being there we'd ridden "The Griffin" 3 times with NO lines. Amazing! Here are the kids waiting for the dads to get done with the brand new "Europe in the Air" ride.

They had a portion of the park like a mini Sesame Place and guess what? Lucy wasn't afraid anymore!! She loved the characters and got her picture with just about all of them.

Waiting in line with Sarah at our favorite roller coaster, "Apollo's Chariot."

It was especially exciting because Lucy, who has never exhibited any interest in rides, was suddenly a little daredevil!! She did the kids' roller coaster, the log ride (which was actually a big drop), and lots of other kiddie rides. Disney World here we come!!

Busch Gardens is themed like the countries from Europe, so naturally we got some Bratwurst and sauerkraut in Germany, as well as this enormous "Torte Cake," which translated means "Cake Cake." And that it was!! Unfortunately we discovered early on in the day that Jon is totally unable to ride any motion rides, and he was nauseated the rest of the day. He wasn't really able to help devour the Cake Cake.

After lunch it was SUPER hot so we let the kids cool off in one of the water play areas. I don't know what's up with my kids and bum cracks lately??

And what do you do with a kid who can't ride rides yet, but doesn't to sit still or miss any of the action?? Feed him chocolate! Poor little guy had chocolate beard all day...

Eva and Lucy--the frousins (friend+cousin) on the horsie ride!!

We had such a wonderful day at Busch Gardens with Devin and Sarah and Eva. We headed home the next morning bright and early back to Phillydelphia, much to Lucy's dismay, but we sure loved our time in Virginia!!