Family Vacation - waterpark, beach and ocean

This was the perfect family vacation for the Scott's. We got to see lots of friends, their kiddos and we spent 99% of the time in the water. The girls are such water rats and loved every minute of our vacation.
Tutu took us to the airport. The girls thought they were so cool cause they had their own suitcases. It worked out well having them pull their own carry on. The plane ride was great. The girls' ears bothered them as we were landing so we had to teach them how to push the air out their ears. Grace kept crying "my ears, my ears" but finally she popped them and was happy again.





Laura picked us up at the airport and we headed to her house. The girls were so excited to see Tyler. We made dinner that night and hung out.
Thursday morning (8.11.11), Derek, the girls and I left for Williamsburg to meet Melissa, Kaycee and their kids Hayden(4) and Landen(3) at Water Country USA waterpark. We had such a blast at the park. The kids all got along great.






We left around 5pm to check in to the hotel and find dinner. Derek set the kids up with ipads to watch movies during dinner so we could have adult conversation. It worked out great and the kids loved it. Ava got mesquito bites so we had to make a stop at the pharmacy to get some meds for her cause she welts up. Poor thing was itching her leg off with 4 bites on the back of her thigh.



Friday morning (8.12.11), we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed back to the waterpark. The kids were so excited!!

Laura, Rob and Tyler met us there too. We started out in the kid zone to run off some energy. Then Derek and I took the girls on the Nitro Rider. You ride by yourself on a foam mat on your stomach down a slide that goes up and down to the end. I was so nervous watching them go down on their own. Ava went down first and then Grace. They did awesome and loved it!! Then after lunch we rode Meltdown slide. It's a 3 person surf-boggan that goes down a twisting slide to a big splash pool at the end. Grace rode with Laura and I and screamed the whole way. She absolutely loved it. Ava rode with Melissa and Hayden and she wanted to go again when they got off. Landen rode down with Kaycee and Derek. This was such a perfect ride for the kids. We hit up the Hubba Hubba Highway, lazy river that isn't so lazy. This sucker is going fast but is a lot of fun. The wave pool was the other kid favorite.



Girls had to have popcorn before leaving. They definitely are Galbraith's. ha!

We all left about 5pm and the girls fell asleep immediately once we got down the road. It was an hour back to Laura's and we stopped to pick up dinner.



Saturday (8.13.11), we enjoyed some down time. Laura and I took the girls to the farmers market and the playground.
It wasn't hard to put the girls down for a nap since they were so exhausted from the last 2 days. After dinner, Rob made a fire in his awesome firepit so we could enjoy smores. This was such a fun time with the girls since they've never made or eaten smores. Laura gave the girls a little lesson on how to make smores. Derek helped them brown their marshmellow and then they took it over to Laura to squish it on the cracker. They had 3 smores each. Derek and I had 4!!! It was a perfect night for smores with a light misting rain. Just enough to keep the mequitos away.








Sunday (8.14.11), we headed to Virginia Beach and checked into the Sherton Oceanfront Hotel. It rained on and off all day so the beach and pool weren't crowded.

The girls loved the ocean, the sand and the pool. These girls were born to be beach bums!! They didn't care about being covered in sand or that the ocean was chilly. They had to chase all the birds on the beach, race Daddy on the beach and write their names in the sand. We went to dinner at a pizzeria, got back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby til it was bedtime. Derek and Rob went out to a bar while Laura and I went to bed with the kids.










Look at all that sand.....yuck! Thank god we could shower off at the beach and then leave any leftover sand in the hotel room. :)


The view from our room. (sorry for some fuzzy photos. it was a raining day and I had some rain drop spots on my lense.)

Monday (8.15.11), we spent the day at the beach and pool again! Grace didn't want to get out of the ocean. She wanted Derek to help her jump the waves. Ava liked it but she wanted to play in the sand more.






Derek and I took turns taking Grace in the waves since she wouldn't get out of the water. She is such a water rat. The water was chilly and huge waves would crash over us. BURR!!


We played in the pool one last time before checking out. Laura, Rob and Tyler went on home and we stayed for the rest of the afternoon. Derek wanted to rent a bike and ride it down to the Dairy Queen on 17th St. (busiest DQ in America). The ice cream was worth all the pedaling.
On Tuesday (8.16.11), we headed home and the girls did great on the plane ride. They watched movies on the ipad, played games and music on their iphones and colored in their coloring books. Tutu picked us up at the airport. On our way home, the girls fell asleep so we just put them straight to bed at 7pm. They were out for the night. They needed that extra sleep.

Such a great vacation and I loved every minute of it!! I enjoyed getting to see my friends and their families. I enjoyed my time with Derek and the girls without interruption. It was fun to watch the girls enjoy every activity and then hear what their favorite part was. Grace said her favorite was "the beach and Laura's house". Ava said her favorite was "the same as Grace". hahaha!