visiting Virginia

This weekend we traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, for Bill's cousin's wedding. We've been looking forward to it for quite awhile.

We left Thursday night, drove partway and stayed in a hotel. The kids are good travelers anyway, but we borrowed a DVD player which also helped. Glitch #1 happened when we got out at the hotel and realized that Henry hadn't worn any shoes. Luckily there was a K-Mart nearby.

Glitch #2 happened when, 35 miles away from our destination, we got stuck in traffic, and it took us 3 hours to make it the rest of the way! We eventually made it to the Friday night event- a picnic on the Lafayette River (I hope I have that right, I just tried to figure it out by looking at a map). There were so many children at these gatherings- it was really fun and family-friendly.

Henry loved watching the water and the boats, of course. He also loved watching this guy make waffle cones:

I'm not sure why it fascinated him so much, but I enjoyed watching Henry watch the cone guy!

Saturday we weighed the many fun options and decided to visit the zoo with my sister-in-law and her sons. I think it was a good choice, especially from the Henry perspective. One of my concerns when we get together with family is how to let them get to know my kids in a brief window of time. The zoo is a good place to get to know Henry. He is a little more interactive there than usual. He likes to get a map and track where we're going and where we've been. He's very animated talking about all the animals and instructing me to take pictures of all of them. (I guess it's safe to say that Henry is a visual kid. He makes me take a photo of each animal and then wants me to print them all out. Sometimes I fib and tell him that I did take a picture of the goats at the petting zoo, when really I didn't because we have a dozen pictures of goats on our computer already. But he always catches me in that lie because he remembers 3 days later and asks me to "print out the picture of the goats".)

The wedding reception was at Bill's aunt and uncle's home, also on the Lafeyette River. I was a bit freaked out when I spotted Henry out on the dock by himself right away. But I later found out that the family had hired some babysitters/spies to keep an eye on things and make sure none of the children wandered off or got into trouble. That helped put my mind at ease. They really thought of everything.

In this picture Henry is clutching his reward. If there's one thing I learned on this trip, it's always a good idea to have a reward up your sleeve. Some may poo-poo the idea of bribing your kids, but I'm all for it.

I started warning Tommy several days before we left that he would have to wear long pants to the wedding. Oh, the torture. I told him if he did a good job and didn't argue, he could have a reward.

When shopping for his reward (Indiana Jones legos), I happened to come across a 750 piece Disney puzzle that we didn't have yet, and picked that up for Henry too. I was thanking my lucky stars for that stroke of brilliance when, after the wedding, we were asked to stay behind for a family photo. I told both boys that I had a surprise for them in the car after they cooperated for the photo.

The surprises probably would have worked even better at an indoor reception. We lost a few pieces in the grass. But still, it kept the kids occupied longer than they would have been otherwise.

That's right. This wedding included a fireworks display! How awesome is that? Henry is covering his ears, but that doesn't mean he didn't enjoy it. In fact, the fireworks were his very favorite part. The bride said they were her favorite also. They had been a surprise for her.

I love weddings for so many reasons- the dresses, the flowers, the music, the dancing, the food, the drink. And now that I've been married 11 years myself, I love them for reminding me of our beginning. When you're the one saying the vows, you hear that "for better, for worse" stuff and think yeah, yeah, whatever. We won't have any hard times. We won't have any sickness.

And then you look around 11 years later and you think whew, we have actually had some tough times. Good thing we could hold hands and get through them together. This getting married thing was a good idea.

This guy, even though he gets so irrationally mad when he's stuck in traffic, stays out too late partying with the young cousins, and takes his shoes and socks off at weddings? He's a keeper.

In summary: weddings are good. How fortunate, then, we're attending another this weekend. :-) And this time, the kids aren't invited, so maybe we'll get to do more dancing.

Also, see below for glitch #3 of our trip.