Jamestown Settlement

One of the cool historic sites here in Virginia is the Jamestown Settlement.  It's pretty cool that we lived in New England and were able to see many historic sites there and now a little further down the coast, we can explore even more history.  :)  Also, they are great homeschool field trips!  ;)

Waiting to go view a short film about Jamestown.

Daddy sharing what he has read.  :)  Love this shot.

Old-time darts type game where you throw a corn cob arrow through the hoop.

The boys on a little canoe trip.  ;)

A Day at the Zoo

We have a membership to our local zoo (so fun to have a local zoo!) and we visited a day earlier in the summer for a fun day out.  The zoo also has sprayers that you can play in at the entrance, so that was extra fun.  We got there right when they opened, so the children were able to play in the sprayers first virtually alone.  It was a great, fun day, and we'll be back for another round before the summer is over, I'm sure.

Each child had their own sprayer.  :)

Clara watching her siblings in the sprayers.

I have never seen a tiger this close to the glass before!

Pretty cool...our zoo currently has a baby giraffe.

The second round of sprayer time in the afternoon.  Clara snoozed through this sprayer play time.  :)

Feeding the goats!

Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens is only about an hour from here, so we made the trip when Carl had a few vacation days.  All the older children are tall enough to ride most everything (that they want to ride) either by themselves, with an adult, or with Will, so it was a great time, and a full day (their endurance has also increased with their height 😉).

Snack break.

Clara taking a rest while we waited with Jadon for the rest of the family to ride the log ride (Jadon and I rode previously and he decided he didn't need to go again).

My acrobat!

Daddy and Hannah with Jadon and Will behind them (Will's in the red shirt, Hannah's in the pink).

Hannah and Daddy sharing a swing toward the middle, and Will in the red shirt on the outside.

End of the day sky gondola ride back to the entrance.

Beach Day

A few weeks back, we went to the beach for the first time here in Virginia.  It was a perfect day for the beach and we had a lovely time, enjoying MUCH warmer ocean water than Maine, and great weather, before it got too hot.  Additionally, we saw many little sand crabs, and even DOLPHINS!  That was pretty cool for us, to see dolphins from the shore.  :)

The family on the way to the beach!

Clara cannot yet crawl (which makes beach going much easier, in my opinion), and was very content just sitting with me in the shade tent playing with whatever I gave her.  :)

Hannah coming to tell me a quick something about what she was doing, and then she was off again!

Jadon telling me a story about some recent, impressive swimming achievement.  

Fun Pics

The boys both promoted into the next Sunday School class this year.

Hannah sitting with Mommy and Clara in the shade at the park one day.

Adorable feet of a sleeping baby in the shade.

Jadon at the end of the year Trail Life event, which both boys participated in this past year.

Strawberry Festival

The family attended a local Strawberry Festival and a good time was had by all!

They had a combine simulator, which the children loved, and I thought was fun, as it brought back memories of my childhood riding in the combine with my grandpa.  :)

Each child got to choose a ride.  Hannah chose these "jumping" trucks.

Will (in the bright green hat, second car) chose the roller coaster.

Clara watching the crowd.

Jadon chose these spinning bears and really wanted Will to ride with him (who you can see here).

And a cute pic of baby Clara in the bath.  :)