Vacation in short

I've been avoiding blogging because I know I owe you all a vacation blog post. There are approximately 300 pictures to go through from our trip and trying to find just the right ones to illustrate our great time is difficult, but here goes:

We'll pick things up the day after Busch Gardens, since you all know what a great (educational) experience we had there. We had beautiful weather, so got to spend a fair amount of time at the on-ground pool. T had a great time being tossed around by Ry and my Dad.

We went to Colonial Williamsburg, which was mostly a disappointment for me. I think I expected more people in costume doing things. Instead, it seemed like any quiet little eastern town. There were a few highlights though. We stopped into a really old church and found this memorial. The Tucker brothers came over from England a long time ago (you'd have to ask my Dad or sister for actual dates). One brother went north and one went south. We are descended from the northern line. This memorial is for someone from the southern line, and so are my great .... relatives. Pretty cool, actually. It was amusing to me that the side reads "Mrs. Tucker." I guess when you got married you stopped having a first name ... or identity. Bah.

Here's one of the few costumed people we ran into. He is a silver smith and was drawing silver to make bracelets and rings. Dad and Ry got to use his drawing contraption. T was fascinated by the whole process. It was really the only thing at CW he was remotely interested in.

This is Shirley Plantation. It was built in the early 1700s and the 11th generation of the family still lives there. While it was really interesting, I think I need to save these kinds of stops for when I'm sans-child or they're much older. You live and learn, I guess.

We also visited the Virginia Beach Aquarium. It is by far the best kids aquarium we've been to. Everything is at kid-height and there are lots of touching exhibits. They were undergoing some renovations, but we still had a good time.

Just T inside an aquarium. Cause he's cute.

We also celebrated T's 2 and a half birthday, complete with half a cake. He gets so excited about singing the birthday song.

Cause they're cute.

Day two at Busch Gardens. We still had a great time, but T was a bit more reserved. It was our last day in VA, and I think we were all a bit tired from all the activity. We're watching a live Elmo and Friends show.

Ry and my Dad got to ride some of the big-boy rides this day as well. I know you can't see them, but they were dangling over a vertical drop that seemed impossibly high. They went 3 times. I was jealous.

And Dad and T on the climbing treehouse.

We had a really fun trip. I'm so glad we were able to spend the week with my Dad and Laurel. This marks our last long-distance trip before Baby Version T.2 comes in November.