Virginia Beach Family Vacation 2016: Day 3 & 4

One month ago today we were waking up to our first full day at Virginia Beach! An entire month has flown by since that day. I know I say it all the time but I still can't believe how quickly time passes by.

We had a wonderful family vacation at the beach this year! I took so many pictures that I have to break my recap into two days at a time. I'm determined to finish my recap by the end of the month though! (You can see Day 1 and Day 2 HERE.)

{DAY THREE}

On day three, which was a Sunday, I was still sick with that nasty cold. I was moving very slowly that morning! We woke the kids up and immediately went down to the lobby for the breakfast buffet. The breakfast spread is amazing and I was really bummed because I didn't have much of an appetite.

After breakfast Grant and Dylan ran some errands. They had to buy pull-ups and wipes and pick up a new pair of rollerblades that Grant found on Craigslist. Wouldn't you know that the rollerblades that he had since he was a teenager broke on our first day of vacation? Somehow he found a brand new pair for $20!

While they were gone the girls, Liam and I relaxed in the hotel suite.

When they returned we headed down to the beach for the afternoon. Liam fell asleep right away! I was okay with that because it meant I could relax for a bit!

The three older kids played in the sand for a while before heading into the ocean.

By the time Liam woke up the beach had cleared. I just love going to the beach at the end of August because it's so quiet!

The older kids spent the rest of the afternoon swimming while Liam played in the sand.

 

They eventually worked together to dig for sand crabs. They ended up with quite the collection!

After a few hours Grant, Lexie and Liam went back up to the hotel room.  Dylan, Lily and I stayed at the beach until dinner time. Other than the lifeguard in the stand next to us we pretty much had the beach to ourselves!

We eventually headed back up to the hotel suite and everybody was napping.  I opened the doors to the balcony and drifted off to the sound of the ocean. I never nap at home but I obviously needed some sleep! I napped for less than an hour but woke up to Dylan shaking me. There were dolphins right near the shore again and he knew I would want to see them! Once again there were about 20 of them and they really were right near the shore!

We ordered some Chinese food and watched the sunset while we ate.

We went out for a bit but had to race back to the hotel because a storm was coming. We stood on our balcony and watched the lightning over the ocean. We watched as it rolled in and the power of it was unreal. You could feel it coming and we saw people racing for cover on the boardwalk before we even saw the rain hit. It was amazing to see and it was over just as quickly as it began.  Even so we decided to stay in the rest of the night!

{DAY FOUR}

Day four (Monday) was very much like day three but more relaxed.  The weekend crowd-if that's what you would call it-was gone and we didn't have any errands to run. We spent the majority of our day on the beach!

 

It was SO nice to see our kids getting along so well!

As usual Grant took Liam back to the hotel for a nap in the late afternoon and Lexie went along. My awesome beach bums stayed with me on the mostly empty beach!

Lily is just fascinated by the sea gulls. She loved them last year and she loved them just as much this year. She's like the pigeon lady in Home Alone 2!

We eventually joined our other half in the suite, ate dinner then strolled the boardwalk. While we were out we saw the most beautiful sunset!


 

When we were in Virginia Beach last year there was a circus in the park that Lily absolutely loved. She was thrilled to discover it again and took a break from our walk to watch the end of the show.

After the show was over we introduced our kids to the best frozen custard in Virginia Beach then headed back to our hotel for a swim.

After swimming we went for a late night walk on the beach. It's one of our favorite traditions! The kids couldn't wait to use their brand new light up rockets and walk along the edge of the water to search for shells.

We had such a fun, busy day and everyone fell asleep quickly when we returned to the room! Stay tuned for the second half of our trip...

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4th of July Celebration!

We had a lot of fun celebrating the 4th of July this year!

We spent the day with Grant's family and a group of our friends at Grant's Nannie's house.  For as long as I have been with Grant (14 years!!!), we have gone to Grant's family's big 4th of July picnic every year!

This year was bittersweet.  The 4th of July was Grant's dad's favorite holiday, and this was the first year without him.  I know Grant was dreading the day, but we made the most of it, and everybody had a good time!







The kids played with their friends, the adults talked, and there was plenty of delicious food!





Grant's dad was the mayor of his hometown for many years.  This year's 4th of July celebration, including the parade and fireworks, was in honor of him.   Every year for the past decade, Grant's dad, as mayor, rode in the parade. 

This year, Dylan represented the family!  He decided at the last minute to join his baseball league in the parade.  This left us scrambling.  Luckily, I thought ahead and brought his baseball shirt and hat.  As soon as we finished eating, Grant and Lily raced into town to meet Dylan at the end of the parade route, while Dylan and I ran to the parade lineup.  He made it in time, so I raced down to the street so I could join our family and friends to watch the parade.  This pregnant mama was tired after making that run in 90+ degree heat! But...we all made it!








My sweet Lily slept through the entire parade!  She must have been really tired, considering tons of firetrucks and police cars, with sirens wailing, passed by without waking her up!  I felt bad that she missed the fun and excitement, but she needed a nap!




After the parade ended, and everybody returned to the house, the picnic continued!







Before long, it was getting dark, so it was time to head out to watch the town fireworks.  We always watch the fireworks from a hill on the edge of the cemetery.  This year, we had a big group of friends and family with us.  It rained while we were waiting for the fireworks to begin, but stopped just in time!





This is the part where the day got very emotional.  As mayor, Grant's dad brought fireworks back into town.  He loved the 4th so much, worked hard to raise funds for the fireworks, and ultimately, succeeded.  He said it was his biggest accomplishment as mayor.

While he was sick, a neighbor spent days interviewing him about his life, and recorded the interview, which was an incredible gift.  Last year, the town didn't have fireworks because he was too sick to do the fundraising.  A bunch of people were able to do so this year, in honor of Dick. Before the fireworks began, a local radio station played the part of the interview about how he brought fireworks back to Mars, and then played music to go along with the fireworks show.

As his voice, a voice we hadn't heard in over 6 months, was heard on the radio, the tears began to fall.  After the interview ended, they did a 21 firework salute in honor of him.  In between the huge booms, there were seconds of silence.  The only sounds that filled the air were our sobs.  After the salute, the fireworks began.


 

It was a perfectly beautiful way to honor his memory, and we are so thankful to those who worked so hard to achieve this.  He would have been so proud and honored! 

The family lingered behind after the fireworks ended, and we stopped by his grave for a few minutes.  We returned to the picnic, emotionally exhausted.  Even Dylan and Lexie were in tears.

We are so thankful for the friends that stayed behind and kept the day from becoming overly depressing.  We pulled out leftovers, ate, and talked into the wee hours of the morning!  Before we knew it, it was 1:30 AM, and time to head home!

We had so much fun celebrating our country with some of the people we love the most!!! Happy 4th of July!!!