Our
Journey:
Journey:
Avalon's Army of Angels
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| October 8, 2008 Virginia Beach |
As of this morning, we still figured Avalon's
stomach issues had to do with her normal motility
problems. (We had no idea what we were in
for!) Anyway, because we were worried about
Avalon, we decided to give all the kids a break -
and not drag them back to Williamsburg. Face
it, we learned that Williamsburg is just not that
exciting for the 12 and under crowd. When the
other kids were offering up Avalon as a reason
not to go today...we knew we needed options.
Our wonderful friends, Marnita and Kevin,
suggested we take a drive to Virginia Beach.
They knew our kids had never seen the ocean,
and were gracious enough to want to join us.
So, a little bit of packing and organizing later, we
all piled into our van and set off on an
adventure. It was vacation Marnita-style, no
planning, just go with the flow...and enjoy
yourself. I'm telling you, this woman is a true
visionary. She's constantly teaching me. Today,
was a glorious example of her brilliance.
On the way to the beach, Marnita and Kevin
helped us side track a bit, and see a really neat
man-made wonder, the Chesapeake Bridge. I'm
sure Virginians don't think its nearly as cool as
we did. Its a ridiculously long bridge across
Chesapeake Bay, that alternates going under
the water in long tunnels, and over the water with
low bridges. The tunnel parts allow large boats
to enter and leave the bay.
One section of the bridge has a huge pier that
goes hundreds of feet into the bay. It was
fascinating! We saw a fisherman catch a shark,
took pictures of passing naval ships, and had
goofy amounts of fun enjoying the views. And
the thoughtful Marnita who suggested it? She
quietly suffered back at the car, because she's
deathly afraid of bridges. That's right. Marnita
suggested going, because she knew we'd all be
fascinated, knowing full-well, how terrified she'd
be. I do believe that's the definition of LOVE.
After our bridge outing, we finally aimed
beachward. Once we got there, I was a little
dumbstruck by what Virginia Beach is. I don't
know, I guess from all the vacation stories I'd
heard, I thought it would be this vast beautiful
resort area. Not so much. Its lots of hotels,
cheap tourist stores and restaurants all
crammed together along a section of road.
Behind the hotels on one side of the road - lays
the storied "Virginia Beach". Lots of sand, and
ocean. Done. I don't know what the heck I was
expecting - but I guess it wasn't that. Oh well.
As soon as we hit the sand, the squealing
started. The kids were THRILLED!!!! Having
only seen a tiny scrap of sand at a local state
park lake, they were utterly enthralled. The
shoes were off in a hot second, and pants were
immediately rolled as far as they would go. We
had taken their suits and towels, in case the day
warmed up - but that was pure folly. It was
FREEZING!!!! OK, let me qualify that. To any
sane human (which included all 4 adults present
and the baby) it was COLD. To my obviously
brain-damaged girls...it was a balmy,
ocean-worthy day. They spent a ridiculous
amount of time badgering us to let them go
swimming. Since 4 adults outnumbered the
three of them, they were ever-so-horribly forced
to merely wade in the waves, collect treasures,
and make sand sculptures. Woe is them, it is
suffer.
Of course, as you will see in the pictures, they
were all relatively rotten at judging those silly
little things called waves. One by one, they'd
wade just a tad too far, in search of some elusive
shell, or the perfect rock - and blip! there they'd
go, drenched from a wave. Of course, some of
those "blips" were actually well thought out
"bloops" to try to force our hands to let them
swim. Tough nuggies - they all had to stay
dressed. Oh yeah, I'm mean. ;-)
The girls let waves crash on their toes, and sand
squish between them. They chased sea gulls
and waved at military jets flying overhead. They
searched for tiny shells, and wondered at seed
pods we found littering the beach. They made a
sand fortress that was as much fun to stomp on
as it was to construct. But most of all...they
made happy, giggling, GLORIOUS memories
that I will carry with me for a lifetime. Do I wish I
could take them to a beach every Summer? Of
course. But this one day will have to do for
some time - and they wrung every single second
out of it they could.
When all was said and done - they were sandy,
tired, and soaked. Here we were, thinking what
in the Hades do we do with them Now?! Easy
enough, when you're in tourist country. As Nick
and Kevin dried off the little ones and switched
them into their bathing suits, Marnita and I
headed across the street to a souvenir shop.
You have to love end-of-season clearance!
Aurora got two new T-shirts, and Ambrosia and
Avalon each got an adult t-shirt which could
function like a dress - for a whopping $16. Not
bad! Bing, bang, boom - the kids had dry
clothes and we were headed home. A perfect
end, to a perfect day.
It didn't take too long for the day to catch up with
Avalon. She passed out in a matter of minutes.
Funny enough, the car ride got to Marnita too -
she joined Avalon in the comfy place before too
long. It made for a quieter ride back, but face it -
we were all too pooped to pop.
Before we actually hit the condo for the night,
Marnita and Kevin were unbelievably generous
and treated us to a Mexican dinner. By the size
of my rear you'd never imagine it, but I was
totally off my feed that night. I couldn't even
manage to finish the amazing appetizer I'd
chosen in place of an entree. The kids didn't
fare much better. I honestly think we were just
all too tired to eat. I happen to believe that's
proof positive the day had been magical.
Once back at the condo, Marnita and Kevin
invited Ambrosia to come up to their condo and
spend the night being super spoiled. Marnita
had hatched this plan long before vacation.
Each girl would be invited to have a special night
with them. Each girl would get her own bedroom
for a night, late night snacks, and undivided
spoiling attention from them. Have you ever
heard of anything so WONDERFUL?! I mean,
really, these kind of friends just aren't normal.
We are so unbelievable BLESSED...I can't wrap
my mind around it sometimes...
Anyway, Marnita started the gameplan by inviting
up Ambrosia. I believe it took 1.2 seconds for
Ambrosia to squeal, "Yes!" and gather up her
pillow and bear. As I collapsed into bed, as far
as I knew, I'd see her again in the morning....
stomach issues had to do with her normal motility
problems. (We had no idea what we were in
for!) Anyway, because we were worried about
Avalon, we decided to give all the kids a break -
and not drag them back to Williamsburg. Face
it, we learned that Williamsburg is just not that
exciting for the 12 and under crowd. When the
other kids were offering up Avalon as a reason
not to go today...we knew we needed options.
Our wonderful friends, Marnita and Kevin,
suggested we take a drive to Virginia Beach.
They knew our kids had never seen the ocean,
and were gracious enough to want to join us.
So, a little bit of packing and organizing later, we
all piled into our van and set off on an
adventure. It was vacation Marnita-style, no
planning, just go with the flow...and enjoy
yourself. I'm telling you, this woman is a true
visionary. She's constantly teaching me. Today,
was a glorious example of her brilliance.
On the way to the beach, Marnita and Kevin
helped us side track a bit, and see a really neat
man-made wonder, the Chesapeake Bridge. I'm
sure Virginians don't think its nearly as cool as
we did. Its a ridiculously long bridge across
Chesapeake Bay, that alternates going under
the water in long tunnels, and over the water with
low bridges. The tunnel parts allow large boats
to enter and leave the bay.
One section of the bridge has a huge pier that
goes hundreds of feet into the bay. It was
fascinating! We saw a fisherman catch a shark,
took pictures of passing naval ships, and had
goofy amounts of fun enjoying the views. And
the thoughtful Marnita who suggested it? She
quietly suffered back at the car, because she's
deathly afraid of bridges. That's right. Marnita
suggested going, because she knew we'd all be
fascinated, knowing full-well, how terrified she'd
be. I do believe that's the definition of LOVE.
After our bridge outing, we finally aimed
beachward. Once we got there, I was a little
dumbstruck by what Virginia Beach is. I don't
know, I guess from all the vacation stories I'd
heard, I thought it would be this vast beautiful
resort area. Not so much. Its lots of hotels,
cheap tourist stores and restaurants all
crammed together along a section of road.
Behind the hotels on one side of the road - lays
the storied "Virginia Beach". Lots of sand, and
ocean. Done. I don't know what the heck I was
expecting - but I guess it wasn't that. Oh well.
As soon as we hit the sand, the squealing
started. The kids were THRILLED!!!! Having
only seen a tiny scrap of sand at a local state
park lake, they were utterly enthralled. The
shoes were off in a hot second, and pants were
immediately rolled as far as they would go. We
had taken their suits and towels, in case the day
warmed up - but that was pure folly. It was
FREEZING!!!! OK, let me qualify that. To any
sane human (which included all 4 adults present
and the baby) it was COLD. To my obviously
brain-damaged girls...it was a balmy,
ocean-worthy day. They spent a ridiculous
amount of time badgering us to let them go
swimming. Since 4 adults outnumbered the
three of them, they were ever-so-horribly forced
to merely wade in the waves, collect treasures,
and make sand sculptures. Woe is them, it is
suffer.
Of course, as you will see in the pictures, they
were all relatively rotten at judging those silly
little things called waves. One by one, they'd
wade just a tad too far, in search of some elusive
shell, or the perfect rock - and blip! there they'd
go, drenched from a wave. Of course, some of
those "blips" were actually well thought out
"bloops" to try to force our hands to let them
swim. Tough nuggies - they all had to stay
dressed. Oh yeah, I'm mean. ;-)
The girls let waves crash on their toes, and sand
squish between them. They chased sea gulls
and waved at military jets flying overhead. They
searched for tiny shells, and wondered at seed
pods we found littering the beach. They made a
sand fortress that was as much fun to stomp on
as it was to construct. But most of all...they
made happy, giggling, GLORIOUS memories
that I will carry with me for a lifetime. Do I wish I
could take them to a beach every Summer? Of
course. But this one day will have to do for
some time - and they wrung every single second
out of it they could.
When all was said and done - they were sandy,
tired, and soaked. Here we were, thinking what
in the Hades do we do with them Now?! Easy
enough, when you're in tourist country. As Nick
and Kevin dried off the little ones and switched
them into their bathing suits, Marnita and I
headed across the street to a souvenir shop.
You have to love end-of-season clearance!
Aurora got two new T-shirts, and Ambrosia and
Avalon each got an adult t-shirt which could
function like a dress - for a whopping $16. Not
bad! Bing, bang, boom - the kids had dry
clothes and we were headed home. A perfect
end, to a perfect day.
It didn't take too long for the day to catch up with
Avalon. She passed out in a matter of minutes.
Funny enough, the car ride got to Marnita too -
she joined Avalon in the comfy place before too
long. It made for a quieter ride back, but face it -
we were all too pooped to pop.
Before we actually hit the condo for the night,
Marnita and Kevin were unbelievably generous
and treated us to a Mexican dinner. By the size
of my rear you'd never imagine it, but I was
totally off my feed that night. I couldn't even
manage to finish the amazing appetizer I'd
chosen in place of an entree. The kids didn't
fare much better. I honestly think we were just
all too tired to eat. I happen to believe that's
proof positive the day had been magical.
Once back at the condo, Marnita and Kevin
invited Ambrosia to come up to their condo and
spend the night being super spoiled. Marnita
had hatched this plan long before vacation.
Each girl would be invited to have a special night
with them. Each girl would get her own bedroom
for a night, late night snacks, and undivided
spoiling attention from them. Have you ever
heard of anything so WONDERFUL?! I mean,
really, these kind of friends just aren't normal.
We are so unbelievable BLESSED...I can't wrap
my mind around it sometimes...
Anyway, Marnita started the gameplan by inviting
up Ambrosia. I believe it took 1.2 seconds for
Ambrosia to squeal, "Yes!" and gather up her
pillow and bear. As I collapsed into bed, as far
as I knew, I'd see her again in the morning....
| Chesapeake Bay Bridge |
| Out on the pier |
| This feels weird! |
| So that's the ocean? |
| Is it going to be cold? |
| As you can see from the pictures below, I had a tremendous amount of fun photographing my little people at the beach. Scary as it is, this is only a small fraction of the pictures I took. I've chosen the "best" to share with you - but I admit there are probably 3 for every one I'm sharing! Life is short, and this was a moment in time I want to freeze forever. One thing I've learned over these past few years, is to NEVER take anything for granted. Don't expect perfection, instead - learn to appreciate the perfect moments you're given. A warm, sunny week at a beach resort would be lovely. We got a blustery, chilly afternoon on a public beach. And you know what? It was a Dream Come True. I hope you can see the joy we felt that day! |
| True friends will not only dream up a wonderful day, they'll sleep with you on the way home... Thank you, Marnita and Kevin - it was Heaven on Earth.... |