Rides Slides and Waves

Having had such a delightful few days this past weekend, it would be a shame for our adventures to not be trumpeted accross the electronic superhiway via this very blog. You see, Theresa and I, knowing that the dog days of summer are nearly past, took it upon ourselves to skip work for a day and head out onto the open road for an end-o-the-summer mini-vacation.

The first stop on said outing was not in fact coordinated by us. For my Uncle and Aunt has come to the old dominion for their own vacation, and subsequently took off to New York, leaving their three kids in the care of their and my grandparents. So then, what is there for my Grandparents to do, but continue the time-honored tradition of spoiling their grandkids - in this case, by taking them to King's Dominion, a amusment/waterpark just North of Richmond. And since I am a grandchild of said grandparents, and because they needed back-up from a couple who is willing to brave the larger rollar-coasters with the elder of the children, Theresa and I were invited to come along. And let me tell you, I don't know if Addy Ben and Matt even had as much fun as Theresa and I did running from ride to ride, and even snapping a quick photo of Dora the Explorer to be used in impressing Theresa's 3 year old neice (much to the embarrasment of our 11 year old cousin, who is much too cool to be seen with Dora). In all, we spent over 10 hours, split between the rides and the slides (waterslides that is).

The next day, setting out from a Richmond hotel the we shared with our cousins, Theresa and I next travelled to Virginia Beach for a day of relaxation following that rollar-coaster of a Friday the day previous. Now, Virginia Beach is a nice beach with good sand and warm water, and Theresa particularly enjoyed not only setting eyes on the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, but jumping right in and playing in its waves. All and all, we had a good time, especially walking along the shore, hand-in-hand, watching the multitude of visitors there to enjoy the sun and surf. It was particularly interesting (in a saddening yet amusing way), watching the little kids at the edge of the tide-line building their sand castles, only to have them come crashing down when the waves reach the point where they had originally deemed safe enough for construction and while the constructors desperatly, and ultimatly vainly, trying to sheild their creations from the ever-encroaching onslaught of the unstoppable forces of nature. And, as another, unrealated observation, I can confindintly say that the Canadian Girls were definatly the most attractive of any in Virginia Beach, at least judging from the one whose nationality I could difinatively accertain.

So yeah, we had a great weekend - so much so that we did something that we have never done before and I thought we would never do on our many trips on this side of continent and the other: We bought a souvenir. That's right, it was a spiral sea shell that cost under $3.00, designed to be the crown jewel in our shell collection that we collected on the beach of Vancouver Island on our honeymoon and currently have proudly displayed in our living room. So come over and check it out sometime.