July, Part One

My goal to blog weekly does not seem to be coming to fruition, and, I am so far behind in all the things I wanted to write about thatI have decided to simplify things and break July into two parts. This means I won't go into the detail I would like, but I will still preserve the memories.

July began for us with a weekend in Williamsburg. We stayed at the Powhatan Resort and had a nice few days. We went to the Yorktown Battlefield and the Victory Center. We also visited Jamestown. We made sure to swim in the resort pool all three days that we were there and went out for cupcakes and ice cream (separate trips). It was a nice 3 days away, even though it was really hot.

This chicken in the governor's house in Jamestown shocked Jack!

Yorktown Battlefield. Luke's idea of a silly picture remains making a silly face while backwards

When we returned home, the girls and Luke had swim lessons. I feel like learning to swim is extremely important, but swim lessons are so stressful. It was a pain when I was a stay-at-home mom, but now it is a huge hassle. I would get home from work around 4, make a quick dinner so we could eat by 5 and rush out the door to be at the pool by 5:30. We did this for two straight weeks. Ugh! But, by the end, Luke could almost swim. He has an odd pattern of kind of staying in one place as he furiously paddles, but it's better than sinking. I think if I could stomach another 2 weeks, he would be there. But, it is also hard for us to find two uninterrupted weeks. Maybe I should look into private lessons. The girls both passed level 3 and are hoping we will let them do level 4.

On July 7th, we drove to Antietam. We did a mileish loop along the sunken road, which is where the South basically just picked off the North, and hiked up to the top of a watchtower. Then, we finally got to walk on Burnside Bridge (it was closed last time we were there). We did another hike in that area and had a picnic lunch. It is such a beautiful place that it is hard to imagine the bloodshed that occurred. We stopped for ice cream on the way home and picked ticks off people.

On the sunken road with the tower behind us 

At the top of the tower

Picnic by Burnside Bridge

With the bridge in the background

July 12th, Thomas and I went to see Temptations: Ain't Too Proud to Beg at the Kennedy Center. It is on a pre-Broadway run and we really enjoyed it. We both thought the second half was much better than the first and would like to see it again. It will be interesting to see if it actually makes it to Broadway.

July 13th was my Friday off and I took the kids to Six Flags. We started the day in the water park and played for a few hours before changing clothes and heading to the regular park. We rode rides until about 6 and then headed home. Everyone had a great time. I thought we would be going every other week this summer (on my Fridays off), but that has been our only trip. This summer has been crazy busy!

Hanging out on the new Lazy River--it's pretty darn nice!

On Saturday, July 14, we took the kids to Fanfest at the Convention Center. Ever since we learned the MLB All-Star game was coming to DC, Thomas and I have looked forward to attending. However, we weren't counting on the crazy ticket prices. So, the only event we attended was the Fanfest. We had a great time. The kids did lots of games and we got some fun "free" stuff. Thomas won a t-shirt. We got autographs from some of the women who played in the women's professional league (what A League of Their Own was based on) and got to ride the metro, which is always fun and lessens the stress of going to DC.

That brings us to the mid-July point. I had intended to write about all of these things in much more detail, but the quick summary is going to have to suffice.