Kings Dominion (Take 2), Six Flags & Mount Vernon

As I've probably mentioned we had season passes to both Six Flags and Kings Dominion this year. It was hard to divide our time between the two parks and I think it will be a while before we do that again. And, this year, for the first time ever, Kings Dominion hosted Winterfest. After Jack, Kara and I went, we really wanted to return with the whole family. However, we kept getting thwarted by bad weather. Finally, we decided to just leave work and school a bit early and go on a Tuesday. It turned out to be a great decision. The weather was cold, but beautiful. We got there right around park opening and rode a couple of rides. We had a Christmas dinner of ham or turkey and saw some shows. The shows weren't great, at least in our opinion. However, the lights were beautiful! The Eiffel Tower tree was just gorgeous and we had fun looking at all of the lights. It was a wonderful night to go, even though everyone was a bit tired the next morning.

We liked seeing all the costumed characters walking around

Including the gingerbread boy and girl

I loved the view of the lighted trees behind the outdoor stage. Sooo pretty!

We had to lie on the ground to get the full effect of the Eiffel Tower

Here's what it looked like (the lights changed color and pattern, it was very cool)

There were lots of other Christmas things we wanted to do. Like Flat Iron Farms and Ann Marie Gardens. However, the weather this year was extremely rainy. It prevented us from doing a lot of the things we planned on. But, fortunately, not everything. Friday, December 21st was an early dismissal. When I got home from work, I wanted us to go to Six Flags. I was ready to celebrate the first night of 11 days off from work and school. But, the forecast wasn't great (surprise surprise!) and Jack didn't want to go. Thomas was happy to stay home with him. Luke was still at preschool, so I opted to just take Anna and Kara. I am sure Luke would have wanted to go, but honestly, it is so much easier to go without him; he really just wants to ride rides and is impatient when we want to see shows and enjoy lights. But, don't feel too bad for them. Thomas took the boys out to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and they had a fun night together.

But, not as fun as us girls! The forecast kept the crowds away and we walked on every ride we were interested in. Some rides we just stayed on and rode over and over. Kara tried the drop tower for the first time and she loved it! She and Anna actually rode it three times in a row. I went on once and that was enough for me! We saw the stunt show, which was really cute. We watched the tree lighting ceremony, also cute and saw the show in the main theater (meh). We got smores and ate by the firepit and had another Christmas dinner. It was a very fun night, although we missed the boys.

Kara wanted proof that she rode the drop tower.

Saturday night we went to the movies and saw Ralph Breaks the Internet. It was a cute movie. To continue the fun, on Sunday we went to Mount Vernon. We love to visit at Christmas time. We toured the mansion, although they only had the highlights tour. It is about 15 minutes instead of the usual 25, which was disappointing. So, we have to go back. Luke wasn't interested in the tour, but he was well-behaved and it is nice to see that he is growing more mature (relatively speaking of course). We did have to promise him that we would play on the Ha Ha wall after the tour, which we did. After that, we visited the Washington tomb and had lunch. Then, we did our new favorite thing in the Education Center--Be Washington. There are 4 movies/scenarios. You have to watch, hear the crisis, listen to advisors and then decide which course of action to take. After you are done, you see how your decision compared to others in the room and then everyone who has ever participated. And, of course, you learn what Washington did. We had done 3 of the 4, so on this visit, we finally did the last one. It was the Genet Affair, where (in very simple terms) we had to decide whether to support a treaty with France and join a fight against Great Britain or maintain a position of neutrality.

It was a very fun day. I love Mount Vernon. It might be my favorite place to visit of all the DC area attractions. I am never disappointed!

Can you find Aladdin the Christmas camel?

Kara and Anna loved this doll house when they were younger. Anna was still happy to play with Luke.

I grabbed this picture online of what the Be Washington room looks like.

We stopped at Krispy Kreme to get donuts for Christmas Eve breakfast. They had tons of fun Christmas themed choices.

So, while we didn't get to do everything we wanted, we did manage to squeeze in lots of fun. Oh, one thing I forgot--Thomas took the kids to Sotterley for their members event one Thursday night. They really loved the Sotterley camp this summer and still talk about it often. If they offer it again, we will definitely enroll them.