Rewind

We are home and had a great vacation. Here's the run down.

Oct 31st: Halloween! We lounged during the day and took the kids out trick-or-treating in the evening. Ellie was WAY into it this year. She did not want to stop. It was fun and the weather was warm. The first Halloween the kids didn't have to wear coats. I think Grandma had fun taking the kids to her friends and neigbors.

Nov 1st: Ryan owed me some birthday shopping and a nice meal. We went to Tyson's Corner and litterally shopped til we dropped. I don't think Ryan realized that I could spend 6 hours at a mall! I found a great pair of jeans, some awesome Dansko shoes, and bought some new makeup at the Bare Minerals store. We ate at a delicous Italian restraunt for lunch. It was a great day.

Nov 2 & 3rd: We drove down to Williamsburg and stayed the night at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was so much fun. They have a huge indoor waterpark exclusively for hotel guests. Ellie even went down the big waterslides. We all had a blast. Saturday night Ryan's conference started. I decided to stay with him at Kingsmill Resort and Spa and my parents took the kids back up to their house.

Nov 4 & 5th: The time at Kingsmill was awesome. I got to sleep in, go to the spa, shop, read, and just relax. Ryan and I would hang out in the evenings. The conference hosts some good dinners and parties which was fun. My monday I was missing the kids and was anxious to get home. I caught a ride back up to my parents early Tues. morning with an old family friend from Chesapeake. Ryan had to stay at the conference til Wednesday.

Nov 6 & 7th: We spent the time relaxing and just hanging out. Ryan got back and announced he "broke" my parents car that he borrowed. (We sent the Van rental back with my parents and the kids). Ryan went to pop the gas lid and accidently popped the hood without realizing it. Shortly after pulling out of the gas station the hood flipped up. It hit hard enough to dent the hood of the car and couldn't be relatched. Luckily he wasn't going to fast and there wasn't too much traffic. He was able to immediately pull over without hitting anyone. When he took the car to the shop the guys were amazed. They said that they have never seen the hood pop up and NOT break the windshield and dent the top of the car. Ryan was very lucky.

Nov 8 & 9th: We went into the city and took the kids to some museums. We visited the Air and Space museum. Caden loved all the airplanes and the rockets and Ellie was really into the planets. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. They thought it was cool to see the dinosaurs especially the "doggy" dinosaur from the Night at the Museum movie. Ellie Loved the Hope Diamond and got a Hope Necklace as a souvenir. We also went to the Bureau of Engraving and watched them print all the money. It was one of my most favorite things. Very Very interesting. The next day we went to Merrifields and scoped out all the Christmas stuff. My mom bought me a Krinkle Christmas Tree. Not to be confused with the Krinkle ornament tree. :)

Nov 10th: We packed and headed for the airport. Our flight didn't leave til 3 pm. It was a long day and we didn't get back home to Bend til 130 am. The flights were mostly full this time and the kids were tired. They were pretty good though and slept for most of the last leg and all of the drive back to Bend from Portland.

It was a great trip. I think the kids wore grandma and grandpa out but we all had fun.