Of course the 4th of July ended up being a late night with the girls. Who can sleep with so many fireworks going off at the same time accompanied by a background of patriotic music? Not my girls. And if they don't sleep; mama doesn't sleep. Oh well. The fireworks were beautiful (and free to watch) so thanks goes to our neighbors who put on one hell of a show for us.
The next morning wasn't as bad as anticipated - considering I couldn't rouse the rest of the family to get a move on, but when we finally did hit the road it was much later than expected. We arrived at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg around lunch and was pleasantly surprised to find we were allowed an early check-in. Sweet. The room was more like a small apartment - one bedroom, one bathroom, full kitchen, dining room and living area with a pull out sofa bed for the girls. Worked out very nicely. Of course since we weren't paying for the room hubs ensured we enjoyed freezing weather while we were there. And he slept like a baby both nights.
After getting unpacked we chose to head over to Bush Gardens for a late afternoon of fun. First, and most impressive ride if only because Jessica, still 4 yrs old at the time, rode it several times, was Escape from Pompei.
We managed to make it through about 1/2 of the park on Friday hitting up rides like The Elephant Run, Da Vinci's Cradle, Battering Ram, Flying Machine, and Curse of Darkastle. Jessa was a huge fan of the Elephant Run but was completely terrorized by DaVinci's Cradle and Battering Ram, and not such a huge fan of Darkastle even though she did them all. So very proud of how brave she was. Although I'm pretty sure she won't be on them again for a number of years I also know she got a huge boost in self-confidence (a plus for her upcoming pageant).
Samantha on the other hand fell in love with the thrill of bigger, faster, and scarier. She cried buckets on day two when we didn't get to do Darkastle again but was thrilled getting to ride the roller-coasters with her daddy. Day two Samantha and daddy tackled Verbolten and Loch Ness, and don't think she wouldn't have gotten on Griffon if she was tall enough. That girls is an adrenaline junkie. Just like her daddy.
Since we opted for two days at Bush Gardens we had to at least spend one day at Water Country USA. Jessa and I rode two rides together while Samantha and daddy enjoyed a few of the bigger rides. A little mis-communication to begin with but when we finally met up again with each other our final hour or so was spent in the kids pool watching the girls swim and cross the water logs.
Here's where the differences in the girls was really apparent. While Jessa would allow me to help her learn how to swim and float on her back Samantha would have nothing of it. Its like her brain was in panic mode the entire time and I just could not get her to relax enough to even listen to what I was telling her. I have a feeling a few years from now Jessa will be an avid swimmer while Samantha is still struggling to learn. Thinking swimming lessons for both would be a good thing, but we have to wait until John's job issues settle down again and we are assured of a financial future without struggling.
So with a fun-filled weekend done we figured it would be a good idea to head home a tad early to ensure daddy got some rest before Monday morning. Mistake - never travel on a Sunday of a holiday weekend - especially on I95 North. What should have taken us three hours tops to complete turned into a parking and rubber-necking fest for nearly 8 hours. At one point we departed ways with the interstate and chose to go by the side roads. While normally that would have taken us longer to make it home we actually ended up shaving nearly two hours off our travel time. Yeah, 95 was that bad.
I guess now would be a good time to take a break and update our 101 list.
DONE
#3 go swimming
#23 visit a candy factory
#33 ride a carousal
#39 go to a swim park (wasn't Signal Hill but one just like it at Water Country USA)
#65 ride a roller coaster
#66 visit an amusement park
One last note: we'll have to revise our list to exchange some costly adventures with some that are free or cheap just until we figure out what's going to happen with John's job situation, so watch for an updated version in a few days.
I'll try to post part 2 later tonight or tomorrow.
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