Gordonsville, Virginia

We went on vacation when the kids tracked out this month.  We went to Gordonsville, Viriginia.  It's located in central Virginia and it's horse country.  Our kids lurv horses.  They dream of them all the time and can't stop talking about them.  Emmy says she's going to marry a cowboy so they can have horses. 

 

These are the cabins.  They were cozy and it's a good thing because it rained the whole week.  On the two days it didn't rain they ground was so wet we couldn't ride these....Not a single time did we get to ride a horse.  The whole point of the trip was to go on trail rides.  Oh well, maybe next time.

 And may we can stay in these yurts.  I've never stayed in a yurt, but I would love to. 

Myrtle Beach 2010

We just got back from our last vacation of the summer in Myrtle Beach.  I love going to Myrtle Beach and we've been going to this resort for 10 years now.  I think I love it even more now than I did 10 years ago.  We were lucky enough to have my sweet brother and his wonderful family with us.  And my parents even came down for a couple of days.  That was a first.  My parents don't like to travel at all.  But anyway, they came and we all had a blast.  This post is picture heavy so be aware.

Karaoke was a big hit and my girls and nieces loved it.

Keeping up with Parker was a full time job.  She loved the water, but she was just as content to wander around the pool and just look.  Neal and my mama were terrified she would fall in.  But she didn't and everything went well.

Charles-Allen and Amber loved the hot tub.  They were either in it or in the pool playing.  It's amazing how much fun kids can have around water.

Even on vacation we have to take time to smooch up on one another.  Something Ally never fails to take advantage of.

For some reason my brother loved to sit under the waterfall and let the water pound on his head. 

Aunt Joy had to help us keep up with Bugga.  She was all over the place.

Charles-Allen had a blast.  The pool was full of little boys that wanted nothing more than to throw a ball back and forth.  He was in heaven. 

Parker learned a new trick.  She would put her face in the water.  Something that Ally just started doing this year. 

It was great relaxing by the pool and spending time with family.  Ally developed a huge crush on Candice.  She followed her everywhere and since we've been home she keeps saying she misses her and wants to see her.

Crystal looks like she needs another nap.

We're so sad to see summer go, but we hope to see it again next year.  Same time, same place.

Parker In Myrtle Beach

Parker had a blast on her first trip to Myrtle Beach. She loved the water and she did reasonably well on the drive down. She only cried for about 2 hours of the 3 hour drive. Much better than we thought and on the way back she was soooo tired she actually slept the whole time. We were stunned, but delighted.

The water makes her tired, but she's content to be snuggling with her daddy.

She is so pretty, I can't believe people still refer to her as he. She is clearly too pretty to be a boy.

Karaoke Queens

On our trip to Myrtle Beach the girls got to sing karaoke. It was a lot of fun. We just hung out by the pool while the kids played in the water and other braver sould got up and sang. My niece Candice was really good and sang a few times. Ally loved going up with here and she thought everyone was clapping for her.

I wonder why she thought they were clapping for her? could it be that she also thought she was singing?

Emmy did a great job too. She sang a couple of songs, one was.....wait for it....."Love Story" by Taylor Swift. I know you're shocked by the song choice. She did an excellent job and I'm not just saying that because I'm her mama. The man that followed her asked if he could go after someone else because he didn't want to follow her. The crowd was awesome and they clapped and cheered for her. She was so proud of herself and so were we.

Parkey wanted to get up on stage and shake her little bootie, but Mema quickly ran up and got her down. I'm sure she would have been a big hit too. Maybe next year.

Orlando

We just got back from Orlando for a short vacation. Neal and Adam had to go down for a real estate seminar so the kids and I went with them. We did leave Parker with Neal's mom because she hates to ride. It was a short trip and we had a blast. I tend to like shorter vacations better than long ones. It's good to be back home and have the kiddos back in school.

Pool Time in Orlando

Our kids had a blast playing at the pool. It was much easier this year than last, mainly because I only had 3 of our kids. Neal's wonderful mom kept Parker for us because she HATES to ride in her car seat. And with such a long drive we just couldn't stand to listen to her scream for 10 hours.

The kids loved it when Neal would come home at night so he and Adam could play with them in the pool. I loved it too, because I got a much needed break.

Unfortunately, at night they close the slides. Our kids seemed to have more fun on the slide when it was closed than when it was open.

This was the only time Lovey could play on the slide because she was too little to ride it during the day. I just let her play as long as she wanted to. We can't wait until next year, then maybe she'll be able to go down during the day.

NC Aquarium

On Good Friday we decided to take a trip down to the coast and have a day of fun. First we went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. I grew up near the coast and I've been a few times. It was much smaller than I remembered, but it was so much fun.

Neal and Emmy loved the jelly fish. In one tank the light kept changing colors and the jelly fish would look purple, blue or hot pink. It was really cool.

I think the kids could have stayed there all day. They were amazed by all the aquatic life.

Parker at The Aquarium

There wasn't a lot for Parker to do at the Aquarium. So she spent a lot of time trying to get out of her stroller.

Or trying to get the heck away from her sister. I don't know what Ally is doing to her here. But I, like all good parents, grabbed the camera instead of trying to stop her.

Here she is just glad to have that crazy girl off of her.

Finally, she gets to see something other than Ally in her face.

Things to Touch

There was even a touch tank where the kids could go in and touch the live animals in the water. This kind of creeped me out because a lot of the creatures were spiky looking.

Ally, who is the biggest scardy cat in our family, shocked us all by being the first to grab one of the creatures. Who knew?

Emmy wasn't so eager to be touching anything. But since Ally did it she finally made herself, she couldn't be showed up by her sister.

I'm pretty sure Charles-Allen wasn't suppose to be touching in this tank. Boys, what are they thinking?

So cute!

Things to See

The best part of the aquarium was all the stuff to see. We walked outside and there were loads of turtles and birds.

The kids really loved watching the diver inside the fish tank. There was even a shark in there.

This is Ally waving at the diver, he saw her and waved back. We even got to see them feed the fish.

Here they are checking out the cool eels in the tank.