Colonial Williamsburg

I can't believe I haven't posted about this.  Mom and Dad came out in March (three whole months ago...) and we went down to Williamsburg, Virginia for the week. Oh and what a week it was! These pictures just don't do it justice.  We spent the entire week learning so many interesting things, swimming, and enjoying the lovely, three bedroom, colonial style condo.  Benson was an absolute gem the entire time. Slept like a champ, loved swimming, being with "Crama and Pahka", and having plenty of attention.
Becca and Greg joined us for a few nights, and showed us the ferry- and what a fun ride that was :)

I don't have very many pictures- I need to work on that.  But maybe that is proof that we were having too much fun!  The weather was pretty good- very cold, but not rainy on the days we were sight seeing. So we got to see everything that we wanted!

Historic Jamestown overlooks the James river

The second church built at the fort.

This model showed where all the original structures were located.  We caught a tour, by chance, and it was awesome.  We would have been pretty confused without it!  

Colonial Williamsburg- the Capitol building. 

During our big day downtown we had tea with George Washington, saw many trades- brick mason, basket weaving, shoe making, gun making,.... I can't even remember them all. There were many.

Benson at the head of the party table.

The courtroom

In front of the Governor's Palace, where Dad got scolded for touching a sword by the, not so nice, tour guide.  She was also pretty annoyed with Benson. It was at the end of the day and he was pretty "done", but still pretty well behaved.

This picture doesn't represent Benson's attitude on this trip. He was a trooper.

I guess we did something to deserve humiliation...

It really was such a fun trip.  Lots of funny memories and we learned SO much that we didn't know. I just wish I could remember all of those things, and tell you about them now. I guess you will just have to go!

Rehoboth

We took a really fun trip to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.  It turns out it is only two hours away- which had we know this, we would have gone last summer.  This is dangerous knowledge. I have a feeling we will make it there again this summer :)

We went early Thursday morning, spent the day at the beach-which was absolutely beautiful! Then met up with Justin and Erin at our campsite for a hot dog roast!  We spent the night in our two man tent. That was... fun.  Lesson learned-we need a larger tent.  The next day we got to a "locals" beach nice and early and found it pretty empty.  It filled up throughout the day but was still pretty empty.  While Riley ran out to the car, Benson and I were treated to a dolphin show, about 50 yards off the coast.  They were spectacular!  Full on jumping out of the water. We loved it. Riley came back just in time to see a couple before they went away.  It was really neat.

That day I got one mosquito bite, two biting fly bites, one bee sting and a crab clamped onto my two and broke skin before I shook him off.  It was still very enjoyable. The  sky was clear, and the beach was beautiful.  We found a little seafood restaurant and then stopped for ice cream on the way home.  Benson fell asleep for the last half of the drive. It was just perfect!

-Benson was sitting on the bench "reading" all the letters. 

The winter that never ends

Just like that "song that never ends" that elementary kids sing, this truly is the winter that never ends. February was freezing, snowy and full of ice storms.  It was much more severe than anyone expected. We are getting tired of snow days.  Church was cancelled two weeks in a row and just today we got 8 inches.  Though fun to play in, it is not fun to have our downstairs neighbor home all day (a whole story on its own).

So we are going to focus on the happy and good things in our lives.  Such as Benson enjoying his train track:

Or playing outside on his scooter (this was in January, before the ice/snow/freezing storms)

Cute, right?

Snow.  This was on Riley's birthday. We went bowling and Justin and Erin, Bennett and Elsie joined us outside for a sledding adventure. We don't own a sled so we used our boogie board. It worked perfectly.

He's 26! And Benson loved all the candles.

Last weekend, a friend and I made the journey to Asheville, North Carolina to visit the Biltmore mansion, featuring the downton abbey clothing exhibit, and see Greg and Becca.  It was a REALLY fun trip, except the drive home.  Ten hours in an ice storm.  But it was worth it.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, which is a shame because there were so many neat things I want to remember.

this is like a quarter of the house.

inside the conservatory.

a waterfall in their garden.

A bowling alley and indoor swimming pool in the basement. Remember that this house was built before most homes had indoor plumbing. An impressive feat.

The ice on the trees is my favorite. It is so cool, and humbling.  Nature can be pretty powerful.

This is from today. We went sledding and then Benson helped riley shovel the walks and around some cars.  The snow plow went by every two minutes and Benson was mesmerized.  He's such a helper. 

Well that's all we've been up to lately.  Snow and finding ways to survive.  Hopefully it lets up soon and we can move on with spring.  Afterall, we could really use cherry blossoms before July.