Virginia 1 - 2 - 3....

I'm very busy procrastinating fully cleaning the house, which honestly (sadly) hasn't been done since we left for vacation. Normally this wouldn't be a huge issue, but it appears we have some sort of bionic spiders inside and outside the house, spinning webs so intense I fear if I do not get them soon, we may be living in a cocoon. Which Youngest would love, since he never wants to go to seventh grade again. *sigh*  I did however, get around to my second attempt at a gluten free Portuguese Sweet Bread.  The dough is currently rising out in the car (front seat, parked in the sun for those who were wondering) as the first attempt at proofing the dough did not go so well.

Anyhoo...

So while I am procrastinating, I thought I'd give you a bit of that other thing I've procrastinated,

Vacation photos!

When I last left you, I was barreling down 95, ready to unleash my children and husband on Virginia. After twelve hours, and some very bad GPS directions, we finally landed at the Great Wolf Lodge....

...which let me just say, if you have kids and haven't gone, is TOTALLY worth the money. It's a themed hotel with a family atmosphere.  Outside you'll find several pools, mini golf, and a walk up eatery/bar.  Inside, downstairs they have "Main Street" where you'll find an arcade, 3-D motion ride, half sized bowling alley, ice cream and fudge shop, take out pizza place, 3-D video shooting game, and Scoops... the kid's ice cream themed spa.

Oh, and did I forget?  They have an entire water park inside the hotel. It's like a vacation inside a vacation, people!

See that last one?  The funnel-y looking one?  That's a family ride.  The raft is shaped like a four leaf clover and four people can ride down together.  Care to ask who went down holding on for dear life, eyes screwed shut, screaming the entire way... backwards? No?  Okay... never mind then.  (It was me.  I tell the kids that my misery adds to their enjoyment.  Apparently it added to everyone's enjoyment as the funnel has very good acoustics my screaming could have woke the dead.)

We stayed two days.  The kids could have stayed the entire week. So, I booked another stay at the brand new one by us in a few months.  I'm telling you, it's a great time. And no one is paying me to say that either, or giving me a discount, as I had to pay full price for my room in Fitchberg.  (Although, I'd totally love it, since I am actually getting several rooms booked for them as we make a kid-a-palooza trip of it. Who says I'm not the cool mom?)

Moving on...

So, we checked in and hit the water park the first day.  The second day we headed here...

And while this part of the vacation was definitely for the kids, I must say, the park is beautiful and immaculate. The park is separated into countries and each section is themed within that country.  We planned to have lunch in Germany, timed of course with Oktoberfest, in which German dancers and musicians come out to dance and sing while you eat. Youngest was thrilled that they had gluten free pizza, and the German themed food was delicious.

That's my husband waving to ya... 

The kids rode all the big coasters.  That's them, in the back row on the Griffon.  Waiting to be plummeted to the ground at 71 mph...

Tony and I stayed on the ground.  Because we're giant wusses.

After the Gardens, we headed back to the hotel, hit the water park again, did some bowling, and grabbed some dinner.  Day three found the kids down in the arcade in the morning, but by 10 am we were on the road again to Jamestown. Again, our GPS redirected us the long way, through some wilderness preservation areas and downtown Williamsburg which was beautiful.  I almost wish I had let Tony drive so I could take pictures.

Jamestown is a settlement built in the 1600's and is quite similar to Plimouth Plantation here by us.  The cool part about Jamestown is the straight forward answers from the characters there, as the ones at the Plantation have to stay in period all the time and it is difficult to get a real, clear, understandable answer from them.

There is also a water front area where they had many antique tools for navigating the seas and some very informative staff. Who knew that the term nautical knots came from literally dropping a rope with knots into the water?

After Jamestown we headed north to Spotsylvania....

...which will have to wait until later as the things I can no longer put off are (literally) calling my name.  Plus, I think the bread's done rising and I'll have to bring it in before it ruins my upholstery.