Heading to the Colonies ...

Already here, actually. The family unit and I headed to Williamsburg on Thursday for a bit of a family get-away. Hubby had a meeting, and kiddo and I tagged along this time. I can't remember the last time we took a "family vacation". Actually, probably never. It seems the only place we really go as a family is Texas, and that doesn't count as a "vacation", seeing as how it's a whole "family obligation" kind of thing for holidays and such.

We went to Busch Gardens yesterday. It was our first time going, and the kiddo's first time at an amusement park, so it was a lot of fun. She was tall enough to ride quite a few of the rides, so we did a lot of stuff: Le Scoot (twice) ... Several "Sesame Street" Themed rides ... Escape from Pompeii ... Teacup Ride (twice) ... Europe by Air (twice) ... and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. We walked all over the park, and got to see the wolves and eagles. Also saw a gorgeous hawk and owl. Really beautiful, and the animal handlers were super nice about answering questions and just communicating with all the kids. So, lots of fun, but exhausting.

Today, kiddo and I got up early and headed into Colonial Williamsburg. I really, really wanted to see it, and I would have loved to prowl around for a whole day looking in all the buildings, taking the tours, carriage rides, etc. I knew better, though. I knew kiddo was worn out from Busch Gardens, and she really isn't old enough yet for all the history stuff to be interesting to her. So I didn't bother purchasing tickets to get into the buildings and things. It would have been way too expensive. As expected, We toured down one side of Duke of Gloucester Street (the main street in the colonial part of town), and she was ready to go back to the hotel. >.o So, yeah ... she was ready to leave after about 30 minutes of touring. Sadly, we had an hour and a half until the shuttle came, which is a long time to have to deal with whiny child. Luckily, I convinced her to walk up the other side of the street so that she could stop and talk to the character actors and such. She liked that. And we saw some horses with the carriage rides. They had hitched up to the rails in front of a couple of the stores, and their handlers said the kiddo could pet them. That was a big hit. We also got to tour a gorgeous, gorgeous garden with heirloom plants and such. I'm not much of a gardener. I pretty much have no green thumb, although my roses seem to survive OK somehow. But I would LOVE to be a gardener. I love the idea of being able to have a beautiful, well-laid out garden to enjoy and care for. To me, the garden was the best part of the whole thing. I'm sure kiddo's favorite was the horses. We still got to the shuttle bus stop about 30 - 40 minutes ahead of time, so she spent quite a bit of time trying to get the oxen penned near there to "talk" to her. They totally ignored her, so she lost interest and decided to read her book, instead. I felt really fortunate that I had thought to pack the book, although I kind of felt foolish this morning when I was sticking it into our backpack. No more, though -- the book was a total lifesaver!

Kiddo did the pool this afternoon, so I got a couple of hours "off" -- which I wasted by watching something on TV. (Damn you, writer's block!) Tonight, we are going to the dinner with hubby. It's something I don't usually go to because it's pretty dressy, but it seems like this one will be more casual than normal. Plus, they had a bunch of empty spaces because people already left to go home.

We head home tomorrow. It's been a nice trip, and a really nice and relaxing get-away for the most part. I love the place where we are staying, and hopefully we can come back again. But ... I'm also ready to get home and get all our routines back to normal. They really haven't been since my parents' visit, which is frustrating. >.O