Staycation Day ?

I totally lost track of our staycation plans, but I'm pretty sure that this is Day3 - and luckily for you, the last day before the kids headed off to Great Wolf and I went to the homeschool conference - all without a camera.

We started the day with a bike ride through Deep Run park. Here is the fam after a particularly steep part:

And what's an active summer outing without a stop for ice cream?

The "Open" blinked on just as we pulled into the parking spot:

Now, that's staycation! - in a cone:

My son didn't believe me that you could/should turn your Blizzard upside down, but skeptically tried it for the staycation cam (insert the I-told-you-so dance here!):

We headed home for quick showers and then off to a new movie theater that opened in downtown Richmond, Cinemaland at the Bowtie Theater:

The owners renovated an old train stop (warehouse, depot yard?) and left lots of the industrial feel. Old pipes and wires are turned into lighting and lots of brick everywhere. The concession stand had lots of goodies like nachos that made me wish we came for lunch.

But the best part was that we came to see "Up" - in 3D!

Great movie!

Huge hallways and big, clean bathrooms (with our favorite - the Dyson hand driers!) made the place a hit with me.

I just wish I knew who these poor, unfortunate children belonged to...

Our family's staycation assessment: great idea. We all had lots of fun, got to do things we wanted to try, and had lots of time with Daddy. My husband and I liked the low cost. If I could have made the laundry and dishes disappear, it would have been perfect!

Postcards from Staycation - Day 2

After church and lots of mowing and weeding ("But you don't MOW on staycation!" came the wail), Daddy took the littles to the traditional fun spot of our every vacation - mini-golf!

The siblings battled it out:

The littlest little came up with the only hole-in-one of the afternoon:

Daddy shows them how it is done:

A summer craft perfect for a rainy day at the beach, friendship bracelets:

I woke up this morning possessed by the idea of making these. I showed my daughter how to make the striped one and I made the "manly" red, white, and blue one for my son. I see a lot more in our future...

More hanging out planned for the rest of the day - and LOTS of Super Mario Cart!

Postcards from Staycation - Day 1

Our first full staycation day!

After swim practice (just like Club Med!), we hit the Goochland County Farmers' Market to see all the goings on and to visit my favorite jeweler/crafter/crocheter/knitter/overall cool person.

I snapped this photo of the rainbow swiss chard (doesn't it LOOK like it should taste like rainbow sherbet?!), but my lovely daughter took the photos of the other equally yummy-looking veggies (ahem: native flora and fauna):

Had to snap up a hosta - could you resist such a line up?

This one is named "Ice Cream". It looks just like a "Guacamole" I had seen and coveted at a friend's garden, but is smaller. (Love the names - maybe all I really needed was a snack.) A perfect "travel souvenir" don't you think? And no bothersome security or customs to smuggle it past.

The throng (no kidding!) at my friend's booth finally died down, so we stopped in for a quick visit. I wonder if my husband will ever realize how lucky he is that I really dig jewelry made of string and cool beads. Here's one that got away:

But I did manage to snag another souvenir! And more lovelies to ogle:

It is so cool to have cool friends. Maybe it will rub off someday?

Daddy then wowed the littles with a splurge on Super Mario Cart - and and afternoon of indulgent game playing.

Our last event of the day was my son's Cub Scout advancement ceremony. He's now a Webelo II - next year this time he'll be a real Boy Scout.

Here's he's getting his face paint from his Den leader, while her husband, the Cubmaster, gets to wear the cool hat:

Here's the grin that makes all these crazy activities worth it:

I'm off to Coconut Mall before my husband gets all the high scores!

Postcards from Staycation

My husband is taking off an entire week next week, and though we're still trying to decide what to do, we've declared it a staycation. Only fun local jaunts allowed. Maybe we'll even have fun (gasp!) at home. I'll try to send postcards from our favorite stops.

We had a soggy start to staycation Friday afternoon.

Rain, rain and more rain:

But luckily, we re-upped with Netflix, so the kids had a fun kick-off:

The weather is here, wish you were nice!

Special Forces

My boy came home from Special Forces camp this week, looking like a warrior. The face paint!

"So, can I get a picture?" I asked. "Sure, mom!" came the reply.

Now that's much better:

Hoo-rah!

Beautiful Lengths

My daughter has been growing her hair for a l-o-n-g time and it was time for a change. I asked her to consider donating her hair, so she grew it a little longer. So, with ballet buns behind us for another year, Tuesday was the day.

We had planned a quick trip to the dermatologist and then off to have our nails done while big brother was battling it out at Special Forces camp. Real girl stuff! But along the way, Erin wound up with a case of poison ivy on her hands and miserable afternoon from the doctor, so we called an audible and decided to go ahead and chop off her hair right then and there.

We rolled into the Hair Cuttery and came out much lighter.

We're sending the ponytail to Beautiful Lengths - program sponsored by Pantene. It's much like Locks for Love, but the length requirement is a friendlier 8 inches.

She looks so cute with short hair again. And after a trip to my real stylist this morning to undo the Hair Cuttery chopping, she looks really cute!

Being totally biased, I have to say that I LOVE her hair color. A light brown, or "cinnamon honey", I like to call it. And it just started getting lighter from the pool time and sun. Sigh.

But the good news (besides cancer patients getting good looking wigs) is that summer just got a lot cooler!