Virginia Beach 9/3-9/4

Thanks to the Navy, we went on a free trip to Virginia Beach and crossed paths with the Lyon family once again when we accompanied Michael on his business trip to Norfolk, Va. While Michael was at meetings, we spent the first morning at Carrie's house and had a great time playing inside and out.

Mikie & Gunner checking out the coy and catfish in Carrie's front yard pond.

Zachary and Hudson meet for the first time.
As soon as we told Mikie we were going to the Virginia Beach, he immediately connected that with the beach at Ocean City and asked if we could play mini-golf. Luckily, there were 2 courses not far from our hotel. The first night we played the Pirate course.

This club was just the right size for Zach. He would hit at the ball about 10 times at each hole and then decide that picking it up and carrying it to the hole was a much better idea.

Sorry...I can't figure out how to rotate this video clip.

Of course, while waiting for the rest of us to finish, he needed to climb on the rocks to get a better view of the shallow (but very blue) water flowing through the course.

Early morning on the beach! We ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed across the street to play in the sand before checking out of the hotel.

Staying a safe distance away from the waves after the last incident in Ocean City.

We were so lucky...a cranky crane was busy working on the hotel across the street.

Testing the waters...still not taking any chances.

This play structure was right on the beach! Mikie pretended to follow the treasure map painted on the inside and led us on a trail past the sea turtles (garbage bags), palm trees (spotted in the distance), and mountains (hills of sand from a construction area), etc. It is fun to see him starting to use his imagination.

After showering and checking out of the hotel, we dropped Michael off on base and I took the kids to the aquarium. Mikie took this picture of me, but would NOT get in for me to take his. He really enjoyed building sharks on the computer by adding different fins, teeth, and tails.

Mikie was cute watching the sharks pass by. Zachary wouldn't get very close...I think this is because earlier, we were at a porthole viewing window and a giant sea turtle came swimming up from the bottom and passed right by the window startling Zach. He took a few steps back and fell down. It was funny at the time, but I think that made him a little leery of the shark exhibit.

At the aquarium, there was a "Little Builders" hands on exploration room for kids. I thought it was very well organized and I was impressed that they had 3 animal exhibits in the room: finches building nests, beavers building dams, and alligators (building a ladder by climbing on each other to get out of the water? ok...that's a stretch) Zachary of course, was thrilled with the funnel of air that keeps the balls suspended above it.

While Mikie was fascinated with moving balls and blocks along a conveyor belt.

Hammering with your mouth open assures that you will hit the nail on the head!

I really must get a paint sprayer next time. It'll cut my time in half!

Pushing was fun, but now Mommy can give me a ride.

I'm too little for these silly hats!

Mikie got to pet a baby alligator.

One of my favorite exhibits just happened to correlate with our study of insects this past month. There was a room with giant grass and insects (yes I know this snake is not an insect but he was so cute standing next to it) that made you feel as if you had just been zapped with the Zalinskey's shrinking machine and were now living in the movie "Honey, I shrunk the kids." Mikie did a great job answering the questions on the computer quiz and hopefully learned a few things about the creatures in the marsh.

After Michael finished working & after eating at a restaurant on the beach, we played the jungle mini-golf course.
Zachary followed his ball and crawled right through the little rock cave.

I think Zachary enjoys mini-golf just as much as Mikie does.
Mikie next to his favorite animal. You may wonder why I don't have any pictures of Mikie golfing...well..that's because he was always one hole ahead of us. He was just so excited he couldn't wait to play the next hole.

Once in a while, I am appreciative of all the Navy trips Michael has to go on and this was one of those times. We had a great time and the boys were so well behaved.

Unfortunately, the day after we got back Zachary got another ear infection (which I think is a result of him cutting another molar) and was put on the antibiotic Omnicef which caused him to have major GI problems over the weekend and a very raw bottom. We find out in 3 weeks if he'll have to get tubes in his ears.