Last 3 weeks in a nutshell

Week 1:  Computer got a virus and was unusable for most of the week.  Finally got it to the shop at the end of the week.

Week 2:  Got computer back on Friday…week gone.

Week 3: Spring Break!

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.  Our computer got a pretty intense virus and was unusable for several days before I was able to get it to our computer guy.  It took a lot of work on his part, but after a week our computer was back in business.

While the computer was down we did one major activity that MUST be mentioned…Ella experienced her first circus!  She was very excited about seeing all of the animals do tricks.

Last week was Spring Break!  YAY!  Joe took the entire week off work, so we decided to get away for some much needed R & R.  Williamsburg here we come!  We attended a beautiful wedding on Saturday night (March 31^st), then went to a precious 1 year old birthday party on Sunday afternoon.  Right after the birthday party we headed to Williamsburg.  Ella was very excited to get away and know that she had both her mom and dad’s full attention for an entire week!

 

Monday was spent at Busch Gardens.  This was our first visit to Busch Gardens, so we weren’t sure what to expect.  In the end, we all had a great time!  Ella rode a few rides with Joe and I, but many of the kids rides are rides they have to do alone, and Ella was not about to do that, so she was limited in her ride options.  We did go see 2 shows, which she loved.  While waiting for the first show to start Ella looked at Joe and said, “Daddy, when I grow up I want to be on a stage like that and sing and dance.”  This is a change from her previous life goal of being a princess.

I did play the role of bad mommy at one point.  You see, I love roller coasters…LOVE them!  Ella is a big chicken.  They had a mini roller coaster for kids in the Sesame Street section…it had something to do with Grover.  Anyway, I made Ella go on it.  Yes, I’m the mom that forced my 4 ½ year old child to ride a roller coaster.  She hated every second of it.  In fact, half way through she screamed, “Are we done yet!!!”  Afterward she and Joe rode a much calmer ride and she said to him, “Daddy, I did not like that Grover ride!”  Hopefully when she gets older she’ll appreciate all that roller coasters have to offer.

Since I’m a big fan of theme parks in general, we stayed and closed the place out (it closed at 8:00, so it wasn’t too late).  Toward the end of the day the crowd really thinned out, so Joe and I started going from roller coaster to roller coaster and taking turns riding them.  The first was The Griffin…all I’ll say is that at the first drop I stopped breathing.  It was like my body couldn’t do anything…not scream, not panic, not even breath.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!  We rode all of the roller coasters that were operating that day and enjoyed having a bit of a flash back to our youth.

The next 2 days in Williamsburg were spent relaxing and walking around Colonial Williamsburg.    It was so peaceful and Ella loved seeing all of the animals.  While we were walking around she said, “Mom, there sure is a lot of horse poop around here.”  She was right.

We came home Wednesday night and spent all day Thursday doing laundry.  Friday morning we headed to New Jersey to spend Easter with Joe’s family.  Friday was an Easter egg hunt at Grammy’s house, and Saturday was an Easter egg hunt with cousin Andrew at his other grandparents house.  Ella racked up on candy!  Then, Sunday morning not one, but 2 Easter bunnies came to visit!  Mommy had talked to the Easter bunny before our trip and let him know that we were going to be at Aunt Trishy’s house.  Meanwhile, Aunt Trishy also notified the NJ Easter bunny, so Ella had candy from both the VA Easter bunny and the NJ Easter bunny…that makes for A LOT of candy!  Add that to the candy from 2 egg hunts and you have a 4 ½ year old with way more candy than she can possibly eat!

 

All that to say that while we’ve been MIA for a few weeks, we’re still here and doing great!