Weekend Away

We decided, kind of on the spur of the moment, to go away this past weekend and I am very glad we did. We are finally getting to a point in our family where weekend-getaways can actually be just that, instead of periods of prolonged frustration and occasional agony. The girls were angels in the car (no puking, even!) slept like logs in the hotel and we were all able to enjoy every excursion fully. I realized that a new day has dawned for us when we woke up that first morning in the hotel (at 9:30, amazingly!) and were able to get ourselves dressed and out the door in less than an hour. The only person I had to dress besides myself was Lucy, and the only teeth I needed to brush were my own. It was heaven. Heaven! Remembering vacations past, with the frantic dressing, diaper-changing, teeth-scrubbing, shoe-finding, toy-stashing....to have our very first easy morning while away was a vacation all in itself for me.

So it all began with a trip into VA to have dinner with some old friends, and their adorable, adorably chunky, and whip-smart little boy:

From there we went on to Willamsburg. We spent the first day at a public beach along the bay, and it was a perfect day. The girls swam,

played in the sand

and in general just enjoyed themselves. Chris and I even had a few free minutes to sit back on our towels and just soak in the peace, the quiet, and the contentment of a day at the beach.

The next day, we went to Colonial Williamsburg.

Where, first of all, we bought these ridiculously adorable hats, and secondly, we had a great time. It was super hot, and by the end of the day Abbie and Lucy had decidedly had enough, but the older girls loved it (naturally) and the younger two still held strong even when things were maybe a little over their heads.

A great time was had by all. And I cannot emphasize enough how wonderful it was to take a trip that was not soul-crushingly exhausting. Ahhh! As I said, I feel like we are entering a new phase in our family and I, for one, am loving it!