Alex was given Blacklight Golf as a birthday gift from Aunt Allison so we went on a hot day to play. The walls were painted with intricate art and the kiddos were good sports about a few spooky characters and had fun hitting the ball.
For Alex’s birthday he had birthday pancakes followed by some beach time. He had a lot of fun playing at the beach with everyone including Ammy and Papa. After dinner of hotdogs and chips we went out for dairy queen. Ammy and Papa read him stories goodnight. It was good birthday!
For Alex’s 4th birthday party he had a pool party at the YMCA. He started the morning off by opening his presents from family and having fun playing with them before heading to the pool. He had pizza and cupcakes with friends before heading outside to swim. He had a great time!
Our second half of family vacation this summer was at Bear Creek Lake State Park in central Virginia. We rented a cabin for four nights to enjoy the park. The first night when we checked in it was raining so we enjoyed making dinner and relaxed in the rocking chairs on the covered porch. The next day we explored the lake and hiked Channel Cat Loop trail over by the lake. The swim beach and camping was on one side of the lake and the cabins were on another about 1.5 miles away. After lunch at the cabin we geared up to kayak across the lake to the swimming beach from a launch by our cabin. Brooke and Alex enjoyed playing on the lily pads and turtle slipping and sliding and having a water fight. AJ grilled our dinner and made a fire afterwards for s’mores! After great thunderstorms overnight it was little rainy the next morning. So after breakfast we enjoyed a family round of Trouble and then headed for a little hike on Lost Barr Loop. We had lunch and geared up again to cross the lake. Unfortunately, right as we got to the swim area thunder struck and even though it never rained the lifeguards closed the beach. Though we couldn’t swim while the sky was clear and the thunder was distant we kayaked around as a family letting each child have a turn to paddle. We waited it out for a few hours we headed back to the cabin for dinner and relaxing. The following morning we headed to the beach first thing. The kids and AJ had a lot of fun splashing in the lake. After several hours we cleaned up and had a late lunch and headed to High Bridge in nearby Farmville. It was a old railroad bridge that crossed the Appomattox River. It has since been made into a 31 mile pedestrian/bike/equine trail. We parked and walked a 3 mile loop of it that took us over the bridge and back. It was warm and humid but the kids were amazing and we all really enjoyed ourselves. The final morning I woke up early to take a quick 3 mile run and came back to pack up all of our fun vacation gear before heading home. We really had a great time at the cabin!
I took the kiddos to beach again today because it is supposed to rain for a week straight and I wanted to make sure they got some more beach time before that happened. We made sand ice cream and dough then all swam in the ocean together before they jumped ‘Cowabundga!’ into the waves while I watched and took pictures. We washed up and then stopped to look at some flowers and the lotus garden before meeting AJ after his workday to pick blueberries. It was a long but fun day!
