Freedom Park

Our Saturdays in Williamsburg are numbered.  We are moving back to Virginia Beach on Navy orders in a little over a month, so we are trying to visit some places that we've driven by nearly every day for the past 3 years but never been to.  Last Saturday we went to Freedom Park  and the Williamsburg Botanical Garden which is just down the road from our house.

To be quite honest, the botanical garden was a disappointment to me because I was envisioning something closer to the Norfolk Botanical Garden which is over 100 acres.  Finn didn't seem particularly thrilled with it either and kept trying to text his grandmother to come rescue him.

The majority of Freedom Park contains mountain biking trails, but there are some other areas to walk around.  Finn made his own path.

And then he remembered there are snacks in my purse.

Overall this was not our most exciting of Saturdays, but we did experience something new in Williamsburg.

Busch Gardens

We are fortunate to live 20 minutes from Busch Gardens Williamsburg.  I believe the Busch Gardens in Tampa is a zoo theme, but the one by us is Europe (or The Old Country).  Somehow this includes New France (Canada) which I have never understood, but that is besides the point!

Saturday was Pass Member Preview Day for 2012.  It's held the weekend before the park opens for the season.  The weather was nice and my mom drove up from Virginia Beach to go with us after Finn's nap.  It wasn't crowded at all which was nice since Finn is now a big boy and wants to walk rather than ride in the stroller.  He was so funny and would stop every now and then to dance to the music.  Most of the people who got stuck behind our slow moving group didn't seemed too bothered by it.

We spent most of our time in Sesame Place which is a Sesame Street themed area for little kids.  It's pretty new to the park and took the place of what used to be a petting zoo area.  Since we never went into here pre-baby, I had forgotten that there is a big "splash pad" area.  I do believe that getting to play in the water makes last Saturday the best day of Finn's life.  We didn't let him get too wet since we didn't bring a change of clothes, but he was absolutely enthralled.  He kept pointing to all the water spraying everywhere and he and my mom came very close to getting a huge bucket of water dumped on them!

Hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of living so close to make a few more BG trips before we move.  Waking up on a Saturday morning and being told by our parents that we were heading to the park for the day was always a big treat for my sister and me growing up and it's so much fun to watch Finn enjoy it as much as we did.

We didn't exactly wear the right clothing to play in here.

So much fun at Busch Gardens!

Who wouldn't want to play in there?

Weekend with the Grandparents

Last weekend Patrick and I drove out to Snowshoe, WV to go skiing for my birthday.  Even though my longtime skiier friend Amber says you can teach kids to ski as soon as they can walk, we decided to do a weekend away with just the two of us.  While it is always hard to be away from your child for a few nights, there is really nowhere else Finn would want to be than with his grandparents.  I dropped him off Wednesday night and we picked him up on Sunday afternoon, so last Saturday was spent with them.

My parents' house is a home away from home for Finn and he always has a fantastic time destroying rearranging their cabinets.  My mom pulled a lot of my old toys out of the attic, so Finn gets to play with vintage Little People.  Though he'd rather chase the cat these days.

They ate at his favorite places which include Panera (mac & cheese) and Cracker Barrel (mac & cheese).  They took walks when it wasn't raining and in my parents' neighborhood you are always guaranteed to see at least one dog out.  I suggested my mom take him to Barnes & Noble to play with the train table on rainy days, so he had fun doing that.  They also spent a morning at the Virginia Aquarium where Finn was a hit at the stingray touch tank.

Until the Navy eventually sends us out of Virginia, Finn gets nearly unlimited time with his grandparents which is wonderful for everyone.  I'm waiting for their reaction the day he asks for a pony.

Patrick and Me at Snowshoe.  Notice the lack of snow in the background.

Colonial Williamsburg

We currently live about 20 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg.  Unless you want to go in certain buildings, you can walk around the historic district for free which is one of our favorite Saturday activities.  We have walked miles down Duke of Gloucester Street which is often simply called DOG Street, partially due to the fact that everyone and their brother walks their dogs down it.  Finn said dog for the first time there, in fact!

I can't say that Finn appreciates any of the history no matter how many times I point to the statue of Thomas Jefferson in Merchant's Square and tell him to say hi to your ancestor.  Quite frankly, he's just there for the dogs and the college girls he makes eyes at from our table at the Cheese Shop.  I'm sure we'll take him back when he's older and he'll complain that a) it's hot and b) he's bored and c) why are there so many old people?

"Dogs!"

You can tell that spring is right around the corner.

He couldn't stay away from the gumballs today.