a fun week

As summer vacation comes to a close, we're trying to do all the fun things before time is up.  After being in Philadelphia Friday and Saturday, there was no rest for the weary on Sunday afternoon.  We headed to Kings Dominion after church to check out the Monster Jam exhibit/ride.  We enjoyed it.  I didn't get any pictures of it, but later on ended up being the highlight of the day (for Bryce at least).

Emmy wanted to ride one of the kiddie rides and Bryce was going to sit it out and then Jason ended up asking him to ride with her.  They measured him before he got on and told him he was too big.  This sent all kinds of emotions/reactions through him.  With this information, he knew he had finally hit the last height requirement for a few more rides he wanted to try so he and Jason went straight to the intimidator.

He loved it!

This particular ride doesn't go upside down, but it is the tallest ride in the park with an incredible drop/hill.

MeMa took the kids to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News on Monday and they had a great time.

Tuesday was our annual trip to Yorktown Beach with the Shipleys.

After swimming all day, we get cleaned up for a ride on the trolley and a Ben and Jerry's treat!  

It was pretty hot this week, but Wednesday was cloudy on and off so we headed to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and enjoyed the flowers and LEGO exhibit.  

There's a good deal of shade so weren't too hot.

These love signs are popping up all over the place.

I didn't feel like this year's LEGO exhibit was as good as one they had a couple of years ago, but the statues are still pretty impressive.

We've eaten at the café before (cafeteria style) but I've always wanted to eat at the tea house.  We happened to be there on a day they were opened and it did not disappoint!

We were back at Kings Dominion today.  Now that Bryce is tall enough, he wanted a chance to ride all of the roller coasters he hadn't done yet.  We went with my mom and the Shipleys and lucky for me, Gracie rode quite a few rides with Bryce, but I manned up and did a few with him too.

Fun with friends. 

I don't actually mind a roller coaster, I just don't love how some are so jerky.  I do however, despise rides that go in a circle or spin.  And of course, those are Emmy's favorite since she's too short for most of the roller coasters she wants to ride.

This was mine and Bryce's first time riding the dominator and we both loved it.  We declared it our favorite.

No trip to Kings Dominion is complete without a trip to Rita's!

It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I'm kind of hoping we can have a low key day at home after all of our fun this week!