Trip to Virginia

We took a 10-day trip to Virginia over our Christmas break to stay with my family. Almost my whole family was there (minus Kim and Steven) so the house was full (8 kids and 10 adults). Although living in tight quarters, it was so much fun!

We left Christmas afternoon and arrived at my parents house around 2:00 AM the next day. Aaron and Jessica had so much fun playing with all their little cousins and aunts and uncles. We spent one day at an indoor water park. It was a lot of fun (well, Amy didn't think so, but everyone else had fun!) Who would have thought that we'd be riding the lazy river and doing all kinds of water slides in December!

Dan and I were able to have a little get-away one night and leave the kids with my parents. We stayed at a small Bed & Breakfast in West Virginia. It was way up in the mountains and we got to see black bears wandering around at night! It was so nice to get away and relax with my sweet hubby.

Another one of my favorite parts of the trip was our family get-away in Washington, D.C. This is where we took most of our pictures. We left Amy with my parents and took Aaron and Jessica to see all the major sites. I felt like we had gone back two years in time to before Amy was born as we all just bundled up and hiked around the city, kind of like how we used to before we had a baby. While, of course, I love Amy, I loved having a little break and just being with the big kids! It was cloudy and freezing cold the whole time, but we dressed well and stopped for hot cocoa a few times. The weather didn't get us down at all.
We stayed at the Red Roof Inn in downtown China Town. There were tons of Chinese restaurants around and Dan especially enjoyed one where they made there own fresh noodles. It was fun to watch them make the noodles! Our hotel location was great! Within walking distance of all the sights!
Aaron and I in China Town.



We also spent some time at the Smithsonian Botanical Gardens and Air and Space Museum.
We hardly took any cousin pictures, but I would say that spending time with cousins was Aaron and Jessica's favorite part of the trip! I also enjoyed getting to spend time with my parents and brothers and sisters.

Thanks Mom and Dad for making the trip possible. We had a really great time with lots of fun memories!