Virginia is for Lovers

Back Story: I lived in Yorktown, Virginia with my parents throughout High School and a for a couple of years after graduation. My parents were stationed there in the Air Force. The Husband had grown up in the Dallas area and had joined the Navy after High School. He was stationed at Norfolk Naval Station about 45 minutes from where I lived.

My best friend "D" and I spent A LOT of time in Virginia Beach. It was the place to be for a couple of girls our age. One night when I was about 19, she and I drove to Virginia Beach as we so often did and met the two men we ended up marrying. "D" married "B", The Husband's good friend from the Navy, in July 1994 and The Husband and I were married in October of the same year. The four of us hadn't seen eachother since our wedding. FOURTEEN YEARS. What a shame.


We returned to Virginia this past weekend for a surprise trip for "D's" birthday on Sunday. I had schemed a plan to surprise her. I called her Mom several weeks ago and the plan was hatched. We looked into airfare, but decided to save A LOT of money by driving. Even with the crazy gas prices, we saved a ton thanks to my sweet little Jetta that gets 50mpg. As much as I loved the savings in fuel though, I admit was cursing that tiny car after 44 (round trip) hours in it with 4 people. We lived though and I don't regret the trip ONE BIT.

Here are the kids fairly happy on day one (you will notice there are NO pictures of the return trip passengers .... life was not as happy on the way home ..... ugh)

Just as we were getting close, we ended up stuck on a bridge for about an hour due to a wreck up ahead. We noticed people were all getting out of their cars and enjoying the view and fabulous weather. My children have only seen the ocean once and they were 4 years old and 6 months old .... they obviously do not remember it. This bridge was their very first view of the ocean. They were BEGGING to get out of the car and have a look. I fought the good fight for about 20 minutes. I was not at all on board with my kids standing outside the car on a bridge suspended over the Atlantic Ocean (for those of you who don't know - bridges and water are my biggest fear in life). I eventually gave in and just buried my head in my hands for most of the 10 minutes they spent looking at the ocean with Daddy. They were THRILLED to see the ocean .... it was love at first sight.

This is the only picture of the "reunion" I ended up with. I had given the camera to The Husband when "D" was about to come around the corner of her Mom's house to discover us sitting there .... he was instructed to "take pictureS" .... with an "S". He took this one:

She was SHOCKED. It was GREAT. Her Mom and I really pulled it off. She had NO idea we were coming. The moment was perfect. It was so great to see her and "B" and to finally meet their precious boys (ages 7 and 2) in person. Here are all the kiddos on her Mom's front porch:

Bubby and her oldest son hit it off IMMEDIATELY. We were so entertained by their instant friendship. Here they are in coincidentally matching pajamas (which they were pretty thrilled to discover) enjoying some legos and hot wheels together.

Saturday I was wanting to go to Virginia Beach. I really wanted the kids to see where The Husband and I had met. I also wanted them to SEE the beach. I had no idea the weather would be so great.

It was just warm enough to allow for some playing in the water. Too cold for the sane adults, but the kids were fine with it.

The boys (the 2 year old stayed at home with "MaMaw") really enjoyed the sand. Bubby has watched WAY too much "Shark Week" on TV to want to go too far into the water anyway.

Being Silly and "Playing Dead"

I just HAD to get a picture of just how COVERED with sand this boy was ... YUCK!

Fancy was much more brave with the water. She ended up really enjoying riding the waves in. She was scaring me to death, but I had to let her enjoy herself.

Notice the boys watching her safely from the shore.

"D" and I planted ourselves in beach chairs on the sand and enjoyed an afternoon of warm sun, cool breezes, the smell of the ocean, and watching our kids play together. Life was perfect. We just couldn't get over how much our lives had changed since we'd last been together on that same sand.

Here's the two Navy Buddies and their Brides. Those two enjoyed catching up and watching the boys play together.

After our day on the beach, we cleaned up and took a walk on the boardwalk. We wrapped up the evening with a FABULOUS seafood dinner in a gorgeous restaurant right on the water. It was great.

Sunday morning we went to church with them, had lunch, and then took the kids down to Historic Yorktown. I will post pictures of that later. I had no idea I had taken so many pictures and this post has already taken me quite awhile.