Last week we had another great time at Nate's mom's time share at Shenandoah Crossing in VA. There are some challenges to traveling with 2 under 2 but all it all it was a great trip and wonderful to get away and spend some time as a family all together. I wish it could be like that all the time (too bad for work!). There were a few times we were hoping for a babysitter but once we got the kids to bed we got to spend some time just the 2 of us outside. Traveling with a 2 month old is a breeze, traveling with a feisty 22 month old is interesting but when you take into account shorter naps than usual, teething still and being out of his environment he did well and had lots of fun.
We got in Tuesday evening and got all unpacked and settled. Wednesday was the only rainy day, it didn't actually rain all day but just not real nice. We did hit the pool, Max liked his kid size pool but it started to drizzle so we just went to the indoor pool there instead (which he loved cause it was 88 degrees).
Lots of playground time!
Thursday we got up and hit the stables for Max's first pony ride on "Wendy". He was beside himself he loved it so much!
This is Max not cooperating for a family photo:)
Friday was gorgeous. We headed into Charlottesville for the day. We went to the downtown mall (out door pedestrian mall with lots of shops and restaurants, etc) and ate lunch outside and walked around a bit. We drove up into the mountains so the kids could sleep but that didn't last as long as we expected so we came back into town and went to the children's Discovery Museum which Max just loved. A bunch of cool stuff (some learning stuff too for older kids) but just tons to play with he didn't know what to go to next!
There was an outdoor swing/jazz concert that started at 5:30pm so I had packed a picnic dinner and we went down to hang out and listen to some good music at the pavilion. It was fun, a lot of chasing Max around but there were SO many other young families there so it was very relaxed.
You can still "wash" even if you're on vacation!
Saturday we packed up and headed down to the new fun pools/fountains and playground. (You can't walk to this one but its still right there at the resort).
He would never have left the fountains for the pool! He loved covering one up with his foot!
This part of the pool makes a whirl pool.
Poor thing had his hands in his mouth half the trip cause his teeth were bothering him:(
It wasn't crowded at all yet so he got to be like the "big kids" playing on the island. (Older kids get up there and jump off so normally he just has to watch them).
Aliyah enjoying some pool time with daddy. You have to be 3 months to get in the water so she had to stay out and stay in the shade the whole time, she didn't seem to mind:)
After some pool and playground time, we needed to refuel with a picnic lunch.
Chillin on the deck with daddy!
This was Max's first smore. He went right for the chocolate which was more candy than he's eaten in his whole life! I think it was a hit!
Had to let some of the smore energy out after some grilling out Saturday evening.
Then we took one last walk around the resort.
Lots of playground time!
Thursday we got up and hit the stables for Max's first pony ride on "Wendy". He was beside himself he loved it so much!
This is Max not cooperating for a family photo:)
Friday was gorgeous. We headed into Charlottesville for the day. We went to the downtown mall (out door pedestrian mall with lots of shops and restaurants, etc) and ate lunch outside and walked around a bit. We drove up into the mountains so the kids could sleep but that didn't last as long as we expected so we came back into town and went to the children's Discovery Museum which Max just loved. A bunch of cool stuff (some learning stuff too for older kids) but just tons to play with he didn't know what to go to next!
There was an outdoor swing/jazz concert that started at 5:30pm so I had packed a picnic dinner and we went down to hang out and listen to some good music at the pavilion. It was fun, a lot of chasing Max around but there were SO many other young families there so it was very relaxed.
You can still "wash" even if you're on vacation!
Saturday we packed up and headed down to the new fun pools/fountains and playground. (You can't walk to this one but its still right there at the resort).He would never have left the fountains for the pool! He loved covering one up with his foot!
This part of the pool makes a whirl pool.
Poor thing had his hands in his mouth half the trip cause his teeth were bothering him:(
It wasn't crowded at all yet so he got to be like the "big kids" playing on the island. (Older kids get up there and jump off so normally he just has to watch them).
Aliyah enjoying some pool time with daddy. You have to be 3 months to get in the water so she had to stay out and stay in the shade the whole time, she didn't seem to mind:)
After some pool and playground time, we needed to refuel with a picnic lunch.
Chillin on the deck with daddy!
This was Max's first smore. He went right for the chocolate which was more candy than he's eaten in his whole life! I think it was a hit!
Had to let some of the smore energy out after some grilling out Saturday evening.
Then we took one last walk around the resort.
Max and daddy looking for fishies...
Sunday morning we decided on one last pony ride before we headed home. This is his "I'm so excited I'm embarassed look", makes it all worth it!
Since Aunt Ellie's is almost on the way home we stoped there to break up the ride a little bit and let out some energy which is easy to do with an indoor slide:)
His country cousins dressed him up:)
And the best part is we came back to a house with NO bats (batman finished the work while we were gone). It was a great vacation, I wouldn't say overly relaxing, times have changed in the Swanson household but only for the better:)
Sunday morning we decided on one last pony ride before we headed home. This is his "I'm so excited I'm embarassed look", makes it all worth it!
Since Aunt Ellie's is almost on the way home we stoped there to break up the ride a little bit and let out some energy which is easy to do with an indoor slide:)
His country cousins dressed him up:)
And the best part is we came back to a house with NO bats (batman finished the work while we were gone). It was a great vacation, I wouldn't say overly relaxing, times have changed in the Swanson household but only for the better:)
