Virginia Beach, VA

Well, day 3 into the visit from the relatives. Yesterday we spent the day at Busch Gardens, a 45 minute ride from VA Beach if the traffic is good.

Today, we hung out at the beach and then explored the beachfront this evening. They had quite a few concerts(free) and also street performers every so many blocks. What a great almost free evening.

We stopped and rode the rides at the one amusement area and finished it off with a trip to Dairy Queen.

You can find the list of fun things to do at www.vbfun.com

One bad thing about living in the south is that it never gets cold enough to really kill off all of the pesky “skeeters” and fleas. Bummer dude.

Hey, if you are visiting, bring mosquito spray. Seriously.

So, to recap, the uptight northern relatives are arriving Saturday, and the fleas are showing no signs of giving up. Hubby sprayed the yard with the traditional chemical stuff, and we tried something new for the house. It’s called Natural Defense and is made from tea tree oil and other things which fleas supposedly hate. They make a product for cats, one for dogs and also a household spray.

It has a spicy smell to it, which I don’t believe my husband really cares for, but otherwise, it’s not too bad. I’ve been spraying the carpets, the couch, and combing the animals with the powder.

So far, it seems to have made a small dent. We’ll see if it keeps up. I like the fact that you can spray it and that you can get under couches, tables etc. unlike with flea bombs which kill the fleas around things.

I found the natural flea killing powder and spray at the local pet store, although I did find the carpet spray at Target as well.

Do you have a sure fire natural way of killing the unwanted guests on your pet? Let me know.

I’m talking about the annual migration of family coming down south to visit. Talk about stressful…when Northern uptight folks wander down south and bring the expectations with them, it gets ugly. Yup, I get tired of being called a Yankee down here(born and bred I always say–can’t change who you are), but even I am amazed at the differences between the people when you cross that Mason Dixon line. Then again, the type A parts of my personality that did exist in me were beaten out of me by raising kids. Living down here has also made me give up what little was left. I very vividly remember buying groceries our first week down here and thinking to myself–does everyone talk about everything to everybody down here and why does it take so long to do anything around here? Now, I find it refreshing.

Back to life with kids…I’ve learned that if you don’t relax the standards a little bit, you’ll never leave the house as you’ll be cleaning all the time(been there done that). Plus, what do you want the kids to say about you when it’s all said and done–”my mom, she could REALLY clean the house she could” or “my mom let us learn and explore and create and wow was it fun to be a kid in our house!”

Despite my centering, I’m frantically cleaning/washing/repairing etc and driving everyone crazy in the house in the interim. The kids are already on alert and cleaning their bedrooms too. Hubby is out buying a new countertop for the bathroom sink(isn’t that bizarre?)

The bottom line–all 7 of us live in a modest sized ranch house with limited storage. 5 of the 7 of us are children. This ain’t Martha Stewart’s house. Think more along the lines of the Brady Bunch plus a few animals, minus the den and large living room.

Arrival date is Saturday.

Our family that’s visiting will be staying on base at Camp Pendleton. It’s basic digs, but where else can you get beachside accomodations in-season for around $50 per nite? If you are military, or have military family, definitely check out this option.

Sadly, our neighbor’s father passed away last week. Today is the funeral.

The church is on Moses Granby Trail. Moses Granby…now doesn’t that sound like a name that you should know somehow? I mean they usually don’t name roads, unless they are in subdivisions, after people you shouldn’t know, right?

So, I looked it up. Who is Moses Granby? Turns out that Moses Granby was a slave that was born in NC(about 15-30 minutes away depending upon traffic) in 1786. In 1833 he escaped from the South and wrote a book printed by the Anti-slavery society called the Life of a Slave.

I looked up the book and read some exerpts of it. How sad and cruel was this man’s life. One of the links I checked out is www.historyontheweb.com, which is a kid friendly history source.

Is that like dinner and a movie?

Yesterday, we took the kids to see Surf’s Up.

They loved the movie! According to hubby, the movie is done in a “reality show” format and has interviews with the characters during the movie. Sounds like an interesting way to do a movie.

These new animated movies just amaze me! Then again, I remember seeing the first computer generated animated short by Pixar in the late 80’s at an animation film festival in college. It’s been almost, gasp, 20 years ago.

And now, 20 years later, we have penguins, cars, zoo animals, more penguins etc.

My entertainment for the evening was going to pick everyone up after the van failed to start when the movie let out. You can only fit so many people in a tow truck.

It’s hot, the pool liner is ripped, and there is an ozone advisory down here–not so great to make long trips with the baby. How to keep the older ones busy?

Today is library day. We’re going to Central library. I’m just amazed at how actually beautiful this building is architecturally, not to mention the great quality of books, videos, DVD’s and books on tape that can be found there.

The library also has audio books that can be accessed online. I can’t say enough good things about this service. It’s wonderful for my bunch–which includes struggling and also blind readers.

Check out the link at the VB home page–www.vbgov.com. Click on learning, then libraries, then children’s room, then ebooks. Click on the start reading now link and then choose your book to begin reading.

It appears to be another hazy, lazy summer day. The weather down south is still something I’m getting used to. I love not having to shovel snow, but I still haven’t gotten the hang of the humidity thing.

The weather reporter will say “80 degrees” and I go outside expecting a Pennsylvania 80–that it really isn’t.

Today, the kids and the hubby, who is off from work today, will be dropping by Regal Theatres to take in their free summer movie gala. Every Tuesday and Wednesday this summer they show free kid movies at 10. This will be our first attempt at this–I expect it to be crowded.

I’m staying home doing baby duty. As 2 of the kids are legally blind and it’s a challenge to do the movie thing logistically(not to mention we have 5 kids), we usually don’t go out to the movies. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Check it out–they have free movies in a bunch of states are regions across the country

This weekend, we drove to DE so the kids could visit their dad. A long journey–4 hours one way.

One of the neat things about the journey is crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel(www.cbbt.com). The Bridge starts in VA Beach and extends over 17 miles and includes 2 tunnels which go under the bay. It’s also privately owned and will cost you $12 to cross.

In the middle of the bridge is a fishing pier, a restaurant, and a look out. We stopped on the way back as it was just so beautiful. The sky reminded me of a Bob Ross painting;there was just a sliver of moon in the sky and the only way you could tell where the sea and the horizon met was to because of the dots of light from the distant cities. It was beautiful.

I highly recommend the bridge trip. It’s well worth the money.

Good morning and welcome to VA Beach!

Our family is military, and we moved several years ago to the area from rural Pennsylvania. Talk about culture shock! We went from horse and buggies and dirt roads to lots of traffic and 6 lane highways leading to the beach.

We’ve grown to love this area. There is much to do, lots to see and explore, and people are friendly despite the fact that the city of VA Beach is one of the biggest in VA.

The last day of school was Thursday, so we took the kids to the beachfront to celebrate yesterday. The Center for Contemoporary Art in VA had it’s arts festival on the boardwalk. There were many, many artists from all over the US exhibiting their works using different mediums.

It was just fantastic to walk up and down the boardwalk(the kids rode their scooters) and visit with the artists and talk about their works. Our favorite work was done by a young artist in black and white photography. The photo was of “freezing fog”. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that term(neither did he, but said he heard it on the radio the day he took the photo).

Of course, no trip to the Beach front is complete without food. This time, we bypassed the funnel cake stand and went with our usual–ice cream at the Dairy Queen on the Boardwalk.

The CACV is a few blocks from the Beachfront and right now, they have a copy of the Magna Carta on display.

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below: