Jamestown & Yorktown

First stop during the break was jamestown. We have attempted to go other times, but this time it finally worked out. I mean since it's only 10 minutes down the road, we thought we would have time. So our friends the Devereauxs and us headed down in the rain.

Some random facts about Jamestown, in case you don't remember your social studies class, and just in case you come to visit us, we will take you here!

1) It was the first permanent english colony in America, founded in 1607 (13 years before the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts).

This is where the actual story of Pocahantas and Captain John Smith took place.

One of the main crops to grow here was tobacco (maybe that explains why EVERYONE here smokes.)

Jamestown was the capital of Virginia until 1698

It was such a great place, and we had so much fun. Especially Solanakin

Playing in the mud on a very rainy day.  She loved it.  We did not. :)

Inside the first church, Solana and Adam are playing preacher.

I love this picture of Jamie because he looks so scared, but he really isn't, he is just so cute!

"Why am I in this log shaped like a canoe, and why am I holding this giant stick?" 

The Devereaux Family

Jamie trying to escape on the ship.

A fun day down at the ships, aren't they so cool looking??

Yorktown!!!

Now towards the last part of the break, we headed down to Yorktown, about 20 mins away and oh such a beautiful drive.

Well if you know your American Revolutionary history ( I do not) then you can skip the rest of the post, but here are some facts about this quaint little town.

The Battle of Yorktown was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War (think of the very ending of the movie The Patriot.)

Oh, and it has a beach on the York River, so really that is all I care about :)

It's actually such a beautiful town that I can't wait to spend more time there.

Just us hanging out at Governor Nelson's  house. It was huge, especially for being built in the 1700's.

Every small town needs a giant monument in the middle, a Yorktown Victory Monument that is. It's almost 100 feet high! Thank you General Cornwallis for surrendering to General Washington so that we can have this beautiful structure. We love it!

Love all the history we live near.  The east coast is the best!

Christmas Festivies

We were especially excited for Christmas this year for a couple of reasons. One reason is that Adam finished his finals on the 14th!! So we had a couple weeks together to get the festivities started. I was thrilled to not be a single mom anymore, I almost didn't know how to handle having him home so much. And second because Solana is at such a fun age that she wants to play and gets excited when she gets something. (unlike last year when she just ate the wrapping paper) 

One very memorable Christmas moment was taking Solana to see Santa. We watched Santa videos with her to get her all excited. So off to Yankee candle we went, she was so excited she ran up to Santa and watched all the other kids sit on his lap. Well we waited in line (impatiently) then while Adam took some video, Solana and I walked up to a giant white bearded man, she was doing so great and I was so proud of her. Then I lift her up and she (cue screams of terror) lost it! She made her body so stiff that I couldn't even bend her legs to sit her on his lap. Santa was so kind and said "do you want me to pick her up?" He obviously could sense the terror in my child, and he probably already 10 kids react that same way to him that hour.  My first good mom reaction was to say no and pass on the moment, but then my "this is kind of funny" mom reacted and I said "yes!" So he picked her up, she screamed bloody murder, and we got a quick snapshot. The funny part was as we were leaving she wanted to go back and see him again. I thought, I'm not going to put Santa through that again.

So here is the photo play by play:

All happy waiting in line

Finally it's our turn!

Still excited to see him......

haha.....and then she lost it!

(I should have listened to good mom side)

We love Christmas trees in this house, we love the whole ordeal, to picking out the perfect one, and then busting out all the ornaments from our childhood that we still have and putting them up. It's a great time!

Solana was especially good with the tree this year. She would ask if she could play with any of them, and she only wanted to play with the soft or non breakable ones, so it all worked out. She wanted it lit all the time, and she was sad to see it come down. On Christmas Eve we went and had her pick out her second Christmas ornament, it was awesome, and not to our surprise, she is picky! We also weren't surprised it was a sock bear. Loves her bears.

Playing with another favorite ornament, her red diamond....she has good taste.

Christmas morning was a blast!

So excited, Merry Christmas!!!

Time to go!

The other day, I was heading out the door and was yelling for Solana to come downstairs and get into the car. She slowly comes walking out of our bedroom, all ready to go! 

 Let's see what she has:

Moms running shoes, check!

A suitcase, check!

A baby, check!

Cell phone, check!

Well really what else does a girl need?

I really could not stop laughing at all this girl was trying to take with her, and actually how right on she was with what you need. I'm glad I caught this on camera.