thanksgiving in virginia

we're back!!!

before i share pictures, i'll give you a little recap of how our thanksgiving vacation unfolded...

we decided to leave on tuesday, the day before the busiest travelling day of the year, which proved to be a good move because traffic was smooth and luckily the weather was pleasant. russ got home from work early that day and we packed up the car and pulled out of the driveway at 4:20pm. the kids were well behaved, and after one [unexpectedly long] dinner stop, two gas/bathroom pit stops, including one nasty pull-up "explosion", and four disney movies later, the kids finally fell asleep around 11pm. natalie was fighting sleep so hard, she said: "oh no, something's wrong with my eyes - they're closing!" we couldn't stop laughing...

we got to susan's house at 3:30; 11 hours was longer than we had hoped to spend on the road, but it wasn't terribly bad. immediately natalie took to her *aunt susie* and uncle steve and slept with them that night.

we slept in the next day, waited for the cousins to get out of school (they had a half day), then went to eat a late lunch at the infamous mexican restaurant we visited the last time we were in VA. good food, good times.

on thanksgiving day, we walked [one mile each way] to their gorgeous neighborhood park to let the kids play... ok, us too :) after we got home we watched two holiday classics: Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Christmas Vacation while we waited to eat dinner. those are the funniest movies... oh yeah, dinner was DELICIOUS! that is why thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday of the year.

on friday, we ate lunch at Fuddruckers (jacksonville should definitely get one of these soon!) and afterwards visited the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. that night we had some good laughs looking at old pictures and talking.

saturday was spent in williamsburg ("virginia's colonial capital") which is such a beautiful little town. after visiting the largest Yankee Candle store i've ever seen, we ate dinner at olive garden, and had dessert at The Peanut Shoppe (the candy store that lets you sample all their goodies before you buy!). it got dark pretty quick and we enjoyed the christmas lights everywhere and the whole small-town feeling that was all around us. santa claus just happened to stroll by us and natalie was delighted that she was able to chat with him, since we didn't get to wait in the long line to see him at the yankee candle store earlier.

on sunday morning we hit the road at 7am and boy were we in for a treat! apparently we were driving on the SECOND busiest travelling day of the year. 14 LOOOOOONG hours later, after 2 meal stops, countless bathroom and gas pit stops, being stuck in SC for almost 5 hours, bumper-to-bumper under 10 mph driving, numerous (maybe 10) disney movies (which for some reason, didn't seem to do their *magic*), and an ugly RAINY day, we finally made it back home. the kids weren't necessarily "misbehaved", but they were just as restless as we were in that car, so it wasn't fun...at all!

HOME SWEET HOME! there's nothing like a trip out of town to make you appreciate the normalcy of being home. but i must say, this was one of the best trips we've taken in a long time. we all had such a blast, just goofing off and spending time with each other. russell's sister susan sure knows how to take care of her guests and she treated us like royalty! we already miss her and everybody else. natalie and her aunt susie were like BFFs - wherever susan went, natalie was right by her side. it was the cutest thing, although it did make me feel slightly jealous at times...but it also gave me plenty of much-needed free time!

thank you so much to the Kozlowski Family for taking good care of us while we were in virginia! love you guys!

now, on to the pictures: