The Month of March in Photos

We've been crazy this past month with lots of activities, Dan going on a European tour with students from his school, and Emma having major surgery.  Those last two deserve their own posts, so I'll just update on the happenings in March for now.

My cousin, Kyle, came to Chesapeake on a work training assignment, so we met for dinner one night.  It was great to catch up with him!

We met my sister-in-law, Robin, and her girls, Naomi and Miriam, one sunny day to play at the Air Power Park in Hampton. They had a small museum and some actual airplanes and shuttles to look at, but the girls were most interested in their playground. 

It was too windy to stay outside, for long so we visited the Bass Pro Shop nearby.  Naomi and Emma got a kick out of the animals.

Our attempt at a group photo in front of the aquarium - so typical with toddlers. Ha!

 Emma and Naomi found a cave to play in, so they pretended to be bears. 

All three girls hitching a ride through the store.

 We visited Virginia Beach one afternoon and had a great time even though it was pretty chilly. 

Emma and I visited Blue Bird Gap Farm on our way to Williamsburg one day, which is a free petting farm in Hampton.  They have farm animals to see, a garden to explore, and a big playground to play on. We had a great time!

This friendly deer wanted to lick/tickle our fingers through the fence.

Cute little bumblebee

 Checking out the albino peacock that was roaming around the farm

And some big tortoises 

The following day, we joined some of the Jester family at the Jamestown "Military Through the Ages" festival. Hundreds of actors dressed up and reenacted life for soldiers and their families from the Roman/Viking ages through World War II.

Our nephews Aaron, Nathan, and Benjamin were recruited and taught how to do rifle drills

Emma got to step inside a military camping tent that they said slept about 6 soldiers. Good grief!

When Emma and Josiah (the youngest kids in our group) got tired of watching the reenactments and hearing historical facts, Mom Jester, my sister-in-law, Dawn and I took them to play on the tall ships.

Josiah is a year older, but Emma is determined to keep up with him.

Mom Jester picked up an admiring sailor while we were there!

Cousins holding hands. So sweet, and they will hate this picture when they're older.

We also explored and played in the buildings at Jamestown settlement.

Checking out the cozy straw beds

And the comfortable wooden pews in church

 When I picked Emma up from preschool one day, she was having intense UTI pain, so I took her to urgent care that night to get her started on antibiotics. She is showing off her awesome new tongue trick.

A closer look. It saves us a bundle on Kleenex. Heh!

She has also learned to wink recently. Of course you have to hold your mouth just right.

On Easter Sunday, someone was feeling pretty in her fancy dress. She danced through most of the music in the service.

We had an Easter basket for her to open while we drove to Williamsburg for lunch with my parents and the Jester family and friends.

She got a Peeps kabob from my parents and was a *little* excited about it.

This clay Olaf was one of her Easter goodies

We had a great time visiting, playing, and Easter egg hunting with family and friends that afternoon. Left to right: my dad, Dad Jester, and friends Pete King and his daughter, Kimberly, sitting in front.

Left to right: Cousins John, Carrie, and their daughter, Chloe Gibson, our niece Naomi, my mom, and friend Joyce King

Left to right: Brother-in-law Rob, nieces Naomi and Miriam, and Dan's sister, Robin

Left to right, nephew Benjamin, sister-in-law Dawn, Dan's brother Tim holding nephew Josiah, and Mom Jester

Emma and Naomi loved playing with their big cousin, Chloe!

Busch Gardens opened for Spring Break weeks, so we picked a warm sunny day to go play!

She loves the Oscar Whirly Worm ride. It makes me sick, but I can tolerate it once or twice to watch her giggle and smile every time we spin.

Dad and Mom Jester met us at Busch Gardens and we also ran into some of Dan's coworkers at the park that day.

One of the school friends we saw there has a son the same age as Emma, so we stuck with them for an hour or so to let the kids play together.

Emma's really come a long way when it comes to riding rides. She used to be afraid to go on them, but she was excited to ride some of the kid rides, even though she had to go without me.

There's a fun kid section at Busch Gardens called Land of the Dinosaurs where there are rides and a climbing area for kids of all ages. Emma was pretending to hatch from a dinosaur egg.

Unfortunately Dan missed out on some of the fun this month since he was in Europe for two weeks chaperoning his Senior class trip. I know, poor guy. :) We missed him tons and were really happy when he was home again!