July 4th Weekend Part 1: Virginia Beach

We left Thursday night (July 2nd) for the Credles and stopped at our family favorite "diner" for dinner.

Hooray for Steak & Shake! 

Dan really likes his new goggles. Can you tell?

It kinda took forever to get there as it was a holiday weekend and all, and they were calling for rain the next day, which was a bit of a downer, but when we woke up Friday morning, it was actually sunny. And, the forecast had cleared. 

Turned out the day before the 4th was a good beach day, after all!

Our obligatory First Street, Va Beach picture

It was a perfect beach day. Not too hot and just overcast enough that we didn't have to worry too much about sunburn.

Anabella really wanted to search for seashells on our walk along the beach, only there weren't many to find. So, she was picking up random cool things she found. 

Not your average beach walk collection, but hey, she was proud. 

Daniel was having so much playing in the sand, we had to make him take a break for lunch long after we'd already eaten. 

Memorial Day was a little cold for the ocean, but this day the water was nice and refreshing. Belle enjoyed going in with Daddy and "jumping" waves. She didn't want to go too far, though. Which was fine by me as well. :) 

Dan played in the waves some, but this was his activity of choice.
Sand boarding!
Safer.....and, again, a fine choice in my opinion!
(This is the year of the sharks, so I'm happy that nobody in my family is a surfer!)

The kids took a short nap on the way back to the Credles, and that evening we went to our favorite Thai restaurant for dinner.  

The plan was to go to Busch Gardens that night and do some riding while it wasn't so warm, but it stormed all evening, so we had an early night.

Probably best for the kids anyway since we had a big day planned the next day, too, and no matter how late they go to bed, they still wake up at the same time- and that's early! So, we try to get them to bed early.