virginia beach aquarium

A few weeks ago I took Hailey to the Virginia Beach Aquarium. She's a little young to remember but hey, her admittance was free! She loves to look at our fish tank at home so it was no surprise to me that she was loving being able to look at and touch the huge ones with giant fish, turtles and sharks inside of them. Here are some pictures:

Hailey's walking!

4th of july

I am extremely grateful to those who fought and those who still fight to preserve our freedom! Thank you to my loving husband for serving his country so proudly. I love and miss you!

This is how I celebrated my independence this year:

We were packing our lunch for our day at the beach and Hailey in her new favorite spot to race towards when I am getting something from the fridge... (Yes, I do put a sponge roller in her little pony-tail or it stands straight up!)She's becoming a good little helper, she keeps the door open for me...

Hailey loves the water! I'm lucky to have friends who help me with her at the beach.

Hailey wasn't very interested in the Fireworks... all the little kids holding glow sticks were a lot more entertaining for her!

the great american backyard camp out!

This past weekend Hails and I went camping! Can you believe it? The Armed Services YMCA sponsored "The Great American Backyard Camp Out" for military and there families. They charged $7.50 per person, but they provided a tent, lantern, dinner, dessert, educational tours, compass reading lesson, crafts for the children, breakfast and 2 days of free parking at First Landing State Park. We actually got to keep the tent and the lantern, so I'd say it was a bargain!

For dinner we roasted hot dogs...and for dessert we made the famous camping tradition of s'mores!

Hailey did really well considering the extreme heat and humidity! She ended up in just a diaper and moving to a cold spot on the sleeping bag every few minutes... Needless to say I didn't get much sleep with the little wiggle worm beside me.


Our practically free tent was a lot nicer than what I had imagined we would be getting... Close your eyes and picture...wait don't close your eyes...you're reading a blog what am I thinking. So I'm sure you can picture just an old triangle tent with no zippered doors... like the one below.
The next day we went to the beach at First Landing State Park. I had never been to a beach on The Chesapeake Bay but I realized the waves were a lot smaller (I didn't think they could get any smaller) than the normal coastal beaches here in VA. The water was also a lot warmer. We ended up taking a nap on the sand... Hailey tried to "surf" on a boogie board...and we even attempted to build a sand castle...