Labor Day Weekend we escaped to Williamsburg, Virginia, for one last summer adventure. While school started the prior week, the girls had both Friday and Monday off. We departed early Friday and headed straight to Jamestown. Colonial America is the 4th Grade History curriculum so it was good to be able to make the history come to life. The museum and settlement and ship replicas were interactive; we all enjoyed it.
Friday evening after checking into our hotel, we briefly explored D.O.G Street before heading to Amber Ox for dinner. The food and vibe were fantastic, though if we were to go back, we would leave the kids at home as they weren’t as impressed as we were. We figured a visit to Kilwins would put a smile on their face. Their ice cream is so delicious, it made us all happy!
Saturday morning we woke early, ate breakfast at the hotel (a late change to our hotel to get one that included breakfast) and then headed to Water Country USA. Fairly early on, we ran into Grace, Matthew, and Suzy Thompson and spent half the day doing rides with them. The girls loved the water park. Emerson was the bravest tackling several of the high thriller rides, Harper tackled a few of the high thrillers, and like me, Avery got her thrills from the low and medium thrillers. The park closed at 7:00 and while the girls could have stayed to closing, we wanted to be able to shower before dinner. We found a cool spot, an indoor warehouse type space, which housed long rectangular tables, arcade games, beer, and food stands. We indulged in the beer (Precarious Beer Project) and tacos (Electric Circus Taco). It was a unique and fun experience for a Saturday evening. Oh yeah, and we made another visit to Kilwins.
Sunday morning routine was the same as Saturday. When we had gathered plenty of snacks and food, we ventured to Busch Gardens for the day. Our family favors water parks over amusement parks, however, we all had a great time. The risk level of the girls on the rides was a repeat of the water park. Emerson went on a total of two different roller coasters, riding a roller coaster three times in total. Harper did two roller coasters, one time each. Avery did the bumper calls multiple times; they were her favorite ride. When we stumbled across some of the Sesame Street rides when searching for a bathroom, those became my targeted rides. The girls made fun of me…two of those rides were thrilling enough for me!
We did a lot of splitting up with rides. The Log Plume was the only ride all five us did, besides the bumper cars.
While we didn’t close down the park, we stayed late and missed our dinner reservation. Sals was open late so we went there knowing it would be a good spot for the girls.
Monday morning, we strolled through campus before heading home. It was a great way to end the summer….some reminiscing, some history, new experiences, fun, and family time.
