The Big Fat Vacation Post

Instead of a Q&A post, today we’re going to have a picture post about our vacation.

(Apologies to those of you who read this blog solely for the practical, frugal advice.  Today is not your day. )

Instead of going to the beach for two weeks this year, we decided to go for only one and to use Mr. FG’s other vacation week now.

So, we booked a week at Massanutten, a resort near Harrisonburg, Virginia.

We thought a change of pace would be fun for everyone, and breaking our vacation up gives Mr. FG a more even vacation distribution, which is good for his state of mind.

There were several playgrounds there, which thrilled Sonia and Zoe.

Is Sonia’s hair not amazing?  It sticks up and is messy without static, but with static, it’s even crazier.

What is it about slides that compels children to walk up them?

So, what did we do besides play on playgrounds?

Well, on Monday we went to Massanutten’s indoor water park.  It’s pretty darn tootin’ expensive, but since we got such a good deal on our condo (through my parents’ time share) we had vacation budget money to spend on it.

I decided, miracle of miracles, not to take my camera.

I thought it would just be a pain and that I would enjoy our time more without my beloved camera.  So, I have no pictures to share.  If you want to take a peek, though, there are a couple of photos on the waterpark site.

It was super fun and totally worth the money.  Although, I think it will be more fun to go back in a couple of years when Sonia and Zoe are a little bit bigger.

On Tuesday, we went snow tubing.

We chose the coldest day of the week to go, which wasn’t that cold (it was unseasonably warm all week!), and happily, that day ended up being half price day.  Woohoo!

Thankfully, you don’t have to walk up the hill..they have an escalator-type thing that hauls you up.

We got warmer and warmer as we tubed, as you can see from these next 3 photos of Zoe.

Zipped, coat, hood, and mittens.

No mittens, unzipped coat, and no hood.

And then we finally dispensed with the coat altogether.

Tubing was a perfect activity for the age and stage our family is in, because everyone could do it.

Sonia and Zoe screamed all the way down, but they were happy screams.

I hooked my tube to theirs and rode down backwards to take these photos.

And just so that I’m not completely absent from our vacation photos….

The next day we took it kind of easy because Sonia and Zoe were pretty tired after two fun-filled days.  We slept in, played ping-pong and board games, and visited another park.

Sonia posed herself for this picture…”Come take a picture of me, Mommy!”.

I rode in a car with Zoe, but she drove too fast for my taste.

On afternoon, Mr. FG took Lisey and Joshua to an arcade, and I stayed with the girls at the condo to give them a bubble bath in our jetted tub.

I didn’t really realize just how sudsy a jetted tub can get, though.  The girls were practically drowning in suds and I could not stop laughing.

Amazingly enough, my girls feel there IS such a thing as too many bubbles.  We bailed them out in bowls.

And dumped them in the sinks.

And decided that for the next bath, we’d skip the bubbles.

We also took a little trip to Luray Caverns since we were so close.

A cavern is not usually my preferred photographic subject, but it was a fun challenge.

I took a lot of very bad shots, which I will not bother to share with you.

This is a little lake inside the cavern, which perfectly reflects the stalactites that are on the ceiling.

My favorite formations were the draperies..they really do look like folds of cloth, except that they’re made of rock!

My kids’ favorite were the fried eggs (the guide says that’s the thing everyone remembers!).

I don’t have a wide angle lens, so it’s hard to show you how immense the cave is once you get inside.

We walked through the automobile museum at Luray, and by the time we got through that, Zoe was very tired of walking.

We mostly ate in the condo, because that’s more frugal, of course, but I did have some restaurant gift cards from our credit card reward points, so we ate out two nights.

They’re looking at lobsters, in case you were wondering.

Friday was Mr. FG and Zoe’s birthday, so we brought their presents on vacation with us.

More on the birthday presents later.

In addition to the dinner gift cards, I also had a $25 Panera gift card from our credit card reward points, so we had breakfast there on the birthday.

Sonia and I warmed our feet by Panera’s fire. 

Why did I take a picture of us going through a car wash?  I dunno.  What else are you supposed to do while you’re waiting for your car to get clean??

Remember how back in December, the kids and I were trying to decide if we should spend our HomeGoods gift card on a gingerbread house kit?

Well, I got one on clearance at Aldi for $2 right before vacation and brought it along with us.

I know it would be much more fantastic to make one from scratch, but I never get around to it.  And besides, I’m not really too sure I could make one from scratch for $2.

Saturday morning, we packed up and bid adieu to the mountains.

Sigh.

How exactly does a week fly by so quickly when you’re on vacation???

On a cheery note, though, Massanutten is only about 3 hours from our house, so driving home was a piece of cake compared to driving home from Myrtle Beach.

Tomorrow Mr. FG goes back to work, I teach piano, and we start homeschooling again, so we’re going to have to jump back into real life.

Boo.

But, we’re grateful we had the opportunity to get away and relax for a week. 

Today’s 365 post: Vacation Bath Toys