The Marine Museum

First off.

Hi.

Wow have I neglected the blog or what?

My Virginia trip feels like it was forever ago but I am finally able to blog. With moving recently we have had Very limited internet access, so blogging has been something I only get to dream about. But lucky for us we will be normal again starting Friday! Yay normalness and getting to catch up on all of our shows!

Lets tell you about Virginia...

Virginia is a very pretty place. This above photo was taken at a little pond just around the corner from my families house. I checked on Google maps and it says is 177 feet from their house. Oh to be so lucky. They have lots of turtles and fish in the pond which the girls will go and feed stale bread to.

They have lots of wild life in the area. On walks around the pond they have often seen chipmunks, squirrels, hopping cotton tail bunnies, and Disney worthy spotted baby deer.

On my first night there, the girls took me down to the basement where I would be staying. As I am setting my stuff down and getting ready for bed, I turn to see Jessica, kneeling on the window ledge, hanging out the window into

the window well. She then emerges with a small peeping, yes peeping, toad.

She says the girls found that toads live in the window well. At one point they noticed one of them was looking very skinny and sickly, and ever since they have been feeding them store bought frog food pellets.

I sadly, never got to see it, but they say it is common during a heavy rain storm to see lots and lots of toads hopping along the road.

Trees, trees, trees. So many trees. All Virginia is is trees. My favorite is the small glimpses of massive homes hidden among the huge trees that you can see just for a moment as you pass by. Many of the homes remind me of the large plantation from the Notebook. Stunning.

One of the people in my families ward lives on a very wooded lot. They built their house, floors, everything from the great Oaks on their property. And they still have hundreds of thousands worth of wood on the land. Can you imagine? Your home, you could even build your furniture off of the materials on your land. So organic!

One of the days while I was there we visited the Marine Museum in Quantico. I think the two youngest girls thought it was boring, but I enjoyed it.

The museum was actually mostly designed by Disney, so it's well done. In the two above photos, both those rooms are temp controlled. So for the winter room, it feels cold, and the summer room it feels hot, like you are really there! Hahaha.

Mom and Dad <3