Virginia Rain

Rain rain go away!!  

We've been in Virginia beach for a couple days now and all it has done is rain!  

Here you can see the rain running off our tent.  So I did what any other woman would do...I subjected my husband to a photo shoot. 

Seriously there is a VERY limited number of things you can do in a tent while waiting out a day long storm.   

Finally it let up just enough for us to sneak out, grab a shower and head for dinner.  We ate at a delicious hole in the wall called Icehouse Restaurant.  The crab cakes were divine.  

After dinner, the rain was still on hiatus, so we took a stroll down the Virginia Beach boardwalk.

The kids hopped on a ride and had a blast!

We wanted to walk down the pier, but it was a little late and we didn't have any more cash on us.  FYI- Piers don't take debit.  

It rained again all night long.

We slept most of the morning away while it rained lightly outside the tent, but got up in time to take a tour of the Edgar Cayce Association for Research and Enlightenment.  According to the stories, this guy used his psychic abilities to heal people in the early 1900's.  

The fun part about it was that we all got a chance to test our own psychic abilities.  Landon scored above average in telepathy and I scored above average in both precognition and retrocognition.   Everyone did well on the clairvoyant test! We wrote down ideas about the pictures we had in envelopes and we all tapped into some aspect of our pictures.  Kyndale's was a picture of a mother swan and her babies.  Written on her paper were the words: white, bird, and baby.  The question is, would Kyndale have written these words regardless of the picture in the envelope?  

We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the beautiful meditation gardens.  

We monkeyed around in the gardens for a while after lunch, just taking in the beauty.       

Next we walked a large stone labyrinth.  During this walk you are supposed to concentrate on a question you want answered.  You spend the first half of the walk thinking and focusing on the question and the second half allowing your brain to float freely.  According to Cayce, you should come out with an answer.  

All five of us moved through this labyrinth silently and introspectively.  It took about seven minutes to complete.  It was amazing how thoughtful and serious the children were during the walk.  I don't think anyone recieved direct answers to the questions they sought; however, I do think each of us walked away with a sense of calm after the experience.  If nothing else, the kids may have gained a respect for the application of thoughtful reflection.

Our last stop was a walk through the reflexology rock garden at the Cayce A.R.E.  Here you remove your shoes and walk on the different types of rocks to activate different pressure points in your feet.  These supposedly are connected to different organs within your body.  We focused on the middle portion of the balls of our feet as these may promote lung health and several of us are still suffering a cough.  Reflexology or not, these rocks did feel nice on our feet!

After a roll down the hill, it was time to head back to camp.  

We hung out at the pool for a bit.

Then went out for some pizza and rediculously insane garlic knots.  Yummy!  Tomorrow...it's supposed to rain.

Jersey Shore!

Believe it or not, we are still plagued by the Boston sickness.  Kyndale is still struggling with a bad cough and Landon seems to be hitting the worst of it.  He is now running a fever, which continues for two to three days.  We repeat our cure from Boston, spending one day sleeping & lounging by the pool and the second day at the beach.  This works fairly well for Landon, as he is a much better patient than I.  

We stayed at a very remote location called Chip's Folly.  This place is near Tuckerton, NJ.  They had one rule and one rule only: 

Dey were serious abou' dat too.

The husband and wife team that owned the place were very nice.  She was a tough lady though and you could tell she wouldn't take nuttin off nobody.  Their son seemed to manage the place, running about here and there working his tail off and reminding folks of "da rule."

The place was oddly sandy.  What was probably once a nice field of a playground was now the largest sand box I'd ever seen.

There was a mini-zoo at the campgrounds.  5-6 peacocks and uncountable roosters, chickens and turkeys.  The screaming of peacocks at 3am was slightly unnerving.  

So much of the physicality of this place reminded me of South Carolina.  Marshes, sandy forests, massive mosquitos and long country roads.  The accents were a stark contrast.  

As a tourist of this state, what I have learned is that Jersey is a huge agricultural state with farms everywhere!  You can find almost anything here local and fresh if you head ten minutes out of town in any direction.  We ate 6 pints of blueberries during our stay.  Each pint was just $1.50 and delicious!  (For anyone counting that's 1.5 gallons of blueberries for $9.)

Day two we head for the shore.  The waves were wicked and the sun was bright.

It took me a few shots to realize that my camera lens was dirty from the beach.  Here we are getting "attacked" by black headed seagulls for a few cracker crumbs.  Maya is fearlessly shooing them away from Landon who is curled up in the fetal position on the beach.  Just kidding- he's not quite that bad, but he isn't exactly enjoying this show of avian pluck.  If you know Landon you know he is no fan of birds, especially the aggressive ones, which these black-headed Jersey birds seem to be.

Ahh, cleaned camera lens...there's our hero.  It was rather windy on the shore, but a lovely day at the beach.

After a long day at the beach we decide to hit the boardwalk.  Of course we find a shirt shop and must indulge ourselves once again in some cheap local wear.  In the spirit of the shore, we decide to rock the neon colors and cropped shirts.  These babies go hard.  

Landon's shirt is his own in this picture- not his new one.  Didn't want there to be any confusion here.  

Well well well, lookie at what we have here!  Cheap food, our favorite!  We had some ice cream, hot dogs, water ice, pizza, French fries & fudge on the boardwalk.  

Okay, we're not sure if I caught Kyndale in mid cough or is she's gonna hurl from all the boardwalk food.  Either way it was time to get some decent sustenance.

So we hit an authentic Jersey diner for dinner!  Everything was pretty good

and the service was speedy.  

The kids enjoyed some free pudding too!  

All in all it was a great day at the shore.  Next up, our last stop.  Virginia beach.