Virginia is for Lovers

All states have a slogan, and that happens to be Virginia's Slogan.  Is that not the cutest slogan ever?  Definitely had to take advantage of that with a good old "lovey-dovey" picture with Shawn.  I might add, we felt the love while we were there too.  It was probably a combination of the fresh sea air, the warm sunshine, the slight humidity and ocean that helped me experience total bliss last week, but I know part of it must have also been the state's slogan ;)

Last week, I WAS IN HEAVEN.  Virginia is beaaaauuuuutiful and I am SO lucky I was able to experience it!  Wow.  Add that to the list of places I'd LOVE to live someday.  The people are friendly and laid back, the weather was gorgeous, and even on the "cold" days it was 50 degrees warmer than home and I felt as though God was pouring warmth right onto my frozen self.  I'm not sure the last time I felt such peace....such bliss.  Maybe my honeymoon?  Couldn't tell you, to be honest.  My daughters were only cranky when it was time to leave the beach and go back to our room each day (or when I wouldn't let them dig and play around during my Easter Picture photo shoot, haha- you'll see the evidence below!).  Everyone was happy.  

We stayed RIGHT on the beach.  We listened to the sounds of the waves crashing in every morning when we woke up and every night when we went to bed.  We would open the sliding glass door in our room and bathe in the sunlight that came through and deeply inhale the salty air.  Shawn and I would sit out on our balcony each night after we put the girls to bed and just relax with nothing but the Ocean beneath us and a gentle breeze warming our hearts.  One night, Shawn let me slip out to go on a solo run along the shore (barefoot) as the sun was setting.  I ran 45 minutes and not once did it "hurt."  It flew by because I was feeling such content in my heart and joy in my journey.  The sun and ocean does wonders for a spirit that has been cooped up for so long.  I have really struggled, internally, this Winter in New England, and the best medicine for a broken heart was this trip to the beach.  It did wonders for my soul.  The girls were happy every single day and leaving on Saturday felt as though I was parting ways with a dear, old friend.  It literally HURT me to drive away (I know I sound dramatic, but it's the absolute truth).  When we got off the exit to Lincoln late last night, I felt physically sick to my stomach.  That has never happened to me before.  Usually coming home after being gone so long is a bit of a relief.  Not this time.  Not one bit. We drove home to snow, ice, and cold and it brought back all those deep, dark feelings I've been having all season in waves.  

No fun..... :(

But back to our trip....  As I mentioned a couple weeks ago- we drove down to Washington D.C. last Friday.  We spent 2 days there.  It was pretty cold and Piper was cranky and we didn't get to see everything we wanted to see but we still had a good experience (although I must mention how crazy the security is there!  They had to search our car just to park in a parking garage!).  We saw the Washington Monument, the White House, walked through parts of the Smithsonian and I saw Dorothy's Red Slippers (a lifetime dream of mine!), saw The House of Congress, the U.S. House of Treasury, lots of historical statues and buildings, and walked a bit down town too.  It's a neat place.  A very clean city.  We SO wanted to go to the Lincoln Memorial, but Piper had had ENOUGH and so we had to skip it.  Someday, we will be back and get to do the things we missed out on because we had the kids.  Someday....  I will say, we saw lots of landmarks that play in the opening credits of House of Cards and that was pretty cool for us.  We've gotten sucked into that show.... we made a point of having a HOC marathon while we stayed there because nothing else seemed appropriate to watch while each night!  Haha!  *Also something very worth mentioning- driving by the Washington D.C. Temple.  It is GORGEOUS!  It just seems to appear out of nowhere and we saw it against the setting sun where it's lights produced almost a halo affect.  It was breathtaking.  I'm beyond glad we were able to stop in D.C.*

 

Sunday we drove 3 1/2 hours to Virginia Beach and spent that afternoon on the boardwalk.  We took Maisy to the beach and she ran her heart out (and ate a lot of sand)!  The next day we brought her to a dog sitter's house for the rest of the week.  She did have 2 afternoons with us at the Ocean, but I wanted a real vacation and having a puppy in a hotel isn't as relaxing.  We decided to pay for a sitter for 4 days so that I could fully bask in the "beachy" way of life for a bit.

There was a playground on the Ocean behind our hotel so the girls spent the majority of their afternoons there.  We brought buckets and shovels with us and played in the sand all day.  We cooked dinner in our room a couple nights, just so that we didn't have to miss out on as much time away from the beach.  We dyed Easter eggs one night in our room cause I knew we wouldn't have time to do it before Easter, and we just put them in an ice cooler on the way home so that they wouldn't go bad.  

We let the girls stay up extra late each night and even though they NEVER slept in, I was in great spirits with extra energy to spend on them each day.  I'm tellin' ya- that week fixed a wound inside of me.  I felt amazing.

April 2nd was Autism Awareness day, so we conjured up some blue to show support for our loved ones!

We had to "scramble" around for a bunch of random dishes in our hotel room to dye the eggs, but it worked out :)

This was the Sunrise one morning.  It was beautiful!

 I am obsessed with Pipers legs and body.  Haha, it is still squishy, and just THE BEST.

I'm really sad to be back home, but oh-so-thankful for the experience.  I LOVE the Ocean.  As my sister says "it's a giant reset button for your life."  Whatever can't be fixed at home can be fixed at the beach.  Can't wait for New Hampshire to warm up (will it EVER?!) so that I can take advantage of the Ocean out here.

We drove 14 hours home (it's an 11 1/2 hour drive but between Shawn and Lucy's little bladders, we made MANY pit-stops).  I was so impressed with the girls though- they both were SO good.  There were a couple tantrums, but nothing too horrifying like usual.  They were probably the best on this road-trip than they ever have been.  I swear, the beach has magical healing powers!

The drive to and from Virginia is really neat.  We drove through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.  We saw really cool and beautiful things the entire way.  Not a single hour was boring.  SO much to see!

We got home late last night, put the girls to bed and woke up to (guess).....yep.  Snow.  Lots, and LOTS of snow.  6 inches maybe?  Freezing cold temps, terrible road conditions, big HUGE flakes falling......there went my Easter Egg Hunt plans.  We made-do in the afternoon with hiding them around the house, but still, that's not very fun.  It was kind of a depressing Easter, to be honest.  I tried to smile through it for the girls, but my heart was sad. When will Spring get here already?  I've suffered enough!  ...Says the girl on Easter when we are supposed to be honoring and remembering the suffering of Jesus Christ.....  Well now I feel guilty.  I guess I'll go listen to "How Great Thou Art" for the 900th time today and try to remember all the wondrous things God created so that I can stop sulking.  Also- "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" has been playing in my house a lot today.  Such beautiful words.  I am thankful for my blessings, really.  It has been an extraordinary week.

 

Here are the girls Easter Pictures.  They turned out cute!  I'm glad I at least got to snap really cute pictures of them in their Easter attire this year before Easter since I didn't get to on Easter.

HA! This picture makes me laugh!  That's a wrap, people!