Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Need I say more than the title of this post?

Amish Country

Our last few days on the road were spent in Lancaster, PA..otherwise known as Amish Country. It was a nice treat at the end of a long day on the road. The hotel was great...and Amish Country is all about quilting. There was a quilt shop at every corner..it was cool. At this point in the trip, our camera had broken, so all of these were taken with Felix's phone..thank goodness his phone takes such good pictures.

Here is Liliana and Felix at the petting zoo...trying not to get to close to the llama!



The last half of our last day we spent at the pool with the kids. It was raining that day, and so we were fortunate enough to have an indoor pool. Both kids loved the water..Lucas took a little while to warm up to it, but he eventually enjoyed it, was even laughing!

Felix and the kids at the pool.




Liliana and Felix testing the waters...

Lucas thinking about it..not too sure at this point.

We found that water completely wipes the twins out. After swimming they both just pass out. Liliana is already on her way before we even leave the pool.

All bundled up..take me to my room please!

Here's some video. The resort also had an outdoor pool that we went to the first day. This is Liliana in the kiddie pool.

This one is of Felix and Lucas in the indoor pool. You can hear him shreiking..obviously this was before he decided that the water was not that bad.

So that was are trip..or at least the highlights. We had a great family vacation and hope that this was just the first of many, many more!!! Thanks to Felix who planned the whole trip! It was great!

A night out on the town...Nashville Part2

Pete and Christie offered to watch the twins (along with their 4 year old and 2 year old) so Felix and I could have a night out on our trip. Thanks so much guys! We headed down to the heart of Nashville. As many of you know I LOVE country music so I was just in heaven. There were so many places to go, so much to choose from, we just didn't know where to start! We decided to have dinner at the Wild Horse Saloon. It's like a restaurant with a dance floor. You have live entertainment while you eat, which is fun..the band was great that night.

Afterwards we walked around a bit, and then after walking into a few places, found this great little honky-tonk called Tootsies. It's a hole in the wall, but one of those small little places that is totally famous. They have pictures of Kenny Chesney, Kid Rock and Gretchen Wilson stopping by and singing (just to name of few for those who follow country music) There was a band upstairs and one downstairs as well. It was great music, great atmosphere and we stayed there dancing and enjoying ourselves until the early morning. Oh...like we used to do!

This is my favorite picture of the night...just in case you were thinking of bringing a gun into Tootsies. LOL!

Nashville Part 1

We arrived relatively early in the day at Pete's house. By the afternoon, Felix was itching to get out and see the town. We headed out to Vanderbilt University, but it was a Sunday in summer and not much was going on there. So we headed over to Centennial Park. It was a really beautiful place. We walked around with the twins, I had a sno-cone and then we headed back for dinner.

In the middle of the park, they have this replica of the Parthenon...random but impressive.

The next day Pete and the kids and our gang went to the Nashville zoo. It was a hot day, but the zoo had a lot of rainforest-like cover, so it was nice.

Pete and the kids looking at the ferrets.

Liliana looking at some type of fish.

There was even a carousel to ride at the end. Instead of horses, all the figures were animals from the zoo.

And finally, here is some video of Caeley and Elijah hanging out with Liliana and Lucas. Not too sure what the song she is singing is about, but a good performance non the less.

On the road again....

Obviously, our trip required long stretches in the car. The first day of travelling down to VA beach and the day after leaving there were the longest days in the car..almost 7 hours. The twins were great troopers. They were often woken up early, given a bottle and then strapped into their car seats as we headed out to our next destination. We usually stopped every three or four hours to feed them. Wherever possible, we would try to find some shade and we would spread out the quilt and let them lie down and stretch. This picture below shows a little impromptu lunch picnic at a service station. They had this great stretch of lawn and so we let the twins stretch their legs a bit.

This pic was taken at our hotel in Abingdon VA, where we stopped for the night en route to Nashville. This was in the morning. All strapped in...Nashville or bust!

Virginia Part 2

We were fortunate enough to spend our two nights in VA Beach with Pat, Vicki and the girls. They were just a short 20 minute car ride from our hotel. Both nights we went over to their house and enjoyed a nice night. The first night was just with Vicki and the girls. Patrick came back from assignment while we were at the beach the second day and so we were able to visit with him as well on the second night. We haven't seen these guys for almost three years so it was great to catch up. Thanks for being such great hosts Virginia Sullivans!

Katie and Sarah with Liliana.

Vicki and the twins...

The girls lying around with Lucas..

Pat, Katie and Liliana...

Lucas seemed to really enjoy these little chairs that Pat and Vicki had in their living room..such a little man!

We were leaving the next morning. As I woke up early before everyone else, I just happened to look outside and the sun was rising right at that moment. There were a good number of people on the beach ready to watch the sunrise, but I was able to enjoy the quiet moment from the privacy of our balcony. Props again to Felix for getting us such a great room!

And then we were on the road again...stay tuned for more!

We're BAAACK! Virginia Part One

Well, our trip was a huge success. It's been ten days since we left and it feels good to be home. The next few postings will be our trip broken down bit by bit. Today are half of the highlights from Virginia Beach.

The hotel was great...both of the kids seemed happy to be in their pack and play cribs. We were a little worried about this since they hadn't used them since they were small infants and sitting on the top shelf..but they seemed content as can be! Thanks Aikes for the quilts...came in handy!

They had the best view in the room..looking right out to the beach!

Papi and Lucas on the deck..

We decided to take the twins to the beach on the second day we were there.

Liliana looks a little unsure about this whole thing.

Hanging out and playing while Mami and Papi get themselves ready.

The beach, the weather, even the water...everything was beautiful. We only had one real beach day and we completely lucked out.

Felix setting up our "station". I bought that tent from another mother of twins. Its great for us..keeps the kids cool and protected from just about everything.

All set up and ready to relax.

This one is one of my favorites from the trip..almost like she is talking to him.

Lucas and Felix playing in the cabana..

Liliana enjoying the lounge chair to herself. Shortly after this was taken, she almost rolled right off...but we caught her...oops!

Liliana and I taking in the waves. She loved them. The water was a bit cold for the twins, but she didn't seem to mind.

The whole fam in the water. If you click on the picture you can see that Lucas was having none of it...it was a bit too cold for his taste. Pobrecito!

So that was our day at the beach. We have to say, the twins were remarkable travelers. They did great with long stretches in the car, slept all night through all the nights we were away (with one small exception) and the genuinely seemed happy throughout the trip.

Until next time..we will post about the Virginia Sullivans and our visits with them!