These photos go along with this post about our trip to Family Kingdom in Myrtle Beach. It was Aliya’s first ride on a big roller coaster. She said she thought she was going to die when she got on, but she went anyway. It’s amazing how the survival instincts kick in once you have kids.

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I tried to jump right back into my normal routine today, with some success. Naima was here to hang out with the kids so I went to the office for a meeting and cleaned up some stuff that piled up while I was gone. I had to take Aliya to the dentist at 3:30 and I was so tired I almost fell asleep in the waiting room. I took a nap when I got home which is why I’m able to be up at this hour posting to both blogs and cleaning up more email.

I answered most of my email while I was on vacation, but I put about a dozen aside to take care of when I got home. I just opened the one below, which looked authentic enough that I didn’t even consider that it might be fake.

When I clicked on the link, I got this warning:

Cyberspace is scary!!!

Last night I was looking at the stats for my other blog (here it is) and I noticed that TONS of people were coming from Facebook. I couldn’t figure it out…I know a few people have posted links but nothing that would account for this kind of spike. I checked it out and found that Colonial Williamsburg had somehow found the slideshow I posted the day before, and put a link to it on their fan page. Kinda cool in a spooky sort of way.
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Today we drove from Elkton, Maryland to home, with a quick stop for lunch in Danbury, Connecticut. It was a long day and the kids were particularly bad, especially Norah. They had obviously had enough traveling, and there was a lot of whining, screaming, hair-pulling, eyeball-gouging, and finger-biting going on in the back seat. Luckily I had my trusty spray bottle loaded and ready. You might think squirting naughty kids is cruel, but the alternative is reaching back and blindly whacking like they did in the olden days (the 70’s), which is now discouraged by child psychologists and law enforcement.

Everywhere we went on this road trip, people commented on how cute Norah is, what beautiful hair she has, and how much she looks like Shirley Temple. Nobody believes me when I say that she’s a wild animal in disguise. Finally, I have proof:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–LRc8u2f00&hl=en&fs=1&]

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It has been 3 loooooong days since my last post, because we have run from morning till night without a spare moment. We’ll be home tonight so I’ll be back on schedule.

Friday was Adlani’s birthday and we spent the day at Water Country. It was overcast and it sprinkled a few times so the park wasn’t very crowded, especially late in the afternoon. The lines for the rides were short or nonexistent, so Ben and the big kids rode to their hearts’ content while I hung out at one of the kiddie pools with whoever was too short to ride. The big excitement of the day was the snake in the pool at the bottom of one of the kiddie rides, and the mother absolutely freaking out because her daughters were waiting to come down the slide on a tube into the snake pit. A team of about 10 lifeguards held the snake at bay until the snake wrangler arrived and captured the maneater.

Friday night’s dinner was at the Mongolian Peking buffet, which was a giant buffet of Chinese, Japanese, and Thai food, plus Mongolian barbecue. There was something that everyone in the family would eat (including cheese pizza) and it was $11 for the adults and $7 for the kids (free for Norah). We still owe Adlani a birthday cake, but he opened his presents at the hotel right before bed.

Saturday we spent the whole day at Colonial Williamsburg. It’s a really beautiful area and there’s a lot to learn about history there. The volunteers are so knowledgeable and seek out visitors to share their knowledge with. There were games and activities for the kids scattered around, and plenty of doors for me to take photos of. By late afternoon the kids needed a nap so Ben took them back to the hotel and I toured a few more buildings including the Governors Palace. For our evening activity we went to Dairy Queen and mini-golf, which I do not recommend for kids in our family’s age range. I will post video footage when I have a faster connection.

Sunday was a return trip to Water Country, which was selected by a family vote. We had originally planned to leave Saturday afternoon and arrive home on Sunday, but there was so much we hadn’t seen yet we decided to stay another day. The weather was beautiful plus it was a weekend day, so Water Country was packed. We mostly hung around the pools (with another snake encounter) and by the time we changed, went through the drive-thru (again), and got on the road, it was after 5 p.m. Unfortunately, every other person who went away for the weekend was heading home at the same time. The traffic was bad and by 11:30 we made it as far as Elkton, Maryland and called it a night. We were so exhausted I literally walked into the room, laid down on the bed, and went to sleep.

We’re heading home later this morning so we should be in Framingham by dinnertime. It has been a great trip but I think everyone’s ready to go home. That’s the way it should be.
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I am SO TIRED. People keep emailing me to say that I’m supposed to be relaxing, not posting on my hardware blog, answering emails, etc. Well, I think any day of work would be easier than a 10-hour day at Busch Gardens. I feel like a 90-year-old woman! Well, I guess I don’t know what that feels like, but I’m walking like a 90-year-old woman. The worst part of a day like today is that the kids start getting giddy and crazy from being overtired, right when I start to lose it. We had a late lunch so we hadn’t eaten dinner when we left the park at 8:30. We ended up eating pizza in our hotel room at 10 and the kids were out of control. Thankfully, the minute they laid down they were out cold.

Busch Gardens was really fun and not overly crowded. The kids went on just about every ride and Aliya even went on a couple of the big roller coasters. The poor thing had to go alone since Ben and I are big chickens. I think the last ride I went on was the Tilt-A-Whirl at Canobie Lake Park and I actually puked. It had to be like 20 years ago. I did go on the skyride today which I was quite proud of. I know it doesn’t go fast but it’s HIGH! Aliya kept talking and talking during the ride…”It’s not really that high…well it’s pretty high but we’re not going to fall…well if we do fall we’ll just hit the ground.” ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

At about 3:30 there was an hour-long torrential downpour. We ran for cover as soon as it started because the clouds were really black and there were thunderstorms in the forecast. Unfortunately we didn’t make it all the way to an eating establishment before it really started coming down, so we spent the first half hour waiting for it to slow to a regular downpour. Norah fell asleep and Ben had to stand there holding her the whole time. Then we decided to brave the storm and go to the closest cafeteria, but we only had my little purse umbrella. So I had the brilliant idea of Ben, Norah, and Aliya going with the umbrella, and then Aliya bringing it back for Adlani and me. It worked, we were starved and ate like hogs, and my intestinal tract hasn’t retaliated, so it was all good. By the time we were done the rain had let up, lots of people had gone home, and there were no lines, no waiting.

Tomorrow we’re headed for Water Country so I’ll be walking like a 100-year-old by tomorrow night. Probably a burned-to-a-crisp-100-year-old. I’m so happy the kids didn’t inherit my skin (or Ben’s nose)…they get tan but they don’t burn very often. Tomorrow is Adlani’s 5th birthday so maybe there’ll be cake. That makes any day better.

Lots of photos & videos to follow…probably not until we get home, but I’ll get them up eventually.
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