The Beach and The Baptists :)

Yesterday we drove about an hour away to visit Famous Virginia Beach. It was a fun layed back day. We arrived at the "beach". There was a beautiful 3 mile boardwalk that was really neat. There was an area for bikes and an area to walk in. It was very windy and a little overcast but that didn't stop tons of people from being there.
We ventured out to a huge play structure right on the beach. The kids played on that for a while but soon were all on mounds of sand burying Caleb. The water seemed rough and dark to me. There were lifeguards everywhere blowing whistles and a riptide warning. So it seemed rather scary. We did put our toes in the water but then went back to the sand mounds. The kids could have played there forever.

We walked a long ways along the boardwalk enjoying the people, sand, and scenery. It was very nice to just stroll along. Then we went into the millions of shops. We decided they went to China, ordered the same 20 souvenirs and then opened 50 shops :)! But the girls loved it. Eric, Gabriel,Caleb, and Josh stopped and ate pizza while we had fun looking at all the different stores. We took a different route home. We went by the WISCONSIN and the shipyards. There are so many tunnels here to get anywhere. The kids try to hold their breath when we go through them-(I noticed Eric went extra slow yesterday HA!!) It was a nice day. We came home, the little kids swam while the girls made cookies and acted like "Rachel Ray hosts on TV with make up and all". They are having lots of fun together.

This morning we tried a new church. It had a pretty neat websight. In fact it looked updated and very outreach oriented. It was called Smith Memorial Baptist. Hmmmmmm........I seriously thought it was 1978 and I was back in our little Baptist Church I grew up in the early years of my life. The songs were from the Gaithers,the people dressed like then, and I swear I had seen the maps on the walls years ago. The Sunday school rooms were very old fashioned and the gym had AWANA awards on the walls. Needless to say, Eric said the sermon was very, very, good (God's word never gets old). I wouldn't know because Gabriel was totally freaking out in the nursery. When I came to get him he still didn't calm down but went through everyone in our family's names over and over asking for them. He seemed very afraid. It was so sweet but made me sad he gets so frightened. So he and I explored the building. It is always neat to see how others worship. It seemed like it would be hard to be "new" there though. It was very full and crowded but not super friendly. I did meet another family with 10 children who were visiting from Australia. We then went to Busch Gardens (yes, again) :) the kids love it there. We ate too much fudge and had a nice day. The weather is so wonderful. I also met another lady on Sesame Street land who is due the same day as me. Tomorrow we head to the SHIRLEY PLANTATION. It will be Sophie's last day and the kids are very sad.........she is hoping maybe a big storm will come in and they will have to change her ticket :). She has been wonderful to have along.