Babies Make Four: Richmond 2014

Where do I even begin to talk about the awesome weekend we just experienced in Richmond?! It was so awesome we have almost 500 pictures to prove it (not including the however many pictures Kenzie took while we were there!)

Such a fun experience, not only for us, but for Luke as well! Kenzie thought of things that he would enjoy doing and it was a great trip. We arrived in Richmond around 2:00 on Friday afternoon. We lazily drove up the road as Kenzie had worked the night shift the previous night, so we stopped and had lunch and roamed around my alma mater, Radford University. I bought Luke his first college hoodie and felt like an old coot among the skateboarders and texters. I've only been out of college for *sigh* 8 years, but I felt like such a grown up while visiting. Everyone was returning or buying textbooks and scurrying to their next class. Lots of things have changed in those last 8 years!

Luke wasn't super happy about being in his car seat, but he had to learn how to deal. I tried to entertain him with toys and treats, but those only lasted so long. We did finally switch his seat around to forward facing as it was becoming way too difficult to get him in and out of the car. Plus, an added bonus, he did enjoy watching the scenery out the window when he wasn't screaming or napping (note to self: next trip we travel at night).

We got to Richmond and settled in briefly only to head out to the Richmond Children's Museum which was just around the corner from Kenzie and Taylor's house. Luke was able to run and play and get some of that energy out.

Saturday, we woke up bright and early and headed over to Maymont, a park in the middle of the city that seems more like the country side. They have an old mansion on the property that has been revitalized to it's original ways and also a nature center which is almost more like a zoo and aquarium in one. Kenzie had signed us up for the "behind the scenes" tour which was ah-mazing. We didn't have to walk the miles of trails because our own personal tour guide drove us around on a golf cart. We got to go behind the scenes and train an otter, pet a snake and alligator and get up close with a bobcat (that liked to stalk small animals. Including Luke. Yikes). We saw the beautiful gardens and enjoyed feeding goats. Maymont was the highlight of the trip!

Saturday afternoon we all were exhausted and went home to nap. We woke up to grill out some tasty burgers and hang out with Taylor's family. Luke got to meet his "cousins" (I guess they're not technically cousins, but close enough!) and played hide and seek in the back yard with Regan.

Sunday, (I think I may have needed more than one post to discuss all of the happenings on our trip), anyways, Sunday we went downtown and saw the church where Patrick Henry gave his famous "give me liberty or give me death" speech. We walked around a little and ate at a pub near the canal. It was SO hot, so instead of walking up to the capitol, we drove by and I snapped a few photos. We did a little shopping and then crashed Sunday evening with some takeout and a few episodes of "The Leftovers".

We enjoyed being able to catch up with Taylor and Kenzie and go on the longest vacation we've taken since Luke's been born (Moving doesn't count! :) ) I can't wait to take Luke back tour more of the history and of course the museums. What a fun vacation!