Hi peeps,

I’m home after spending 5 days with Mr. SOTSS and his girls down in Williamsburg, Virginia.

We got the “Bounce Ticket” to Busch Gardens, Water Country USA and Colonial Williamsburg. It was a super fun trip.

The highlights of the trip included:

1. Driving “Big Blue”, Mr. SOTSS’ truck.
   

   The pedals come forward for vertically challenged people like me. How awesome is that?!

2. Getting in 2 runs of about 4 miles each, albeit they were both treadmill runs. (The area where our hotel was didn’t feel very safe to run outside. No sidewalks and not a lot of foot traffic so I stuck with the “dreadmill”)
3. Getting in about 7 miles of walking per day! I love my Garmin Vivofit step tracker. Busch Gardens and Water Country USA were both SUPER Hilly and boy did we get in a great workout just walking around those parks. And the attractions at Colonial Williamsburg are spread out over a few miles. The had shuttle buses but we walked for the entire day and just took the shuttle back to the car at the end of the day.
   

   Busch Gardens was so beautiful. There were animals and flowers tucked away everywhere you walked.

   

   Pretty Lorakeet at Busch Gardens

4. French braiding the girls’ hair! They have such awesome hair.
   

   My braidwork

5. Getting past my childhood fears of walking around a water park in a bathing suit.
   

   After getting of the Jet Scream ride. Really loved the swim skirt I wore.

6. Having a half cherry/half Coke flavored Slurpee from 7-Eleven AND an Oreo Cookie Blizzard from Dairy Queen in the same day!
   

   mmmmm!

7. Playing mini-golf (and winning which never happens because usually Mr. SOTSS wins everything).
   

   Mr. SOTSS focused on his swing

   

   Starting our mini-golf adventure

8. Riding 6 roller coasters at Busch Gardens with Mr. SOTSS’s daughters. They made the day so much fun. Good thing Mr. SOTSS and I have everything covered. He loves the water rides and I am not as much of a fan. And I love the coasters and he prefers to sit those out. Here’s a video of us going down the first

So the girls went with their dad on all the water rides and with me for the coasters. #WINWIN

9. The pretzel bread turkey sandwich I had at Busch Gardens! I love pretzel bread. I don’t have a picture but trust me. It was delish.

10. Seeing “Merchant Square” at Colonial Williamsburg. I really loved the weaver for their hand dyed yarn and demo of their loom and how patterns can be made in fabric to look two-tone when it is all plain white cotton thread.

This makes me happy.

Oh and how funny is this bathroom signage?

LOL!

The lowlights:

1. I don’t know if it’s the water or what but I never had a decent cup of coffee no matter where I got it from. Even Starbucks seemed watery and weak to me. I’m a bit of a coffee brat and was so happy when I got home to finally have a cup to my liking.
   

   Yay! Finally a strong, fulfilling cup of coffee

   

2. My stomach and my sleeping patterns don’t agree with vacations, ever, and this trip wasn’t any different. It took 3 full days before my stomach finally settled down. And I didn’t sleep well until the last night of the trip either. Oh well.

We drove up from Virginia to Washington DC yesterday morning, where we were able to visit Arlington National Cemetery and let the girls experience the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was powerful.

Mr. SOTSS and the girls dropped me off at Union Station and I took the Amtrak home. I am a crier. I get very emotional with goodbyes and yesterday was no different.

Got this text as I was boarding my train.

I tried to bite my lip but the tears came strolling down my cheek anyway. I was over it though by the time I was on the train and en route. I knew I’d be picking up Duncan so that softened the blow. Plus, I had a few hours of work to get done while riding anyway.

train selfie.

Getting ready to start working.

We passed the Trenton Makes bridge which made me smile. I ran the Trenton NJ Half Marathon twice and it runs over the bridge. Plus I knew my stop was only 20 minutes away!

I picked up my fur kid, hurried home and got a good night’s sleep!

Reunited! Love this boy.

This morning I got in another 4 mile run and then Duncan and I drove to pick up Mr. SOTSS’s fur kid, Chester who’s been at “camp” while we were away.

He was probably a little disappointed at first that it wasn’t his dad picking him up but I fed him dinner and took him for a walk so he’s ok with me for now.

Mr. SOTSS and his girls will continue to vacation until the weekend so I’m dog sitting here for the next 3 days. Not much changes….just 2 dogs to share the sofa with me while I work. I might try and run with Chester tomorrow or Saturday. He runs with his dad but I don’t run a 9 minute mile. Not sure if he’ll even get faster than a trot alongside my 11 minute miles 🙂

It’s hard to believe the summer’s almost over. Luckily Mr. SOTSS and I have another fun trip planned in a month. We’re traveling to Seattle, Vancouver and driving through the Canadian Rockies from Vancouver to Banff, Canada (Near Calgary)

Did you go on any vacations this summer?

Do you sleep well when you travel?

Do you like Dairy Queen Blizzards? Rollercoasters? Mini-Golf? Water Parks?

Ever been to Colonial Williamsburg?

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