Columbus Day in Virginia!!

This past weekend, we actually decided to go on a rather spur of the moment trip to Virginia. If you know the Dick fam...you know that this is quite out of the ordinary...you see, we are planners!! However, we put caution to the wind and just went for it- and had SOOOOOO much FUN!! On Saturday morning at 4:20am, we pulled the kids out of bed and made the 5 hour drive to Virginia. The kids did surprisingly well and went back to sleep for most of the drive, and I was in and out A LOT. So, poor Ry had to stay up and get us there safe. Which he did :)

Once we got to Virginia, we drove straight to Busch Gardens and arrived right as the park was opening.
Busch Gardens was beautiful and all decorated for Halloween :)
Here's the fam walking into the park early in the morning...Jane was dancing in :)
I loved all the fun festive decor all around!
Here's Beckham and mama under a cute, big tree. The kids were afraid of him-haha
Busch Gardens is so fun because it has lots of really cool animals, like this bald eagle, lots of rides for the kids and TONS of huge, fun roller coasters.
There was a bird cage where the kids could hold, touch and interact with the birds. Beckham loved this...until he got bit by this very bird that is looking at him ominously right now...eeek!!
I was really worried that this little guy was going to try to eat my earring or something...and Beckham was still trying to recoup after getting bitten.
There was a large bird that kept attacking the little bird on Ryan's arm...needless to say, Ryan was a little concerned about being in the crossfire when that occurred...haha
This trip was particularly fun because we met up with some friends from our ward (Tim and Heather) and spent the day with them. They have a little girl Jane's age and they had so much fun together :) Also, Ryan and I actually got to ride on a huge roller coaster together. It was fun feeling like we were teenagers again :)
We can't pass a carousel without having a go...
Beckham riding solo on a kids ride-hehe.
Jane loved the bumper cars. I can't believe she is old enough to do this on her own...push the peddles and steer all by herself :(
Jane and her friend, Brielle, loved this ride because it felt like they were flying :)
Beckham and daddy on a ride in Sesame Street land.
To end the night, we had dinner with the characters with our friends. The dinner was absolutely awful...however the room, the show and the characters were darling and the kids loved it!
All the kids with Zoey and the Count!
This was the best part of dinner...the darling cupcakes!
Beckham and daddy.
Abby Caddaby was the girls' favorite by far!!
We were pleasantly surprised that night when we went to our hotel to see that it was absolutely gorgeous and HUGE. We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a soaking tub, a fireplace, a kitchen, bigscreen tv and a balcony. It was WONDERFUL! Here's the fam having breakfast after church :)
We spent that Sunday going to historical sights. First, we went to Yorktown where the Americans won the last battle of the Revolutionary war and where America ultimately gained its freedom! We walked all over the actual battlefield and saw the amazing cannons used by the British and the Americans. These British cannons were crazy big...

There were so many of these man-made hill and ditches all over the place. I can't imagine how much work this must have been!
wooden stakes in the side of the hill...
cannons on the American side.
This monument was built to celebrate America winning its independence...yay!!
We stopped to get some Ben and Jerry's ice cream for lunch...this kids LOOOVED it if you can't tell...
Next, we went to colonial Williamsburg. This place was so amazing. There was a full functioning colonial town with everyone in character. We had a lot of fun here.
Jane and I inside a store with very cool old furniture...
Ryan making a purchase from the store keeper...so cool right?
I loved this house...it was the governors castle way back in the day.
There were quite a few militia men who, at closing time, all marched together in formation to the center of town.

Jane being punished...haha
The coolest thing we did in Williamsburg was eat at an actual tavern that existed before America was formed. All the workers were in character there and the food was colonial food. Our waitress told us that wearing the napkins like this was a sign of wealth back in the day.
We even had dinner entertainment.
It was such a cool, fun dinner :)
Our impromptu trip ended up being so much fun where so many amazing memories were made! We are definitely planning on going back next year to explore Jamestown and more of all these amazing places!

Welcome Fall and Fifer Farms!!

I LOVE FALL!!! And though I miss Fall in Utah so very much...it has been fun to decorate our new house for Fall and to explore the Fall fun here in Delaware!! We are planning on getting more pumpkins, but here are the beginnings of our Fall outdoor decor :)
I loved this little sign...the star turns around to say "out"!!
Ryan worked so hard one evening to get all these new plants planted, one large bush removed and a few old ones trimmed before dark. I think he did a fabulous job!!
Here's the Dick fam at Fifer Farms to enjoy the "Fall Festival". This was such a darling little farm with tons of fresh produce, your own apple picking, homemade apple cider slushies, and apple cider doughnuts!! It was a fun fun Fall day!!
Beckham sat on this darling little train ride for awhile...however, he started crying before the ride could actually begin and needed to get out...oh well!!
Jane LOVED it though!!
Beckham did LOVE the little horse tire swings so very much!! They were so darling that I commissioned Ryan to make one for our future yard one day using this very pic as a reference...we will see if it happens one day :)
A huge hay spider...so fun!!
Jane got to ride on the swings as well!
This was so fun...and another thing I want Ryan to put together somehow on our back patio :) It was a huge play area filled with millions of corn kernels to dig in and roll around in. All the kids had so much fun, especially Beckham!
Ryan caught Jane mid sentence... "Hi, my name is Jane. What's your name?" I taught her to say this to other little kids long ago in an effort to help her make friends and she still uses the tactic now whenever she wants to meet a new friend. It is working, too :) She is so DARLING!!
Ryan sent poor Beckham down this slide willy nilly...it may look like it is going well; however, just seconds after this picture was taken he fell over and slid the rest of the way down backwards and on his belly...frightened to death! That's good ol' Daddy for ya :)
Beckham was just fine and loved going down again and again...on someones lap that is. Check out my face!! This huge slide was fast and admittedly, a little scary...haha (lookin goood Mare...yikes)
Here's one of Ry earning Beckham's trust back by taking him down the slide :)
The kids got to paint pumpkins and they loved it. And here I am cleaning up after them obsessively... hehe.
Beckham in a corn husk tunnel...
Jane on a hay tractor. This little festival was so creative with the hay!!
Beckham loves any kind of truck so he felt pretty cool doing this!
There were tractor races. Beckham wasn't half bad even though he had to cheat just a little and use his feet :)
Jane loved going FAST.
We got to hold and pet a little chick on the way out!
What a fun Fall family outing this was. I love my little family and our adventures :)