We took a few vacations between when our first son was born (2002) and now, but I'm going to start with our 2011 vacation. We decided to make it a family tradition to alternate between Disney World (we are a little obsessed with the mouse!) and a different state. After lots of praying, it was decided that Virginia would be the destination. I had never been there, other than passing through as a kid. It was my husband's favorite childhood vacation, and we were in the middle of learning the colonial period of history. And so it was decided - a 2 week getaway with each other to Virginia! The kids were GIDDY, and so were we!
My older sister was studying in John Hopkins and since Baltimore is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Virginia, we decided we would stop in for a visit. Our two other sisters decided that this would be a perfect time for a sister get together, and so a 3 day sister weekend was added into our 2 week itinerary.
That left about a week and a half to explore Virginia!
We headed out on an early morning in May hoping to get to Virginia while it was still light. 4 kids in a car, and one of those kids having a bladder the size of a chick pea makes a long car ride into a very long car ride!
Several hours later we finally crossed the Virginia border. We made our first Virginia stop at the welcome center for a bathroom break and a look around. There were tons of pamphlets of places we were planning to go for the kids to look at, along with coupons in the pamphlets! There were also fun cutouts which, of course, the kids wanted to take their pictures in!
 |
| Felix and Nathaniel having fun in the Welcome Center |
Our first destination was Chippokes Plantation State Park. They had houses for rent in the park for a great price. http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/chi.shtml#cabins is the website if you are interested. We wanted to stay in the Brown House, which would have given us 3 bedrooms, but when we went to book, the dates we wanted it for were already taken, so we settled on the Spratley House instead. It was on the small side for a family of our size, but at the time, we were living in a 2 bedroom apartment with only one bathroom, so it wasn't a tight squeeze for us because it was what we were used to.
After about 10 hours, (we stopped for lunch and dinner and a million bathroom breaks, including the one at the visitor center) we made it to Chippokes Plantation.
 |
| Spratley House in Chippokes Plantation, Va |
Chippokes Plantation is a working farm with nature trails, a cute little nature center, and possibly the friendliest people around. We stayed in the Spratley House which was an ADORABLE little house in the middle of a field, with not much else around it. There are a few other houses for rent in the park, but they aren't right on top of each other. Really, they aren't even "close" to each other. That left us with an AMAZING yard for the kids to play in without fear of bothering the neighbors. It was far off the road as well, so no fear of a little one wandering into the street. (Not that they'd be hit by anything other than a deer or an inept-at-flying bird.)
The inside of the house was just as adorable as the outside! There was one bathroom, with only a shower - the only downside to the house in my opinion. (Obviously it had a toilet and a sink as well.) We could have used a bathtub for the little ones. There was a living room, filled with possibly the most comfortable furniture I have ever sat in. There was a TV with a DVD player, and a cabinet filled with games and puzzles and movies. We don't watch cable TV, so I can't recall if there were channels on the TV. There was also a roll-a-way bed that proved handy. My back did not like one of the beds, and that roll-a-way bed's mattress on the bedroom floor was a Godsend to my back. (The beds were comfy, but I had a recent back injury that made my back finicky when it came to laying down.)
 |
| Living Room in the Spratley House |
|
|
 |
| The rocking arm chair was my favorite for bible study and hymn singing |
|
The kitchen was a decent size. I wasn't planning on cooking gourmet meals while we were away, but we were planning on having many home cooked meals. There wasn't a lot of counter space, so we used the kitchen table when we needed a little more counter space for cooking preparations.
 |
| Kitchen stocked with pots, pans, plates and everything else you would need |
|
The kitchen table was a nice large farm table. Only problem was there weren't enough chairs for all of us. There were only 5 chairs, and we needed 6 chairs. (Yes, I know there are only 4 chairs shown. There was an extra chair located in one of the upstairs bedrooms.)We improvised and used our cooler as a seat. It was the most coveted seat at the kitchen table. I forgot how fun it is for kids to sit on something other than a chair at meal time!
 |
| Kitchen Table |
|
|
Even with the shortage of a chair, it wasn't that big of a deal because we used the backyard picnic table often. We mostly used the kitchen table for dinner on days when the mosquitoes were too bad.
 |
| Backyard picnic table and grill |
The other downside to this house was having a little one who liked to climb stairs! Not so much a problem with the house. Just a problem with a stair loving kid!
 |
| The staircase leading to the upstairs bedrooms |
|
There were 2 bedrooms upstairs. A bedroom with a full bed was on the right, and a bedroom with a daybed and a trundle was on the left. Both rooms had nice sized closets.
 |
| Full size bed in one bedroom |
 |
| Single bed |
Originally, we had planned on me, my husband and the baby taking the full sized bedroom, and the the two middle kids taking the single bed (they share a bed at home) and the oldest taking the bed downstairs. That plan lasted about an hour after I had laid in bed. My back could not handle the bed, and so we rearranged everyone. Ken, Felix and I took the twin bedroom, and pushed the trundle bed against the daybed to make a King size bed. That also didn't last long. My back couldn't handle laying down it seemed. In a last ditch effort to be able to move during the vacation, we put the trundle back under the daybed and laid the roll a way bed's mattress on the floor. It did the trick! I was able to sleep and move in the mornings like a 60 year old instead of an 80 year old! Not the most romantic of set-ups, but much more romantic than having a wife hobble around like an 80 year old. :) Then Nathaniel, Ainsley and Ephraim shared the full size bed. It worked perfectly for our family. I think if we had older children, it may have been too tight of a squeeze, but for 4 kids (ages 9, 6, 4 and 1) who are used to (and love to) share beds, it worked perfectly.
Next up: Colonial Williamsburg!
No comments:
Post a Comment