Day 4 - Pirates Cove and Chippokes Plantation

One of our other goals while away on a vacation is to not come home needing another vacation from the one we just took!  In order to do that, we try to stick to the schedule of 2 days of doing stuff, followed by one rest day.  That doesn't mean we don't do anything that day, but rather we stick close to homebase and make it a relaxing day.  We also make sure our arrival day is a day to just hang out.  After hours of driving, it's important to have time to unwind so you can start renewed and ready to explore the next day!

So, since we spent the last two days exploring Williamsburg, Virginia's Living Museum, the Nauticus Museum and a battleship, it was time to take it easy!

We slept in, had a nice breakfast of pancakes and spent sometime playing outside first thing in the morning. 

Ephraim lost in imagination

A few years back, Nathaniel and Ainsley celebrated their birthday with a game of miniature golf.  They had been wanting to play again, and we just never got around to it.  We knew of a pirate themed miniature golf place right near the Peiking Restaurant we had eaten at the day we went to Williamsburg.  We decided that we would spend some time there today.  So after cleaning up the kitchen, we piled into the van to enjoy some mini golf!

Bird watching on the ferry

This time Felix was awake for the ferry ride, so we climbed to the top deck of the ferry and enjoyed the views.  Make sure you bring a light jacket with you for the ferry ride.  The breeze can make it chilly on even a very warm day.

 

The theming  of this place was very neat.  It is sure to delight your pirate loving children!  They have 2 different 18 hole courses, or you can play both courses.  We opted to play just one course - the more child friendly of the 2.  We brought our stroller with us, however the course is not stroller friendly.  We were able to maneuver the stroller through the first few holes, but then there are a lot of stairs where it really wasn't feasible. Our youngest could walk at the time, so it wasn't a huge deal.  We just needed to keep a close eye on him since there were ponds around the area.  

Waiting their turn for mini golf

Helping Felix golf

"No, this one belongs over there!"

 Playing golf was a lot of fun.  However playing 18 holes of mini golf was more like herding cats with 4 kids, 2 under the age of 4.  We lasted 10 holes before we called it quits and walked to the very last hole.  :)  The goal of today was fun and relaxation, and by hole 9, it was no longer fun or relaxing! If you would like the information on where we went, here is the web address:  Pirate's Cove Mini Golf

My kids were terrified of the scary noises on this one hole.

They calmed down when they realized where the noises were coming from.

We were home in time for lunch and had the rest of the day to explore Chippokes Plantation.  The kids had TONS of room to roam around without anyone around.  The isolation was VERY nice!

The view to the left of our cabin.  The view to the right was the same.

The road outside our cabin. 

The driveway - no need to worry about a stray kid making it to the road before you!

Race in the yard

After lunch and some playtime near the house, we took the van down to the playground.  The playground is nothing fancy, but it has a few swings, a jungle gym area, and two slides - an enclosed twisty one and a smaller open one.  All things to keep children very happy!

Fun on the swings

My Ainsley Mae

Fun on the jungle gym

After spending some time here, we wandered over to the nature center.  They were still in the process of building this, so it wasn't very impressive.  The building was up, and they had a lot of things inside - mostly stuffed animals (not the cute cuddly kind, but the kind that used to be living and now are not).  But at the moment, things were in  no particular order.  I'm sure that it will look great once they have it finished.

Just outside the nature center is a few telescopes to look over the James River and a path to hike down to the banks of the James River.  The path is steep, but not to steep for a stroller.  And the views here are just beautiful.

View of James River

Osprey flying over James River

Looking through the telescopes

Ferries through the telescope

Walking the path down to the banks of the James River

What fun is a river bank if you can't dip your feet it!?

Fun in the river

Fun on the banks of the river

Someone isn't happy to be missing out on the fun!

We relent and let Felix enjoy the banks of the river too.

First step in a river!

Walking back (with a walking stick!)

 After spending time on the banks of the river, and enjoying dipping our feet in, the kids BEGGED us to let them come back with their bathing suits.  We agreed that as long as it was a nice day on our next rest day, that we could enjoy some swimming in the river.  But for now, the sun was setting and a roasted chicken and sweet potatoes were waiting for us back at home! 


 Up next: Shirley Plantation