National Harbour, Potomac River, MD

Tuesday evening, Russ and I left the kids with a night with Nana and we went out for a date at the National Harbour, the new Gaylord hotel community across the Woodrow Wilson bridge on the Potomac River in Maryland. The National Harbour is just beautiful, one of the most beautiful, newest places I have seen. We walked through the Gaylord Hotel gardens, lobby and shoppes. I would love to stay there overnight for an anniversay getaway. We walked along the river boardwalk, watched the sun set and had dinner at a mexican restaurant called Rosa Mexicana. I highly recommend this restaurant. There was more on the menu I wanted to eat than didn't. Staff was good. Food was outstanding, best Mexican I've had. I had the Guacamole and recommend it. Also enjoyed the chicken tacos and refried black beans and rice. If you are nearby, it is a stop worth taking.

July 4th in Richmond, VA

Sigh, me left Hilton Head on the morning of July 4th and arrived that afternoon at my sister's house in Richmond to spend a few days and celebrate July4th. We arrived to her house and had craft time, where the children made crazy July 4th hats. We enjoyed a nice dinner and then walked to the lake, just a block from their house and watched fireworks over the water. God Bless America. We enjoyed just hanging out with my sister and my mom and family on Sunday and Monday we went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA for the day. Busch Gardens is gracious to host military families for a free day each year and we've enjoyed our visits. BG created a Sesame section for kids in the park and hosts a breakfast or lunch with Elmo, the favorite character of my daughters. I am glad we opted for the lunch as it took us over an hour from the time we arrived to the park to when we walked in the front gate. We barely made it on time to the lunch! The kids loved it and watch the Sesame street characters sing and dance. Food was ok, but the real fun was interacting with the characters. We spent the whole day at the park and enjoyed the log flume ride, riding the kiddie roller coaster and rides, riding the sky ride, choo choo train and more. If we go again, I am leaving my sister's house at 7am to get in.

Tuesday morning, we left to return to Alexandria to spend the last of our 3 week vacation there.

Hilton Head, SC Beach Vacation: Week 2

After running around all week, reconnecting with friends and family and the hustle and bustle and excitement of DC, we were ready to relax. After a 7 hour drive straight to Hilton Head (not much traffic at 7am on Sundayam), we arrived! We shopped at the Outlets on the way to Sea Pines plantation, where we stayed for the week. Weather was awesome, beach sand is like cookie dough, and the water is warm. The girls enjoyed swimming in the Ocean and the pool and just playing and relaxing. We went to Harbourtown Monday night to see Gregg Russell sing under the Oak tree, like Mouse did when he was a kid. We went to South Beach to the Salty Dog and Sarah tie dyed a Salty Dog shirt. We also connected with Russ' uncle, girlfriend and cousin from CO for dinner a few nights. We collected Sand dollars we found in the Ocean. Look forward to another trip there another year.

Alexandria vacation: week 1

I was glad to be back on the East Coast for a vacation starting in hometown Del Ray, Alexandria, VA. The day we arrived, we missed seeing Barack Obama at the Dairy Godmother, our local frozen custard spot, by 10 minutes. Sarah was disappointed, as she thinks he is as cool as Elmo. She got to have lunch with Elmo, but more about that later. I got to celebrate my 40th birthday with my family and got to see my mom, my siblings, spouses and kids. We had a party at my mom's house in her newly renovated finished basement. First time, I've seen my family together in over a year. That is what I really wanted for my bday - to see my family and friends who know me, love me and mean the world to me. I also got to reconnect with other friends through the week. Got to spend Father's Day with my friends Dave and Barb and their precious kids at their house for a BBQ, and a time on the world's biggests slip and slide in their back yard. The girls played dress up as their daughter is the girliest little girl in the world with an amazing Princess wardrobe. Love it.

The rest of the week, we:
- hit the pool at Army Navy Country Club to stay cool most of the week
- had Sushi at Hana Tokyo, my favorite Sushi place with my Jaycees friends
- spent Tuesday afternoon with Danielle and my goddaughter Maggie in Frederick - hit the beach for the afternoon.
- went to the Air and Space Museum in DC
- had dinner at Carlyle Grand in Shirlington and cake at Cake Love with my dearest friends Dave and Andrea. After dinner, I reunited with my Broadside posse for drinks at Rock Bottom Brewery across the street.
- got together with Amanda, my Coastie wife friend from Pittsburgh and her kids

It was a great week with the girls. Mouse flew in and joined us late Friday night for the second week of our trip. Saturday, the girls were thrilled to see daddy and we went to the Alexandria Music Festival in Del Ray before departing for Richmond, VA to see my sister and family that evening. We'd spend the night in Richmon dbefore heading to Hilton Head, SC for a week at the beach with Mouse's parents.

East Coast Vacation - Girls first flight

Our second vacation this summer was to the East Coast for three weeks! We went to my hometown, the uber cool Del Ray section of Alexandria, VA. First week, it was just me and the girls - their first flight ever. If I could coat them in stickers, I would have. They were beyond good. I was so proud of them and told them so. We flew Frontier, which is an amazing airline,with all seats that are first class big and if you get the classic tickets, you get to check in 2 bags per person and watch direct TV on your personal screen. Love it! The issue was that our first flight was cancelled due to mechanical issues. I'll spare you the gore, but 7 hours, 7 bags, 2 preschoolers later, I finally landed in a hotel at 9pm with the girls near Denver so we could catch a flight in wee hours of the morning to get to DC. The girls seriously deserve some sort of medal. They were troopers.

We made our 7am flight next day without issue and the girls slept for 2 hours and then watched Sponge Bob on TV for the other 2 hours of the flight.

Happily, we saw Nana in DC that morning and start our big East Coast vacation.

YMCA Estes Park, CO

After a Spring of extreme couponing, my freezer is stuffed, pantry and toiletries are stocked for the next year and I am glad. Now I can take the summer off and enjoy and travel without having to fuss much with shopping at all. Hooray!

This is the summer of travel for the Holmes family. Our first trip this summer was to the YMCA Estes Park Retreat Center over memorial day weekend. They have a special for military families - $80 for 2 nights INCLUDING meals and all activities, except crafts and horse back riding. I was so excited to go for not having to cook 3 meals a day for 2 days for my family. That along is a vacation to me. We drove through the uber cool town of Boulder (reminds me of DelRay in Alexandria, my hometown). We arrived Friday and toured the historical Stanley Hotel, famous for being the site for Stephen King's film The Shining. The hotel was much smaller than I imagined and we couldn't take the tour as all 26 tours that day were booked and they wouldn't let small kids on the tour anyway. I wanted to eat lunch there, but it was expensive and nothing really looked good to me anyway. I love to eat well, but the most interesting thing in the restaurant was the fish tank. It was late, kids were hungry, so it was fast food for us. As far as fast food in a pinch, I am on to KFC for that grilled chicken.

We shopped at a cute place called Estes Ark, place looked just like Noah's Ark. Inside were two of every kind of stuffed animal in the animal kingdom. I told Charlotte and Sarah they could have any animal they wanted in exchange for their ratty old teddy bears they take everywhere and cannot sleep without. They would have nothing to do with that. Fun store. Bought unique greeting cards, and raced slot cars on a track they have in the basement. Mouse was loving it.

Downtown Estes Park looked like a beach boardwalk. Fun Stores, but we didn't stop. Straight to the Y for us. The Y did not disappoint. The property was amazing and we didn't leave all weekend. We're going back end of July when we will spend our time at the Rocky Mountain Natinoal Park.

Friday night we checked in to our hotel room, which was spacious and had a view of the mountains from our balcony. We had dinner onsite and were pleased with the food and selection. We were surprised that there were over 1000 others in the dining hall, as the Chinese American Christian Association was meeting there all weekend. Took 20 minutes in line to get our meals. Being so new to Colorado, we were surprised to run into 2 other military families we knew at dinner. One family had reserved a fire pit that night we joined them for a time around the camp fire, smores, mountain air and stars.

Saturday, after breakfast, the girls attended a bug class, where they learned about all kinds of different bugs, went outside to catch, ID and release bugs and then create a bug craft. Too much fun. Then we played a round of miniature golf before lunch. After lunch was parachute class for the girls, then off to roller skate. Charlotte has always been a good rollerskater, and Sarah made friends with some older kids who took her under her wing, and is now a good skater. We met one of the families we knew at the rink and spent a good time socializing with them. After skating, we went horseback riding. Charlotte doesn't like to ride, but Sarah really does and she rode a mini horse named Shortcake around the cutest outdoor trail in the planet. Then back to eat some dinner at the dining hall. After, we went to our room to change and the girls completely fell asleep on us. No evening swim. Next morning, we had breakfast and went to art class to make a sun craft. Then we went to the roller rink to skate some more. Then lunch, then home. Great but short weekend with amazing memories and great views. We've decided to make this place and the Y at Winter Park our "vacation home" without the hassle of owning it. We're going back often.