May 29th

We had a great long weekend. Eddie came up with a great plan to go see my mom over the weekend!

We left on Friday morning, and got to her house in the afternoon. Vallerie was a pretty good traveler for the drive down. When we started getting into the big mountains her ears were popping and she didn't like it. This was also about the time that she was waking up from a nap, so those things combined did not make for a happy kid.

Friday night we went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. It was pretty good. Eddie loves it and we don't have one in our town, so it's always a treat for him to eat there.

Saturday we went to Staunton's Gypsy Hill (I think) park. They were having an art festival thing. We fed some ducks and fish. Vallerie really liked feeding the fish. Then we rode on this tiny little train. Eddie and I barely fit in a seat. Vallerie got her face painted. She had to wait in line, and she got a little cranky at the end. She painted a lovely picture. It started out all colorful then she would take black and paint over all the colors. She did that several times. I'm surprised the painting ever dried i was so coated with paint.Then she played on the playground for a little while. On the way home we got some ice cream. Vallerie's was as big as her head! That night we had chicken for dinner. It was good.

Sunday we went to the Safari Park. It was really fun! We missed the last wagon ride for the day, so we had to drive our car. It was really neat. My mom drove and Eddie, Vallerie and I looked out the windows and tried to feed the animals. We had little buckets to feed them. Eddie's bucket got stolen by a big antelope thing. It was funny. After we drove through we parked and went to the "zoo" part. They had this caged area with birds in it. Little parakeet things. Vallerie loved it! She was screaching at the birds and just having a great time. Then we walked over to the goats and chickens and she fed them. She seemed to like that too.

Sunday night we had pizza made by Vallerie! My mom got all the ingredients and we just set them all out before Vallerie. She put the sauce on and spread it around with  little pastry brush, then she added the toppings. Most of them ended up in one spot. Then she added the cheese. We had to guide her  little with that just so the whole pizza had cheese. She would put one handful on the pizza and then she would eat a handful. She ate more unbaked pizza than baked pizza! It was really cute, and actually the pizza itself was pretty good! I think that's something we will do at home.

Monday was a little more laid back. We went to Boxerwood Gardens and walked around. They have some really neat places for the kids to explore and play. Vallerie plated with bones, cattle I think, and chased Eddie around the woods. Then we saw some frogs and walked through the "jungle" as Vallerie called it. We had burgers for dinner.

Throughout the weekend Vallerie played with markers and made a macaroni necklace. She also had a blast playing with "dough dough" (play dough)

We left Tuesday morning. Vallerie was an excellent passenger on the ride home. After Vallerie was in bed for the evening, Eddie and I watched 3 episodes of Game of Thrones and then we went to bed.

We really had a great Memorial Day weekend. I am so glad that Eddie suggested we go visit my mom. It was nice to go there when it wasn't a million degrees. Maybe this will be our new "thing".