Our Ambitiously Awesome Array-cation

Warning: Gratuitous Post Follows. Disclaimer made.

The idea of relaxing for seven days at home certainly has its appeal. However, no "staycation" for us! Last week, the Lages grabbed all the gusto available within a 2 hour radius.

The adventure began Sunday -- off to Virginia Beach for two nights (and as Darren kept reminding us, three days) !

[Unpacking at our favorite Comfort Inn at the beach]

Kickboards in hand, the kids (and Daddy) were bodysurfing bound!
Darren was entirely without fear...going out in the waves well-beyond hearing distance of my voice. [I was not entirely without fear...]

We spent days strolling Atlantic Avenue and enjoying the attractions...

With prowess on kickboards well-demonstrated, Daddy treated everyone to boogie boards for our last day's surfin' safari...
And don't think for a solitary minute that the trip wasn't educational...we learned a surprising amount! For instance...
1.) Seagulls will hover at a 7th floor balcony if two six-year-olds are throwing cold fries their way, catching them mid-air. They will continue to hover (encroachingly), even when the food distribution comes to a supply-ended halt. Hitchcock-conversant mothers will scurry their children back in the room when that phenomena occurs.

2.) Some people are simply born with an innate ability to strike an effortless pose.

3.) Even as a Disney lover, I have to say, Nemo, Schnemo. Aquariums and marine science learning centers. That's what's happenin'.

4.) Kids who've never met will become fast friends within minutes of spotting a blue-tailed skink.
5.) A scared skink* will drop its tail...which will continue to wiggle long after its disassociation from the skink's body proper -- prompting an informative farm tale from Daddy on chickens and decapitation....(no skinks were harmed in the making of this blog post, skink tails grow back.)

6.) Mommy just learned that a vacation prefaced with two nights (and three days) at the beach is waaaaaay too much to encapsulate in a single blog post. Perhaps later we'll detail the remainder of our amazing adventure week...which included a day at Busch Gardens...

A day at Kings Dominion (thanks to Grandpa Ross)...

...and a rain-canceled trip to the zoo replaced with a matinee of Kung Fu Panda, followed by an 1.5 hour trek to Ikea for needed goods to add to our project in progress...

Maybe I'll just leave it at this. 'Twas a week to remember, and to recuperate from!