Julia Turns Ten

Julia's 10th birthday featured the following:

• According to Sara "the last time there are a ton of gifts"
• Spent day at Circus Camp
• Doug out of town in Tampa, FL
• Dinner at Coastal Flatts
• Other participants: Grandad, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Leann

The 'last' birthday with a ton of stuff

Julia made her own piñata, which is part of the tradition 

 

Coastal Flatts dinner - 10 with bread

Julia made her own piñata with real sprinkles

Celebration with Grandad and Aunt Debbie

Julia also made her own 'donut' cupcakes, RJ lit the candles using a wood match

Climbing and Circus Camps

Following the end of school, RJ went to climbing camp. The next week Julia went to Circus Camp. Sara got to hang out with one, while the other was in camp. Next year Sara might go to Get Away from Kids Camp.

Julia preparing for moves on the Aerial Rope

Circus camp culminated in a show for the parents.

RJ, Milo, and Bradley had fun at climbing camp. No pictures, but RJ came home exhausted every day from the workout.

Mountain Biking - Freedom Park

Following up the free Busch Gardens tickets and the free night at the hotel (2 bedroom suite even!) we headed to do some mountain biking in Freedom Park, Williamsburg, VA.

We started on trail A, which was mostly flat, but a good challenge for Sara and Julia. Juila's bike weighted as much as Doug's.

RJ was a bit bored with Trail A

When RJ and Doug got to Trail C, there was lots of terrain and obstacles. RJ did about half of them. Doug did about 1/4.

Video below shows a challenge that looks cool, but was actually lame. RJ's expression was priceless when the teeter-totter took longer than expected to go down.

Busch Gardens - free

Our friends Hillary and Francis both had some extra passes to Busch Gardens, so we started the summer with a bang.

Julia qualified for all rides!

We got started with Escape from Pompeii followed by the 'purple' roller coaster ... which was one of the biggest in the park. After that we scaled it back to Clear Spring carnival rides for bit.

Julia rode this 6 times, Doug only survived 2 trips before he was dizzy.

No lines for the horses. Missed the wolves.

Everybody with their cooling towels. It was hot, but not terrible.

We fit a lot in. RJ's favorite ride was the Loch-ness Monster. Sara's favorite ride was the Chat With Hillary and Fran. Julia's favorite ride was the Swings - bug surprise. Doug's favorite ride was the Purple Coaster.

To close things down we went back to Apollos Coaster, the kids rode it about 6 times. Doug gave up after 4.

The kids could have rode forever ... 

After 10 hours and too many rides, Doug was ready for bed

Fox Shenanigans

The foxes enjoy playing in our backyard. So far this spring they have brought us a Kono Dog toy, 6 hockey pucks, 4 tennis balls, an unidentified skull, and other random balls. We need to train them to bring jewelry, wallets, etc.

Fox moved the balls from the 'foxhole' and kept them together

They move this around every night ... gross.

Sharks Soccer

The Bumblebees disbanded, so 4 St. Agnes girls joined a Discovery School team. The players meshed and won most of their games ... except for 1 where St. Agnes was on spring break and another where luck was elusive.

Team after the last game of the season

Pre-game warmup at RJ's game with Coach Joel's puppy