Vacation Recap Part II

When carting around a family of five, you have to constantly think up inexpensive things to do. We decided to head to the Metro Richmond Zoo for the day. Inexpensive it definitely was not. It cost us about 60 bucks to get in (even with the military discount), and another $25 to eat lunch. We should have stuck with Richmond's FREE Maymont Park.

Alas, we had a good time anyway.



Helicopter mom was more than a little nervous about my baby riding this sky ride above big, wild animals. Thankfully, he came through unscathed.

After the zoo came a happy hour trip to Sonic. Cherry limeades:  the highlight of Tom's return to the States.

And then we decided it would be a good idea to take Brendan to his first movie. He loves Cars. He loves it so much that it's the first thing he says when he wakes up in the morning. He even says it in his sleep. No kidding. Therefore, we thought he would just love to experience Cars 2 on the big screen.

He could watch Cars at home all day long, but he does not sit still to watch it. So we figured we'd be smart and take his car seat in with us. We just knew he would be content to sit in that and watch, since he had just recently been a complete angel on a plane from Japan to Virginia.

And if nothing else worked, we knew he'd be quiet for some Coke. The kid loves Coke.

Please don't judge us.

The movie finally started after about 25 minutes of previews, which he sat through quite patiently. If you've seen Cars 2, the beginning is absolutely nothing like the first movie. I actually hated it. A few minutes in, it started to get good. And that's when Peanut had enough. Tom and the girls finished the movie while Brendan and I walked around the shopping center. I politely asked for a refund for my ticket and they gave it to me, no problem. Nice! It was a good idea, but he's just not ready for the big theater yet.

We did manage to have some cheap fun while we were gone.



Even I got a turn in the wheel barrow, although I'm not sure there are any pictures of it.

Mom made me one of my favorite desserts!

Go karts:  Definitely not inexpensive, but definitely fun.

See that boy behind her? She beat him. There's another one behind him...she put that one in the wall. Her dad was so proud.

Colonial Downs also has a pretty sweet deal. For $16 a family of four can purchase admission to the track, four programs, four hot dogs, four sodas, and one souvenir. We had a blast.

Mulling over his bets.



That's all for now. Stay tuned for Part III!