Day 3-Wednesday

Andy really really wanted to see some lighthouses this trip. So on day 3 we went out in search of Cape Henry. Cape Henry is actually the site of The First Landing or where the Susan Constant, The Godspeed and The Discovery ships actually made their first landing. The Virginia Colony (remember them?) specifically instructed the settler's not to set this site up as their settlement because they were concerned that the oceanfront property would give enemy Navies too great of access to the settler's. So the settler's moved on and settled on the James River instead. Just to give you an idea it would take us approximately 90 minutes to travel from Jamestown to Cape Henry in our car. So they ended up moving quite a bit aways from their first landing spot.

The best part of this trip for the boys was that Cape Henry now sits inside Ft. Story. A real live Army Base!! The kids thought it was great fun when Mom and Dad had to exit the car and stand 25 yards away while the car was searched. And when I say searched I mean every crevice and compartment were gone through!! Luckily we passed and Isaac got to see a real live base!! Talk about excited!!

Andy and I joked that it must be a hardship tour to serve on an oceanfront base. The housing was certainly better than any base housing we ever got to live in. Cute little beach bungalows painted in bright colors!! Yup must suck to be stationed there:)

There was a cute little boardwalk that took us straight to the beach. You couldn't actually swim at this beach though. There were signs posted everywhere about the rough current and the beach itself was littered with debris...like dead crabs!! EVERYWHERE!!

This is where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It was a very very beautiful spot. You could see dolphins swimming and Navy boats in the distance.The MP's showed up and gave Asher a real treat! He got to turn on the lights and everything. They were super duper nice!!Maia is ready to get off that hot sand but she will still give a fake smile for the camera:)

Off to see the lighthouses. This first one was all gated off and we really couldn't get very close to it at all.

This photo was taken from the very top of the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse. It was built in 1879. This one here is the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse. This is the very first United States Government commissioned structure. It was built in 1792. It is 191 very steep steps to the top of the lighthouse!! All around an iron curving narrow staircase. Word to the wise: Don't let your 7 year old wear flip flops when climbing to the top. Thankfully the nice people below us retrieved them--twice! It's hotter than hot at the top of this thing. There is no ventilation up there. This may have been better to see in the Fall. But the view was gorgeous and the historical nature of the building made it worth it. Even if we were drenched and dripping in sweat by the time we came back down:) Good thing we were headed to the beach for the day!!

Here is a picture that shows what the base is used for today. Amphibious vehicles!! Asher was in love with this...it's a Fire Rescue Vehicle!!

I'm sad to say I didn't get anymore pictures the rest of the day:( We headed for the beach and it was just not conducive to having my camera out. Which really stinks because I was looking forward to getting some fantastic beach pictures.

Isaac loved the beach. He ventured out pretty far and loved it when the waves came crashing over his head. I don't think I have heard him laugh so much in a long long time.

Andy really surprised himself because he thought he would hate the beach but he loved it. We had fun playing in the waves together and body surfing. It was fun to see him so relaxed and playful!

Maia really liked the beach a lot. She would not venture out very far at all but she loved the waves and sand. She did keep floating farther and farther out to the left of us. I can't tell you how many times we had to go round her up.

Asher hated the beach:( He was scared to death of the waves and wouldn't go anywhere near them. For a long time he was content to play in the sand but after awhile he had sand stuck to every surface of his body. Eventually he got it in his eyes because he wouldn't let us walk him to the water to rinse him off periodically. In the end we caused quite the scene when he had a huge screaming hysterical fit because we forced him to rinse off at the edge of the ocean!! I'm sure the people camped out around us were thrilled with noise.

Of course they probably never noticed the noise actually because Virginia Beach has got to be the noisiest beach I've ever been to!! Much to my kids delight there was constant activity over the water...fighter jets, chinooks and AWAKS galore!! The soldiers in the chinooks were sitting with their legs dangling out of the doors and waving at us!! Not to mention all the Navy ships in the distance blowing their horns!!

All in all it was a great day!! I didn't love Virginia Beach as I've been to much better beaches but it served it's purpose for us this trip. Next time we head to the beach it'll be one not quite so busy. Or maybe one with a better boardwalk!!

After we thoroughly exhausted ourselves we headed back to our hotel. We got stuck in some nasty traffic and it ended up being a very looooong ride back. Which wasn't a whole lot of fun because we were freezing from being soaking wet and we had sand some places where sand just doesn't belong!! Some of us may have even covered up with wet towels and fallen asleep on the return trip. I will learn from mistakes and pack better for our next trip :)

After some very quick showers we headed out to find a very late dinner. Then we quickly returned to our room and passed out from exhaustion!! It was a very good day indeed :)