Driving Tanks Across the Country: Part 3

To read the first two parts, click on the following links:

Part 1

Part 2

I forgot to add one event from day 6. As I was walking Kevin around outside, we found a grey tree frog. Here's a couple pictures:

Day 7:

After our exciting day at Maymont Park, we decided we needed a down-day to spend with family. Grig was excited to show Kevin and me the woods around his house. His parents own quite a few acres, so we had a good time getting lost and then finding our way out again.

My man, back in his native element.

As we started away from the house, we gained an entourage. Their two dogs and various cats trailed us as we made our way through the woods. It was kind of entertaining, because we'd hear something crashing through the brush and it was just a couple of cats playing. 

Cat in a tree

Grig explained the different types of trees and other shrubbery to me, and we had a great time. Eventually we found the creek that runs through their property to his driveway and Grig and Kevin went wading into a pool that formed in their creek. I was going to get in, but I was wearing my only pair of jeans. We decided to come back later to swim, but it never ended up happening for reasons that I will explain later.

As we were walking back toward the house (Kevin needed a nap), Kevin started pointing at trees and saying, "This?" 

Grig would answer, "Tree!" 

Kevin would then point at a different tree and ask, "This?"

Grig would respond, "Tree."

This went on for quite a while until I tried to film it. Of course, then he stopped. It was very cute though. 

Once Grig's sister and brother-in-law woke up (they had flown in from Utah the night before), we spent some time with them. They didn't get in until really early in the morning, so they didn't wake up until we came back from the woods. Their flight had ended up being changed to a different flight when their first planes engines didn't work. They arrived at a different airport and their luggage got lost along the way. That was very frustrating for them.

The rest of the day we talked and watched Star Wars episode IV.

Good times.

I went to bed early because I wanted to get up early for the beach. Grig's Utah sister stayed up late because her luggage was supposed to arrive, but it never did.

Day 8:

This was now Friday, June 13. We had been planning to go to the beach the day before, but as we contemplated the hour that Grig's mom, sister, and brother-in-law would arrive, we decided to do it the next day instead. So, I woke up early and drove with Grig's mom to rent a minivan so we could go to the beach together. 

Unfortunately, I found out that Grig's youngest sister had spent the night throwing up, and so she and Grig's mom would be staying behind. That was really sad news. Grig's dad had to work for the day so he wouldn't be able to come either.

It took a while for everyone to get ready, and then we stopped for doughnuts. Even with my best efforts, we didn't get out until 11:30 or so.

That was okay though. It was only going to take 3 hours to get there, so we should have arrived at 2:30. Unfortunately, I had forgotten two important things.

1) It was a Friday.

2) It rains on the east coast.

As we got onto a rather busy highway, the rain began to pour. I was the only one who could drive because I had gone to rent the vehicle with Grig's mom, and so I got to experience driving in really heavy rain. It was rather exciting. We also were listening to the radio drama of Star Wars IV, so at least we were entertained for the long trip. 

The rain combined with the traffic made it so we didn't get to Virginia Beach until 4:30. We decided to try to go to the aquarium first. However, when we got there at 4:40 p.m., it turned out that the ticket stand had closed ten minutes before.

I was super frustrated at this point. Grig's siblings had told me that we shouldn't swim in the ocean after 5 because of sharks. 

We stopped and got something to eat. It was raining a little as we did so. We found a corner with several different restaurants and Grig and I went to McDonald's while the rest of his siblings went to Wendy's. While we were alone, I was almost in tears. It was a long trip for nothing and I wondered if we weren't supposed to go to the beach today. I had really been looking forward to this, and it seemed like it was ruined. 

After we ate, we prayed for guidance and then we decided to just go to the beach and see what happened. 

Another miracle. The weather cleared right up as soon as we got to the bay. We were able to swim in the bay until it got dark and we all had a fantastic time. 

The group who went to the beach Friday.

The ocean was the perfect temperature. We had a great time swimming and playing in the sand.

Grig and his brother wrestle, while the brother-in-law watches from the background.

At one point, I was jumping at waving at Kevin on the beach. Grig got a fantastic idea as I was jumping. As I jumped, he ducked under the water and came up under me, sending me tumbling backward.

I love the face-palm in the last picture

It was well-timed, and Grig's younger sister just happened to take the picture at the right moment.

The day's trip was totally worth it. Once we got to the beach, we didn't want to leave and we began talking about coming back on Monday. All the earlier frustration was forgotten and replaced by gratitude that the storm had cleared up so we could play. 

As it grew dark, we cleaned up and then went on a walkway to watch lightning in the distance. 

The only picture I got of the lightning

As we got back in the car, the rain came pouring down. We were waiting for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to return to the car, but they were taking their time. Finally we called my brother-in-law.

He answered the phone and asked, "Is Kevin allowed to have suckers? Can I buy him a sucker?" 

I told him sure. It turned out they were in the gift shop. We decided to all go back in and take a look around at it. 

Meanwhile, the woman who owned the gift store told my brother-in-law that he couldn't give a baby a blow-pop because it has gum in it.

The woman at the counter, who we'll call J, fell in love with Kevin. The instant we came in, the swooped over and said in a heavy southern accent, "Oh my goodness! Aren't you adorable? J has something for you!"

Immediately, to my brother-in-law's surprise, she handed Kevin a blow-pop. It was pretty funny. She then said, "He looks just like my babies! Come with me, I have something else for you." 

I followed her over to a bin full of small, stuffed toys. She pulled out a turtle and handed it to Kevin. 

I wasn't sure if it was a gift, and I didn't want to take advantage of J's kindness, so I said, "We'll have to see if we can buy that."

She shot me a (friendly) glare and said, "Don't you dare! This is a gift from J. You're gonna name it J, aren't you, honey?" she said to Kevin. I agreed we would name the turtle after her. It was the least we could do. Kevin let her hold him and she told him to give her 'some sugah' and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. She was absolutely delightful. We had a great time there and we were happy that we went in. We decided to buy a couple of things as well. 

Then, we piled back into the car and I drove home. It had been a fantastic day. Most people slept on the way home and Star Wars kept me company.

We got back late and went to bed.

Day 9:

This was my in-laws anniversary!

 We started off the day late (we all slept in), and then we celebrated with a cake and a family cook-out. More extended family was going to come, but my sister-in-law was still sick, so they decided to stay away so they didn't catch it. That was disappointing, but we still had a good time. We spent time talking and spending time together.

As it began to grow dark, my brother-in-law and I went out and dug a firepit. Then we built a fire and we ended the day around it making and eating s'mores. 

It was super relaxing. Nothing quite compares to talking around the campfire while fireflies shine around you in the darkness.

I like how Grig and his dad are sitting the exact same way.

One really neat thing that happened was that as we sat around the fire, we began to notice movement. A colony of wood ants evidently lived inside one of the logs. As we watched they tried to escape with their eggs from the burning log. It was kind of fascinating. I got some neat pictures.

Most of them seemed to escape, but we didn't see the queen, so we didn't know for sure.

Eventually we went to bed.

That's the end of part 3. Thanks for reading!

Here's the next parts as well if you want to continue: Part 4 and Part 5

Driving Tanks Across the Country: Part 2

If you missed the first few days of our trip, you can catch up by reading Part 1

Day 4:

I awoke the next morning around 10:30 and decided I had slept long enough. Grig was next to me asleep, but Kevin wasn't upstairs with me, so I went downstairs to look for him. I found him wide-awake and playing with his grandma. She told me that he had slept briefly, but then he had woken up again.

We proceeded to have a very relaxed day. We spent the majority of this day recovering from our trip.

Kevin really enjoyed exploring the property and seeing the many different kinds of animals. He especially loved the cats. He just would not leave them alone.

Grig also found a toad, and Kevin enjoyed that as well.

That night we had Family Home Evening with Grig's parents and we played a fun game. It is an Italian game I guess. Basically, one person (the wolf) stands out in front of everyone with their back facing them. Everyone else stands on the starting line and they yell, "Wolf, what time is it?"

The wolf will then say a number, and everyone takes that many steps forward. The wolf continues this way, until eventually the wolf, instead of saying a number, responds, "I'm hungry." Then, he/she turns around and chases everyone else. If he can catch someone before they reach the starting line, they become the wolf. However, once they get to the starting line, they were safe. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a nice recovery day.

That night, we also kind of planned out our week. We were trying to decide what we wanted to do and when. With a plan in mind, we went to bed. I was still exhausted, but feeling better.

Day 5:

It seems that I didn't take any pictures or videos for this day. Whoops. 

For a large part of this day as well, we spent our time relaxing and recovering. Kevin really enjoyed playing with his aunts and uncle. His grandmother enjoyed the time with him as well. Grig took Kevin into the woods with his mom, and they had a nice walk.  The camera was charging, so they didn't take it with them.

Later in the afternoon, around 5:00, Grig, Kevin, and I went to visit Grig's grandmother and a few other people. She was really nice and Kevin had a really good time at her home. As we arrived, I realized that I had forgotten the camera! Oh, no! I reassured myself that we would come visit again and I would definitely bring the camera. We talked for a while, and then we went to visit a couple of older men who are kind of pseudo-grandparents to the family. We enjoyed visiting with them as well. 

By the time we finished, it was nearly time for Kevin to go to bed, and he was ready for it. 

I put him to sleep, and then we watched a couple of episodes of River Monsters with Grig's siblings.

Day 6:

This was now Wednesday, June 11. Grig's sister who lives in Richmond had the day off from work, so we went to Richmond to visit her. Maybe we were crazy for getting back into the car, but the short two hour drive seemed like nothing. It was over lickety-split!

We had decided that we would pick up his sister, and then go to a place called Maymont Park. After a little bit of confusion, we were able to find his sister's apartment and pick her up. We then drove to the park.

Kevin and his aunt. They had a great time picking flowers.

Kevin was pretty excited to find geese there, but they were actually in the wrong direction of where we wanted to go. It was hard to convince him to go the other direction. As we started our journey into the park, dark clouds hung ominously over the horizon. Someone worried that it would storm, to which I replied, "We just need to pray about it, and it will wait until we're done."

I don't know if anyone else prayed about it, but I said a quick prayer.

Some of our group from the back. Kevin holds hands with his grandma and grandpa.

Kevin loved Maymont

Maymont was incredible. Frogs were in every stream and Grig's brother found a huge dragonfly!

As we walked along the path, we came to a miniature aviary. It contained native Virginian species. I was especially interested in the black vultures. I had never seen them before. I used to work in a zoo that contained turkey vultures, but I had never seen the black variety. Evidently the farmers don't like them because they will attack live animals as well.

Kevin and his grandpa enjoy looking at the bald eagles

Black vultures

At the end of the aviary, there was a giant bald eagle head where you could look through the eyes to get an eagle's perspective of the world, but it cost money to activate it, so we just took pictures of the head instead.

After that, we walked along a path and climbed trees. There was supposed to be a waterfall, but the waterpump had broken, so the waterfall wasn't turned on and all of the water looked kind of gross. However, it was still beautiful.

There were also a few other animals there that you could look at. There were some bears, but they were fairly far away. We did enjoy a bear statue though.

The next area we visited was a Japanese garden. Aside from the murkiness of the water, it was gorgeous. I had never been to a Japanese garden before. I was super impressed by the design. It was very artistic and it nearly took your breath away. 

We then explored some beautiful old buildings. Evidently Maymont used to be a plantation and many of the original buildings are still on the property. They were beautiful. 

Kevin and his aunt.

Family picture

Who knew Kevin's hair was this curly?

The rain held off the whole time we were in the park. We also visited a farm area with farm animals, but at about this point my camera's battery began to die. Grig and I went for a walk by ourselves through a bamboo forest while Kevin stayed with his grandparents. We had a great time exploring and chasing toads and frogs.

We had a fantastic day. However, Grandma Tank had to pick up Grig's sister and brother-in-law from the airport that night, so we had to leave. As we got into our vehicles, it began to rain. I know that Heavenly Father held off the rain until we were done. We dropped Grig's sister back at her apartment, and then went back to Grig's parents' home. It poured the whole way, which made it difficult to see the car in front of us. We thought we saw them turn off an exit and we followed. A few minutes later they called to see where we were. We had taken the wrong exit, but it would eventually take us home anyway. We stopped to grab some food, and eventually we made it there. 

Kevin went to bed, but Grig, his brother, and I stayed up for a while. I was partially waiting for Grig's sister and husband to arrive, but as it got later I decided to go to bed.

That's probably enough for today. For the next part, read Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.