Signal Bay Water Park

While we haven't made it into the city lately, we have explored some more places a little closer to home here in Virginia.  Last weekend, my mother, sister, grandmother, and niece got to come out here and spend Labor Day weekend with us celebrating Eli's birthday a little early (and bring us a deep freeze full of homegrown meat!).  We spent some time shopping at Potomac Mills (the largest outlet mall in the country) and Ikea, visiting Mount Vernon, riding the King Street Trolley in Alexandria, and splashing things up at a local water park.  Posts for the other places may eventually show up, but I definitely wanted to write about the water park today.

Though there are several options around our area, we decided to head to the Signal Bay Water Park for its last day of the season.  This place was pretty much perfect for our group, it was designed with the youngest tots in mind.  Taking three kids under four, the depth of water measured at one foot was ideal.  The kids could go down slides, splash around, and play with the geysers.  They loved it.  And there was even a lazy river for the adults to lounge in (though you must be over 43 inches to get in).  A water obstacle course also kept some of the older kids we saw busy, though none of us tried it.

My sister with the cutest pregnant belly ever!

Twins

They do take breaks every hour where all the kids are required to get out of the water for a few minutes.  This was helpful because it gave us an excuse to leave, otherwise Theo would have wanted to stay all day.  Their prices are basically $5-6.50 depending on age and time of visit, with seniors only $3 and infants less than 12 months free.  Our life is definitely going to get just a bit more expensive this week when Eli turns one and is no longer free for so many things!

Afterwards we did have an early birthday celebration for Eli.  Maci and Theo were very excited and enjoyed making cards for him, swinging, wearing party hats, and helping Eli blow out his candle.  It was a perfect Labor Day weekend.

Summer (Romaine) Salads

I love a good salad bar.  I always have.  Recently, we decided to go ahead and get a Costco membership due to its proximity to us, and due to the amount of fruit (Eli), bread (Theo), and cheese (both) my children are consuming.  I feel like they are already eating me out of house and home.  I'm not sure how I'll ever be able to keep enough food around when they are teenagers.

The Costco membership is why we often have 6 huge romaine hearts in our fridge.  Just about every time we come back from the store.  I've been finishing summer up by eating a salad just about every day for lunch, so we decided to try out buying the lettuce in bulk.  I'm committed to not letting any food go bad and I'm having some fun switching things up so I don't get tired of the same old salad every day.

Maybe these will be inspirational to others who find themselves in the same too-much-Romaine situation.

Avocado and Walnut Salad: Idea and Dressing here.

Grilled salad:  Idea and Dressing Here.

Memorial Day 2010

For Theodore's first Memorial Day, he got to check out the pool! He didn't like it at first, but came to like the cool water after a while.

It quickly tired him out after a few minutes.

The flowers finally started blooming!

And daddy got the grill out. It was a great day!!