Neptune Festival

October is here (and partially gone already!). Kind of crazy. We've been here 3 months now, but in some ways, it seems longer. We are mostly happy. There are the minor day-to-day problems, little illnesses, making everything fit in a small space, trying to find friends and comfortable places, moments of homesickness. But in all, we are doing well, and glad to be here in Chesapeake. So grateful that Jeremy has a job where he is learning and gaining experience in what he is so passionate about. We are really looking forward to the fall that is coming swiftly. The cooler temperatures are nice, and the leaves are (finally) starting to change. I don't know about Jeremy, but I'm so excited for the coming holiday season, and I hope I can make it fun and meaningful for my family. I hope I can make the effort (and with these three little ones, it definitely takes some!) to do some fun crafts and baking, and maybe start a new tradition or two.
The rest of October is going to be very busy. Jeremy is going to a NUCCA conference in Reno (which he's very excited about, and we're both excited that his work pays for all of his expenses) for like 5 days, and for the 2 weeks after he gets back they have their biggest publicity event (maybe of the year?) every afternoon/evening and through the weekends up in Suffolk (about 45 minutes away). So we'll be seeing less of him for a bit, and he'll be doing some extra traveling. But we also just found out that at the end of the month my parents are coming to visit us, and that is VERY exciting!
Last Friday Jeremy came home and said they were having the "Neptune Festival" down at the VA Beach boardwalk, so we decided to go, and about 30 minutes later (after packing a picnic dinner) we were headed that way. Traffic was pretty crazy, and it took us almost an hour to get to the coast! We were glad we went though; it was a beautiful evening, with lots to see and wonderful smells to enjoy. Think a fair, without the rides.  Just live music and vendors all along the boardwalk. The kids wanted a treat so badly, but we didn't really want to spend the money they were charging for ice cream and such, so Jeremy ran into a Walgreens (right there on the boardwalk) and got drumstick ice cream cones for everyone. They were impressed. :) While he was in there, I took the older two down onto the beach because they were begging to play in the sand. Unlike the rest of our experiences, the sand was cool under our feet(!) though the water still wasn't that cold. They had a great time. :) We were all pretty wiped out by the time we got home, but we were glad we took the time to check out this fun event! (though we wished we didn't have to get tired kids home, or we would have stayed and enjoyed the ambiance and beautiful weather for a while longer!)

View of some of the festivities (and the Neptune statue) from the second
story of the Hilton (where we had parked)

Taking the chance for a classic giant-hermit-crab photo op while Daddy
checked out some Fiats. (I think)

 

Not sure where this face came from...

Disclaimer: that 30 minutes of preparation did not include time for me to do
anything to my hair or remember to put on makeup...

Enjoying the ice cream Daddy brought!

Ice cream is happiness.