Hello Virginia Beach

After eight hours of driving, we made it to Virginia Beach.  We're looking forward to an exciting week on the beach with LAB, Beersy and Pony.  Based on our trip down here, it's sure not to be dull.

We split the drive into two parts.  Friday night we hit the road at 8:15 PM and headed to Salisbury, MD.  We were concerned that traffic might turn the four hours drive into six, but were pleasantly surprised when we made it to our hotel right on time.  "Perfect!" we thought. "We'll get the pack-and-play set up, move Little J inside and go right to bed.  Of course, Little J had other plans.  She woke up just as we arrive at the hotel and refused to go back to sleep.  Melissa had to hold her all night and barely got to close her eyes.  At least her hard work was paid back when Little J peed so much that it escaped the diaper and flowed all over Mommy's pajamas and pillow.

As chance would have it, the Beersy clan was staying in the same hotel that night, unbeknownst to us all.  We met for breakfast and then hit the road convoy style.  Little J decided that she still wasn't tired and was awake for the two hour drive to Cape Charles, VA (awake and cranky).  We hadn't planned to stop in Cape Charles, but decided it would be best to eat there in case we hit traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. A Google search of accessible restaurants suggested a place called Sting-Rays.

We pulled into what looked like any other roadside restaurant and placed our orders at the counter (three fried crabcake sandwiches, a fried flounder sandwich and fries all around) and found our seat. We didn't know at this point Sting-Rays had been featured in Southern Living magazine, Rachel Ray's show, and others.  Anyway, we sat down and when the food came I started feeding Little J while Melissa ate, and we planned to switch when Melissa was done.  That's when one of the workers - a sweet looking, mid-40s Cambodian woman - came over and started gushing over the girls.  She asked if I wanted her to hold Little J while I ate, and I respectfully declined.  A few minutes later the woman came back and said how cute Little J and Pony were, and put her arms out toward Little J.  I reluctantly handed her over and all of a sudden the woman goes "OK, I'm going to walk around with her" and walks away!  I watched her walk behind the counter, greet customers on line - she was walking around the entire restaurant.  All the while, the four of us at the table are in shock over how our baby ended up in the arms of a complete stranger.  We found out later that she was the owner of the restaurant, and was a very very nice woman.  And the food was very good too - the crabcake was all crab.  We'll likely stop back there on the way home and Little J can visit her new friend.

Little J fiiiiiinally feel asleep once we left the restaurant and completed the journey to Virginia Beach.  We arrived, checked in, unloaded the cars and realized that despite my best efforts to pack the million and one things a baby needs, I forgot two of the most important - food and diapers.  Melissa and LAB were going to the grocery store last night anyway, but it still makes me wonder how many other things we'll find missing.

We took it easy last night, getting pizza and hush puppies from Baja (above average for southern pizza) and watching Elizabeth Crot win Miss Virginia 2011. This morning, we're about to hit the beach and get some pics of the kids first view of the sand and ocean.