Christmas Town and Grand Illumination

Last weekend the boys and I went away with my parents to Williamsburg, VA.  My parents have a time share there, so anytime we go we just stay with them for free.  It's so nice that we have that luxury!  So, on Saturday morning the boys and I packed up, and along with my parents we headed down 95 to Williamsburg.  When we got down there, we checked in to the time share, dropped our bags and headed to Busch Gardens for the afternoon/evening.  I have NEVER been to Busch at Christmas time, and last weekend I finally saw what I had been missing out on.  If you've never been, I highly recommend you go!  They turn the entire park in to Christmas Town. Everything is Christmas-ey, it's impossible not to get in to the Christmas spirit!

Almost immediately after we got into the park, Jacob wanted to ride the sky coaster (the little cart that goes from one end of the park to another).  During the holiday season, though, it's called the Flight of Lights (how cute is that?!).  So, we got in line and took that to move us deeper into the park.  Then we walked around some, drank some amazing peppermint fudge hot chocolate, played games and took some pictures.  Probably the most awesome part of the whole park (for me, anyway) was The North Pole where Santa's Workshop is located.  It's just magical.  There is no other word to describe it, but pure and simple ... magic. I truly felt like a kid again.  Saturday night after we had had our fun at Busch Gardens, we had dinner at our favorite place ever ... Captain George's Seafood Buffet.  Yum!

On Sunday morning after we had breakfast we decided to do a little shopping, so our first stop was The Christmas Mouse.  I love that store!  It's Christmas all year long!  Next we hit up both outlet malls where I got some good deals ... my favorite was Carter's (love that store!).  I spent $68 and got the boys their matching Christmas PJs, plus two more pairs of jammies for Jacob, 6 long sleeve t-shirts and 1 short sleeved t-shirt.  And, because I spent over $50, I got $10 to spend at a later date.  :)

After we were done shopping we had to hussle back to the resort to catch the bus that was taking us to downtown Colonial Williamsburg for the  Grand Illumination.  One thing I should mention here is that the weather was so amazing all weekend.  It was in the 60s and 70s during the day and 50s at night.  Anyway, we got downtown and milled about with all the rest of the people ... there were so many people!  We did some more shopping and just sort of hung out until it was time for the fireworks.  Henry was TERRIFIED of them for some reason.  Poor baby.  He clung to me and wouldn't look up out of my shoulder for anything.  It was sad, but cute at the same time.  After the fireworks we rode the bus back to the resort and then went out for a late dinner.

 

On Monday morning we packed up to go home.  I wasn't super excited about going home because I knew John was gone, but at the same time it was nice to be back in my own bed Monday night.  Before we left Williamsburg, though, we had one more stop to make ... Yankee Candle.  Now, I don't know if this is "the biggest Yankee Candle store in the country" or whatever, but it's pretty freaking big.  And, I had never been inside before this trip.  I'll be making it a planned stop from here on out, though.  I love that place!  I got a few more pieces to add to my village and then a few stocking stuffers and air freshners for my car.

 

We had a fantastic time and are so fortunate we were able to go.  Thanks to my mom and dad for all they do for us!!