Labor Day Weekend Events

Friday (August 30):

Beach Safari
First Landing State Park is meeting at the Main Boardwalk (2500 Shore Drive in Virginia Beach) to check out things that live in the Chesapeake Bay. This event is free for the whole family, but parking is $4. 

AT&T Fresh Catch Fridays
If you like seafood, head over to the TowneBank Fountain Park for an outdoor waterfront party. Fresh Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs will be served. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on. This is a free event. Food is available for purchase.

Verizon Wireless American Music Festival
From Friday (Aug. 30) to Sunday (Sept. 1) head over to the Virginia Beach boardwalk for lots of different music concerts. Country, jazz, blues, rock- enjoy all kinds of various genres of music! This is the largest outdoor music event on the East Coast! A large stage will be set up on 5th Street but there will also be smaller stages and events going on all throughout the boardwalk.

The concert schedule for the main stage on 5th Street is as follows:
Friday- Daughtry- Tickets are $15 (in advance), $20 (day of the show)
Saturday- Barenaked Ladies, with Smash Mouth- Tickets are $20 (in advance), $25 (day of the show)
Sunday- Third Eye Blind, with Robert Randolf and the Family Band- Tickets are $20 (in advance), $25 (day of the show).

You can also purchase a Passport Pin for $35 with gets you into all three concerts.
** Children under the age of 12 are free

To purchase tickets, click here. 

Skywatch at Northwest River Park
If you like astronomy and star watching this is the event for you. From 8:30PM-11PM head over to the Northwest River Park at 1733 Indian Creek Road in Chesapeake. This is a free event.

Campfire
First Landing State Park is inviting the whole family to gather around the campfire for s'mores! They will tell stories and talk about the great outdoors night life, they will have activities- and of course, eat s'mores. This event is free. Meet at the Campfire Area. Parking is $4.  This begins at 8:30 PM at 2500 Shore Drive in Virginia Beach.


Saturday (August 31):

Back to School Bash
Join Z-104 and the Pointe at Bryant & Stratton College (Virginia Beach Campus at 301 Centre Pointe Drive in Virginia Beach) for a Back to School Bash. There will be free school supplies, back pack giveaways, bounce houses, games, activities and more! This will take place from 10AM to 1PM. 

Carnival of Madness Tour featuring Shinedown
Saturday at 5:00PM Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach will be hosting Carnival Madness, Shinedown, Skillet, Papa Roach, In this Moment, and We as Human.

Order tickets by clicking here.

Busch Gardens Live
Billy Currington is hitting the stage at Busch Gardens on Saturday, Aug. 31st from 7PM-close. Regular admission is required to get in.



Sunday (September 1):

Rock n' Roll Half Marathon
The Rock n' Roll Half Marathon begins at 7AM at the Virginia Beach Convention Center (1000 19th Street in Virginia Beach.) and ends at the Virginia Beach Boardwalk. Online Registration is now closed, but you can register at the Health and Fitness Expo on Friday, Aug. 30th or you can register the day of the race. Registration Fee is as follows:

Half Marathon: $150
2-Person Relay- $175
Mini Marathon- $55

Symphony Under the Stars with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Bring the family to Chesapeake City Park from 6PM-10PM to hear a Virginia Symphony Orchestra concert. There will be activities for the kiddos and there will also be fireworks. It is free, but there is a $5 parking fee. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on.

Big Bands on the Bay
Bring the family down to the Gazebo at Ocean View Beach Park from 7PM-9PM to hear live Big Band music and there will be dancing. This is free!

Glory at the Gardens
Casting Crowns will be putting on a concert at Busch Gardens on Sunday from 7PM-close. Regular admission is required to get in.



Monday (September 2):

Bike Nights at Norfolk Botanical Garden
I have been dying to try out the Botanical Garden and here is my chance! Monday night bring your helmets, bikes and kids and head out to the Botanical Garden. You will be able to ride through the beautiful pathways between 4PM-7PM. Admission is as follows:
Members = Free
Adults = $11
Seniors = $10
Military = $10
Children (3-18) = $9
Under 2 = Free

Click this link to get a coupon. 

Tonight's Finance Class at the Chesapeake Library

I think we all could use a little help managing our money....so the Chesapeake Library System is coming to the rescue! For everyone who is interested in getting your finances strait, there is a finance class going on at the Chesapeake Libraries tonight at 6PM. Your teachers will take an hour and a half to teach you a six step program that will help you be successful in your finances. It sounds like it will be good to check out- even if it is just to get a refresher course on how better to manage your money. These are the hosting locations that are not yet full:

Russell Memorial- Conference Room
Greenbrier- Conference Room
Major Hillard- MH Conference Room
Indian River- Conference Room
South Norfolk- History Room

Click the links above on the library you would like to attend to register for this class. Have fun!

Great Wolf Lodge isn't just for KIDS!!!

This weekend my incredible boss at Sylvan, Kim, treated all of her teachers and their families to a night at Great Wolf Lodge. I was so excited when I heard because I have never been there. 

William and I checked into going awhile ago, but it was super expensive so I just never looked into it again. BUT, Kim said she found a really great deal on GROUPON- I love groupon! If you haven't signed up for their daily deals....do it now by clicking here! They have a lot of great deals for local places where you can get great discounts on food, lodging, things to buy, etc. 

Anyways, we drove up to Williamsburg Sunday afternoon and checked into Great Wolf Lodge. The amazing thing about this place is that it has an INDOOR waterpark! So you get up to 6 people in a room plus 6 tickets into the waterpark for the day you check in and the day you check out. It's a great deal!! And during the summer they have an outdoor pool area too- which is where we went first. 

Maggie found a slide outside that was perfect height for her. William would help her up the steps and I would catch her at the bottom. Then I would try to walk her to something else fun....and she would just make her way back to the steps of that slide. So for an hour all we did was help her up the steps and catch her at the bottom of the slide....then help her up the steps....then catch her at the bottom of the slide. Sounds super boring, but if you could see her face light up every single time she was about to go down that slide...you would have done if for an hour too!! 

The thing I love about Great Wolf Lodge is that it is for kids of all ages (0-99)- haha. No seriously, I felt like a big kid in there. The have huge slides, a wave pool, kiddie slides, a jungle gym to climb through, basketball, and my personal favorite- the lazy river! There is so much to do for kids and adults of all ages. Of course, we spent a lot of time in the kiddie area because we have a one year old. But there is so much more exploring to do with older kids. The thing I really liked about the kiddie area was how there were no steps- but just a big slope. So it started with very little water and as you keep walking down the slope it gets deeper and deeper. Of course, for the little ones it only gets to be like a foot deep- but that was perfect for Maggie. She wanted to walk and do everything herself, so I really liked how it wasn't too deep. Of course she slipped a couple times and went under the water but William and I were right there to catch her. 

 "I get to play in there, mommy?! Sweeeeet!"

Maggie really loved the wave pool too. She would just hang out on William's lap and wait for the waves to come. (They do 8 minutes of waves, 8 minutes of calm water) Maggie would smile and laugh as their raft went over the waves. It was really cute. We loved the wave pool! 

And of course I can't forget to talk about the rooms. Our room was HUGE!!!! We had double beds and then another little section for a "living room." We put Maggie's pack n' play up there so she was sort of separate from us and could sleep better. And we had a balcony!!!! It was so cool! Plus they had a cool game in the lobby area of the hotel so the kids would run around from station to station playing this game- it looked sort of like a scavenger hunt type thing- they all seemed to be having a blast. 

We were super excited about how amazing our accommodations were. We will definitely be going back there some day!! We had such a great time, plus we had a lot of fun with my co-workers and their families. Kim honored all of the teachers with really sweet, personalized gifts and told us how much the students and parents love us. It was really nice and made me excited about my job there. Overall, we had an amazing time!!! 

Happenings this weekend (8/24 - 8/25)

What's Happening this weekend in Hampton Roads?!

1. Latino Music Festival- Town Point Park in Norfolk from 5PM - 10PM. This is free and open to anyone that would like to come!

2. 1st Annual King of the Surf Fitness Challenge- This is all day on Saturday and begins at 4th Street on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk. For those athletes that want to join it will be a 1 mile sand run, and then a 300 meter obstacle dash. Walk-up registration is $35 from 6:30AM -7:30AM.

3. Seawall Art Show- This is an outdoor art show that will be from 10AM - 6PM on Saturday and from 10AM - 5PM on Sunday. This will take place at 521 Middle Street in Portsmouth.

4. Big Bands on the Bay- Sunday at the Gazebo at Ocean View Beach Park. This will be from 7PM - 9PM. There will be live Big Band music and dancing.

Broken Fence made into a Wall Project

A few months ago we had a bad storm blow through our town and our fence was blown over and broken. So William put up a new fence in the section that was broken and put the old fence in a pile for the trash. But I ran out and saved the pieces of the fence for a wall project. I had recently found purple paint on Craigslist.org and repainted our bathroom. Now I needed some type of art to put on the empty purple wall. So here is what I did:

1. I took the old fence posts and lined them up. Then cut them down so they weren't too long.

2. I used white paint and painted the fence pieces- didn't completely cover them with white, but made it look distressed. 

3. I screwed the fence pieces together using two base pieces behind them. 

4. I used two long white pieces of fence and two short square pieces to make a "flower box."

5. I used screws and a drill to screw the flower box to the bottom of the fence. 

6. I added five mason jars to the flower box with fake purple flowers that I picked up at the Dollar Tree. I used purple flowers to match the purple paint in the bathroom. 

And .........Whalllla (In my best accent)!!!!! We have a cool piece to hang on the wall!