Belle Isle - Richmond, VA

We went to visit family in Richmond for Superbowl weekend. My sister-in-law always has plans for fun things we can do. We got there Saturday afternoon in time to see the end of cousin S's basketball game (he informed us after the game that it was his team's first loss of the season). The rain that was supposed to stop early in the morning and not start up again until night didn't stop... so our plans of exploring Belle Isle Park on the James River were thwarted.

My sister-in-law took a nap, leaving the activity planning to those less creative and we ended up at Sam's Club because as B said, "It was the only suggestion they had unanimous agreement on (all five kids didn't want to do it)." Really, we tried like five other ideas first:
1. a movie - no good kid movies playing
2. Jumpin Jacks (a sort of bounce house)- only half the kids were on board, and one kid didn't have socks, which is a requirement
3. Chuck E. Cheese (which, much to my pleasure, had an enormous line coming out the door of the "restaurant."
4. a candy shop downtown (wanted to go with sister-in-law)
5. I don't remember anymore, but there were more ideas.


See, even Sam's Club can be fun.

Sunday, after church the weather was nice so we decided to finally explore Belle Isle. Before the Super Bowl, of course.

Downtown Richmond.
Little Guy as Darth Vader.
The second LG picture is him giving us his bad guy "look."
The pedestrian bridge.
Brick wall left from Belle Isle's past as a prison for Union soldiers during the Civil War or before that when it was a village with a nail factory.
B and LG.
A lavender dog.
Yep, a lavender dog. My brother-in-law works downtown and sees this lady and her dog all the time. He's not sure what she's doing, but she does pass out business cards. The kids all wanted to pet it. I think Princess Sparkley chickened out but Little Guy, Buddy and the cousins did. I love this picture because just as I took it LG left the back of the dog (you can just see him behind Buddy) where he'd been petting its' bum to walk around to his face where he bent over a little and greeted the dog. It was like he was trying to be polite and proper.




Rocks and water. The kids had a lot of fun here. There were some places where we had to keep them close because the drops were far but mostly they (except Little Guy) were free to roam.


B and Little Guy wandered off together and then I spotted them climbing this enormous rock. Only two kids got wet on this adventure, PS trying to jump across a stream that was a little too far for her. And Little Guy on this rock. B had to boost him up there first and demand that he sit in one spot (or possibly fall to his death... I don't know, I never got close enough to see what was on the other side). Then B had to jump up there himself, which took him a couple of times to give you an idea of how high this was. After LG got up there he started to move and B yelled at him to sit right then. And he did. On a little puddle. At least he's obedient. Although he had to be told twice.