April Part 2: 5K, Boston Common, and Virginia Beach Vacation

Get comfortable, as this post is a mighty long one filled with lots of fun from our April vacation trip to Virginia Beach (2016), and some fun in Boston Common.

Our William Billiam being sweet before drop off at school one day.

Darling Penelope on April 15

One of my favorite places on earth:  Boston Public Garden
It's so gorgeous and peaceful.  I love it.
This morning, Joseph and I got together with some other
fellow Bostonians to run the BAA (Boston Athletic Association) 5K.

I was ready to get back into running after having Miss P
and was happy to be running it alongside Jojo.

Annnnnnd we're off!!

Thanks for running alongside me even though I knew
you could have run faster.  Love you to the moon and back, darling!

Woo hoo!  I felt so great to get that 5K under my belt
after having had Penelope just a few months prior.
It was nice to start feeling like myself again.

William and his fellow classmates made some delicious baguettes
one morning and had quite the gouter (snack) time.

Here's William and one of his classmates making a chocolate croissant.

William enjoyed rolling the dough.

His favorite part was eating it, of course.  :-)

William and his classmates playing with some super bubbles
outside during recess.

Peek-a-boo!  Love this little guy.

On April 17, the boys' April vacation began, so we decided to go to Boston Common to have the kids run around.  The swan boats had just opened that weekend, so we were so excited to ride them once again.

Since we don't have a yard, the boys love it when they can
run around in wide open spaces.

The fabulous Miss P and Joseph.  :-)

Our family of five riding on the swan boat.  :-)

Fun on the Swan Boat on April 17.

I love our little squad.

Miss P is just too fabulous.

My happy place.

The Franses men in the beautiful public garden.

Make Way for Ducklings...and the Franses boys!

Alex is getting a little too big for the duckling statues.
You can't even tell that he's sitting on a duckling statue.
LOL!!  :-)

William on one of the duckling statues.  He fits just right.  :-P

We grabbed some sandwiches from a local sandwich
shop and ate a lovely lunch overlooking Frog Pond.
It was the perfect day, even though it was a little windy.

Being silly in the Common

Another one of our favorite things to do in the Common
is ride the carousel, of course.  :-)

These two monkeys love running around.

Time for a road trip!!  We were dying to go on a vacation after being home bound for the fall and winter.  Plus, we weren't sure how much longer Oscar was going to be with us, so we wanted to take him along on a family vacation.  We had these romantic visions of Oscar romping up and down the beach with his tongue and ears flapping about.  We were very ambitious, rented a perfect bungalow right on the beach for the week, packed the kids and dog into the car, and drove to Virginia Beach for the kids' April vacation - April 18 to April 22.

I was still nursing this little nugget, so we had to stop every
2 1/2 hours for the boys and Oscar to have a potty break,
and for Penelope to be able to eat.

The stretch of road before you get to Virginia Beach
is absolutely breath taking.

I had Oscar on my lap the entire ride up there.
He loved being able to see the road.

Alex blowing raspberries on Penelope's belly.
After 12 long hours on the road, we were so happy
to get out of the car.

Oscar, Penelope, and Joseph snuggling on the bed early
in the morning.

Tired but very happy :-)

The kids loved that they could step out onto the porch
and see/hear/and smell the ocean.

Our happy little boys loved being at the beach.

Two cool dudes, lounging on the porch.

I was beyond thrilled to catch up on a little reading while
Penelope was taking her morning nap and Joseph was
playing with the boys and Oscar.

Peace and serenity

Our happy little sun baby.

The water was absolutely freezing cold, but that didn't stop
Alex from jumping in and swimming around.  He was so excited
to play around in the water.

Playing in Virginia Beach on April 19

Miss P woke up and was ready to check out the beach.

Me and our little Penelope frolicking on the beach.

I love watching them run around.

Love these kids

Oscar was less than enthusiastic about playing in the water.
The water was quite cold.

Joseph got Oscar into the water, but other than that,
that was about it.  I took him jogging up and down the
beach while Joseph played with the kids in the sand.

Joseph trying to get Oscar in the water.

Nothing could stop Alex from playing in the water that day.

Little Miss P mastering her tripod sitting.

Penelope, Joseph, and Oscar doing some quality tummy time.

I love our silly family.

Our little beach babies

Uh oh!  William's missing his body!

I had WAY too much fun burying the boys in the sand
that day.

They were good sports about it all.

The boys busting out of the sand.

William wanted to bury Alex in the sand next.

Then it was Alex's turn to bury William.

It was a beautiful day at the beach.

Penelope was taking a nap, so Joseph stayed back with Oscar while I took the boys along the beach to collect shells.

William loved filling up his bucket.

So did Alex.  :-)

We had a lot of fun that afternoon.

Collecting shells along the beach

Hanging out with our little chunk-a-munk

She took a nap with me that afternoon and was still tired
even after I woke up.

Alex loved watching the waves and smelly the ocean air.

Admiring our view for the next few days

Brotherly love

I looooove her chunkiness in this picture.  :-)

As you can tell, Penelope was NOT pleased with the
fact that she had to take a bath with her brothers that evening.
I find this picture to be absolutely hilarious.  :-D

The next morning, on April 20, we decided to take the kiddos to the Virginia Aquarium as a change of scenery and to explore the area.

The Franses men on the way to the aquarium.

The kids enjoyed watching the sea lions swimming around.

Alex got too close and bonked his face on the glass.

William was smart and observed from a distance.

The boys were captivated.

William having a staring contest with a komodo dragon.

Joseph and the boys looking through the bubble to
see the komodo dragon up close.

The handsome Franses men.  :-)

Miss P, taking it all in.

So happy to be traveling with our little squad.

Alex doing his best "chomp" near an alligator (at the bottom of the tank).

The boys really liked this tank.

The kiddos spying on some jellyfish.

Getting up close and personal with a shark.

Alex loves puffer fish as much as I do.

So does William.

Joseph and the boys petting some rays.

Alex pet a horseshoe crab.

Time for lunch!  Penelope enjoyed her snuggles with
Joseph during lunch.

Love those little dimples.

The boys enjoyed walking along the boardwalk.  It was
crazy windy that day.

Time to play on the beach!

We found this amazing, locally owned restaurant that specialized in making boil pots consisting of pretty much anything you'd like.  They fill the pot with fresh seafood for you and you pick up the pot, take it to your home, and cook it in the pot.  You even get to keep the pot!  The food was absolutely delicious and completely cooked in about 45 minutes.

In our pot, we chose sausage, corn on the cob, potatoes,
onions, steamers, mussels, and shrimp.  They added the seasonings
and they said all we had to do was add wine, beer, or water to the pot
and cook it on the stove top.

Time to relax while dinner is cooking.

So happy.

So.freaking.delicious!  Plus, there was so much leftover
that we had enough for the next night's dinner.

We love fresh seafood and the boys were so excited to dig in.

Oscar loved walking around on the patio and smelling the
ocean air.

We were happy we could take him along with us.

He didn't really like the beach, but appreciated it from afar.

Penelope's first time on a swing!  She absolutely loved it!

Little Miss P having a swinging good time.

Our happy little Boilermaker.

Our big boy climbing the rock wall.

William enjoyed playing with the playground equipment
that was low to the ground.

Alex the monkey.

Penelope and Joseph ready to slide!

William became very brave and climbed this far.
Woo hoo, big guy!

Time for a stroll along the beach.

The boys enjoyed looking at all of the animal footprints.

Yikes!!

Me and the kiddos hanging out on the very windy pier.

As you can tell, Alex was the only Franses baby still
awake after playing at the park and walking on the beach.
Both William and Penelope were passed out.

I was feeding Penelope back at the house and Joseph
had both boys and Oscar out on the beach.  Then he sent
me this picture and told me that Alex was dying laughing.
The Franses men have a very mature sense of humor.  :-)

What a happy view to walk towards.  :-)

What did I see when I got closer?  Ah yes...Joseph had
written in the sand "Mommy Tooted."  Yup...mature sense of humor.  :-)  

Joseph and Miss P hanging out at the beach.

William had a lot of fun finding things on the beach.
We found a shark pod!

Mommy and Miss P selfie

She enjoyed squishing her toes in the sand.

Nap time equals beer o'clock and dog snuggle time
while listening to the ocean and smelling the salty air.
It was pretty much perfect.

To be quite honest, this was the favorite part of the trip
for the boys.  Not the aquarium or the beach, but the bunk beds.
They looooooooooved having bunk beds.  :-) 

The great part about waking up at 5 a.m. to feed Miss P
was that I caught this gorgeous sunrise. 

Just beautiful!

Wow.  A perfect way to end our trip.

Good bye to our little house on the beach.  We had so much fun!!

 We packed up the kids and fur baby and headed to Washington, D.C. to visit our friends and break up the trip back home a little bit.  We had lunch at our friends Chris and Alyson's place and we were so excited to meet their darling daughter Charlotte.

Chris and Alyson ordered some amazing Indian food and we had
a great lunch and caught up with one another.  Thanks so much
for hosting our rowdy crew, Alyson and Chris!!
We were soooo delighted to finally meet your sweet Charlotte.

 After that, we drove for a bit longer and stopped off in New Jersey to visit my aunts and uncles for dinner.  We were happy to take a break from the long drive and ate some yummy Malaysian food.

My Tita Ging holding Penelope while I shoveled food
in my face.  We were only there for about an hour, because
we still had another 5 hours left to go in the car.
Thanks so much for hosting, Tita Rachel, Tito Tito, Tita Ging,
and Tito Bee Eye!!  It was so great to see you guys and thanks
for filling us up with so much delicious food!!

We had an absolutely amazing trip and we were so happy to have a change of scenery for a bit.  Lots of memories were made and we were happy to include our feisty Oscar as well.  Until next time...


Love and kisses,
Nikki