William's visit part 1

Monday - The trip back went quite well. We had enough time in the morning to get ready but not too much. James called Windsor Cars (taxi) to get us at 11 am to bring us to Heathrow. You can't predict the traffic or how long it takes to go through security. Since all went really nicely we were very early. James has his lifetime privileges though and we went to the British Airways Club. It makes everything so much nicer. Lovely nibbles and refreshments.

When we boarded the plane something unusual happened. Each row in the plane had 9 seats - three, three and three. James likes our two seats in the middle three so that we don't have to climb over a stranger when one of us has to get up (or a stranger has to climb over us). When we came to our seats the third person was being seated. A young lady (middle 20s?) in a wheelchair. The crew asked us if one of us should give up our seat to the companion person. The offered seat instead was even an upgrade. But it was only one seat. It had to be James with his long legs. Needless to say he had a pretty good flight. The moral of the story: For long flights we will pay a little extra for the slight improvement.

We took off later then scheduled. I actually did watch two movies this time and I do like the flight tracker. Unfortunately due to some bad weather which the pilot avoided and some circling over Nashville to avoid a thunderstorm the flight took longer. More then 9 hours are a lot in those tiny seats.

The crew was very nice though and the service good. 

Ha-ha, airline food.

Taking an Uber from the airport to the townhouse worked great again. When I got out of the car in front of the townhouse my glasses fogged up and I couldn't see anything for a moment. This gives you an idea about the weather.

Because of the time difference we didn't get much sleep that night.

Tuesday - We had the morning to sort ourselves out but at 12:30 we had to pick William up from Camp Brick (or: Lego Camp). He proudly showed us his two projects he did Monday and Tuesday morning. 

He wasn't hungry for lunch yet so we did the one thing I had to do while in Nashville, go to the Bernina store. We had to go all the way to Cool Springs but this was my third attempt to buy the #72 foot. 

After that we all were hungry for lunch. William suggested "Olive Garden" which was on our way to the townhouse. Good choice. James and I like their soup and salad and William had a very good meal too.

Helen came to the townhouse with William's suitcase. After some visiting she had to leave and we had to get ready for the trip to Virginia the next day. We tried to go to bed at a good time.

Wednesday - William had been so excited about his vacation with us that he woke up at 3 am and could not go to sleep again. He tried and was very good but wanted to "cuddle with Omi". Of course that meant the end of my sleep too. I hoped that at least James could sleep a little more.

We left about 7 am and here he is happy in his seat. I took a photo backwards like a selfie.

And here he is at the first stop to "stretch his legs". He had told us that he needed to do that often. Cute little guy!

Finally we are at the Tennessee/Virginia border. He liked this and said that we needed to take a photo. Yes, of course.

For lunch we found a very nice Subway. He liked his veggie sub kids meal but didn't even look at the toy.

Even with all the "leg stretching" we were at our hotel in Wytheville a bit early (3:30ish I think) because there was not that much to do. But James had seen to it that there was an outdoor pool. We both had forgotten our swim stuff for this trip but James had a very old one at the townhouse he had packed just for this.

That was fun.

We had to drive a couple of miles to dinner but the Applebees was just right. James and I were not very hungry and found light meals. 

William did well. Look at his totally empty dishes. Chicken Macaroni & Cheese and salad with ranch on the side. He keeps telling us that he doesn't like cooked veggies but likes them raw.

When we went back to the car we saw a Food Lion. Perfect! Sarah had told us that we needed something like wet-wipes the next day (about that later). Good advice. We also found dessert for William. He picked a bag of gummy worms. No worries. He is good with just a few at a time.

We all had a very good nights sleep. William had a bed all to himself. At 7 am we had difficulties to wake him. He had a very good rest.

The hotel provided us with a good breakfast ... except that William didn't really feel like eating. That was strange since he had been so concerned in the car whether the hotel was going to have breakfast for us.

After about 2 hours of drive we arrived at the Virginia Safari Park. It is very close to the highway and very convenient to reach. Sarah had told us about it because she had been not too long ago on their way home from her in-laws.

The park opens at 9 am and we were there at 10 am. OMG, an assortment of animals are waiting for us at the entry to the drive-through. Silly us, we had bought only one bucket of feed. We were supposed to hold it out of the window which I did. The first strong animal took it away from me. I think it was an 'Eland' which is the largest antelope native to Africa and weighs between 1000-2100 lbs. There was no way I could hold on to it. William calls him the "bucket stealer".

From then on we had to apologize to all the other animals that we didn't have anything for them. They still came to our car windows and checked us out.

The guidebook, which was given to us when we bought our tickets, said that we would see Ostrich, Emu, Rhea, Fallow Deer, Japanese Sika Deer, Axis Deer, Père David's Deer, Rocky Mountain Elk,  Llama, Bongo, Blackbuck, two types of Oryx, Savie, Wildebeest, Nilgai, Bison, Buffalo, Yak, Scotch Highland Cattle, Watusi, Nyala, Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig, Kunekune Pig, - - some of those names I had never heard but I think most actually came to see whether we had food. 

The Dromedary Camel, Bactrian Camel, Giraffe, Zebra, White Rhino didn't come to the car though because they were in enclosures. But there was a way that you could pass feed to them so they would come closer.

Here just a few photos. You have no idea how difficult it was to choose which ones to include.

This one had very bad breath!

I think I read somewhere that the drive-through was about 3 miles. An amazing property. But after you exit you still can park and walk through the Safari Village which is a bit like a zoo. We didn't have that much time but had a quick look. You really could spend a whole day there. Bring a picnic etc.

Of course you can buy more food.

William wanted to find out how a kangaroo baby lives. Both photo opportunities were his ideas.

On a road again. About 2 more hours from the Safari Park. A stop to stretch the legs at a view point to look at the Blue Ridge Mountains. William was impressed. 

We were home at about 2 pm, quickly unloaded to put the contents of the two coolers into the fridge etc, had a bite to eat and soon were on our way to Sarah and Co. We were invited to dinner. She texted me to let her know when we were close because Caleb wanted to wait outside. He was  as eager to see his cousin as William was.

We had played outside first but when the mossies (mosquitoes) came we went inside.

Cantaloupe snacktime. 

Auntie Sarah had something nice for all to play with. Tiny little beads which stick together. Each got a blob in one color but soon trading was going on. Even the twins and Papa were into it.

Be careful what you do in front of the children, ha-ha.

The twins went to bed earlier because they were so tired. We had a very nice dinner and after a while had to say good-bye. By the time William was in bed it was probably 10 pm.  It probably took him 30 seconds to be asleep. And tomorrow he can sleep in! I hope we can too.