Williamsburg, Virginia

We were able to stay in a fun Holiday Inn-Express in Williamsburg. Of course that included a pool, hot tub and a fun breakfast in the morning! Sunday we decided to drive into Williamsburg to take in some history as well as seeing some of the William & Mary campus. The weather was near perfect and the crowds were down. I could see this to be a very hopping place during the summer months. "Someone" found a Yankee Candle shop that just happened to be just down the road from where we parked. I was outnumbered and we did find the store. I tried to find an Ace Hardware or Home Depot so I could find solitude amongst the redwood planks and wall anchors but couldn't locate one quick enough on my Garmin. So, I was a good hubby and walked around the candle store. I still can't get the smell of candles out of my clothes! I don't want my Navy buddies thinking I'm in touch with my feminine side! Don't ask, don't tell....

Historic Jamestown, Virginia

This weekend we ventured to Williamsburg Virginia and on Saturday, we spent the day at Jamestown, (the first permanent English colony). The girls had fun exploring a Powhatan Indian Village, seeing replicas of several English ships, the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery and the James Fort. They learned how the Indians cooked their food (no fish tacos or casinos were observed) and how they helped the first English settlers survive their first years in the new country. We also viewed the film, A Nation Takes Root, then walked though a very nice museum/gallery.

Grandma & Grandpa Johnson

Before leaving Yuma and heading back to Chewelah, Wa, Noel & Nancy (Kelly's folks) had to send me photos of the flowers I had planted while we were staying there. I had bought all of them as starts from a local hardware store, then just kept them fertilized, watered and in as much sun as I could find. Grandma and Grandpa did a great job and the flowers doubled in size and quantity over the past two months!

Landon David

This is our handsome grandson, Landon, 8 weeks old! I have sent him his own 1st set of Hawaii Five-O DVD's. Pretty soon he'll be saying, "Mommy, Daddy and Book'em, Danno".

Beach Adventures at Fort Monroe

Over the past two weeks the weather has been very "Washington" like. Overcast and rain has been the norm, although we enjoyed a Sunday with blue sky, no wind and temps in the high 50's. It didn't take long for the girls to explore the nearby beach, finding a beached ship to play on, a serpent to climb on, and sand to work on their mathematics. I didn't explore the possibilities of Algebra and finding "X" in the sand but just stayed with multiplication and division problems.

The sunrise "from the east" was very nice as well. We and another camper are the only ones currently staying here. It has been very quiet and the views of ships leaving the port as well as abundant wildlife, it makes us feel we are on a permanent vacation!

Virginia Air & Space Museum

We were able to visit the Virginia Air & Space Museum today. Admission was free for all military personnel during the month of March, we saved us some $$. Our first stop was a neat IMAX 3D show "Under the Sea". Everything went good until a Cuddle Fish snatched up some unsuspecting, slower moving fish right from under our noses! Lindsay jumped out of her seat...but wait...Sea Snakes had to make an appearance as well. I had to close my eyes as "I don't like snakes". I'll even eat my Mom's tuna fish casserole before I will get near a snake. Sorry, Mom. Do you remember when Bill Money would just happen to call the house and ask me out for Pizza? That just happened to be every time that tuna fish casserole showed up at the Fenn house in 1974. Oops...back to the visit...the girls had fun trying to fly several planes and Nikki even learned how to give the pilots the correct signals when taking off an aircraft carrier. There was so much to see we will be back before we leave the Virginia area to experience more cool stuff. Oh, almost forgot, the Apollo 12 command capsule was in the museum. In the 1970's my grandpa worked for North American Aviation in Long Beach, CA and actually did some engineering work on it.

Where has spring gone?

The girls had fun today, as the weather was in the 70's and the sun was out! The beach is only a few steps away from where we are parked, so Lindsay has taken full advantage of that by collecting all kinds of shells. I'm not sure if I would have gone into the very cold water like Nikki, but they are ready for summer to come! We have planned our trip to Disney World the first part of April and plan on spending 7 days in the Orlando area. We just can't pass up the great deals the military has on the park passes and staying in nearby hotels. The weather here the next few days will be colder than normal and we are still planning our adventures for this weekend.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Well as you can see, something amazing has happened to me once I turned 52! I had a great day which was topped off by my favorite birthday pie, "Apple-Huckleberry". The girls are true Fenn's and gave me their pie crust to munch on. Not sure why some kids don't like the crust but that just means more for me!

Zoo Photos!

The Virgina Zoo by Nikki

We went to the Virgina Zoo yesterday and it was very fun! We saw lions, rhinos, giraffes,and lots of ordinary stuff. There was also a farm animal petting zoo. Then we got there, their was a little kid who was annoying this sheep thing and the sheep bit him! Then he screamed his head off of nothing, I guess he was just scared about it. Lastly his mom said "Time to go" and he screamed even louder IT WAS SOOOOO LOUD! We saw these Squirrel Monkeys that were so cute! When it was eating time monkeys were soooooo mean! one monkey got some food then went off and then a " Stealing Monkey"or " Robber Monkey" as Lindsay called them came and took the food from the other one! Poor monkey...They had fingernails just like humans!And cute eyes. We'll put some pics. on later. BYE!

Smokey Bones Restaurant

Barbecued ribs always reminds me of a really neat crime scene I went to with my buddies in Stevens County one year. We called that scene "The Bear Barbecue" and it started like this. Doper#1 killed his two doper buddies in a Ford Bronco way up in the woods off an old logging road. Shooting them wasn't enough, so he torched the vehicle and left. This of course caused quite a stir with the local animal population and they were all thinking about Spokane's "Pig out in the Park celebration" when the fire went out. The large bears showed up and removed most of the barbecue and scattered it in little piles amongst the trees. Now that was a crime scene!

Sorry I digressed but some scenes were down right fun....I surprised Lindsay with a stop at The Smokey Bones Restaurant in Virginia Beach. Lindsay devoured an entire rack of ribs, stripping the meat from the bones like a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Yes, the Fenn's are meat eaters, although we do like fresh vegetables as well (with butter) of course. Kelly wouldn't let me take a photo of her eating the chocolate/peanut butter pie that we were suppose to share. I managed a couple of bites but Kelly is very skilled with a "fork" :)

We will be visiting the Casemate Museum here on Fort Monroe tomorrow. Photo's to follow...

Back in the Navy full time!

We had a very busy weekend! I will drilling during the day with my security unit and Mom and the girls had fun exploring and playing with other kids here at the RV park. I was also offered a 1 year deployment with the Navy as a Operations Supervisor. I will be working with Expeditionary Combat Readiness Command and working at the Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek Virginia. With the way things are going in the current economy, I feel very lucky to have picked up this great job opportunity! The Lord knows what he is doing and we plan on following him in our 5th wheel wherever he directs! We have found several homeschool support groups in the local area and today we are going to a large city park in Virgina Beach for an outing with many homeschool families. Photos will be coming soon!

Great weather!

We all had a great day today as the weather has started to warm up. This afternoon, we drove around Hampton, VA and near Langley AFB. Of course we had to stop at Walmart for some needed shopping, then back to Fort Monroe to run around the playground. We plan on doing some sightseeing around Fort Monroe as well as visiting some local museums next week. I have my Navy drill this weekend so that will keep me busy during the day while the girls plan on riding their bikes around to explore the base. Kelly also wanted me to get out her new "sewing machine" so it looks like the curtains in the girls room will be coming soon! Oh, also had a wonderful time replacing a 12 volt motor in one of the roof vents. I didn't receive any cuts or require any medical attention so I guess it was a success.