Change of Scenery

Yesterday we went to the Virginia Children's Museum in Portsmouth.  The kids had a blast.  It was such a neat museum.  The first thing we did was head to the train section.

The kids found a Thomas the Train table and loved it.

Zachary crawled through a tunnel to get up close and personal with a Lionel train set.

The only way to get Evan away from the trains was a Fire Truck.

They had a "Vets and Pets" section.  Zachary found a Julie dog to play with.  

In the body section, Evan found a baby.  He wanted to bring this one home!

There was a "Bubbles" section.  If you look closely, Zachary is completely enclosed in a bubble.

After the museum, we had lunch.  The kids always want me to take their picture when they are being good!  Here are my angels (when they want to be).

The change of scenery from Norfolk to Portsmouth was nice.  We enjoyed Old Towne Portsmouth.  However, we are itching to get on the hook for a night or two so today we are moving on.  We have thoroughly enjoyed the city, we are just ready for smaller towns and an anchorage.  Today we are heading to Hampton.  We'll stay there 1 or 2 nights then head up to Mobjack Bay to anchor out a couple of nights.  Long term plans call for Annapolis by the end of next week.

Tide Water Marina, where we stayed last night, is a large and rather busy marina.  I'm considering a contest for the stupidest boat name, since I've seen some really dumb ones here.  At the top of the list is "The Precious".  I thought it was a reference to the Lord of the Rings movies/books, but no, it's the name of the couple's lap dog.  Ugh.  There's also a giant yacht near us named "Cocktails".  It's such a big boat it has a full crew that wears cute uniforms.  I haven't seen the owners, but the crew keeps busy cleaning that monstrosity.

One fun thing about a marina, however, is you never know what you're going to see.  Yesterday morning a trawler near us was leaving.  The captain gunned the engine with his port stern line still attached.  The boat took off and then was yanked backwards with such force the stern crashed right into the floating dock.  It didn't seem to hurt the boat, fortunately, and to his credit, the captain did not yell at his wife.  After finally getting the stern line untied, they took off, fenders dangling from both sides of the boat.  I just had to chuckle.