Norton Vacation 2006: August 3

We all woke up around 9:30. The three kiddos slept (finally) in one double and Kathy and I, the other. Bed was hard and short. My feet hung over the edge.

We missed the "complimentary" breakfast because they only served it from 6am - 9am. Kathy supposed that it was a ploy to get guests up and checked out on time. Guess so.

We showered, dressed and left to for Bob Evans for "brunch" at 11:45. After we ate, we headed for the Newport Aquarium, about 20 minutes away. I went down to the front desk to buy "discounted" tickets for the aquarium, and while waiting in line, found a small pamphlet with a $2 coupon per ticket in it. The front desk only gave a $1 discount, so I declined. I did order a rollaway for the night, though.

We arrived at the aquarium at about 1pm (a few missed turns). Kids loved the entire aquarium. Nicholas's favorite part was the sharks. Emily loved the gift shop, and Rebecca fel in love with the penquins. Check out this slideshow of the some of the pictures Kathy took.

There were a couple of choices for dinner. Originally, we were going to eat right after the aquarium - possibly at Pompillio's, but since we had a snack at 4:30, we weren't very hungry by the time we got out of the aquarium at 5:40.

After the aquarium, we were unsure what to do. I wanted to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dean Man's Chest, but the next showing at any nearby theater was 90 minutes away. We ended up going back to the Wildwood Inn. I called Pompillio's to see if MB (B's ex fiancee) still worked there, and she actually answered the phone! I hung up without identifying myself, and we decided we shouldn't go there for dinner. The kids wanted to check out the play area in the "Dome" so we all got our suits on and we went swimming (we practically had the pool to ourselves!) for about an hour or so. We left right as it started to thunderstorm outside.

After we dried off and got dressed, everyone agreed we had worked up an appetite. Since Pomp's was out, we decided to try the place across the street, Shakey's Pub and Grub. It had just finished raining and all the tables outside had been moved inside, so the wait was about 25 minutes. They said they had a nonsmoking section, but it was really crowded and smokey in there. We ventured on down the road for another place.

I really wanted to find a place we had never been to, and that we didn't have in Richmond. We settled on a Macaroni Grill. We've never been, even though there is one in Lexington. We were so full after we finished, we went to Barnes and Noble to walk around a bit. Kids and Kathy got some magazines, and I got a double shot venti cafe mocha.

Came back to the Wildwod at 10 and settled down to go to sleep.

Zoo tomorrow.