Virginia, Part One

(Rocky and I having our coffee at LAX)

Raquel and I spent 3 full days in Williamsburg Virginia with my Southern California-native family who have lived there for a little while now. The occasion was my youngest sister Samantha's baby shower (she's due to have a son January 18, 2009). But we did so many other things besides attend the baby shower! That's why this trip will be blogged in parts.
This trip was a big deal as it was Raquel's first time flying on a plane and I hadn't been on a plane in several years, myself. To my surprise, Delta seated Raquel behind me instead of next to me like a 4 year old child should be, naturally. This first flight was on a Boeing 767, the biggest plane I've ever been on. The seats go 2-3-2 and Raquel and I sat tandum in the very middlest of middle rows, a very cumbersome situation if you want to communicate at all with your child. No other passengers would switch seats with me. Another surprise. What selfish people.
But guess what--Raquel was not scared of the plane, nor was she afraid to be seated in between strangers. She talked to them like they'd been friends all along and she never stopped talking (hahaha!). When either seatmate would get on their computer, Raquel was right in their personal space asking questions about what they were working on. That's what they get for not trading with me! For the rest of our flights I made sure ahead of time we would be seated together. Who'da thunk you have to request to sit with your preschool-aged child?
Anywho, we had a connecting flight in Atlanta, where I discovered there aren't any foods conducive to my diet in an airport. So we ate Chic-Fil-A (is that how to spell it?).

Raquel had a full-on head cold when we arrived at the airport in Norfolk late Thursday evening. Samantha and John picked us up and we had about a 45-minute drive to their house. Right off the bat (and even late at night) I could tell Virginia was very different than Southern California. They had water towers every few miles (my favorite one looked like an alien spacecraft). During the drive we talked about grocery shopping and all the different supermarkets they have there. We stopped at a Wawa and I had Sam take a picture of me in front of it because I have heard about these beloved Wawas from friends on myspace and we don't have these in California.
When we got home it must've been past midnight. Susan woke up to greet us. She and John had to be up very early in the morning for work but they stayed up visiting with us anyway. Raquel was introduced to their dogs, Tyrone and Shmoopie. She called them "those crazy dogs" the rest of the trip. She was a little nervous around them at first.

Part Two, to come!