Williamsburg, Williams' Wedding, and Expectations

It's been exactly a month since I've posted, but its been a busy month! At the beginning of June, Neil and I went to Williamsburg with his sister and her husband for about 5 days. We had a really good time! It was the first 'educational' vacation I have ever gone on (apart from school trips to NYC) and I really enjoyed it! We went to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and the Mariner's Museum (my husband's request). Below are a few pictures.This is Neil and I in the stocks (I think that is what they are called) at Colonial Williamsburg. It's kind of special because my parents went to Colonial Williamsburg on a little vacation when I was younger and my dad took my mom's picture in the stocks. I don't know if they are the same ones, but I like to think they might be.
This is us at the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, VA. We stopped by there on our way to Yorktown, but we never made it to Yorktown... Neil really wanted to check out the museum and we went along with it. I thought it was going to take about an hour and be this rinky-dink museum. NOT! It was HUGE! It's the largest maritime museum in the US and it was definitely LARGE! We spent the ENTIRE DAY there!!!!!! The museum starts with boats from the beginning of Colonial America and goes all the way to present day. It has a neat section about the Titanic, World War I and II, and a room with model ships this guy built and his wife painted. They have a huge section talking about the Monitor and the Merrimack ironclads and the civil war. Boats are not really my thing, but I was overall impressed with the quality of the museum and am glad we went there. It was REALLY fun for me to see my husband enjoy it. He's not a man with many preferences and he isn't real particular on having his preferences met, so to see him show interest in this museum and enjoy it was fun for me.

This is us at Jamestown. It was really hot that day and Jamestown wasn't what I thought it would be like. We had a tour from an archeologist about the things they were finding that were the original Colonial Jamestown. It sounds like it would have been interesting and I think it was for most of Neil's family and others that were there, but I was really confused the whole time and that led to me being not interested in it.

Neil's family was also in Williamsburg with us because his brother, Nathan, was getting married!!!!!!!!! Nathan and Ariana got married on June 5th in Williamsburg and it was so fun and beautiful!
Nathan is in the Navy and he and Ariana both live in Virginia so it made sense to get married in Virginia. It was a beautiful wedding and reception and I am really excited about having another sister in law!!!

Overall, the trip was interesting because it was not what I had expected. Neil and I learned that we 'vacation' differently. My family didn't vacation much growing up and if we did it was either to a relative's house or to the beach. We wouldn't really do a whole lot on our vacations either. We would relax, visit with family, go do something once a day-maybe, and take it easy. Neil is accustomed to going on vacation and being busy the whole time doing things and seeing things. His family would do the restful vacationing at the lake, but if they were going somewhere then they were going to go see the whole place. Again, this is really my first 'educational, historical' vacation and it makes sense that we would go to these places and see things, but I was not expecting to be gone all day doing these things. Also, I think that me being an only child and Neil being the middle child of 5 played into the differences. I'm not use to being around a lot of people ALL day and he is. By dinner time each night, I was so exhausted, physically and socially that I could barely hold a conversation with anyone. I was just stare and listen to his family around me. Which is weird for me because I love his family and I would usually consider myself the extrovert and social 'bug'. Poor Neil several times would ask- 'Are you ok?' and all I could say is, 'I'm just tired. or 'I'm just spent.' It's so interesting to learn these things about each other and see how they play out in your marriage. We were conflict free in learning these things, but it was still so interesting.

We are going to Asheville, NC this weekend to celebrate our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!, so it will be interesting to see if our separate vacation histories mesh or bump heads... I'll keep you posted!!!!!!!