{"id":368,"date":"2009-06-30T20:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-30T20:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/06\/vollmer-vacation-ventures.html"},"modified":"2009-06-30T20:50:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-30T20:50:00","slug":"vollmer-vacation-ventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/06\/vollmer-vacation-ventures.html","title":{"rendered":"Vollmer Vacation Ventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are now back in Nebraska. Many of you know this already, if you’ve been following Dave<\/a> or me<\/a> on Facebook, Twitter<\/a> or our family’s homepage<\/a>. We made a nuisance of ourselves advertising every point of our trip to the world, much to the delight of potential thieves, as someone pointed out to me during our trip. Our valuables were with us (except for my violin and Dave’s trombone) so for the rest of our niceties Dave and I said “Bring ’em on, we’ve been wanting a new TV anyway!”<\/p>\n

Here’s a summary of some of things we did on our trip, along with some of my favorite pictures. This might get long, but I think this will work out better than a bunch of small posts. Overall we had a really fun time, but after 16 days, we were all ready to head home and get back to our lives and our own beds!<\/p>\n

June 13th – Our eastward drive towards Dave’s parents in NY. The highlight of this drive was our stop at Indiana Dunes State Park<\/a> on the shore of Lake Michigan. It was meant to be a 1-hour stop with the McNabbs, and it quickly turned into almost 2 hours. But it was so hard to say “No” to our boys, who hadn’t see a beachfront since last summer! Luckily we could tell the boys that they’d see a beach again in 3 days, and the McNabbs again in 2 weeks. They left with little protest…the exercise was great for them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 13 VacationEastDay1<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As always, when we arrived in NY on the 14th to see Grammy and Grampy Vollmer, the boys were thrilled! They had a great time playing with Grammy and Grampy’s dogs: Chloe and Dillon. All 3 boys had a great time constructing with Dave’s old Lego bricks from his childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 14 DriveToNY_Chalks_Legos<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 16th – Beach! Grammy joined us on a trip to Robert Moses State Park<\/a>, on the south shore of Long Island, where the boys spent a morning at a no-kidding beach! Even though the temperatures were only in the mid-60s, the boys were so excited to see the beach they charged right into the water and had a great time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 17 Beach_at_RobertMosesStateParkNY<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 17th – Dave and I met one of Dave’s high school friends, Dan O’Sullivan, for a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant in Greenlawn<\/a>. Dan and his wife Nina drove all the way from West Chester, NY to meet us and we had a great time — just 4 adults having a great evening together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 18 OSullivans<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 18th – New York City. The original plan was to hit a Yankees game<\/a> that afternoon — they had free tickets for military personnel! But as was the case most of the week in NY, it was rainy and the 18th was the rainiest day of all! So we dedicated the entire day to a trip to the Toys R Us in Times Square<\/a>. It was so much fun! The boys really enjoyed exploring the store and with the weather, we didn’t really care to go anywhere else…of course, for the boys riding the train is a large part of the trip, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 18 ToysRUS_TimesSquare<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 18 ToysRUS_TimesSquare<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 18 ToysRUS_TimesSquare<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 19th – Visiting with the Beilers. We spend every Father’s Day weekend in Pennsylvania visiting with Dave’s family — the Friday evening is always with Dave’s Mom’s side, then Saturday and part of Sunday is with Dave’s Dad’s side. It’s a tradition I’ve been part of for 15 years now \ud83d\ude42 Here’s a pic of our boys with Uncle Ross and Aunt Gay, and one of me on Aunt Gay’s gorgeous Harley!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 20th – Vollmer Family Reunion. Despite a thunderstormy afternoon, we managed to fit in all the reunion traditions: the hay rides, beer<\/a>, pretzels<\/a> and BBQ, and the peanut toss! As usual, we had a great time, and the boys had a blast too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 21st-25th – My parents in WV. Last summer my parents moved from my childhood hometown of Norfolk, VA up to Martinsburg, WV. My sister was visiting with her 3 sons during our visit and my parents must have been in Grandparent Heaven having their 5 boys running around like a pack of wolves — or sitting around playing Nintendo DS and computer games. We got my parents’ house in time to take them out for a Father’s Day dinner at a local Japanese steakhouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 26 5Boys<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 22 TimmyLawnMower_WarMemorialParkMiniGolf<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The boys went mini-golfing with their cousins, and then spent 2 days in a row at the community pool<\/a>, which has to be the coolest public pool ever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 22 TimmyLawnMower_WarMemorialParkMiniGolf<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 25 Boys_at_MartinsburgPool_Day2<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 23rd – Washington, D.C. We drove to Vienna, VA to take a Metro train to the National Mall area to visit the National Air and Space Museum. The boys enjoyed the many exhibits, but our fun day was tempered by an escalator at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station eating Timmy’s Croc<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 25th – Mountaineer Brewing. My Dad, Dave and I managed to sneak off to a private tour of West Virginia’s only brewery, Mountaineer Brewing Company<\/a>, which is right up the street from my parents’ house! The brewmaster, Daniel, was awesome and answered Dave’s and Dad’s many questions and even sent us on our way with a complimentary mixed 6-pack! Thanks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 25 MountaineerBrewingCompanyTour<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

June 26-28th – Ohio. We spent a couple days with our good friends, the McNabbs, who are back at Wright-Patterson AFB, which happens to be where we first met them back in 2000. Even though it wasn’t quite halfway home, we made it a stopping point just the same, so it was 8 hours of driving on Friday, then 13 hours on Sunday. We were surprised with an evening airshow and fireworks display Friday night, which we were able to enjoy from the McNabbs’ driveway in the military housing area about 1\/2 mile from the National Museum of the United States Air Force<\/a>. On Saturday we enjoyed an afternoon at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery<\/a> in Dayton. Throughout all of it the kids played and played and played! They got along SO WELL!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We got home at about 7:30pm Sunday night and Dave had to work on Monday morning. I was lazy with the unpacking and getting the household back in order, but it all was taken care of in a day or so: laundry, unpacking, cleaning up, sorting through the mail, etc.<\/p>\n

Things will be quiet here for the next couple weeks, and then the kids will have activities planned again while I go on Reserve orders for a few days to work from home on assorted performance reports and award nominations….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are now back in Nebraska. Many of you know this already, if you’ve been following Dave or me on Facebook, Twitter or our family’s homepage. We made a nuisance of ourselves advertising every point of our trip to the world, much to the delight of potential thieves, as someone pointed out to me during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[30,14,37,38],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-5W","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1139,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/06\/road-trip-2012-ii-part-2-west-virginia.html","url_meta":{"origin":368,"position":0},"title":"Road Trip 2012 II, Part 2: West Virginia","date":"25 June 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Since Debby is keeping her distance from northwest Florida, I can safely resume my blogging about our road trip. After visiting with Dave's side of the family in Pennsylvania, we said our goodbyes -- especially to Jacob, who is visiting with Dave's parents for a couple weeks -- and headed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"kids\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/DelGrossoSign.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":358,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/06\/road-trip-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":368,"position":1},"title":"ROAD TRIP!","date":"12 June 09","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomorrow morning we leave on vacation.\"Whoo hoo! It's about friggin' time! You haven't really had a real vacation in a couple years, have you?\"No, I guess not. We had that fabulous trip to Fort Fisher\/Kure Beach, NC back in July 2007. That was a really fun time, the most relaxed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"family\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":361,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/06\/ring-ring-ring-ring-banana-phone.html","url_meta":{"origin":368,"position":2},"title":"Ring Ring Ring Ring…Banana Phone!","date":"14 June 09","format":false,"excerpt":"The song is stuck in my head now.Why? Because we brought this artificial banana with us on vacation and Dave has been charged with photographing it everywhere. Yes, like Flat Stanley. The pictures of this banana as it travels across America are being assembled in a photo album for one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"just for fun\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1120,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/06\/road-trip-2012-ii-part-1-driving-north-and-a-train-day.html","url_meta":{"origin":368,"position":3},"title":"Road Trip 2012 II, Part 1: Driving North and a Train Day","date":"20 June 12","format":false,"excerpt":"As I've mentioned in 2008, 2009, and 2011, our family makes a trip to Pennsylvania every year for Dave's family reunion in Lancaster County. \u00a0I didn't go in 2010 -- Dave flew to PA with the boys while I did some reserve work -- so I didn't write about it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"family\"","img":{"alt_text":"We took a detour on the drive northward and took some of Skyline Drive in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG_2290-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":473,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2010\/10\/3-times-in-26-months.html","url_meta":{"origin":368,"position":4},"title":"3 Times in 26 Months!","date":"14 October 10","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, let's all sing along (to the tune of Gene Autry's \"Back in the Saddle Again\"):I'm back in the O.R. againOut under anesthesia, which I dread....Where doctors take their knivesOn what remains of my G.I.Back in the O.R. againI'm writing this corny little song from the surgery waiting room at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"air force\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh6.ggpht.com\/_yz59FVsseJY\/SHbB9hoN7JI\/AAAAAAAASsA\/rqWQ5bOiGXk\/s400\/IMG_2720.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":260,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/10\/like-father-like-son.html","url_meta":{"origin":368,"position":5},"title":"Like Father, Like Son","date":"28 October 08","format":false,"excerpt":"Note: This is Patricia posting here. Every once in a while you'll see a post from \"Dr. Dave Vollmer\" and that's me writing through Dave's Google account, because I have run out of photo space on the Major Mom Google account and Dave's \"Weathersix\" account is virtually empty.Most of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"parenting\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}