Spring Break in Roanoke~ Part I

We decided we needed a change of scenery (and weather!), so for Spring Break we made the drive over to Bryce & Dena's house in Roanoke, VA.

 

 

We arrived at about dinner time on Friday.  Bryce & Dena live in a neighborhood downtown so we were able to walk to a nice little restaurant a couple of blocks away. (If you visit, have them take you to Fork in the City and order the fried green beans.  You'll thank me.  Trust.)

 

On Saturday morning Bryce, Dena, Zoey and I walked down to the market that is set up on weekends.  I loved how surprisingly peaceful it was walking around downtown and just soaked it all in.

Dena took me through the main floor of the Hotel Roanoke which is HUGE and absolutely gorgeous.

This is the old firehouse where the President gave an address recently.

We headed back to the house for some lunch then walked back downtown with everyone (minus Dena who had some work to do) to see the Taubman Museum of Art.  There was a hands-on kids area that we explored before going upstairs to see the art.  Of course you're not allowed to photograph the artwork, but there was some interesting stuff.  I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I didn't have little kids that I had to worry about messing with stuff and guards giving us the stink eye in every doorway.

We took the long way home so we could walk down a sidewalk lined with old train parts.

Somewhere along the sidewalk we came upon a pole with a button on it.  There was a big bell at the top of the pole, so I told Pyper to push the button.  As soon as she did that bell clanged SO LOUD and she acted like someone had just shot at her!  It was hilarious!!  Clearly she didn't have any idea what that button was going to do.  Later there was another pole with another button and a train horn at the top.  You should have seen her trying to figure out how to cover her ears while pushing the button.  :)

Dena told me about this building before we saw it.  She said it used to be covered with sleek, 80's style granite.  But when they started removing the granite they found all of this amazing art deco stonework underneath!  Isn't it fantastic!?

This church was on our way back to their house so I probably walked by it at least half a dozen times while we were there.  I'm not sure if it does this all the time or only because it was Easter weekend, but one time the bells started to ring and it played a beautiful hymn.  I don't know why but it tickled me to death.  Every time we'd walk by after that I kept hoping it would be the right time of day to hear the bells ring again.

These random scarves were attached to some of the structures down by the train walk.  I had no idea what it was about until someone told me it's called "knit bombing".  Google it!  There's some pretty amazing stuff out there.

Saturday night after the kids went to bed we grown ups worked on some Easter surprises.

 

When the kids got up in the morning we let them dive right into their baskets of goodies.

 

The kids were pretty impressed with Bryce's magic wand that could control the TV.  ;)

Aunt Dena was really on top of things and had plenty of eggs all ready to be dyed.

While they dried we made the kids wait on the stairs while we finished hiding some plastic eggs.

Aaron required a superhero pose from each of the kids before they could take off hunting for eggs.

 

A few of the eggs ended up in some pretty wacky places.

My favorite was this one that Bryce tied to a light bulb in a chandelier!

We had such a great Easter!  More to come!!