Happy Birthday, Mom!

Unfortunately, we had to check out of our condo in the Outer Banks this morning and head home. But the vacation was by no means over. Since we were passing through Norfolk on our way home anyway, we stopped at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and went aboard the USS Wisconsin. For a fleeting moment (pun intended), I considered joining the Navy. Then I remembered that my puny body wouldn't survive more than a week in the military. Alas!

And, since we had already stopped in Norfolk, we of course had to make a detour to one of the Asian grocery stores there. My mom bought plenty of crazy Chinese fruits and vegetables, while I stocked up on my Asian snacks. Roasted seaweed, lychee jellies, and Pocky sticks, hooray! \(^_^)/

Finally, we had to fulfill our Zhao family tradition of having our final vacation meal at a Chinese buffet. It kind of makes sense, because we had been training the entire vacation to eat more and more food each day. The buffet dinner is a sort of "final challenge," where we really get to showcase how much our stomachs have expanded over the course of the week. Two bowls of soup, four plates of food, one bowl of ice cream, and six cups of tea later, I was finally satiated. Mission accomplished!