Humpback Rock and a picnic

Our last grand adventure in VA was to have a picnic on the mountain and to do a little hiking.  Again, this was something that Drew did lots as a child and he was very excited to share this with our kiddos. The picnic spot is off the Blue Ridge Parkway so you can just imagine the views.   The hiking was up a little path to the top of Humpback Rock.  

We arrived late afternoon to find the temperatures were about 76 degrees.  It was glorious weather for early July and many folks were wearing sweatshirts.  We had a great site for eating and letting the kids play in the woods while the adults visited.  Jonah and I took a little walk along a rock wall.

I took tons of pictures of our picnic.  Meemaw planned quite the gourmet picnic.  We had the usual hamburgers and hot dogs.  But, we also had sauteed mushrooms, salad, and chips and guacamole.  For dessert we had a choice of banana boats, banana pudding, peach pie, or s'mores.  It was a feast!

Before we could have all the yummy desserts we went on the hike.  It was maybe a little of a quarter mile to the lookout point.  It was such a pretty walk through the woods.  The kids loved being on a mountain and in the woods.  It is something that we don't have the opportunity to do in Houston so it was a treat for all of us.

In order, Clair, Lauren, John, Jonah, Samuel, Mary, Luke, Madeline, Emma, Hayden, Colin, and Elena

Elena loved running up and down this trail.  It was pretty fun!  My little runner girl...

The view across the Valley.  The mountains in the way back of the picture are West Virginia!

The little hike ends at the top of Humpback Rock.  That means rocks on the side of the top of the mountain.  To me that means look at the pretty view and take some pictures.  To my kids, their cousins, and the Dad's that meant climb on the rocks.  I could have stopped breathing I was so nervous watching them.  Thankfully all went well and the kids had a blast.  They are so brave!

Elena and John looking....much safer than this....

This was the rock face they had to clim up to reach to point of being able to pull over the ledge like Jonah in the next picture.  

Emma told me that her foot slipped as she was trying to climb over the rock to safety.  She said I hate pull ups at the gym, but I had no problem doing one after I lost my footing.  Goodness!  We had a little chat about the power of adrenaline.

After all that work and stressing, it was time for dessert.  I love watching little kids eat s'mores.  They get all messy and I just love it!

What a great picnic.  Another item checked off our bucket list. Meemaw planned a perfect picnic and evening for everyone!

Sherando Lake

Our first big activity in Virginia was going to Sherando Lake.  Drew and his family swam and had picnics there lots growing up.  The last time we were there as a family was the summer of 2009.  I was pregnant with Elena and that seems like forever ago!  To make going swimming in a lake even more fun was the addition of swimming with cousins.  Two of Drew's sisters and their families came to VA for the weekend as well.  It was a total family affair with just Lara and family missing.  

So, back to the lake.  It is nestled in between some small mountains and is just in the most quaint pretty setting.  We went early in the day and almost had the lake/beach to ourselves.  It was the perfect day for swimming and playing in the sand.

Emma, Lauren, Madeline, Mary, and Elena.  The only girl missing was Claire.

Mary and Elena

Everyone in this picture is a cousin....all 12 of them.....Colin, Elena, Claire, Mary, Luke, Hayden, Samuel, Madeline, Lauren, John, Jonah, and Emma.  There was a little island behind the kids and not very far from shore.  Colin, who is 13, so kindly invited Jonah to swim to it with him.  Jonah is not a great swimmer, but he did it and had fun playing on the island.  The island can also be reached from a path and a very short swim from the shore.  Jonah also organized a boy hike to the island with Drew and Meemaw supervising.  

Elena spent most of the day playing in the sand.  She loved it!

Emma practiced her gymnastics from the brick wall!

Jonah doing who knows what....being Jonah!

Samuel also loved building sand castles.

Another girl cousin picture....Emma, Madeline, Claire, and Mary with their sand castles.

We played for about 4 hours.  Everyone was getting a little tired when it started to rain.  It was a perfectly timed shower.  There was no debate with the kids about leaving.  Swimming at a lake was on the kid's bucket list for the summer.  Another item checked off our list and we could not have had a better time!

Our 2013 Summer Trip begins

Last Wednesday afternoon we headed out for our long drive to Waynesboro, VA. This was the first stop of many on our 5 week summer trip.  We planned a two day drive with a stopover in Jackson, Mississippi.  The kids are so used to being in the car for long drives that I don't stress about the journey too much.  

To prepare for 21+ hours in the car, I bought everyone a new book or two.  I got some Shrek Mad Libs and we did not even get to them.  I also surprised them with two new movies.  Movies are a total life saver in the car as are the DS's, iPad, and iPhones.  How I traveled without all those luxuries is a mystery to me!!  I also need to mention that Legos are a huge hit this summer in the car!

Off we go with bikes and all.  Our second day was July 4th which is a horrible day to be stuck in the car.  We missed all the fun celebrations of the day so I planned two things to make our day a little more festive.  First, we all (except me who packed incorrectly) all dressed the part.  Don't they all look very patriotic and cute!

The second thing I planned was ice cream for dinner.  I had healthy snacks and lunch packed for us to have.  Ice cream for dinner seemed like the best way to celebrate Independence Day and our drive.  This was also something on our Summer Bucket list.  The kids were super excited when we stopped at a Dairy Queen for dinner.  They know we don't eat the food there....just the ice cream.  We actually tried to find hometown kind of ice cream parlor, but we did not have any luck.  

So after almost 22 hours of driving through 7 states we arrived at Meemaw's house just after 9pm on July 4th.  We were lucky enough to see some fireworks in the distance, but that did not matter much anymore.  We had arrived safely and our fun weekend with cousins in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley was about to begin!

June Pictures and a Bucket List Update

I am catching up on my June pictures that never made it to my online scrapbook otherwise known as this blog!!

First, when we went to Disney we went to rented a home with a pool.  Because there was eight of us and we were not doing the whole week at Disney experience, a rented home was the better choice.  A bonus was the house had a pool and a game room.  I am pretty sure that they boys and the girls on some level wanted to stay for a long time!  It was lovely and I did feel very spoiled to open my bedroom door and take ten steps to a pool!

At home I had to take the cutest picture of my sweet girls as we left for church.

We did another bucket list activity and made homemade ice cream.  We used rock salt in the baggie thing and it was lots of fun.  It was also a huge mess.  Salt water was all over the kitchen floor!  Our friend Braden was over and he made some with the kiddos as well.

Elena and Samuel helped picked the blueberries and tomatoes.  They love to do that!

Our van hit 100,000 miles on our way to Disney.  I hope it has a few more in it since we are leaving for our East Coast tour in two days!

And perhaps my favorite pictures all month was one I took of us.  It was so hilarious trying to fit us all in, but we did it.  I love this picture because everyone is just so happy!

I cannot believe it is July already!  Where is the summer going?

Bye Bye Google

Goodness, technology is not my favorite thing in the world and now I have to navigate the Bloglovin waters.  If you want to continue to follow this blog via reading in Google Reader than you need to follow this link....here to Bloglovin.  Simple easy peasy stuff...now go do it!!

Thanks!!