Best Trip EVER

*Warning: You are entering picture overload here.  Why?  Because I've been planning this trip for nearly a year, it was beautiful and perfect in every way, and because I wanted to remember every second of it.  Because it was perfect and beautiful and I'm sad it's over.

When we put our house on the market in the Spring of 2014, Greg and I each picked a boobie prize we would get when the house finally sold.  Greg got a gun.  Surprise, surprise.  I picked a biking trip on the Virginia Creeper Trail in the fall with the beautiful fall colors at the suggestion of my friend Taya, who rode the trail a few years ago.  Our neighbors rode it last weekend and said it was cold and not that pretty.  Not so this weekend.  It was in the 70s and beautiful.  It was worth the wait.  Mountains v. beach: I'd pick mountains 7 out of 10 times, because sometimes in the middle of the summer sitting on the beach sounds nice but mostly because I don't like crowds or sand and I love the solitude and lack of Wifi and decent reception offered by the mountains.

We sold our house in March of this year and I started planning.  I looked at Rex's school calendar and cross-referenced with the Virginia Forestry Peak Colors map and picked October 22- 24 as the big weekend.  In June, I reserved a cozy cabin and bike rentals and then we waited.

I sent Rex to school Thursday morning so we wouldn't have to take an absense and picked him up just before lunch.  We came home and ate, Greg finished packing his stuff and we were off to the mountains of Virginia.  About 20 minutes from our cabin, the winding roads over took Rex and we made a quick Ginger Ale stop before we had a real mess on our hand.

Henry insisted on bringing his backpack.

We got to the cabin around 3:30, unpacked the cooler, let the kids jump on the beds a bit and then headed out to do some fishing.  The cabin website made it sound like there was fishing on the property so we headed off for a nice walk, but were disappointed.  So we drove around looking for a mysterious creek to fish in.  Eventually we found a playground so the kids and I played for a while while Greg went in search of a more reliable fishing source or a map--we had no interent or phone connection.  I did miss Google a bit, but only a bit.

Henry started a new game where he pretends to fall so that I have to pick him up.  He likes to dragged a bit as he's put back on his feet.  Apparently this is hilarious.

Then we came home and the kids figured out how to work the TV while I made dinner.  After dinner, the kids ran around the fire and in the leaves and stayed up way past their bedtime until we all passed out around 10.

Friday morning was the big day.  We woke up leisurely, had a lovely breakfast, and set off on our bike ride.  First we had to pick up our bikes, which took like an hour and Greg still ended up with a bike too small for him and I got one with a poorly adjusted seat.  We all had sore bums at the end of the day.

Here we are getting ready to go.  Rex is doing a sad face because we all had bikes, but the attendant couldn't find one his size that worked.  We eventaully got things sorted out and headed for the trail.  

 Alice rode on a half bike connected to Greg's bike.  She didn't pedal a foot.

Henry was not a fan of the baby seat.  He kicked me most of the way down.  Notice here, however, that he has a helmet on.

We made it about 4 miles before our first stop.  We had to ride 2 miles to get to the trail, which we actually had to pedal on.  Rex and I even got off and walked our bikes up a few hills while Greg rode on ahead.  Once we got to the Virginia Creeper Trail (an old railroad line turned bike/hiking/horse back riding trail), I didn't pedal again, except to catch up with Greg and Rex who thought we were racing.

Henry happy to not be in the bike seat anymore.

I bribed him with some apple juice.

Rex, not complaing at all and having a great time.  

 Towards the end of the trail, we stopped to let Henry stretch his legs.  We found a little side trail so we walked a few hundred feet down that to find this beautiful eddy.

After Henry successfully removed his helmet twice, I gave up on making him wear one.  He fell asleep shortly thereafter--his crazy night of leaf jumping followed by several hours of fussing in the early morning finally caught up with him.

Beginning of nap.

End of nap.

 Alice rode most of the way down like this: She didn't even pretend to pedal.  The last mile or so she finally put her feet on the pedals but only so she could stand.  I guess her bum was getting a little sore too.

About half way down I decided that I needed some pictures of the beautiful ride so I got out my phone and attempted to take some pictures while riding a bike and being kicked by a toddler.  First a happy selfie of me.  I couldn't look at the camera.  I was keeping my eyes on the road.

At the bottom of the trail, after riding 19 miles, we stopped for lunch and ice cream.  The kids didn't whine or complain a single time.  It took us probably 3 hours to finish.  

Then we caught a shuttle back up to the bike shop and headed back to the cabin for another fire, running in leaves, cards, and baths.

The next morning, we checked out of the cabin but first I made Greg get this family photo since he refused to ask someone or let me ask someone to take our picture on the trail.  This is the view from our cabin.  Doesn't get more perfect than this?  Who needs a beach when there are mountains?  I mean, you all love the beach.  Go to the beach.  Let's not crowd up my moutains too much.

Henry loved the kid loft even though he only got to sleep there one night.  After his first night of shinanigans, we put him in the bedroom and Greg and I slept on the phooton in the living room--much better night's rest.

 Then we went fishing.  Greg's searching of a few days before paid off.

First thing's first, Henry dropped his pacificer in the lake.

 First successful catch of the day: Henry's pacificer, which he promptly stuck back in his mouth.  I took it away and covered it in hand-santizer.  Then Henry, Alice and I hiked around the lake while Rex and Greg fished.  When we got back, Alice stayed and fished while Rex, Henry and I hiked around the lake again (it was a small lake).  Greg also successfully caught Rex and Alice's fishing poles.  But no fish.

Greg and Alice (the pink blob) fishing--this is the view from the other side of the lake as we hike around)

 

Despite my dislike for beaches and absolute hatred of sand, the kids found the swimming section of the lake and spent about an hour building sand castles/dumping sand in their hair (mostly Henry on the second one).

 We had a picnic lunch, packed up and came home.  Henry slept the entire 3 1/2 hour drive; Rex slept for 2 hours; Alice lasted the longest but she still slept for about an hour and a half.   It was a nice drive home.

Alice cried when we left the cabin, begging to stay another night.  I guess we'll have to go back.  Dang.

A Day in the Life

Every once in a while I like to record exactly what I did that day just for the record. Just so I know what my days were like when my fauning and appriciative grandchildren ask me, "What was it like when you were growing up?"  Because, really I'm still growing up.  And you think I'm all grown up you should have seen the tantrum I threw on Wednesday as I told the bishop of another ward what I thought about his ward switching the night of our joint-ward trunk-or-treat.  I'm still not ready to repent of not sustaining my leaders...though techincally he's not my leader since I'm not in his ward so...

Back to today.  I've been trying lately to find delight in the Sabbath in a way that helps my children delight also but that doesn't just turn into the same old, daily routine, only replace Fancy Nanay with Nephi.   And that also lets me in a on a bit of the resting part of the Sabbath.  I think I got it today.   Hopefully we can repeat in coming weeks.

6:30 am: Alice comes into my bed and in the process wakes up Henry.  I sitck Alice under the covers and go back to sleep.

7:30 am: I decide to finally stop ignoring Henry and get him out of bed.  We tickle on the couch for a bit then make pumpkin bread together.  He also helps me put a roast in the crock pot.  Then we make hot chocoalte for Rex and Alice as they wake up. 

8 am: I eat breakfast and feed Henry, but forget to feed Rex and Alice.  Oops.

8:30 am: I do the morning dishes and some other light cleaning.

9am: I get out the scriputre stories and gospel art book and the older two and I pick out a scripture to ponderize this week (Doctrine and Covenants 9:6).  Then we write one thing we learned from ponderizeing last week on the scripture from last week.  I've decided to make a little book out of our ponderizing.  I'm going to use it for Personal Progress.  Two birds with one stone--what?!?

9:30 am: Greg wakes up and gets breakfast, at which point I realize I haven't feed Rex and Alice, so Greg gives them cereal and Henry too, because Henry is a fat kid.  Meanwhile, I finish the dishes (our dishwasher is broken, so it takes extra long to get stuff done), make the beds, tidy up bedrooms, put laundry way etc and get super annoyed at all the slobs living in my house so I decide to lock myself in my room for a while.  I thought about going back to sleep but remembered that since I don't really get a chance to think about the Sacrament during the Sacrament, that I would take the time to do it then.  So I read some scriptures and finished reading another book.

10 am: I stop being annoyed with the kids/Greg has to get ready for church, so I go back to the living room to play with them.  I played farm with Henry and the pigs had just finished kicking the humans off the farm and were going to organize the animals to do the work of the farm when a giant turtle named Rex came and sat on the farm.   Then we all played farm for a while, but the pigs were never able to re-establish their government.

11:15 am: Get ready for church.  I always get me ready first so the kids have less time to mess their outfits up.

11:45 am: Henry is nearly dead from lack of food so we have lunch.  I pick food as I feed the kids, get their snacks for church together and pack Greg's lunch.

12 noon: Finish getting everyone ready.

12:30 pm: Leave for church.  Henry falls asleep in the car! Hallelujah!

12:50 pm:  Arrive at chapel; put Henry in the stroller and stow him away in a dark and quiet classroom--he sleeps throught the first two speakers.  Woot woot.  I then try to enjoy a peacful Sacrament but Alice is hungry after only eating half an orange for lunch.  We sit in the lobby and practice being reverent for a while.

The rest of church.

4 pm: Be an amazing Young Woman leader: give one girl advice on colleges, scholarships and boys and then help another with a talk for next week.  

4:30 pm: Arrive at home.  I change and Henry and I make mashed potatoes and carrots while Rex and Alice go on a honey badger hunt.  

5:15 ish: Dinner!  I love fall and the cooler weather so we had a pork roast with mashed potatoes, steamed carrots (covered in brown sugar and cinnamon), homemade bread (yes, I'm that awesome), and gravy.  Sometimes I just really like meat and potatoes.

6 pm: The weather was perfect so we went out back to ride bikes, play red light-green light and dig in the dirt.

6:30 pm: Bribe the kids to clear the table and then had pumpkin bread with pumpkin whipped cream for dessert.  Also very tasty.  As Rex said, "It has pumpkin in it, of course it's good."

6:45 pm: I practiced my new mantra of being "patient and postive" as we cleaned the house and got ready for bed.

7:15 pm: Read stories to the kids while Henry tried to replace the stories with one he preferres (each child gets to pick one story).  Then we talked about our new scripture to ponderize this week, followed by a scripture story and family prayer.  Greg then put Henry to bed while I cuddled with each of the bigger kids (Alice can't sleep she claims unless she's had a long cuddle).  

7:40 pm: Brush my teeth and go potty then spend the next forever hand-washing all the dishes from my home-cooked goodness.  I regretted my decision to make so much food.  

8:30 ish: I continued my efforts to be more spiritual on Sunday by working on Personal Progress but then I opened the computer and spent who knows how long on Facebook.  Oops.

10:06 pm: Now I'm finishing this blog post and will probably go to bed, because that is also one of my new goals--go to bed earlier.

And now for some pictures from this week.

Alice, Rex and I were playing in living room when Henry realized we'd left the forbidden little Legos on the table.  He took full advantage of the situation and actually played quite nicely for a while.

 One night, Henry decided he didn't need to sleep so he screamed until Greg let him out of the crib and refused to go to bed until 10.  But he turned the cute up so we wouldn't kill him.

 I'm not sure how this happened, but one day I found Henry naked, sitting in the Lego bucket.  It must have been after a bath or something.

 Alice and Rex have started playin in their room for a few hours after we put them to bed.  I checked on them one night sleeeping the exact some way: with their little heads hanging off the side of the bed.  I thought it was cute.