Olivia Came to Play! (Oh yeah, and her Mom and Dad came too.)

We had a great visit with Ray, Janell and Olivia last week.  They stopped at our house and stayed the night on their way back to PA from TX.  It was great to see them.  It was way too short of a visit, so we are making plans to get together in August or September.  I can't believe it had been a year since we had been together!  Simon is a month and a 1/2 older than Olivia.  It was fun watching them interact and Josh really liked playing with Olivia.  He wants a sister so bad.

 

Olivia (2), Joshua (6), Simon (2) and Caleb (5).

Bowling With the Boys

The boys love to bowl on the Wii and Josh has been begging us to take him to the bowling alley ever since he brought home a summer bowling card from school.  The card is a cool deal.  You get one free game every day and once a month you can get a free ice cream or drink from the concessions.  So on Monday, Troy took off and we headed to the bowling alley after lunch.  We were all able to get a card so we all got a free game and then bought another one.  Troy didn't bowl because he is having nerve issues with his arm, but he helped out with Simon, which was very important, because Simon bowled 3 times and then decided he would rather run around and look at everything in the game room.

They were so excited, they could hardly wait for us to start.

"I knocked those pins down, Mom!"

There were mechanical bumpers that we were able to program to come up when it was one of the boys' turns.

I'm not sure why but Josh had to pick a wedgie after every bowl!  

The lightest balls we could find were 8 lbs.  

They did pretty well with them...they were only dropped a couple of times.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  

You rock a great mustache...one our boys are sure to duplicate one day!

Fun With Mustaches

Swimming Lessons - Level 1

Josh and Caleb just finished up 4 weeks of Swim Lessons at the city aquatic center.  They went every Tuesday and Thursday night for 30-45 minutes and loved every second of it.  Their favorite part was going 10 minutes early, or staying a little after class, to sit in the giant hot tub.  I wish I would have taken some pics of that.  

The pool has a shallow area that was made for easy access for those who would not be able get in using steps or the ladder.  So there is a gradual slope like a beach. The boys thought this was pretty cool.

Here, Josh is learning how to stroke with his arms. 

This is one of the times Caleb was asked to sit on the edge of the pool...he had a hard time remembering to keep one hand on the wall.

Caleb is trying to float with the help of one of the teachers.

Josh takes his turn jumping into the deep end.

Caleb jumps in with a smile.  He really needs to learn to keep his mouth closed.

Josh got passed on to level 2 and Caleb needs to repeat level 1 again but they both had a good time and it was lot's of fun to watch them.  I know we will be getting more practice this summer. 

The Cascades

We went to the Cascades on Memorial Day and these guys were ready to do some hiking!  We put on sunscreen, bug spray and hats.  We were ready.

We took the lower path on the way there, which turned out to be the true hiking trail.  Not an easy path to take and I would not do it again with a 2 year old.  Here is the bridge we crossed to get to the trail.

Isn't this gorgeous! There were places that we would walk along and there would be a cool breeze.  It was hot so we really enjoyed it whenever we got a little of that "outdoor air conditioning".

An example of part of the trail.  There were several parts that looked like this.

Funny boys!

I promise I did not make them do this!

Some of the path would go right along part of the river.  In other parts the path was up higher or a little farther away.

Some of the time we spent trying to avoid slipping in the mud.

Troy ended up carrying Simon some.  This is a trademark look of Simon's.

Beautiful.  The roaring of the water was so loud.  It reminded me of this verse, "and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory."  Ezekiel 43:2

 A little fall, across the river from us.

We're almost there...we can see it!

And there it is!  It is so beautiful.  After that long hike we were more than willing to sit and relax a little.

The boys took their shoes off and maneuvered their way out to the water.

I stayed behind to take pictures.  Josh and Caleb both slipped and fell on their way back. 

Fortunately a hiker stopped to take our picture. 

The total hike was 4 miles and I think it wore all of us out.  I'm pretty sure that Troy and I picked up poison ivy, oak or sumac from somewhere out there.  Maybe it was when I squatted behind that big rock to pee.  Hahaha! 

When we got home and had our supper and our baths we lit up some sparklers.  At 8 o'clock, it wasn't quite dark enough yet but we were too tired to stay up any later. 

They liked having 2 in each hand!

Chantily Farms BBQ and Bluegrass Festival

The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we headed out to the little town of Floyd and the Chantily Farms BBQ and Bluegrass Festival.

 We heard some great music!

And where there is music there is, of course, going to be dancing.

 Some really good dancing.

We found some hula hoops to play with.

Who knew the boys were such good hip shakers!

We took a hay ride.

It was a good Festival for it being a 1st year for it.  I wish there would have been more activities for the kids though, maybe next year!  The boys enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed watching them.  It seems like there are at least 3 festivals going on in the surrounding area every weekend this summer.  Maybe Virginia is the "Festival State"?

Fairy Stones State Park

The weekend before Memorial day weekend, we traveled down to Fairy Stones State Park where there is a beautiful lake with a sandy beach area.  It turned out that the lake was actually not open but we were told we could go in "ankle-deep".  The lake was not due to open until Memorial Day weekend.

So we all kicked off our flip flops and stepped into the chilly water and splashed around.

Simon kept pushing his limits by walking further into the water. 

He was happy as long as he could splash!

Caleb kept trying to lose his trunks.  I'm glad he likes to wear undies under them!

This picture just makes me grin from ear to ear,
because that is a truly happy smile on my Josh's face.

There is a little playground right on the beach next to the lake.  

But there is also a playground not far from the beach and it's mostly shaded.  There are lots of picnic tables with grills set up near there also.  It was a perfect area for a cookout.  Apart from all the bugs.

 Troy and Caleb did the man thing and started the fire.

We roasted hotdogs.  They were hot on the outside and cold on the inside.
I had taken them straight from the freezer to the ice chest for our trip.

 We also made s'mores!  Yummy!

We also found more water...

to play in!

Josh would make a great fountain.

We did a little walking and checked out the water craft that they have for rent. 
Again, it did not open until the next weekend though. 

It's such a beautiful park.  One that Virginia can really be proud of.

I can't wait for us to go back!