The Homestead

Dan was asked to be a presenter at the Virginia Bar Association's annual meeting in Hot Springs, Virginia at the Omni Homestead Resort. We dropped the kids off with my parents so that I could tag along! We drove over on a beautiful Friday morning and while Dan presented, I relaxed on the front porch and read a book.

 That place is massive.

 After he was done, we went to this cafe for lunch. (Really yummy peanut butter pie if we ever go back.) There are only like 5 restaurants in the area, and this was one of the top-rated.

 Next we drove south another 10 miles or so to see Falling Springs Falls in Covington, VA. It was really pretty. Apparently, in Thomas Jefferson's day, it used to be like 200 feet tall, but a mining company came along and wrecked it/redirected it so now it's about 80 feet tall. It's on private property, so we just saw it from the road.

 Saw this ranch on the way.

Our room at the hotel was super nice. We actually got a suite, but when the people on the other side of the shared door opened it on us while we were getting ready for bed, we decided to close off the suite and just use the bedroom!

 Hot Springs, Virginia gets its name from some thermal pools that people claim have healing properties. Thomas Jefferson used to come and wade in the baths. Dan and I decided to check it out. The only time we could go was during adult hours, which meant clothing was optional. Here's Dan in front of the men's bath house.

 And me nervously standing in front of the ladies' house. When you walk in, it's just a big round room with a pool of really clear warm water and you walk down some gross carpeted stairs that are all submerged so they're slimy and then you're not allowed to swim so you have to float with noodles but that's fine because I didn't want my feet to touch the slimy floor anyway. There were 3 other women in with me and they were all clothed. Thankfully. It's kind of big, 20 feet across maybe, so you just float around and think of nothing. Then a spider came dangling down the ceiling at me and it's hard to get away when you're not allowed to swim. I handled it for about 45 minutes and then I just went out and waited for Dan (we had an hour).

 Dan had a bonding experience with all of the men in there. Apparently Dan was the first one in and kept his suit on, then 3 or 4 other guys came in and went in the nude. No one was talking, they were all just floating around. Then Dan decided to shed his layers as well and then they all became a happy naked family.

We then went back to the resort and played at the pool area which has a lazy river and two water slides. That was fun. Then we met up with a colleague of Dan's and his wife and two daughters for a nice dinner at the resort. They were really sweet. Dinner took forever. Then we went and watched fireworks which the resort puts on every night this year to celebrate its 250th anniversary.

I had done some research before we came and figured out a hike we could do that was not too far out of the way. We woke up super early the next morning and headed out.

 The lobby.

 There were actually two hikes - Little House Mountain and Big House Mountain. First we had to drive up some backwoods roads and then park, then walk another almost 2 miles to the saddle with the trailheads.

 This was on the road we had to walk up. We weren't allowed to park closer for some reason.

 We weren't sure if we'd have time for both hikes, so we started with Little House Mountain, which was touted as being more strenuous. It was also longer, so we thought we'd do it and then see if we had time for Big House. It was a fun hike and we were the only people on the trail on the way up which was great because the lookout at the end can't really fit a lot of people. We had beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley.

We were SO sweaty. Yuck. When we got back to the saddle, we realized we should just head back. We'll come back and do Big House some other time. We had a nice stinky drive back to pick up the kids, who were spoiled by G&G Cheney with TWO movies in TWO days. Thanks for watching our kids! We had a really nice time. We didn't realize the Homestead was such a family-friendly place. If Dan presents there again, we'll have to bring the whole crew.

Beginning of July

Dan and I went on a date to find a trail that led down to the James River where we could get a good view of my favorite bridge. We found it. It was only slightly sketchy. There was a group of about 20 twenty-something-year-olds who had a party going on at the best viewing spot, so we couldn't get quite where we wanted to be, but it was still beautiful! The weather was great and we had brought along some sandwiches so we waded to a big rock and enjoyed the evening. Then we got some ice cream on the way home.

 These next two are phone shots.

 Had to get the train crossing.

The fourth of July was a low-key one at our house. It was a rainy day so we ran some errands and then took the kids swimming at the gym pool. Eli was asleep around 7:30, so we had the big kids do fire poppers on the driveway and then Dan took Sam to a good viewing spot to watch the fireworks. I stayed home with Afton (who doesn't really like loud noises) and Eli. At least I figured I'd be able to watch the latest episode of the Bachelorette, but it was a re-run. So I watched a chick flick.

 Afton didn't want to hold a sparkler, but we forced her to.

We went on some bike rides around the neighborhood.

 I finally went through the kids' paperwork from school. I found this gem.

Eat in bed kills me for some reason.

Our high chair sure is nasty, but this boy is cute!

 We blew up the behemoth water slide and had some fun.

When Eli woke up from his nap, he got in on the action.

 He turned 18 months.

 (He's got molluscum, the poor guy.)

Two of my Cheney cousins were EFY counselors this summer and they did a few weeks of sessions in Lexington, VA at Southern Virginia University. So my parents kindly offered to pick them up and bring them to Charlottesville for the weekend. I drove over and spent the day with Lisa and Rachel, too. We went to Monticello, Bodo's Bagels, Carter Mountain, and then my parents took them on a little driving tour and I met them at home.

 It had been so long since I'd seen them. It was so nice to catch up and enjoy being together.

 It was a gorgeous day.

 View from the balcony at Carter Mountain.

I love how Afton snuggles her animals when she sleeps.

 Eli all ready to go to his first day in nursery! He actually hated it, but since then it's gotten a lot better and he's fine. It just took about a month.

 Blurry, but cute.

 Afton's depiction of her and Sam as mermaids.

 Walking back to the house from watering the garden I see this.

 Afton took a ballet class this summer. She liked it, but she doesn't want to do ballet anymore. I don't get it.

 Temple trip.

Is it possible for phone cameras to get worse over time? I feel like mine has recently...

Science.

 On one of my runs, the fountains weren't working on the lake and I thought it was really pretty all still like that.

 I took the kids to a fountain area at an outdoor mall close by. This is the closest Richmond gets to a splash pad. They had a good time.

 And our pictures came back from the photographer. Love 'em!