We have 5 family birthdays in July. We celebrated the children's when we were all together. Lester smoked a brisket and Luke made some bread from work and Julia planned a small party. The activities were tye dye shirts, a color war and a water balloon fight. We were a huge, happy mess!
I only have 1/2 an hour before July is over so I am going to have to make this month's National Park pick short. (and I still have to make up for June another time!)
Reggie had a business trip to Virginia and I love the forest green t-shirt he brought back for me. This peeked my interest and so, though Virginia has so many National trails, National Monuments and other intriguing places to explore, it's only National Park is the Shenandoah.
Just 75 miles from the bustle of Washington, D.C., Shenandoah National Park is a land bursting with cascading waterfalls, spectacular vistas, fields of wildflowers, and quiet wooded hollows. With over 200,000 acres of protected lands that are haven to deer, songbirds, and black bear, there's so much to explore...and your journey begins right here!
Turns out the nps.gov website is having problems right now so I can't get much past the first page. This is certainly helping my need to keep it short! I guess I will just post pictures of scenes that are available from the various hiking trails. If I ever go I certainly hope to in the fall!
I was updating my siblings about how my Mom is doing and my Sister Marianne said she was thinking of coming back (having been here 2 weeks earlier to care for her during our trip). She was able to hop on a flight that afternoon and was here in time to help my Mom get ready for bed. My mom smiled when she walked into her room. As I was saying goodnight my Mom asked "are you all coming back tomorrow?". I assured her that we were all staying there with her, sleeping in the house that she so generously shares with her family. I know she has lost track of who has been here when, but she was aware of and so happy for the fact that so many of her posterity has come to visit and take care of her. She went to sleep with a smile on her face and kept saying "all the activity, all the activity". I think it's obvious that she has enjoyed "all the activity" going on around her - the happy noises, short visits into her room of different generations, etc. I sure do love her.
17 Miracles movie, Trail of Hope documentary, homemade chocolate pie (finally - we've been waiting since November for this promised pie!), Mom's favorite painting, re-visiting my ancestors' histories, Music, - it was a calm and quiet and rejuvenating weekend, giving me strength for things to come.
Our vacation took us only about 2 hours from home but we did some new and fun things - like play all day in the American River. Thanks to Hillary and Andrew for planning this portion of the trip. And special thanks to Andrew for giving the kids kayak rides all day long, and for loaning it to the adults and for driving it down the river loaded with supplies. One of my favorite kayak moments was seeing Samantha and Luke capsize - ha ha! They were laughing more than me.
Though it was just a one day camping trip we relaxed and played and took our time packing it up. We didn't leave till about 1 pm. Next we headed to Hillary's and Andrew's. After a relaxing afternoon Mariah and Ross cooked dinner and we ended the night with a backyard movie. What a perfect summertime thing to do!
