Saturday Scenic Drive

A few weeks ago I went to a book fair with a friend. While there, I found a book called - "Country Roads: Driving Tours of Rockbridge County." It has 18 self-guided driving tours around Lexington. Last Saturday, we decided to take a drive using the book. It was more fun than I imagined. It was nice to enjoy the area we lived and find some small treasures along the way.

As we were driving we found a swinging foot bridge (noted in the book). It was pretty random and I'm not sure the purpose but we had fun discovering it. Chuck took Leland all the way across and back. I managed to go a short distance with Lucy in my arms but soon lost my nerve (Chuck made it swing more than it really should) and turned back around.
We continued on our drive through Goshen Pass and found a picnic area with easy access to the river. We stayed here for a while enjoying the calm river and letting the girls play. Leland enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and walking on the rocks through the water with Dad (notice how clear the water is in the picture. Their reflection looked like a mirror). Lucy enjoyed 'eating' the rocks.

We had a nice drive and saw many historic churches, an old mill, very old cemeteries and historic homes along the way. Chuck's article for the Law News - The Roaming Roan is about this drive. He will soon post more about it on his blog with more pictures.

Snow Day

Last Thursday (Jan 17) we got a big snow of a few inches. Leland was so excited when she woke up -- she pressed her face to the glass of the back door and asked to play in the snow. After being out for a few minutes she came back wanting her sunglasses because the snowglare was getting in her eyes. What a crazy girl?!

Chuck was great to take her outside and play even though he was still a little sick. His classes were canceled for the day so he got to be with us all day.

After Chuck was getting worn out he tried to convince Leland it was time to go in. She was having too much fun and convinced her Dad to take her to the park. So they walked down the unplowed street to the park. Her slick snow pants helped her fly down the slides.

They also made snow angels and threw snow balls at me when I came out to take pictures.

I enjoyed all the fun from the warm indoors (I was still sick) and prepared some hot chocolate for when they finally came inside. (Mitzi - Aren't you excited to have snow right in your backyard and not have to drive 45 min just so your kids can experience it?)

Finally feeling better

So today I actually feel better. Not 100%, but much better. I guess my week of sleeping in till 9 or 10 and laying on the couch all week finally got to me. I was up at 5:30am this morning, not because of my kids, just me. I felt like I had all this energy. I cleaned the house, prepared dinner for the crock pot, then my girls woke up and I fed them breakfast all before I woke Chuck. He was very surprised and after church asked when my crack was going to wear off.

I really hate being sick. I really don't like to lay on the couch and stay in the house, I get stir crazy. I really hate for my kids to be sick and luckily they haven't been and hopefully will not anytime soon. Chuck will attest that I (like my sisters and mother) are not the most sympathetic when our husbands are sick. I get very frustrated and have been know to tell my husband to "Buck up and go to work or school" because I was tired of seeing him lay around. Chuck in our almost 4 years of marriage has learned to deal with this quite nicely. I have gotten a little better in the Florence Nightengale department.

Anyway, he has been great this week with me being so sick even though he wasn't feeling well either. He has taken great care of the girls and even went grocery shopping for me. Although during the grocery trip he called me about 8 times. The last 2 times I told him to stop calling and buy whatever he wanted. He came home with:
-2 packages of cookie dough
-2 chocolate cakes
-2 boxes CapN Crunch cereal
-4 boxes of granola bars
-chicken wings
-2 frozen pizzas

That wasn't everything. He did manage some fruit, pasta and other healthier things. But in his defense, I think the receipt showed 50 of the 53 things that he bought were on sale. So at least he's a bargain shopper. I was very grateful for him doing the grocery shopping this week and letting me get the rest I needed.

Park #4 - Sea World

On December 31, we went to Sea World - our fourth amusement park during our vacation.

We were debating on whether or not to make the trek back to San Diego for a visit to Sea World. Chuck and I had started feeling sick and wasn't sure if we could handle one more day dragging the kids around. We decided to do it for Leland's sake because she LOVES Sea World so much. Our passes expired at the end of the year so this was our last chance to use them.

Well it was all worth it - As we were driving up she saw the towers and remembered we were at "Shamu's house". She was so excited. We went straight to the Shamu show. Since we were cutting it close to it starting there was few choices left of where to sit. Chuck ended up finding us a spot on the 2nd row right in the center. This was the closest we had ever sat. If you've ever been to Sea World you will know that sitting close has its drawbacks. Sure you get a great view, but you also risk getting soaked by the "Shamu Slam". My Eagle Scout of a husband was prepared of course and had packed our ponchos, so we were ready. And we needed them.

Leland's face during the show made the drive all worth it. When the video started she got very starry eyed and couldn't be made to look away. Then when Shamu came out, she was so excited, that we looked at each other and both said, "I'm glad we came."

We also decided to take advantage of some things we had never done while at Sea World - the dolphin feeding. We never seemed to be there at the right time for this. We thought Leland would enjoy this, but boy were we wrong. She wanted nothing to do with the dolphins up close. She was fine just waving to them from a distance. Chuck was able to feed and pet the dolphins, which was neat.


Leland loves Dora the Explorer so she was is heaven walking around the park with her map trying to decide where to go next. It was so cute.

We had a great day. We also saw the Sea Lion & Otter show, the dolphin show, the penguins, polar bears, and walrus. We were so glad that we were able to do so many fun things during our Christmas vacation and take advantage of our annual passes. We can't wait to go back.

Neglect

I know I have neglected our blog. I have been laying on the couch coughing and blowing my nose instead. Not fun. Hopefully we will all be well soon.