Gettysburg and See You Soon

On Memorial Day, we all went to Gettysburg Battlefield. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we toured the battlefield by foot.

There were nice walking trails that connected the different sites. Our first stop was the battlefield cemetery.

 

Of the 6,000 men buried in this cemetery, about 3,500 of them were unknown soldiers. After the battle, the men were buried on the battlefield, and once the cemetery was ready, all of the bodies were exhumed and transported.

  

This picture is one of my favorites from the day!

 

Look at this monkey in the tree!

He wanted to go even higher :)

 

And this little monkey liked sitting in the grass.

 

Next we walked to downtown Gettysburg and found some hotdogs for lunch. Even though we had chips, brownies, and rice crispy treats, there was still room for ice cream. Look at that mint chocolate beard! Poor Ben missed out and took a nap instead.

We were waiting around for the parade to start, but found out it was going to be more than an hour away, so we decided to walk back to the battlefield.

We ended the day back at the Visitor's Center playing, posing with Abraham Lincoln, and taking family pictures.

 

We had a great day together, and were glad for the time we got to spend with Nathan's parents. Caleb loves his grandpa and grandma, and he had a very fun time with them.

Caleb is a G-R-A-N-D-P-A's boy, and he loves to play in his red truck! The boys had a great time with their grandparents, and we are glad for the time they spent together. We are so grateful for their help and for how they lovingly serve our family.

Though our times together are limited, we make the best of every moment we have. It was sad to say goodbye to grandma on Monday night, but we will look forward to seeing her sometime soon in the Middle East. We will see Grandpa very soon because he will be spending the first two weeks with us in our new home. We are thankful and excited that he will be with us as we transition to our new home in a few days.

We love you Grandpa and Grandma P!

Baseball and Trains with Grandpa and Grandma P.

Grandpa and Grandma P. came to visit us this past weekend, and to help us prepare for our move.  They have been a huge help to us during this transition, and we really appreciate all they do for our family. They had a lot of fun exploring new sites with Caleb, and we were glad to have the time at home to pack, without Caleb unpacking everything for us :). Since we live close to Baltimore, Grandpa, Grandma, and Caleb spent the day exploring the city. They took a trip to Camden Yards, The B&O Train Museum, and drove through the Inner Harbor!

 

Camden Yards - Home of the Baltimore Orioles.

 Next, they visited the train museum. We have been here several times these past few months. Caleb loves trains, and there are lots of indoor and outdoor play areas to enjoy.

Grandpa and Grandma have been wanting to take Caleb on his first train ride, and that was his lucky day. Grandpa and grandma said the train ride was slow, but he had a fun time.

The best way to end a fun day with Grandpa and Grandma is watching Mickey Mouse Playhouse before bed:)

We are glad they had a fun day, and thankful for the memories they are able to make together.

Family Vacation Part 2: Mountain Pond House and the Perfect Boys' Day

For the rest of our vacation, we stayed at the Mountain Pond House in Rockbridge Bath, VA. It was an amazing property that Nathan found online, and it was even more beautiful that we expected! The house is situated on 125 acres of land with hiking trails, creeks, ponds, and a yellow rowboat, and we were the only ones there! The house was 20 miles into the country, it had a deck overlooking the pond, and an incredible view of Jump Mountain, in the Blue Ridge foothills.  It was beautiful, it was simple, it was relaxing, it was perfect.

Nathan played a lot of guitar on the trip. He can play country, bluegrass, kids songs, and he is starting to experiment with his own music.   I love seeing his creative side, and we all enjoy listening to him play.

Being here was a great opportunity for the boys to explore and roam, like little kids should! Ben is not mobile yet, but we are sure he enjoyed taking in the beauty of where we were.

 It was foggy every morning and we loved sitting on the deck and watching the low fog roll over the mountains and pond.

And loading up the backpacks with little boys and exploring the hiking trails

At the top of one of the trails, there was a large fire pit. Maybe in a few years we will go back and roast some hot dogs and make smores!

Afterwards we made chocolate chip cookies. Caleb is turning into a very good helper, and Ben is right behind him!

The next day we drove a few miles to Goshen Pass, a gorge in the Little North Mountain, formed by the Maury River. We hiked the Laurel Run trail, which followed a stream and there were also several small waterfalls. This was Caleb's first time seeing a waterfall and he kept saying more waterfall:).

After the hike, Nathan and Caleb took a dip in the Maury River.

And then the thunder began....

We rushed home and made it right in time for the first rain drops.

Which quickly turned into pouring rain, hail, and lightning. We sat on the patio and watched the storm, and to our surprise Caleb liked the thunder and lightning.

It was quiet and foggy after the storm passed

And we even saw a double rainbow!

The next day was the perfect little boys' day. It went like this....

Wake up and play outside naked. There is nothing more manly than barbequing out in the country in the buff.

And hosing off before going back inside.

Take a mid-morning boat ride with dad. 

 

 

Go on a hike with dad after the boat ride, and fall asleep in the backpack on the way home.

All while mom and Ben relaxed on the deck.

Take a family safari zoo trip in the afternoon. 

Take a mid-afternoon boat ride with mom, and eat hot dogs for dinner.

Take two tractor rides with Mr. Bill. One with dad...

And one without :)

Fall asleep after the perfect little boys day!

We had an incredible week and loved our time relaxing as a family. We were thankful to get away for a few days before our big move.

At the end of the week, it was our childcare provider, Laura's last day. She did a wonderful job loving and caring for our boys, and helping with their development the last 6 months. We will miss working with her. 

Nathan's parents arrived in town today. They were so excited to see the boys, and the feeling was mutual. They will be a big help to us as we finish up packing this week, and we know they will enjoy loving on the boys. We have some fun activities planned later this weekend, more blog posts about their visit soon!