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!