By now you are sick of reading about our weekend. I promise this is the last day!
Sunday morning we packed up the car with everything we brought, plus more, and headed out for another hike. Henry wanted to check out “The Lost Children of the Alleghenies” monument. A monument marking the place where the bodies of two brothers (ages 7 and 5, ironically) were found in the late 1800s after their community searched for them for two weeks. They’d wandered off one day to play and never made it home. Just seeing the sign (and not yet knowing the story) made me shudder. I run from anything reminding me my children may one day fail to return home. Not Henry… he never thinks something could happen to his kids.
When we’d seen the memorial then taken the kids to pee (Natalie: I should’ve gone potty when you told me to) we came back to the mountain to see if we could hike our trail from the rear and find where we’d ended the day before. The girls found us all hiking sticks, including Ryan. Um, so cute. He twirled it around and held on to it for the entire hike.
We found our spot from the day before – Henry had marked it with a rock and dead branch sticking haphazardly out of a tree stump.
When we got back down the mountain the girls wanted to take Henry and my picture. “Stand with your leg up, mom!” they chorused. So I stood with one leg up feeling much like a flamingo. A flamingo that hikes and wears tennis shoes and a parka. (the things we do for our kids)
Before leaving I couldn’t resist taking the kids down to the creek to get some pictures. I wish I could show them all to you, but alas, I think blogger would shut me down. So instead I’ll give you a sampling.
(Ryan signing cat)
We ate lunch and then took a driving tour of 6 historic covered bridges in the area. Henry and I like to drive on our vacations – to see as much as we can see. Our kids are used to it. We told Ryan it was time to go to sleep. He was asleep within five minutes. Natalie used to go to sleep on command too. We thought we were awesome parents. Then we had Ainsley who didn’t sleep in the car until she was three. We fought her the first year then realized no matter how much we fussed her, asked her, begged her, etc., she was not sleeping in the car. We realized we weren’t so great of parents as much as Natalie was such a great kid (not that Ains isn’t a great kid. She IS. In many ways. She just humbles us a lot more.) So Ryan slept for some of the trip, the girls colored in the back seat before taking a nap of their own, and Henry and I listened to music and chatted as we navigated through the countryside of Bedford County. It was great.
We headed home about 4:30 in the afternoon, in time to stop at the grocery store on the way home and almost get the kids to bed on time. Whew. What an amazingly perfect trip, even with all it’s hiccups.
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (6)
What a wonderful trip! Thanks for sharing the beautiful pics!! Turns out Jim and I also love to drive around on trips, although Polly doesn’t, so we have to do it when she isn’t with us. 🙂
I’m not sick of hearing about your trip. I am insanely jealous though. It sounds like it was awesome and restful and relaxing. Take me next time? Also, the pictures of the kids are ADORABLE! love ryan’s walking stick. In fact, I think you should frame that picture of henry and ryan 🙂 I love that nat and ains wanted your leg up in the picture too.
-katie
what a great trip! even with the hiccups! i can’t believe henry didn’t have shoes!!!
You are adorable!
(the kids too!)
Wow Leighann…how fun to commune with nature like that!
Fun pictures. Especially the one of you acting like a flamingo! (:>)
Glad you had such a good trip.
Love, Linda
WOW, we like to travel also. The kids not so much but thank you Jesus for Ipods and DVD’s in the va.
For whatever reason I thought about your Ebaneezer rock. Do you still have it? Where do you have it? Sorry for being nosy but just knowing you had one make an impact with me.