A Day Trip To Lynchburg

Today, we took a family day trip to Lynchburg, Virginia. First stop? The Depot Grill. Yum, yum, and yummmmmm.

After lunch, we walked over to Amazement Square / The Rightmire Children's Museum. It was so much fun! The boys LOVED every second of it! Because the entire center of the museum is slides, ropes, tubes, and tunnels, we played tag team and paired off with the boys. For the most part, I was with Nathan and Scott was with Jack. The boys ran around non-stop for hours!

When we left the museum, we went to check out an old antebellum home. But when we discovered that you had to pay to walk around the grounds we were currently standing on, we said, "Nah! Let's go get ice cream!" The boys were thrilled, to say the least. The entire way to the ice cream shop, Jack kept saying, "Chocolate!" And Nathan kept saying, "I want vanilla!"

All three of my guys slept the whole way back to Roanoke. I kept looking at them as I drove along, and thinking, "Thank You, Jesus." Nathan kept giving me sweet kisses at lunch. The boys fought in the restaurant over who would sit next to Mommy. Scott kept climbing through the tunnels and going down the slides that I'm nearly 100% certain adults are NOT supposed to be in. But you know what? I married this incredible man who loves his sons and wants to do everything with them, and to hell with the rules. And both of my children ate all of their lunches {a small miracle}. So, for the kisses and laughs and lunch and slides and tunnels, "Thank You, Jesus."

A Family Hike

After the undeniable success of a very short hike last weekend on Mill Mountain, we decided to take the boys for a longer hike yesterday since Scott had the day off. We came prepared: hiking backpack ready and waiting to receive whiny, 35 lb. two year old once he ran out of steam.

First wonder we encountered in the "Haunted Animal Shadow Forest" {as so named by Nathan}: "A RIVER!" {as declared by Jack}.

It was cold outside on this last day of winter, but the boys were soaking up the adventure of their first real hike!

We had a lot of fun with the boys. We laughed, we searched for wild animals {while the boys shouted at the top of their lungs}, we jumped over logs, we shook small trees while shouting, "I big an' strong!" {okay, that was just Jack}.

I'm so excited that Scott and I get to share our love of the outdoors with our boys. They're finally at an age where we can enjoy {most} of a hike! I know this is the first of many wonderful hikes we'll take, with our boys alongside us, definitely NOT riding in the hiking backpack, which was met with screams of protest.

Sunshine

Well, it has been sunshine-y and warm this week in Virginia! Woohoo! Yesterday, we spent hours and hours outside. The boys were so filthy dirty that I had to scrub and scrub to get the dirt out of their scalps. And, isn't that how it should be!? I say yes.

Family And Warmer Weather

Whew! Three weeks in a row with family visiting! It has been won.der.ful! {Also, it accounts for my severe lack of blogging this month.}

My brother Nathan {AKA, "Uncle Pudlumps"} came and stayed with us for five days last week. We had such a great time with him!

We went bowling--so fun! We actually love to bowl, despite the fact that we're not good at it. I'd say we go bowling at least once a month, so you'd think we'd be good. But we're not. ;)

One evening, Scott grilled burgers and steaks, and we ate dinner on the back patio. HEAVEN! {Winter, you can get the HECK outta here!}

It's always so fun having family visit. We love every minute!

I'm thrilled that warmer days are returning. Thank heavens! Winters here are just bad. There is no other way to say it. BAD. COLD. DREARY. SNOW-FILLED. BLEH.

I'm still training for two upcoming races, one in April and one in May. AND, I am officially saying that I'm running the Little Rock half marathon in 2016!

I went for a five mile run yesterday by the Roanoke River, wearing a tank top and shorts. Heaven!! The not so heavenly part? Wind advisory yesterday with gusts up to 30 mph. . . made for a less than enjoyable five miles. Oh, well!

Thank You, Jesus, for family and backyard barbecues and running and warmer weather!

BeeGee's Visit

There are few things we anticipate as joyfully as visits from my mom. We just love it when she comes to see us!