A Few Days In Luray

For a few short days this was our home away from home in Luray, VA. A bit rustic and woodsy but it's large enough to fit our family as well as some friends and their 4 kids.



Our view from the house:





Last year this was the lake where Caleb caught his first fish :) This year Julianna and Rachel also caught a fish.





Julianna is going a long way towards dispelling her girly-girl image :)



Caleb trying for another fish - took him 2 days but he finally caught one. He REALLY enjoys fishing. I think he gets that from my brother because he does NOT get it from me :)



I should use the term "catch" loosely - it's more like they set their fishing poles in the water after dad put the worm on it and the fish took the bait but hey, they caught a fish! And Rachel even caught the biggest one :)





Our first day there was rainy so the kids enjoyed fishing and swinging on the tire swing Kirk hung up for them :)





At dinner we didn't eat fish but we did kick the kids out of the dining room!



Our second day was also slightly overcast so we decided not to go swimming at the lake and instead went hiking up the mountin. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared for this - I had beach clothes and shoes! Oops :)

The kids didn't seem to mind and they did really well hiking the 1.2 miles down to the waterfall:



Well, that's partly true - Alyssa made it about 2/3 of the way before breaking down in tears unless she was carried - Rachel also seemed to give up about that point so Kirk and I hiked back up while everyone else continued down to the waterfall. I was disappointed not to see the waterfall though I wasn't disappointed to get off the seriously rocky trail in my flip-flops!

The group that made it down :)



I hear Julianna did very well finishing the trek down and heading back up. I'm very impressed that she and Rachel did so well on the trail since it was soo rocky and rarely level. Kaitlyn and Caleb also enjoyed the hike - I guess I have a few outdoor types - they didn't get that from me either...



A shot of the waterfall - at least I think it is since I didn't take it :)



Friday we left the house and did some swimming at the lake and we had a great time then too - we had perfectly warm weather. We enjoyed our time away and are already looking forward to next year!

Can't think about that right now though - this is the kids last week of summer - soo hard to believe and so much to do. At least Alyssa seems to be potty trained - yep, that fast! She has also given up diapers at night and moved on to pull-ups - she has finally taken notice of what her sisters wear to bed and wants to be just like them. That and she really doesn't want to miss school. Of course, she's already telling me she doesn't want to wear the pull-up either but I'm going to give her a while with that even though she has woken up dry already!