Amazing weekend near Lexington, VA

This weekend was beautiful.  We had perfect weather, an outstanding place to stay and a whole weekend with some of my favorite people (my family).  Thank you to my fantastic Sister-in-law for sharing her family farm with all of us.

Proof that I loved the weekend...I usually take months to write a blog post, but am doing this one less than 24 hrs after getting home.

Here are some pictures of our time together.

the perfect climbing tree with leaves a plenty for the non-climbers as well

Rye and Betsy enjoying the pile of leaves they made

never one to lay around...Rye tackles his cousin

Philip and Noah

Millie and Uncle Bobo observe from the ground

Grace went to the very top of the tree (so glad my boys were not this daring)

Ben models his winter accessories for the camera

on a hike around the farm...On your mark, Get set, Go!  Race Uncle Bobo and Millie up the hill!

Rye and Betsy took a more laid back approach

Rye stopped to contemplate the various plants along the slope

Is that a ball?

Yucky!  Don't eat that!

At the summit!

from left to right (Patsy, Philip, Noah, Ben, Grace, Rye, AB, Betsy, Millie and Bobo)

walking the cow path through the woods

not sure where the path went, but we made it through anyway

We camped out in the yard (sorry I didn't get a shot of all of us in the tent together) and then spent time warming up inside before breakfast.

This is the view from the front yard.  The horses made it in the top 3 favorite things for each of my boys.

I stood right next to a horse's behind to get this shot

Philip and Noah did a great job looking after Rye

what my hair looked like after 3 days without a shower

...and I wasn't the only one with crazy hair, except that this picture doesn't do justice to the matted look on the back of my sister's head (I would like to explain that I was in the process of crossing my eyes when this picture was taken...the reason for my weird expression)

Summer

Here are some pictures from our summer.  I don't have time to write great things about each picture so please excuse the captions.

 1st day of Summer begins with a Popsicle

After playing in the sprinkler, Miriam and Silas stayed to have lunch with us.

Anniversary weekend...

 

Drew and I celebrated our 11th anniversary this June.  We had some generous friends who watched our kids for us while we went backpacking in West Virginia.  Unfortunately we picked a weekend when a HUGE storm came through the area and we spent an eventful night worrying about falling tree limbs and heavy rain.  Here is a picture of our hammocks the next morning.  I slept well, but as you may see from the hammock in the background...Drew did not.

Instead he spent the wee hours of the morning on the ground trying to sleep :(

This is the hillside we huddled on while waiting out the worst of the storm.

This is our kitchen the morning after.  Our dinner was rudely interrupted by the arrival of the storm.  We were in a valley and the storm arrived unexpectedly.  So we had a mad scramble to get things under wraps before seeking shelter.  I had a great weekend despite the weather.

The next morning we hiked to the top of the nearby ridge before heading to the car.

We thought the storm was a small localized one.  But as we came back into cell phone range we got a barrage of texts saying things like, "Checked on your house.  It is okay." or "We are okay. Hope you are too."  This was the scene in our yard when we got home.

This is a picture of our side yard.  

Drew and the boys spent multiple days cutting and hauling wood. 

Beach trip #1...

Rye gets his own screen for the first time on a car trip.

Drew and I had a delightful time talking while the boys plugged into their personal screens and watched movies.

Rye gets caught playing with all his Papa's gadgets.

Reading with Grandmommy before dinner

taco night at the beach

Ben is caught digging without watching the surf!

The boys try to construct a wall to protect the pool we had built earlier in the day.

Rye spends days on the sand away from the water

And then one day the magic happens and he falls in love with the water

the pink socks helped

Hanging out with Aunt Carolyn

Drew fell asleep in the sun during the day.  Can you tell?

annual beach photo

Outside a restaurant while waiting for a table...

 

Beach trip #2...

First dinner in Nantucket...

bucking tradition and eating on the porch instead of the dining room

Hanging out before bedtime

a cool, overcast day in town watching the boats in the harbor

Making a break for it...

Rye attempts to go out on the street.  

He had a hard time distinguishing roads from sidewalks since both are covered in brick or cobblestones.

getting out some energy

not to be outdone...another jumper

more antics

the youngest one joins in

quiet moment on the beach

It doesn't get any better than this!

Most of my photos are videos of the boys in the water and I can't figure out how to put them on the blog.  So you will just have to imagine why Ben is smiling so much.

The boys listen to Prince Caspian on CD while Rye naps and Drew and I read.  

Suddenly a"family trip" turns into a true vacation.

The perfect spot for a little post-lunch reading time.

We had a little friend come visit us every afternoon.  Can you spot him?

loved my time with this little guy on the beach

Rye really wanted to use his brother's boogie board...just not in the water

Ben warms up after spending time in the surf

Drampa and NuNu came for the end of our trip

I seem to recall my dad pulling this stunt a few times before. 
Noah doesn't seem to mind too much.

I caught this shot as a wave came rolling in and got mighty close to Noah's face.  (He is laughing, not screaming.)

Rye gets a little quiet time with NuNu

the big boys built a castle...

while I spun Rye in a circle in the waves for a good 15-20 minutes. 
Drew is one of the black dots in the background.  He claims that these were the best waves he has experienced on the East Coast.

Rye just kept saying "more, more"

finally...time to stop and go home...

...for outdoor showers (one of my favorite things about the house)

Great Aunt Betsy gave the boys a kite

my favorite picture of the summer

time with Papa at the puppet show while I got a morning off for my Birthday

On the last day, my Aunt Emmy and Uncle Charlie took the boys out on a boat ride.

The boys are now ready to come and spend the summer in Nantucket with the Kilvert family.

Ben enjoyed sitting up high while Charlie cruised around the harbor.

A little down time at the Yacht Club before heading home to pack for our drive home the next day.  We threw pennies off the ferry as we left, which means we will come back sometime, hopefully next summer.