Monday, July 20, 2009

Vacation Photos - Part 1


Well, we are back from our little getaway. We had a great time & even though we've been back home for almost a week, I'm still getting caught up! As usual, I took tons of photos & will most likely have to post in segments.

Our first stop was this wonderful Christian retreat center called Faith Mountain, located way out in the boonies in West Virginia. We had heard a lot about this place & decided to go for a few days before heading to Indiana for a family wedding/reunion.

We stayed in the Sassafras cottage. We were thinking "rustic cabin", so we were pleasantly surprised when we walked in & found a beautifully decorated, two bedroom, fully equipped kitchen & bathroom complete with a large whirlpool tub!

We spent A LOT of time in the hammock. It was so relaxing!


Grant (Ryleigh, too!) had loads of fun playing outside. Grant spent a lot of time playing in the dirt with his cars & trucks. Almost every time he came back into the cabin, he had either a rock or a stick clutched tightly in his little fists. So much fun to see his little boy nature come alive!

We also really enjoyed sitting around the campfire. In fact, check out this post to see a video clip of Grant trying to "catch" the smoke.

Sabrina went through a growth spurt while we were at Faith Mountain. She literally seemed to grow overnight. She's filling out so much & starting to really respond with lots of smiles & coos.

Another one of our favorites... meals on the back porch.

Jeff enjoyed lots of hikes. He caught this beautiful sunrise on the last morning we were there.

We discovered that all those redneck stories you hear about West Virginia are true! ;-) I could not believe the horrible "paved" roads we were driving on were actually located in the United States! These roads were every bit as bad - maybe even worse - than the roads in Mexico!

Each house had it's own container for trash to keep the animals out of it. Some were built very neatly. Others were made of whatever the people had on hand, such as old boards, pallets, chicken wire, old freezers ;), etc. This was one of the funniest ones we saw - two grocery carts pushed together. Notice the official little Waste Management sign.


Needless to say, we had such a nice time that we did not want to leave. We'll definitely be returning when we can stay longer!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful place. So peaceful looking. I love the pic of supper on the porch surrounded by trees. So glad you all got some R&R. Family time like this is priceless as your family grows up. They will treasure these times forever. Love you all,
Aunt Barb

Anonymous said...

I'm waiting for -Part 2....
Know you are busy with the little ones. I've been checking Jeff's blog and have enjoyed seeing photos and videos of the little ones. Can't wait to see you all in Oct.
Aunt D. & Uncle M.