Shenandoah, Day 1

Monday morning, we hit the road!  

It's time to start checking things off our "To do before we move from Virginia" list.

I love the pictures we took this trip because it gives a great picture of our kids personalities.

First stop: Monticello

The place was pretty packed because it was Columbus Day, but I think it worked to our advantage.  The house tours were completely booked, but the ticket lady must have really liked our family because she gave the 5 of us day passes for the price of 1.  When we got up to the house and saw what the tour really entailed, we were thankful that we weren't committed to that with our kids.

Instead we found a small children's area that did a great job teaching about who Thomas Jefferson was and the important things to know about him.  The kids got way more out of this hands on learning than a long, boring tour.

Any time Alison saw a phone whipped out, she would strike a pose and then Colin would try to mimic her.  Eli is crouching down in most pictures...he kept saying, "I ran out of fuel".  Probably should have taken a stroller for all the walking we did, but you live and you learn.

We couldn't have asked for better weather; it was a perfect day to be exploring.

The gardens were my favorite part and we agreed that we would be perfectly happy living right there.  Someday we'll have a garden...it might be 17 more years, but someday.

Walking to the cemetery, the kids were running down the hill and we stopped to take a picture.  If you look closely, you'll notice I'm holding 3 water bottles.  Yes, I forgot several essential things on this trip.  A backpack would be #1 and water would be #2.  Maybe by the time I have that garden, my kids will be old enough to carry their own drink!

Next stop was our cabin on the Shenandoah River.

Eli saying "We're here!!!"

We grilled dinner and sat on the deck to just soak in nature.

So the truth is, I have learned that I'm not the best at booking things.  This is the first trip that I planned, booked and organized on my own (I did it all while Ben was deployed).  The cabin was great, it just was not what I was expecting...which seems to be my theme when booking things.  I wanted a cabin by the river, true.  But this cabin was literally, by.the.river.  I was expecting some space for the kids to run around and explore, but there was cabin and there was river and there was mountain.  It's actually kinda funny.  Even funnier is that we have kinda made it our thing to take an "unplugged" trip once a year and every trip has cable.  Sure, no phone or internet, but they have cable TV.  Our kids loved it and it was a treat for them to watch a fun show while Ben and I sat outside and actually finished a conversation.