Old Rag Hike

While the girls were away at camp, we took advantage of the time and had some fun ourselves.   On Thursday evening we went to the driving range then out to dinner, on Friday we went to Vanish for a friend’s surprise birthday party, then we headed out early Saturday morning to hike Old Rag Mountain.  It has been on our list of hikes, but we had read that it’s rather challenging for kids (the rock scramble for sure), and pets aren’t allowed, so we had to wait for a day that just the two of us could go.  

 

Despite being warm and humid at the start, the higher we climbed, the cooler it got.  With the shade of the trees and plenty of water, hiking it in the summer was great.  I’m sure it’s a very popular fall hike to do, however!

  

Along the way up the mountain, there were several “fake summits” where the view is beautiful and you’re very high up, but more is actually to come.

  

  

The hike itself is a great workout, but the rock scramble portion is a different type of challenge.  In the below left picture you get an idea of what the rock scramble portion is like.  Climbing over and through those rocks up into the fog got us closer to the top. If you look closely, you can see a person on top of the far rock.  We thought that was the summit, but it actually wasn’t.  We had to keep climbing more to the right and up to get to the true summit.

    

Other than being bummed that I tweaked my shoulder in the rock scramble, it was awesome! We ate our packed lunch when we got to one of the fake summits just below the real summit, then made our way up to the top for some great 360 degree views of the area. 

It was an awesome way to spend the day together, then we visited a brewery we hadn’t been to before in the area, then made our way back.  The girls returned back home the next day, but it was great that we all had a fun couple days to enjoy something different than the usual!

 

 

Jr. Olympics and Middle School Camp

Last week, Nina had the very cool opportunity to compete in Junior Olympics.  She qualifiied in high jump as being one of the top six high jumpers in our region for her age group.  Mark, Nina, and I drove down to Greensboro, NC, (this year’s location for JO) on Tuesday, got in town for a late dinner, then stopped by her coach’s hotel to pick up her bib, certificate, shirt, bag, etc., then finally made it to our hotel just before 9pm to check in.  Thankfully, she didn’t need to be at the stadium until Wednesday afternoon, so we had time to get a good night’s sleep, a good breakfast, and take our time getting over to the stadium.

 

The event was quite impressive.  The track and field area was awesome, and stands for spectators lines three sides of the track.  While the experience was a great one, Nina didn’t feel like she jumped her best.  It was just one of those off days, unfortunately.  Regardless of the end result, it was a fantastic accomplishment to make it to Junior Olympics her first year in track, and we shared with her that our experiences have taught us that sometimes we can learn a lot more from disappointing experiences than triumphant ones.  

She noticed some areas in her form that she needed to change like throwing her head back while going over the bar rather than tucking her chin, and her very next summer session practice after JO, she almost completely changed her technique over the bar to throw her head back and arch more.  So, already, we saw how taking an experience and learning from it can be so helpful in the long run.

  

  

The morning after we returned from Greensboro, the girls left for our church’s Jr. High Summer Camp.  The church takes the kids from Thurs-Sun to North Bay Adventure Camp just off the Chesapeake Bay.  Nina had gone last year, but this was Lyla’s first year going, so we were so happy that they wanted to take this opportunity to go.  They had an awesome time, felt that they grew deeper in their relationship with the Lord, and built friendships with kids from church.  Mark and I were so happy that camp was a wonderful experience again!

   

Date Night and Scott's Run

It’s not often that we get a night out with just one of the girls, but Lyla has a sleepover at a good friend’s house a Friday night, so Mark, Nina, and I went out together for the evening.  We found a good dinner spot at One Loudoun then hung around for an outdoor 80s concert and Fantasticks.  Spending time with the girls one at a time is always a treat.  We get to see a different side of them when they’re by themselves, and we think this girl is a pretty great teen who is a lot of fun to hang out with!

   

One of the big things on the girls’ wish lists for the summer was going to Scott’s Run.  It’s not a big thing - it’s a local spot that’s about 35 minutes away, but they love going.  The big draw is climbing the log and or rocks and jumping into the deep water below.  This year the jumping log was removed.  Technically, we’re not “supposed” to be swimming there, but what’s the fun if you don’t rule break now and again.  :)  So, this time all the jumping was from the rocks, but they still had a great time.  They brought a friend along, and after their fill of jumping from the rocks, we walked on down to the waterfall area and the river.

  

 

The area by the river is great for letting Cayenne run around and letting the girls explore.  Normally, I’d let Cayenne off leash at the swimming hole, but there were two groups of people sitting off to the side who had lots of food set up, and Cayenne just may lack a little self control with food, so she had to stay on leash.

 

However, once down at the river, she was free to run, swim, and chase sticks.  She had a ball! After a couple hours there, we packed up and made the trek home, but I’m glad we got in at least one visit to Scott’s Run this summer.  It’s always a highlight!

 

July 4, 2019

We decided to head back from Hartfield on Wednesday night, so we were back at home on Thursday.  After a couple weeks of being away, I was glad to be home and settling back into things here.  July 4th is Cayenne’s birthday, so we celebrated our pup’s 6th birthday with chicken jerky pancakes (a tradition) and let her open her presents.  She LOVES to unwrap presents, so we wrapped up her treats and let her open them one at at time.

 

After the birthday, we got on the road and headed to Buzzard’s Hill for a hike.  We try to do quite a few hikes as a family, and while we have some of our favorites, it’s also fun to try new places and check out new hikes.  While we have been to several in the area of Buzzard’s Hill, this was our first time on this particular hike.  It was a rather easy hike but also nice to just be out walking through nature.

  

  

We had a couple disappointed young ladies on the first half of the hike.  It was pretty hot/humid, and we had read that there was a waterfall on the hike which everyone was excited about, but we got all the way to the top and saw no waterfall.  Since that was one of the big attractions for Nina and Lyla, they were none too happy with the hike at first.  However, we did a little investigating the All Trails app and discovered that the waterfall is actually off the trail, so we wouldn’t have seen it by sticking to the trail.  A simple diversion off the trail took us to the waterfall and that made everyone happy.  We were all able to cool off in the water, and it was a really pretty feature to see.

 

  

Everyone felt much better after cooling off in the fresh water and enjoying the waterfall, so then when we got back to the car and headed to the nearby Bear Chase Brewery. We all got a refreshing beverage, the girls grabbed a huge bag of kettle corn, and we relaxed on the hill and listened to music and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.  Some big storms rolled in after that, and we were all pretty tired after being out of town and hiking, so we opted for hanging at home for the night and watching fireworks from there. It was a fun way to spend the holiday together.

   

Hartfield in July

July started off pretty busy for us.  A day after we got back from our Bethany Beach vacation, I left for Anaheim, CA, for the week.  I had wrapped up my onboarding year to become a Les Mills USA Presenter, and I started into the role of becoming a Body Flow trainer, which is something I have really wanted to do for awhile. I enjoyed the week out in CA with Les Mills USA teammates, and we had some great sessions of learning and developing as instructors, trainers, and leaders.  

 

I arranged my flight home to get in on Friday evening so I could drive straight down to Hartfield when I got it so meet up with Mark and the girls.  They had driven down Friday evening to prepare for Nina to attend the Regional track meet in Hampton on Saturday.  My connecting flight out of Houston got delayed several hours because of storms in the area, so I didn’t get in until after midnight on Friday, therefore missing the chance to drive down that night to go to the track meet the next day.  I was so bummed to miss seeing Nina jump, but I arrived down at Hartfield Saturday afternoon and got to enjoy some time relaxing at the river with the fam.

     

It was beautiful dow at Hartfield, and the girls had a great time playing in the river, tubing, and hanging with their cousins.  All the adults were there as well althought I’m realizing when I look over my pictures that I don’t get many pictures of the adults.  I’m sure they’ll be thrilled that I want to change that! :)

 

  

  

When they weren’t on the boat, they had fun playing on the paddleboards and inner tubes off my parent’s pier.   On this particular occasion, Mousey had initiated a challenge of seeing if they could get all the girls plus Mouse on the paddleboard at the same time.  They may not have been terribly successful in the challenge, but it certainly provided for a lot of good laughs!

 

That’s the Mouse with her head under water and feet up in the air!  LOL!!

 

  

In addition to tubing and fishing, Garland and Shenley took us on the boat to a cool little island in the bay.  The water all around the island was shallow and calm - great for playing in and swimming!  It was also rich with shells and lots of nesting little birds who were quite serious about protecting their eggs!

 

Slightly more spectacular than the nesting birds was the goregous bald eagle that was flying over our heads as we arrived back at my parent’s property.  As we were drifting back in to the pier on the boat, this eagle was flying right over our heads.  They nest in the birds across the water from my parents’ house, so we do see them here and there, but it was rare to get this good of a look at them!

 

Before we left to come back home, Shen and I also took the girls for a day at Water Country.  They had a blast and came home with their fill of water ride fun and Cook Out!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful and beautiful family of girls who are smart, kind, loving, active/athletic, and a lot of fun to hang out with.