shenandoah 08

Last week, we took a family vacation to the Shenandoah with my mom and brother.  It was 5 great, relaxing days.  We were a little worried about how William would do overall, but the Lord was so gracious with him.  He traveled well and even slept well, though towards the end of the trip, he was being more fussy with his missed naps adding up.  I think it was just the right amount of time for him to be away from home.  Poor thing also managed to get a really bad diaper rash for most of the week, but did well with it except when it came to diaper changes.  =)  It was a great opportunity to get away for a bit and test the waters more with William in terms of what he can handle.  We are looking forward to doing it again next year, but probably won't be going far again since the new baby will be here, Lord willing.  Here are some highlights...

We went to the Luray Zoo, which is a small zoo, but it was the first time that William had been to any zoo at all.  He would glance very quickly at each animal and then was ready to move on to the next thing.  =)

 

They also had a petting zoo which William LOVED.  He couldn't get enough of trying to pet the animals.  It was cute watching him approach the animals to give them some lovin'.  =)

 

 

We also took a short, easy hike that was about 1.2 miles.  I forget what the name of the hike is, but it was right off of Skyline Drive.

William adored his Uncle Jimmy and would often attach himself to him.  =)  He would ask for "Ga-kum" wherever we went.

William was able to walk the majority of the hike on his own.  He stopped often to look at rocks, leaves, and sticks.  Our little monkey walked almost a mile before he konked out on the trail.  We were very impressed at how long he lasted!

 

We also managed to go to Luray Caverns.  Don't have many pictures here since it was so dark most of the time, and we were on a tour.  It was hard to stop and take pictures.  But our favorite part was the reflecting pool.  You couldn't tell that it was water reflecting the image from the ceiling unless you looked very closely.  William wasn't too enthralled with the caverns.  Unfortunately, we had to go during his naptime, so he fell asleep during a portion of it.

 

These last photos are at the cabin we stayed at and the views we had out on the deck.  It really was a beautiful cabin with spectacular views.

On one of the days, we were able to see a rainbow out back.  It was gorgeous and stretched all across the sky.

There was also an amazing pool, but it was too cold to use!  =(  Bill got some good use out of the hot tub inside though!

William relished having the wide, open yards to run around in.  He loved circling around the house even though it was quite chilly and windy outside! 

 

Lastly, some pictures inside the cabin...

There was a very old typewriter that William had a fondness for.  He enjoyed typing and watching the typebars fly up to hit the ribbon and platen.

Our little country boy...  This is a new skill William learned from Uncle Jimmy.