Wonderful Weekend

Since we sold our house and moved (which was January) we've been trying to get out of town for the weekend. We've done other trips to see family and friends, but we haven't just gone out of town as a family to relax and spend time together. So finally, after six months we did it. A couple of weeks ago I made reservations at a cabin in Stanly, VA, about an hour and a half away. We left Friday afternoon. We had to take Damien's car since mine was still in the shop. :-) Driving up to the cabin was pretty crazy. Luckily it was still light outside because by the end the directions were to the effect of "turn right after this sign, pass a pond and turn left at the T in the road, go right at the next fork past the pond" etc... I guess these are so new that they don't have any street signs up yet. The cabin was adorable. It was small but was really new with two bedrooms, a bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and a hot tub on the screened in porch with a beautiful view. After dropping off our stuff we ventured back down the mountain to a little diner. We knew we were in a tiny town when the place didn't take credit cards (we had no cash either so they reluctantly took a check) and the dinners were less than $5. We had country fried steak, mac&cheese, etc... We must have all been starving because we ate every bit of food. Micaiah enjoyed the green beans, mac&cheese and French fries from Orin's plate. It's was also sort of strange when we were asked "So, are ya'll from the city". Orin was really excited to sleep because he got his own double bed in his own room. Anyway, Saturday we relaxed in the morning and I cooked a HUGE breakfast which doesn't happen often right now because of our living situation. We decided to try to go canoeing. We called "Shenandoah Outfitters" and they said that they would allow infants so we decided to go. Ironically, after we parked and were walking to the office, we see a man running towards us and I thought, wow, that sure looks like a friend from work. And wouldn't you know that it was him! What are the odds? Anyway, Orin was so excited to go on a "boat" and was probably just as excited to ride in the truck that took us to it. We did the 3mile run since we didn't know how the kids would do but they were great. Orin went back and forth sitting next to Damien and I and of course wanted to row. Micaiah had to be held because the life jacket was so big that he couldn't sit alone. But he still seemed to be having some fun and fell asleep for the last 15 minutes. After two miles we pulled over and swam for a while which Orin loved. Speaking of swimming, Orin has surprisingly gotten a little less adventurous in his old age. Six months ago he would have just gone off until we stopped him. Now, if the water is too high he'll cling to me and will only venture on his own after getting more comfortable. At one point I lost my shoes and as I turned around to get them Orin fell over in the water and couldn't get up. He was only under for about 4 seconds before Damien yelled to me to get him, but he was definitely scared. But we took him back out right away and he calmed enough to walk on his own again. Saturday evening I cooked dinner and we ate outside on the bug-free screened porch and Orin and I swam in the hot tub and then we took a bath in the jacuzzi inside. Sunday was another lazy morning with another big breakfast. The cabin came with free tickets to Luray Caverns which is supposedly the best cabins in the east so we decided to go. We were glad to have the tickets when we saw that they cost $20 a piece! We also did this great maze that they had there. It was actually pretty confusing and took a while to figure out. On the way home we stopped in Front Royal, VA to eat at a Mexican restaurant we had been to about 3 years ago coming home from hiking. We force down some Frozen custard from a local place and headed home stuffed and exhausted and got in around 7. It was a really great time and we really needed it.