Sweet Shenandoah

We went on a weekend getaway to Shenandoah. We went last year around our anniversary and decided to go back this year at the same time. It was much needed! We took the girls and we all had such a good time. The cabin was beautiful. It was right on the river and had toys for the girls to play with. We didn't even get the toys out of the bag that we had brought. Paul took his boat and was able to do some fishing on the river. The girls did wonderful on the trip there and back. I didn't know exactly how that would work out because in the van we had the dvd player. We had a little portable one that my mom loaned to us, but I wasn't going to get it out unless I needed to. I really enjoyed the trip and realized that this was probably the first trip we have taken that the going and coming back went so smoothly. No one was fussy and we all enjoyed ourselves. Anyway, the weather was really yucky this time. We we got there on Thursday, it was pretty late, so we dropped our stuff off and headed to the Food Lion to by some food. We came back to the cabin and baked cookies then the girls went to bed. They had a princess television and Hello Kitty comforters on the bed. Kristen loved it. For Christmas she wants a tv for her room. She liked being able to watch a movie at bedtime. It was a luxury for them. The next day we went to Luray Caverns. It was a waste of 46 dollars, which by the way was just for Paul and I to get in because the girls were free. Can you believe that? For 46 dollars we should have gotten a free t-shirt or a magnet or something. When we walked down the 100 stairs to get in the caverns the only reaction we got was from Lauren and she said "wow." Kristen said nothing. The only thing she said was half way through she asked when we were going to be out of this thing. We all wore jackets because the last time it was around 50 degrees in the caverns. This time, because of the humidity, it was around 70. We also met up with a couple of school groups, which by the way I am NEVER chaperoning anything. It was complete chaos and all of the parents that were chaperoning had this "What did I get myself into" look on their faces. We tried to wait until the gift shop cleared out to go back in, but it never did so we had to battle the chaotic kids. Kristen picked out a dog in a purse holder and a little pony. Lauren got a horse in a purse holder and a doll in a little purse. They both got rock candy. I got my magnet but had to pay for it. We had also planned to go to the garden maze, but it started raining so we went to Walmart and headed home. That night we had planned to build a fire in the fire pit and roast marshmallows and hot dogs, but the wood was wet. Kristen talked about it all day and Paul and the lighter fluid worked their hardest to try to get a fire started with no success. We ended up doing the hot dogs on the grill and Kristen got to help him fix them. It wasn't the same, but it worked to calm her down a little. The next day we headed to a couple of craft shops and then went out on Paul's boat. I didn't bring my camera, which I should have because it was quite and experience. We had never been out on Paul's boat before, so this was our first boating experience. It was...well...interesting. Kristen was so afraid that the boat was going to tip over when I was going to get in my seat that both Paul and I were laughing so hard at her. Lauren was like that boy in the Christmas story. It was quite cold so the girls had on pretty big coats plus life jackets. Lauren fell off of her seat and on to the floor. When she got up she had a bug crawling across her face. Lauren was content just sitting there pulling the legs off of the lizard bait we gave her. Everything was going good. Paul had caught a fish and the girls got to touch it and kiss it. Can you believe that. YUCK. Then...it happened...Kristen's fishing pole when flying into the water. She cast it a little too hard. You would have thought she went over board. I tried to grab it, but wasn't fast enough. She cried for a good little while, then finally calmed down. Long enough to inform us she had to go to the bathroom. Now that is a dilemma when you are in the middle of the river and it is cold. So, she went to the bathroom over the side of the boat then once she realized we didn't have any toilet paper. Well, I just wished I could have captured her face when we told her. It was priceless. We decided to call it a day after that. Once we got back, Kristen got off of the boat and went and stood on this rock. Well, I got off and Paul handed Lauren to me. It was on a bank, so I started slipping. The only thing I could do was run up the hill and I ran right into Kristen and knocked her off of the rock. Needless to say I was really glad to be back at the cabin. We then got in the hot tub and that was the BEST part of the day. The girls enjoyed it and we all relaxed for a little while before dinner. The next day, on our way back home, we stopped at the garden maze. Kristen LOVED it. She led us through and go us out. I was so glad we ended our trip on a good note and it turned out to be a bright sunny nice day. I really enjoyed the trip. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to go back next year. Here are some pictures from our trip.