Family Vacation-Part 1

Since my family was all going to be together for Reed's baptism, we decided to plan our yearly family vacation for the week following the festivities. It was jam packed, crazy and as usual flew by. After months of planning and anticipation it's hard not to feel a little cheated when it's all over so quickly. Thank goodness for pictures that allow us to relive the best of the experience and forget the rest.

The first outing of our vacation was to go to the same ropes course Sam and I visited for our anniversary. I'd been looking forward to bringing Reed to it as soon as he turned 8 (the minimum age). I knew the big kids would love it, but I was concerned that it might be too difficult for them to figure out the system for clipping in and out of the climbing system. While I was right in my assumption that they would love it (they did) I was completely wrong about it being too difficult for them. Within a very short time, Luke, Belle and Reed were flying through the course unaccompanied. It was so fun to see them maneuver thought the obstacles with confidence and especially fun to see how impressed they were with themselves.






The zip lines were their favorites.


Can you tell Reed was feeling confident? That's my boy.




I don't know if the kids appreciated the beauty of the location, but I did. It was gorgeous.


The whole climbing crew. It wasn't just the kids who had a great time. Everyone did great and pushed themselves to do it all. Fortunately or unfortunately it got too windy towards the end of our time there and they closed it down and saved us all from having to do anything completely out of our comfort zone.


The next day we woke up early and headed to Harper's Ferry. I am a little embarrassed to admit how VERY little I knew about Harper's Ferry. I would often include Harper's Ferry in the list of things we were so lucky to live near, but in the back of mind I really didn't have a clue what it was all about. I definitely recognized the name from my US History class, but outside of a general familiarity with the name, I didn't know a thing.

The actual "town"--or what is left of it--was pretty small, but in my opinion still worth the visit.


I am always so impressed with how well the kids do at these more historical stops. They were pretty interested in everything we saw, and I can guarantee the name John Brown means more to them than it ever did to me at me as a kid.


Standing in front of John Brown's "fort".
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They enjoyed the historical stuff, but they also enjoyed climbing on and gathering rocks, chasing each other in circles and every body's favorite--collecting and wielding sticks at each other in the parking lot. They could have a good time just about anywhere.





While we were there, we also got to take in some of the beauty of West Virgina. Their license plates don't lie. It is wild and wonderful.


The meeting of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. Sadly this picture does it no justice.


The whole thing was very interesting and I am happy to report that I can now, with confidence, carry on an intelligent conversation about Harper's Ferry and no longer have to secretly cringe the next time I tell someone I love living near cool historical places like Harper's Ferrybecause now I know what it is.