Shenandoah Crossing Vacation

This area of Virginia is beautiful!

We just got home today from Gordonsville VA.  We had to modify our vacation because of the district tournament, but things worked out pretty good.  We went up on Tuesday when the weather barely got above 79 degrees and yesterday and today it was well over 100 degrees.  WOW what a change from the beginning of the vacation.  Me and the kids spent a lot of time at he pool.  Brandon spent a lot of time in the yurt in front of the TV.  I am so glad that both girls can swim and play so well together.  I read 1 book in less than 2 days and had a decent time by the pool relaxing. 

Back yard view

From the front.  I would LOVE to live here!

It's hard to tell, but to the left of Brandon is a trench built during Civil War. This was really neat to see...at least the first 1/2 mile of them, the last 1 1/2 miles of them was a little much. We had a good hike though.

We took 1 day to go Civil War tromping.  Not the best of times, but not the worst either.  We actually found an old home (Elwood) that was used by the Confederates and the Union soldiers and it actually was the only home in the area that survived the war and fires caused by the war.  It was surrounded by The Battle of the Wilderness historical sites.   We toured it and its grounds and actually "stumbled" across the fact that this was the place that Stonewall Jackson's arm was buried after he lost it in the war.  Another neat fact was that we saw a little boy in an old picture with the house and the volunteer there told us that he ended up being a obstetrician and his daughter actually volunteers at the house too.  A few minutes later he pointed out that woman from an upstairs window.  She was outside weeding around the outbuildings!  I don't know why, but that was interesting!  It's like the picture came to life.  Haha!  Then later outside we said hello to her. 


The last night in Gordonsville we took the kids down to the lodge and went to the arcade. A storm came up and there were umbrellas floating in the pool and the lights were flickering. We waited till the rain stopped and hopped in the car to drive back across the property to the yurt and it looked like a tornado had came through. We had to wait for a guy with chainsaw to get out of the road, we had to dodge tree limbs in the road, and then when we reached our yurt and I realized that neither one of us picked up a key to the yurt before we left. Here it was 10:30pm and I was going to have to drive back throught that mess to go get another key. Lucky me mentioned this to one of the maintenance guys that was out in the street trying to get a tree cut off of another yurts' walkway and he came over and let us in. We got inside and the storm picked back up and we could hear limbs hitting the canvas roof and the walls were starting to flap and "wave" around the support structures. I took the portable DVD player and put it under the kitchen table and made the kids gets under there until the storm let up.

Kids under kitchen table during Severe Weather Warning.  Thought my mom would be proud I was protecting her babies. Haha!

 I checked the weather channel and we were under a severe thunderstorm warning and it said to take cover in a safe place. Here we are sitting out in the woods in a glorified tent! I packed a small bag of important stuff and sat by the door and kitchen table. It finally let up and we let the kids go back to the bedroom to watch TV. Today on the way home a lot of places didn't have power (so you couldn't get gas) and we saw huge trees downs for at least the first 2 hours of our trip. Then I get home and see that the death toll was 12 due to those wind storms and to think we were in a yurt! Gosh!

Look who I found cuddliing in my bed!!!  They liked our room because it had a huge TV...go figure



This is Brandon on vacation-in front of TV

Runner Up Winners

Team Picture

We lost last night 6-1 against the Rockingham Angel, but we are still headed to state tournament on July 13.  Girls played a lot better than the last time we played against Rockingham.  That game's score was 14-0. 

Emily sporting her new medal

Emily receiving her medal

Team with new Trophy

Emily drooping pants Burnette with team trophy

Our new paint jobs ready for vacay!

BURNETTE 15



Heat Index of 104 and she is as cool as a cucumber!  She never once complained.  The only thing she said was "Look mom, I have a tan line on my hand"  Her left hand is white from the wrist down from wearing her glove.  It is the strangest thing!

My baby girl in action.  She got a good hit, but ball was caught by 1st base girl.

GO BURNETTE 15

Not really anytime to tell any stories, but to summarize...  We will be playing the chmpionship game tomorrow against Rockingham.  We lost to them Saturday and they haven't lost to anyone yet.  Therefore, we need to lose tomorrow and let them be champions and we be left as runner ups.  I say this because we have had plans on hold for 2 days and we need to wrap this whole tournament up!  Isn't that awful?  Haha!  Not really because for some reason this year our age bracket is taking the winner and the runner up to state, so we have secured our place for the NC Tournament in July.

EMILY ON ALL STARS! WOO HOO

Opening Ceremony Introduction of teams

This is a picture of the girls in their originating teams' uniforms

After the rough social year Emily has had I was happy to find out she made it onto the Angels All Stars team.  She already knew half the team from softball or church, but she was able to incorporate a few other personalities into her social network. 

Even though we have been busy I have still taken up a new favorite obsession...Hot Pepper Jelly.  It is this addictive "jelly" that you smear on top of cream cheese and a cracker and best of all-I can make it with stuff straight out of the garden (except the 3 cups of sugar).  Here is a picture of this wonderful substance.  My grandma Furr would be so proud of me! 

Here is a cute little baby turtle we saw in the back yard.  The girls absolutely loved it and didn't want to let it go.

Abigail and a stray sunflower down at the farm.

Abigail are her bestie...

Abigail and her teacher Mrs. Lowder.  Thank goodness she will also be moving to Locust in the fall.

Tweetsie Railroad

Girls on the porch of the Canyon restaurant at sunset.

My girls found them a couple of cowboys!

Sir Topham Hat

Trying one on for size

This was a hilarious thing and I wish it had video coverage.  Brandon decided to feed the emu by hand.  We had seen a sign that said Beware of feeding animals by hand.  They may nip.  Brandon had fed it by hand and it bit the palm of his hand when it grabbed the food.  I snapped the picture right as he was yelling and jerking his hand away. 

So you would think that we would have already taken our kids here before now, but we haven't.  The last time Brandon and I went was about 15 years ago when we took my nephew Tyler.  I won tickets on the radio about 2 weeks ago, but it was for Thomas the Tank Engine featured days only.  So being the frugal person I am, I thought this is our chance to go if we want to avoid the $112 it would have costed to get in.  We went up Saturday evening and got a hotel, went out to eat, and played in the hotel swimming pool until they closed it down.  Then we spent Sunday morning at Tweetsie.  I actually can say I know what Sir Topham Hat looks like now!  Haha!  The kids even had there picture made with them and the only time we have ever seen Thomas on TV was at our friends house.  So we were surrounded with all these families with little boys that were all dressed up in Thomas apparel and carrying their little souvenirs.  We rode the train, the chairlift, and some carnival rides.  We walked around the petting zoo and had lunch before leaving for the day.  We weren't all that thrilled, but at least the kids have been to Tweetsie now.  We swung by some of the outlet mall stores before we left Blowing Rock and then headed home.