Camping

This past January, I was looking through lots of clearance items and found a tent 75% off. I find it so hard to resist clearance sales, but a tent seemed like a family with two young boys should have. I showed it to Brian and he agreed we should get one. We've been talking about taking the boys camping for a couple of years, and now we had no excuse not to go.

We decided to try out Holliday Lake State Park in Appomattox, VA. In the days leading up to our big trip, I made lists and lists of items that we would need to bring. I didn't realize just how much stuff was required to "rough it." We packed all our stuff and headed to the woods. We got the tent set up and explored the campgrounds. We wet a few lines in the lake and the boys played on the playground. Back at camp, we made a fire and roasted hot dogs for dinner and then made s'mores. The boys LOVED cooking over the fire.

Saturday, we got up and hiked 6.3 miles around the lake. It was a lovely hike (for about a mile). While enjoying our stroll through the woods, our pleasant jaunt was interrupted by my screaming at the top of my lungs. I happened to look at just the right moment to see the largest snake I have ever seen. I didn't care what kind of snake it is, it was alive, so it was BAD! It wasn't until a little while later that the truth was revealed. That snake just happened to be a copperhead! From that point on, I kept a close eye on the trail and it's inhabitants. We saw some lizards, a turtle, one more snake, and lots of ticks. Actually, the ticks were mainly on us, not the trail.

Sunday, the boys wanted to try out the paddle boats. It was a very breezy morning, so it was a bit of effort paddling around the lake, but it, too, was lots of fun.

*for some reason, I am not able to upload pictures to this post. I will post some pictures as soon as I can.

April

*Spring Break*




Tiffany brought David, Emily, Erin, and Eva for a visit. We had a great time playing at the park! Hunter and Garrett just love playing with their cousins, so this was a great day. The kids played, Tiffany and I shopped, the kids played some more, and we grilled out for dinner. What a fantastic day!

March

The Race




Brian, Robert, Jennifer and I all participated in the Monument Avenue 10K that supports the Massey Cancer Center at MCV. This is such a fun race to run with all of the bands and fans along the route to cheer the runners on. This year we ran in honor of many family members who are battling cancer: Dad, Marcia, Uncle Bob, Mac (Brian’s step-grandfather), and remembering a family member who recently passed away, Brian’s Uncle Johnny. My personal goal for the race was to run the entire race. I also wanted to complete it in one hour. Well, I did run the entire race, and completed it in 60:13. Pretty close to the one hour mark, especially since I was running alone for half the race. Brian and I were supposed to run together, he and Robert went to park the car and Jennifer and I went to the starting line. When it was time for my wave to start, I couldn’t find Brian, so I started without him. Finally, right about half way, he caught up with me and we finished together. It was so much fun! Brian and I wore the cruise shirts for Dad!

February

*Star Wars Party*

The boys celebrated their birthdays in February with a Star Wars party. They each invited a few friends to train at the Jedi academy. I made each of the Padawans (jedi’s in training) a tunic, and they came armed with their own light sabers. Obi-dad conducted the training sessions, teaching the young jedi’s light saber control, team work and how to use the force. The final test was to “fight” Darth Vader. All of the children had a blast. Some are still wondering how Darth Vader found our house, although Hunter is sure that it was just Daddy dressed up. “Darth Vader doesn’t wear Daddy’s shoes!” An observant child, he is.

January

*Christmas at Granny and Pop’s House*

Here are some pics from our family Christmas at Granny and Pop’s house. The cousins had fun together, and Pop looked really great in his cruise shirt!



*Basketball*
Hunter and Garrett both played basketball this winter. They were on the blue team, and Brian was one of the coaches. Despite being the youngest kid playing, Garrett did exceptionally well. He learned very quickly how to dribble and shoot baskets. His only complaint was that the big kids kept him from scoring any points in the games. He’ll do fine next season, I’m sure.


Hunter’s skills improved greatly over the season, too. He got better at dribbling without looking at the ball, and he scored several clutch shots for their team. I was a very proud Mama, and Daddy did a great job coaching. I am actually looking forward to them playing again!

Awareness *UPDATED*

I have decided to change the background of my blog to promote cancer awareness, specifically breast cancer. When I figure out what color ribbon to designate liver cancer, that will be included. I guess I feel like in some small way, I can honor Marcia and Dad through my blog. I have not written for quite a while, but a lot has happened. I will post more later today, so please stay tuned...

*Update: I did some research and the liver cancer awareness color is emerald green (my main text color) and the general cancer awareness color is lavender (my background color). I don't know if this is meaningful for anyone else, but it is meaningful to me.