Butch was out of town last week visiting colleges in Tennessee. Rather than flying back to DC or BWI, he flew into Charlottesville, VA --- which was sort of on the way to the reunion. The girls and I drove to Charlottesville on Thursday night and stayed at a hotel. It helped to break the trip up. And, if we hadn’t done that, we would have needed to wake up early on Friday & be in the car by 7:00, which didn’t sound fun. Instead, we had a “girls’ night” at the hotel, room service for breakfast (the worst I’ve ever had) and the girls got to swim in the pool for a short time.
The girls & I were happy to see Butch & get on the road for WV! The place we rented is an old house on a farm in the middle of nowhere. The original part of the house was built in the 1800’s. The drive up the mountain, leading to the house was a bit scary……very narrow…so much so that I can’t imagine what we would have done if we’d met someone else coming the other direction. And, the drop off was steep --- with nothing there to prevent the fall.
We finally arrived at the rental house a little after 3:00. Dee Dee, Bucky and Dad arrived pretty soon after we did. Aunt Annie & Aunt Jeannie were waiting to say hello. Everyone else trickled in through the evening.
We knew we’d be sort of roughing it by staying at this place, based on reviews that we’d read online. But, short of really roughing it (campground in tents), it was the only way we’d found to get all of us in one place. We were able to stay up talking & hanging out without anyone having to drive back to a hotel room.
Poor Leah was so exhausted by the time we were getting her to bed (11:00 pm) that she was sobbing & screaming. Some of the kids were sleeping in tents & she wanted to do that, too --- with me. Since we didn’t have a tent….and there was a perfectly fine bed….sleeping in a tent wasn’t happening!
Saturday morning, we finally got ourselves organized enough to get out of the house. It was nearly 11:00 before we were out the door. We caravanned to Aunt Jeannie’s and visited for a short time there. Then, back in the car to drive to Renick, where Mom’s family lived.
We knew Grandpa & Grandma’s house wouldn’t be the same, but we still really wanted to go. It looks nothing like it used to --- not even the backyard is the same. However, standing across the street, looking at the house brought back memories. The stairs that lead from the street/sidewalk up to the house look the same for the most part. However, we all agreed that when we were kids, it seemed like there were many more steps! The hill doesn’t look nearly as steep now. I can remember being so scared walking down those steps to get the newspaper.
My cousin, Tammy & I walked up to the house to see if anyone was home….sort of in hopes that they’d be open to us walking around on the lawn….or maybe even an invitation into the house. No one answered, though.
We headed over to a little spot where we could check out the Greenbrier River and the kids could get their feet wet. (They were disappointed that the house was supposed to have streams….but when we arrived we were told they are “wet streams” and are dry now.) Tony (named after my cousin who died much too young) is 20 months old and all boy! He waded into the water a bit, then came to a spot where it dropped off to about 2 feet…and he fell….stayed under for a couple seconds. A guy who was going out on a row boat grabbed him since he was closest.
After leaving the River, we drove past Aunt Ruby’s house. I have no memories of it since I was quite young when we would go visit and play there.
Next stop was the cemetery to visit the graves of Grandpa & Grandma and other family members. Then, off to the American Heritage Music Hall, which was started by Aunt Jeannie & her friend, Charlie years ago.
Back to the farm for dinner & visiting……
Most everyone that wasn’t already staying at the farm had already arrived. Oops! (Our touring around took longer than we thought….and we started later then we had planned!) It was so great to have everyone together. (Although, I should say “most” everyone…since there were several family members that couldn’t come on the trip.)
The farm had a zip line and in addition to the kids enjoying it, my nearly 74 year old Dad tried it! Dee tried to talk him out of it, but he wasn’t listening. He ended up with just a minor “boo-boo” on his knee.
Uncle Tom went, as well! I did crafts with some of the girls. Lots of people played cornhole and went riding on the 4-wheeler.
We had a huge spread for dinner – hamburgers, hot dogs, macaroni salad, potato salad, fruit salad, veggie tray, 3 bean salad, baked beans, etc., etc. Followed by too many desserts!
Thankfully, we had time to get in some pictures before the storms came.
With all the rain, we weren’t able to have a camp fire & roast s’mores! Lacey was almost in tears about this. It was also the first thing she asked for the next morning!
The kids had a fabulous time playing with their cousins and running around in the country. Leah didn’t want to wear shoes the whole time we were there! She claimed that walking on the rocks in the driveway felt good. Crazy girl.
The last day, Lacey said she wanted to stay longer. And, one of the kids (I think it might have been Cameron) said he wanted to stay for 1 more day of fun!
It truly was a great time. It was so great to have 4 generations together. These types of events never seem to be long enough. You don’t have enough time to talk to everyone you want to. Before we knew it, we were back in the car driving home to Maryland and reality.
We’ll need to start thinking about the next one before long…….
1 comment:
What a wonderful post! I really enjoyed reading it.
Mary
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