I totally get the whole snowbird concept now.  I also realize that I could ABSOLUTELY be a snowbird.  mid-July with windows open, yoga pants on and 2nd cup of coffee on the front porch with my dog mauling a tennis ball—I’m in.

With 3 of our 4 kids we left at 1 a.m. after working all day.  Hubs managed about a 4 hour nap and I grabbed a couple of hours on the couch.  Our son came home from work and we loaded into the truck.  3 teenagers.  1 extremely confused, 65 pound 10 month old “puppy” and the Hubs and I.  A stop at Wawa for coffee and we hit it.  About 5 gas/pit stops/puppy walks/driver swaps and 17 hours later we pulled into my Mom and her husband’s home.  Just in time for dinner.  Play time with their 2 Newfoundlands trying to “love” our pup.  Showers.  Firefly spotting.  Chatting on the back porch.  And glorious, horizontal rest in cozy beds.

In the a.m.,  we were recharged.  Hiked with the pup up through a farm and then hit the road for another 7 hours.  I will say that I am a beach girl, but the mountains…….a seriously close 2nd place.  THAT said, driving white-knuckled THROUGH the mountains during a horrific thunderstorm is not my favorite and will thus keep mountains in 2nd place.  However, once arrived, the rain stopped, pizza was eaten and rest was had by all.

Yesterday, the hubs and the pup and I started off with a hike along the river.  Later, we hiked with the kids through Lost River Gorge and caverns followed by a 3/4 mile hike STRAIGHT UP the side of the mountain.  None of us completed it.  The youngest and I quit after the first boulder ascent (she was exhausted and I know the limitations of my knee), our oldest daughter lasted another 20 minutes (about 1/3 of the way) and the hubs and boy came down not long after (perhaps at the 1/2 way point).  ‘Twas no joke.  Afterward, we rode a bit further to a lake we passed on the way in (during the rain) to explore.   A phenomenal refresher after all that climbing.

Beaver Pond

Spaghetti dinner, salad and bread.

Evening moose spotting (we saw one!) and ice cream and we wrapped that day UP!

We are missing our oldest son who is house and cat sitting and working.  Adulthood is hard.  Sometimes you figure it out at 18, sometimes it’s later.  And sometimes you get a “re-do” and have that 2 week vacation that you’ve dreamed of for years.  Somehow life works itself out.  One way or another.

If you look real hard, you will see my Hubs swimming out to the rock.  You would have to look even harder to find a happier man right now.

Psalm 118:24  This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.