The Birthday Trip

Tonight is one of those times when I have so many thoughts swirling through my head that I hardly know what direction to go in.  There are at least half a dozen blog posts that I would dearly love to be writing, but lack of time--that constant problem--demands that I choose just one to focus on.  So...I've decided.

Before April ends, I must write about our little get-away for my birthday.  (I'm also feeling compelled to write about this tonight because the friends with whom I had dinner last night put a little pressure on me.)  ;-)  

My birthday was nearly a month ago; and some weeks before that, Jeff unexpectedly announced over supper that he had taken a few days off work and arranged for us to go as a family to Massanutten Resort and stay there to celebrate my birthday.  Wow!!!  I was very surprised and instantly delighted, and I wasn't the only one.  My boys LOVE going away, and the mere thought of staying in a hotel is enough to excite them.  :)  Plus, they all know about the best feature of Massanutten Resort:  the waterpark, of course!

Jeff, being the Wise Financial Guy that he is, got a fantastic deal on our get-away because one of his customers works at the resort and arranged things for us so we could do this rather cheaply.  What a gift!  What a demonstration of Jeff's love to plan this without me knowing anything about it!  What a way to turn 35!  :)

Of the three days we were there, we were only able to go to the waterpark for one of them; but we took advantage of that day and went twice, spending some hours there before naps and some after.  I don't have any pictures from that because I didn't want to take my camera.  All I wanted to do there was have fun!  I think I like it even better than the boys do, but they might disagree with me.  ;-)  My favorite things from that day were going down the big slide with Josiah and David in a 3-person inter-tube, making our way through Lazy River with all of my family together (and hearing Tobin call it Crazy River), and watching Shav walk and walk and WALK in and around the kiddie pool.  Oh, I also loved getting in the hot pool, too, because that warm water felt SO good.  I really just loved EVERYTHING about being there.

Other than that, the rest of our time at the resort was spent in a very laid-back fashion, lazily enjoying time together as a family and the break in routine that a get-away provides.  We thoroughly enjoyed our accommodations there...

...and the boys had a grand ol' time exploring the condo on the day we arrived.  They kept running up and down the hallway, going into all the rooms, checking everything out, commenting on how nice everything was, etc.--so funny for them to do that!  Shav especially enjoyed being The Explorer, since his walking skills were so new at that point and he was happy to be able to use them in different surroundings.

The best part of the condo, without a doubt, was the bathroom (well, one of the bathrooms--there were two).  It had the biggest bathtub/jacuzzi that I've probably ever seen, and the walls surrounding it were mirrored, and it was just so cool.  The pictures really don't do it justice, but believe me, it was GREAT!  :)

The boys loved all the little fancy touches...

...like towels in the shape of elephants.  :)

The tub was big enough that all the male members of our family could get in at the same time, so they did.  Several times.  :)

When they weren't in the tub...

...the boys could be found watching movies we had brought along...

...or, in the case of Shav, playing with a travel set of Thomas the Tank Engine trains (a set which, by the way, Jeff's mom had originally bought for Josiah when we were in California in 2005, preparing to drive across the country to our new home in Virginia after our years in Israel--that set has been well-used and much-loved!).

There were three TVs in the condo, so sometimes we let the boys watch a movie--the VeggieTales "Lord of the Beans" movie was a favorite during this trip--in their room, which made the living room area a little quieter.  :)

One day--I think it was our first day there--we drove up through the resort to the highest lookout spot, but we couldn't see much because of the cloudy, overcast weather.  We could, however, see some of these graceful creatures...

...creatures which, I know, are disliked by gardeners and farmers who lament the loss of crops to them...

...but even though I know that, I can't find it in me to think badly of deer.  They are so graceful!

As we descended the mountain...

...I had fun taking pictures of the road.  :)

Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to eat dinner one evening at Hank's SmokeHouse, a delicious restaurant which Jeff and I ate at way back in 2006 when we were celebrating our 9th anniversary (a picture of us at that restaurant for that occasion is in this post).   Eating out with just a husband is one thing; eating out with four children is quite another.  ;-)  But the food was still delicious, and our boys were well-behaved enough that people at a neighboring table complimented us on them.  I'm always so glad when that happens!

Other activities during our time away were reading aloud (especially the Anasi stories, told by Eric Kimmel--the boys got a great big kick out of those, particularly Anasi and the Moss-Covered Rock), munching on the abundance of snack food we took with us (enough food to last for a week!), and playing games we brought from home:  Uno, Skip-Bo, probably Old Maid, too.  Apparently, another fun way to spend time was rolling around on the floor, as demonstrated by the blurry bodies of David and Josiah.  ;-)

One less-than-wonderful aspect of the trip was that both Tobin and Shav ended up sick; but by God's grace, I had thought to pack a thermometer and some pain & fever medicine.  I never pack those things!  But I was so grateful to have them, and the medicine was sufficient to help the sufferers feel well enough to have a good time.  But on the third day, as we were packing up to come home, this is how we found Tobin:

Sometimes vacations are exhausting--but even so, they're a very good way to celebrate birthdays.  ;-)