NiNi Camp-Day 1

Day 1 Rockfield Park - Dad-Dad did a devotion using animals and balsa airplanes, which they later had fun flying (the airplanes, not the animals!).









NiNi led a craft (with Tiffany's assistance)
decorating journals with colored sand.






The kids had fun making their own snowballs make at NiNi & Dad-Dad's house. Dad-Dad had borrowed the snowball machine from school. We set up a table with all the food supplies on the back porch. Camping at its most convenient!







Esther & Quinn were great buddies all week. They enjoyed doing everything together.











The conspiracy--Caitlin came up with a plan to get Dad-Dad to the pool.








"Hurry, Dad-Dad, come see what's in the pool!"










"Hah! Tricked you Dad-Dad!" This is a tradition started at the first NiNi Camp. (Happily, Dad-Dad is smart enough to remove cell phone and other items from his pockets!)








Shaving cream fun! Another NiNi Camp tradition. The boys really get into it. Notice that Esther is involved but cautiously.














Caitlin also was a little less enthusiastically involved!













Another highlight of NiNi Camping. Sleeping on the front porch. This year we brought out the TV and watched a movie and ate popcorn before bed.









Stay tuned for Day 2 posting!

Answer to Question

Well, Tara was the only one to guess at my question put in my blog about our trip to Rocky Gap. Actually, I don't know how many people even check my blog anymore because I have been so negligent.

The question was about the store we visited in Cumberland. The name of the store was Social Studies and I asked for guesses about what they sold. I just thought for homeschoolers that would be an intriguing name for a store.

The answer is that they sell gift items made by people in countries around the world. We talked a lot with the proprietors who had just returned from a trip. They were very interesting (very liberal types--but intent on doing good). They purchase goods made by people who would have a hard time getting their goods on the market outside of their village otherwise.

These are two dolls that were made by Cambodian women who either were HIV positive or had polio because of the lack of vaccines available to them. They are carrying things that would be typical of the people in the village.

One of my regrets is that in my conversation with the woman (who was Japanese but had been raised in Canada) I mentioned that I worked at a church that had a Christian school and that the Kindergarten class always learned about different countries and I thought they would enjoy seeing these dolls. She perked up and was very interested in the school and asked where it was and seemed disappointed when I told her we were not local. Later, she said that all religions were really the same--it was all about doing good things. As she talked I silently prayed for the words to speak but I didn't seem to be able to form the words without being argumentative and correcting her. I have their card with addresses (both snail and e-mail) and am praying about writing to her. I think I probably communicated by my facial expressions that I didn't share her view. But I left feeling a little disappointed in myself for not saying something. I guess it wasn't a divine appointment but maybe I can write and at least plant some seeds. Any ideas?

This is a very whimsical grasshopper, also from Cambodia. They had many beautiful items from all over the world, beautiful purses, shawls, rugs, dishes. Of course, I was thinking of what things the grans would enjoy seeing.

And Tara, we did visit a tea shop and enjoyed a cup of tea and purchased some loose tea to take home. I always like to visit tea shops and sample different teas and look at tea pots for my collection (since it has grown so large, I have to be more selective!) Right now I am looking for individual tea pots with the cup as a lid. I have two that I really love but have a hard time finding ones that I like. Most of the ones I find have very large cups with a small tea pot sitting on top and that's not the kind I like. I think it would be fun to have several and have a tea party with each person having their own tea pot and cup. They had nothing at all of that sort but it is always fun to look anyway.

Big Meadows

On the morning of June 27 we took Esther with us to the office to put in a few hours. It was the only day I had worked that week since we had the kids with us. So I had a lot to get done in a few hours. Esther had wanted to come with us but the boys stayed home with Uncle Ryan. Esther entertained herself with coloring and drawing pictures at the table in the office, chatting merrily away. Ryan met us at about noon with the Suburban and the boys. We had gotten all packed for camping the night before.
We headed to the Skyline Drive. Just before we passed Skyland the traffic was stopped on the Parkway. We knew someone was seeing some type of wildlife ahead and hoped the fuss wasn't over deer (which are everywhere and cease to delight after a while). When we got a little closer we saw that it was a young black bear. The kids were excited even though we didn't get to see it really close as the cars ahead of us sat there until it was heading back into the woods. Thanks to my camera with a telephoto lens I was able to get a fairly good picture of it.

By the time we arrived at our campsite it was getting close to dark. We had to make a decision--set up the tent or cook and eat while it was still light? We made the decision to make a campfire and make hobo pizzas over the fire and feed everyone while it was still light. As you can see we hadn't located the tablecloth yet! Of course, this meant setting up the tent in the dark. This was complicated by the fact that it was only the second time we had used this tent. The first time had been at Cunningham when we had had to make a hasty departure, leaving our tent at the site. Someone at the park had graciously taken down our tent and stored it until we could pick it up. However, they must have been in great haste when they did it because there was a good bit of tangle and one broken pole. Bill was able to improvise with a pole from an old tent and later was able to repair the pole for our next trip (actually he did it on our next trip to Rocky Gap--I praise God for a calm and creative husband. I would have dissolved in tears and slept in the car!) The kids made friends with the boys in the family camped next to us (literally next to us, we felt like they were sharing our campsite!). The boys found out that we were both Christians--it turns out that the family were missionaries until about a year and a half ago. They had started homeschooling while on the mission field and loved it so much that continued when they returned to the states.

Carl and Kimberly were meeting us on Saturday at Luray Caverns. (Actually, we met at a Burger King close by to have lunch before touring the caverns.) I don't think I had been there since before I was married so it was a treat. Carl and Kimberly had carefully prepared Alex for this experience. Maybe a little too well! They wanted him to prepared that the tour guide would probably turn out the lights briefly so that you could see how dark it got. As soon as we began down the steps into the cavern he flipped out. After Carl and then Dad-Dad had a little talk with him he calmed down. Later, Carl was able to reassure him that he had spoken to the guide and she wasn't going to turn out the lights on this particular tour. I got some wonderful pictures. Here, Dad-Dad is sharing the wonders of stalagtites and stalagmites with Daniel, who had a wonderful time but got tired of walking (as did we all!). Although I wouldn't say this was Alex's favorite destination, probably he could now tell you all about the formations. As usual, he submitted to having his picture taken but didn't take joy in it. Afterwards, we took a quick tour of a carriage and car museum, which is included in the admission. And, of course, looked through the gift shop where NiNi sprung for colorful rock candy for the kids. We loaded up the kids to head back to camp. We had only been able to reserve one campsite but, on arriving, had been able to get another on a loop just behind ours. Just as we were preparing supper, the wind picked up. It appeared that we were in for a whopper of a thunderstorm. We ate our supper of spaghetti very quickly and cleaned up. Happily, the storm never materialized and we were able to enjoy an evening of roasting marshmallows and making hobo pies. The next morning we ate a quick breakfast--the kids thought it would be fun to have backwards day. We had started a fire and I was making a hash brown casserole in my dutch oven, which would take at least an hour to bake. So we decided to eat a little something before the camp church service and then come back and have a more elaborate brunch. We had hot dogs with us (of course) so we roasted those (hence backwards day) before heading to the outdoor church service. The national parks cooperate with an Christian organization that provides people to do church services and other outreach things. Those with the organization hold jobs in the park and are given housing for a nominal fee. We enjoyed meeting a retired couple at Loft Mountain last year who were doing that. Bill and I both hope one day to be able to be a part of this outreach--when we are able to take a whole summer off. You have to be available for at least Memorial Day through Labor Day. At this church service two college students held the service. We were a little bit disappointed in the message (only because we saw where he could have developed it more fully and felt it was stopped short) but the fellowship and singing praises to God outdoors was wonderful. Then we headed back to our campsite to enjoy our brunch before packing up to go home.

Before leaving for home we stopped to take a hike down to Dark Hollow Falls. It was a very popular place that day and crowded. This is where Daniel fell and cut his forehead, requiring a later trip to the hospital for stitches. But the falls were beautiful. The climb back up was very strenuous but we took it slow, stopping to rest often and enjoying the sights along the way. Back at the car, Daniel's head was rebandaged and we said good-bye. Carl and family were heading to Culpeper on the way home to visit Sandy Abell who is the mother of Carl's college roommate at Va. Tech. He was killed in a car accident in Germany and our Daniel is named after him. I can let Kimberly tell that story.

On the way to the Skyline Drive on Friday we had seen a steakhouse, claiming to have the best steaks in the valley. We had decided we would stop there on the way home, which we did. We ordered the sirloin steak for two. It was huge--weight two pounds and filling a big platter. But the taste was bland and it was very fatty. We brought most of it home and ended up throwing it away. But it was fun to try a new place and the baked potato and sweet potato were both yummy (salad was so-so also). If this was the best in the valley, I think I would go out of the valley when I wanted steak!

Carl and Kimberly's kids love to look for "punch buggies" when traveling. So when we saw this sight, Dad-Dad laughed and called out "One-half Punch Buggy yellow". I thought the kids would get a kick out of seeing it. The guy was really pokey so Dad had to drive really slow to let him catch up to us so I could get this picture. Wouldn't it be fun to ride in the back seat?

All in all it was a wonderful trip. God has created so many wonderful places to see. I want to see them all! Each one is like a little tiny glimpse of how wonderful Heaven will be. Makes me jealous of Popdaddy and Ammaw who are enjoying it all in God's presence. I wonder if they have gotten off their knees yet?

Missing Popdaddy

My last picture of Popdaddy. Carl and Kimberly were up for their last visit with him and Eric and Tara came over for a visit. The kids were drawing pictures for him and here Clark was showing him the picture he had drawn. It was really one of his last lucid times and even here he was extremely weak. (What looks like a bandage over his right ear is actually padding someone had put on his cannula to keep it from rubbing his ear--it was supposed to be behind his ear but had worked its way forward.)

It has been almost six weeks since Popdaddy graduated this life to his glorious homecoming in Heaven. I have finally gotten past the point of starting down the hallway to check on him, I don't want to rush out of church services to get home "because we need to take care of Dad" and I no longer think I have to turn down social invitations because I don't want to leave Dad or have to find care for him. But I still haven't gotten to the point that I am not reminded of him many times a day. On our way home from Big Meadows I felt sad because he wasn't there for me to tell about our camping trip and excursions. As we browsed in the gift shop I still looked at books and mugs that I thought he would like for a gift. And recently on the way home from Rocky Gap, I felt sad to not be able to tell him about kayaking on the beautiful lake. I am so glad that I did have the experiences last summer of being able to get away to Loft Mountain, one of his favorite camping spots, and did bring him a book about the Skyline Drive and chatted with him about out trip. Looking back, I am so glad that we took that trip although at the time I felt a little guilty leaving him and putting extra burdens on my family in our absence. Now I almost wish we had taken more trips to places he loved so that we could have shared the experiences with him.

I am so grateful for the time we had with him here in our home. I don't regret making that decision at all. At times it seemed hard and long but looking back it seems like just a blink--kind of like raising kids! Having him here made us grow closer to him and so losing him is harder in a way--we miss him more. But oh what wonderful memories we have to cherish!

Camping at Rocky Gap

I'm back! So many things to share so I decided to start with the past week and work backwards. We had a wonderful week at Rocky Gap State Park. We decided that this is our favorite place to camp--during the week. We understand it is pretty busy on the weekend. There is a beautiful lake and lots of wooded campsites. Even though there were several campsites occupied around us, we still felt sufficiently secluded. Our only blot in the trip was the family across from us the first two days. The mother was very loud, it seems like she couldn't talk in a normal conversational voice! Happily, they weren't at their campsite much during the day! We had wanted to get a campsite right on the lake but there were none available for the whole time we were there. Next time we know to reserve a spot ahead of time!
This was our first time using our kayaks in almost three years and the first time we had ever taken them with us camping. It was wonderful! We had a site across from the lake with a view of it when no one was camping in that site. We were able to leave our kayaks tied on a little bit of land and were relieved that we didn't have to carry them back and forth or load them on the car to put into the lake. We went out on the lake every day, sometimes several times. We put in and paddled to the camp store to pick up milk, across the lake to the day use area where there was a snack bar that had delicious ice cream in waffle cones (we tried a different flavor every day--my favorite was muddy sneakers!), to the beach to swim, dry off and then paddle some more, or just to explore around the lake. I was afraid I would drop my camera in the lake so didn't usually take it with me and missed an adorable shot of a mama duck with her three little goslings, their little legs paddling like crazy trying to keep up with mama who was trying to move them away from the danger (me!). Bill missed a good shot (he said) of me as he followed me along the shore and I passed under a hanging branch. So you just have to imagine those. The last day I did take my camera in a plastic bag and got this shot of Bill from my kayak.

We did a lot of relaxing, too. It was wonderful to just sit and read. I loved sitting in my folding chair in the quiet morning and read my Bible and pray. But I also took several other books with me. I am reading a book on Abigail Adams and also reading The Count of Monte Christo and loved sitting in the fresh air reading those or working in a book of puzzles (I have become addicted to Suduku!). Bill also enjoyed reading his Bible and having his dear Washington Times--although he had to read it for several days as we had no access to that paper. Every night he used a part that he had already read to start the evening fire. He will be really happy on Sunday to finally get a fresh copy (The Washington Times no longer prints a Saturday edition.)


I love cooking when we are camping. We usually only had a campfire in the evening and cooked our meal over it. Usually we ate a late big breakfast and then our big meal early so then in the evening we sometimes made grilled cheese sandwiches in our hobo pie makers in the fire (with no dish cleanup in the dark!) But the last morning Bill made a fire and I cooked pancakes and bacon over the fire, which is my favorite way of cooking when camping. I had my trusty dutch oven with us (always!) and the first night baked potatoes in it (with an extra one so I could slice and fry it for breakfast). Then another night we cooked our meal and then I let the fire burn to beautiful coals and used the dutch oven to make a peach cobbler. It made enough to feed eight--which shows that I still don't have the knack of camp cooking for two!

On Thursday we decided to drive into Cumberland. I have never been there before although we have driven over the city numerous times on trip further west. It was a nice day and we enjoyed especially visiting the museum about the C&O canal (pictured at right). But, of course, we picked the hottest day of our trip. It was fun to wander through unique shops. There was a book store which sold new and old books and although we resisted the urge to buy a lot of old books, it was fun to peruse them from the comfortable chairs scattered through the store. We spent a good deal of time in a store called Social Studies and talking with the interesting proprietors. I am not going to reveal what this store carried. I would like to give everyone a chance to guess what they think they sold. (I want to hear especially from Tara et al, since she likes to run contests as well.) When I have received enough guesses I will post pictures of some things I purchased there and tell the interesting stories we heard.

On our last day we kayaked in the morning and then Bill decided to do a little snorkeling where we had our kayaks moored. I sat on the shore and watched and relaxed snapping this picture as he emerged from the aquatic underbrush. We then sadly carried our kayaks back to camp to load on the car. We had a final sandwich at our picnic table before heading to the day use area. We had planned to take a short hike on a trail that was supposed to lead to a canyon view. However, it turned out to be a long walk from the parking area along the road to the trail head. It was a very hot day and after walking for about 15 minutes, consulted the map which showed us we weren't even halfway. However, we did see a sign to the Scales & Tales aviary and decided to take a look at it. But, although according to their literature, it should have been open, it was not. We were able to walk around the outside and look through the fence but were disappointed not to meet the naturalist and chat about how Scales & Tales was doing in the west. We decided to walk back to our car and visit the snack shop for one last ice cream before heading home. It turned out that our timing for that was about perfect as we were told that there had been a power shortage requiring them to move all the ice cream and that it had just been returned. While eating our ice cream, the park manager came in. He recognized Bill and joined us for a little chat. He was disappointed that we were leaving and that he hadn't been informed that we were there. He gave us his card and said to let him know the next time we were coming and he would arrange for free camping. He was surprised that we didn't have a pass and said he would like into getting us one. So that was a nice ending to our trip. We planned to stop in Hancock at an antique mall and followed the signs but never could find it. But that allowed us to arrive home early enough to pick up pizza and enjoy that with Ryan (Shawn had made other plans that didn't include mom and dad for some reason.) I am including one last picture that I took from the opposite shore from our campsite. You can see the day use beach. The camping beach is at the opposite end and isn't visible.

A wonderful week--now to get back into the real world mentality!