Smith Mountain Lake

Towards the end of July, we went to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia to visit our oldest son who moved close to the area. Friends of his graciously let us use their lake house for the week: a long, glorious, relaxing week! It was fun to vacation as a family and bond again. With our oldest moving away, it has been hard on the younger boys who miss him a lot. As for me, each month seems to get a bit easier. Skype helps a lot! I don’t think a mom ever stops missing her son but we realize moving out is good and healthy for them and creates maturity.

The ride down was absolutely gorgeous!



Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park

 The mountains were so beautiful and everything was so green and lush.

My photos don’t do justice to the beauty.

Some fun things we did around Smith Mountain Lake…

We swam,

relaxed,

fished






and watched the sun set.

On the lake, they have an ‘ice cream boat’ rather then an ice cream truck.

It had the same music and sold the same items as the truck. We were very surprised and amused! The boys have never had ice cream from a truck but it was too good to pass on ‘ice cream delivered to us on a lake.’ The man just comes close to the inlets and if you wave your hand he will drive over to you, tie his boat to your dock and give you the goodies.

Down the road there is an area where you can feed hundreds of carp pieces of bread or popcorn.

Our youngest was determined to catch one with his bare hands.

He came pretty close. A local told us that there was another area, farther down the road, where you could buy a cup of peanut butter, put it on your toes, stick your toes in the water and the carp will suck the peanut butter off your toes!   We passed on that.   We went fishing on the little pier. We all caught tiny fish and then released them. My middle son caught his very first fish!


 My youngest was very brave and learned how to put a worm on a hook.

Eww!

Since we were there for a whole week, we played the game Risk!

Risk is about a two or three day game in our house so it was perfect to play together in the evening over The Best Ice Cream Ever: locally made at The Homestead Creamery!! YUM!!!

We saw hummingbirds, a blue heron, hawks, a bazillion butterflies, chipmunks, fish, groundhogs and deer!

The cool thing is that the movie, “What About Bob?” was filmed in the area and on and around the lake! We checked out some spots where the movie scenes were shot. We may or may not have visited Dr. Marvin’s home.

We had a wonderful visit with our oldest son! He loves his new job and has made some fantastic friends! He is a little homesick at times but we try to make up with phones calls and photos to keep him up to date!

Example: this afternoon my youngest waited to pull his tooth out so he could do it over Skype with his big brother! Cute and gross at the same time! It is hard at times to be far away from such a great guy but I know this is where God wants my son to be and that gives me the deepest peace.

And next week I will be announcing some big news!

Come back and check it out!

introverts and motherhood

I just read this article about introverts and motherhood (via the Aquila Report) and thought I would share it. I wouldn’t say that I am a true introvert but I absolutely volley between needing to get out and be around people and then needing some (or a lot of) alone time to recuperate: maybe a bit more of the later. It was very encouraging to me to read that there are other mothers out there who struggle with the same issues but that there are ways to accept who you are and work with your strengths and weaknesses.

If you can relate to this struggle, I hope that this article encourages you.

JOY

This summer has been filled with more in-the-moment-connections with family and friends and less about documenting and blogging. It feels good.

I love sharing pictures and blogging about our adventures but I also love being relaxed around the kids and my husband. It has been good to take a break.

My friend, Martha, just shared this video and I just had to share it with you. It made me think about where joy comes from and if I am a living example of that joy!

Enjoy!