Quick Virginia Trip

The day after my birthday we headed to Virginia after church.  It was snowing as we left, and we hoped to get ahead of the snow.  The snow stuck to the roads quickly, and going over the mountain on I 40 (by Monteray) was interesting...glad once we made it passed that part.  Once we got to Knoxville, we were ahead of the snow.  We decided to go I 40 instead up 81 (our normal route), because the snow was supposed to be bad in that direction.  Later in the evening in began snowing again, so we decided to stop and stay the night in a hotel.  We made it to Statesville, NC.  We made it to Virginia the next afternoon...whew!!!  Long drive~Done!!!

We went to the park that afternoon.  The park is really close to my mom's house...probably 3 minutes away.

Gigi and the kids

The next day, we went to the Virginia Living Museum.  The museum has one section they change around periodically.  This time it was a Smokey the Bear section....a whole section of hands-on play...like a children's museum.  The Smokey the Bear's theme was conservation.  The kids played in that section for a LONG time, and then we still had the rest of the museum to look through.  I think the next special exhibit is a dinosaur one...but, I don't think we'll be going there, though, while it's open.

Here are the pictures~

Mercy enjoyed the kitchen.

Fishing in the boat.

The Water Cycle area

More of the Water Cycle

planting trees

Aedan and Mercy
I loved this little section.

Josiah, the fire fighter

climbing the rock wall

Mercy and Gigi

one more tree planting picture

the boys and the shark

touch tank time ~ Josiah touching the sea star

Aedan touching the sea star

Josiah likes to draw the different animals he sees.

on the turtle

the boys with the alligator

Mercy with the alligator

Here's a family shot in the outside section.

Later that day, Ryan and I headed to Richmond for Joye's funeral.  It was so good to see Ryan and Christie there.  It's funny how I felt like I knew Joye, even though I had never actually met her.  We praise God that she is with Him in heaven!  We are so thankful for our friends...so glad Ryan Russell chose to wear his Clemson shirt the day he and Ryan met years ago:)

  We left the following day, and were able to go the shorter way~up 64 to 81.   We are so glad that we were able to make the trip.