Spring break ... + more

Boy, have we alot to catch up on!  

There was Spring Break, when once again, Granna and Grandad swooped in, or more like swooped way way up from Alabama, and spent time with the boys while we carried on and worked that week.  Its always a great time that the boys look forward to.  Usually hanging around the house and Richmond with some simple outing each day, but this year they got to go to DC and stay the night in a hotel with Granna and Grandad.  This was big!  These are from a few pics that we were texted along the way:

I hurriedly packed alder a Canada hoodie that morning and that got a lot of attention apparently! 

The weekend following, we (minus Lesley actually) went car camping at Merchants Mill Pond in NC, about two hours from here, with Travis, Jonah, and PaPa.  Absolutely beautiful time of year there, the beginning of Spring.  Simply delightful time, though it was a bit of work without the mommies.  I loved seeing how wonderfully the three cousins got along, despite a 5 year age spread.  They all did great with everything.  Jonah was such a delight to be around.  I love that racing three-year-old mind and mouth - constant entertainment, from sweet to hilarious.

 Getting a download from PaPa while whittling.  This would have been a better video...

 Got to see a nice Eastern Cottonmouth.  Of course Alder had to throw things at it to piss it off.  I would have too at nearly eight years old.

 Edge of the swamp.

 There were tiny cricket frogs everywhere, scattering as you walked along the edge of the water.  All these pics were from a five mile or so bike ride down fire roads through reverted-to-forest ag fields.  Hardwood forests mostly but some restored (via prescribed fire) longleaf forests as well.

 A stop for a snack.

 I love this face Heath makes when he is grrrr-ing at you when you tease him.

 Jonah was getting pulled and this is moments before he sacked out.

 Does that not look great?  Wide open for the little ones, laid back for us big ones.

 Gosh, look at that boy growing up.

 Sweet boredom.

 A very intense checkers lesson.

 Shot of the campsite.  Travis and Jonah in one tent, the boys and me in another, both under a big tarp so we stayed dry, but there was only a small bit of rain the first night.  PaPa had a site next to us, where he set up nothing, because he has figured it all out: you just need a big white van to crawl in and out of.    Travis and I grew up camping in campground like this, so we knew the routine, hanging around the site, biking around the loops, romping around in the woods around the campsites, taking little hikes...

A lunch.  Git it Jonah!!

This might be the most unforgettable part of the whole trip.  Jonah, on his very own, declared this random puddle "the wishing puddle", and no less than 40 times over the two and a half days we were there he would go to it, usually inviting someone else to make a wish.  Rule was you had to pick up a piece of gravel, make a wish and throw the gravel in, but you had to say the wish out loud, which was just wonderful.  Jonah's first one I heard was, "I wish a police car and a police man."  Thats it, perfect.  He even roped in a couple of passersby.  One woman wished for a new car.  I think Jonah totally understood her priorities.

Papa Sunday morning before we left.

The following Friday, Heath was in a school play, with a speaking part about the Golden Rule.  

And the next morning was the annual 5K at their school.  

Heath ran the 1-mile Fun Run and Alder and I (Dad) ran the 5K.  (Lesley had to stay back with Heath.)

Alder did great!  The longest run he'd ever been on.  This race is so cool: a loop from their school, by our house and back.  Lately we have been taking them to the Wednesday morning running club at school, before school starts.  Its amazing; must be at least 50 families there running for a half hour around the playground before school starts.  Here are some pics from the 5K morning.

One of Heath's best buds from class.

On we go...