Back North for a Visit!

Pop, Mom and Amy drove to Madison last Monday as it was a week I had three days off in a row and Pop had two of the same days(and also Jacob) so we grabbed the chance to see some of our children and grandchildren! Also with Amy homeschooling this year it sure makes going during the week easier! We had a wonderful time. We had some things to do on our first day off such as changing the sparkplugs on the car and laundry but we got started about 2:00p.m. and arrived at Jacob and Dawns at 6:00. Julia and Sean were also there to greet us. This is the first time I have seen Jacobs garage all built and it looks beautiful! I spent some time rocking Sean in the garage while Jonah,Isaiah and Belle did their antics. It brought back memories of our garage in Sumerduck. Luke and Justin both did alot of playing it that garage. Riding trikes etc ; it sure was a great place to play and work on a rainy day. It make me wonder why we never built one in White Shop ; although I do remember we did look into it a few times.
It of course was Jacobs birthday week so I brought his old favorite; cheese Manicotti and also Italian bread. We all ate shortly after we arrived.Dawn and the kids had just set up a huge hammock they got him at a yard sale. It is a rope one on a heavy metal frame. It looks brand new but Dawn said she and the kids kept it hidden and spray painted the frame as it was somewhat rustywhile Jacob was at work. He got home from work about 30 mins. after we arrived so we got to see the hammock surprise.
Isaiah,Belle and I played Monopoly before bedtime for about an hour. They caught on to much of it quickly! I let some things slide as it can be quite involved but they we buying properties and catching people landing on them. They also learned quickly to collect their $200.00 when they passed GO! A little kid can learn so much playing this game without even realizing it! They think they are just having fun!
Amy left to spend the night at Julias and we all got to bed about 10 p.m. Julia had to be to work at 11a.m. so she brought Amy back and Pop and I got to hold Sean one more time. I forgot to mention that he got his first real haircut and he looks even more adorable! He will be 6 months old on the 30th! Julia said too many people were thinking he was a girl with all that hair! Jonah also got his first real haircut and alot of his beautiful golden curls are gone and he looks more grown up and thank you Lord still some beautiful curls left! Its hard to believe that Jonah will be two in a few weeks!
We woke up to a yummy breakfast that Dawn fixed. Pancakes and different fruits cut up. It was delicious! Jacob made us some good tasting coffee!
Jacob and Dawn acquired a peddle boat that seats five. Dawn got it for free through Freecycle.org. So Jacob took us to the Lake at Malvern with the boat on top of his jeep . Dawn stayed behind with Jonah. It was alot of fun but the sun was extremely hot so we only stayed about an hour and a half. We all tried getting into the boat but Pop and Jacob got no where peddling. We decided it was too much weight.The boat says it can handle 800 lbs but it was very crowded. Amy and Belle really wanted out so they sat on the dock playing in the water while the rest of us paddled around the lake. I really enjoyed that!
We told Jacob that we would like to take them all out to eat for his birthday and then we wanted to get back headed home as Pop had to work in the morning. We drove to Charlottesville and shopped a little at Target. I had seen online that that Target had some deck storage crates left on sale and I wanted to get one for our deck. They are normally $89.00 and they were priced at $69.00. Well we put the huge box(they come disassembled)in our cart. When we got to the checkout it rang up for $49.00! Wee...I love that when it happans! We then went to the Goodwill and didn't find much of anything. I did let Isaiah and Belle pick out a few books from the bin of childrens books and Amy found a couple of cds that she liked. We then were starving so we went to my a favorite restaurant; The Wood Grill. They have a buffet like we have never seen anywhere else. The food is really good and tastes so fresh. We ate until our stomaches hurt!
So we got on the road after that and got home at 9:30p.m.