Our Massanutten vacation was over a week ago.
It took us 12 hours to get to Virginia on Saturday. We found out that stopping for dinner was as little challenging with a dog. We went through the Arby's drive-thru and then found a nice cozy spot of grass (which turned out to be a little wetter than we thought) right in front of a used car dealership. It worked. Although, we ended up moving our blanket to the gravel because it was getting too wet in the grass. Because of our arrival time (1 am) we went farther than Massanutten, as planned, to Loren's mom's where we stayed until Monday after breakfast. Then we drove to Massanutten - a place where I have never been and Loren spent many childhood vacations/family reunions. We had the place to ourselves until Wednesday when we picked up Loren's younger brother Evan from the Appalachian Trail. Thursday through the weekend several other family members came and went - Uncle Mike and Natalie, Jessica (one of Loren's cousins), Uncle Brad and Uncle Gary, Grammie, Aunt Kerin. It was a relatively low-key vacation, and it was a lot of fun. We played games, attempted puzzles, gave the boys bubble baths, went to the park, played basketball (well, shot baskets), took a hike, watched deer out our window, bought a Wii...
We went to the Massanutten Water Park. This was awesome! There was something for everyone. Andrew had a blast. Austin had some fun, but mostly he endured the adventure since we went in the evening (when it was cheaper), which took us past the boys' bedtimes. As soon as we arrived, Andrew went down a big slide on one of his Uncle Mike's lap (which we learned wasn't allowed) and he didn't like the water splashing in his face. After that experience he refused to go down the slides again (except for the small froggy slide) until the very end when Natalie convinced him if he covered his nose and mouth it would be okay. It totally worked! Andrew is normally timid in situations like this and usually becomes the observer - the one who loves watching everyone else go down the slides, but doesn't dare try it himself - and he is very stubborn when he decides he doesn't want to do something. The fact that he overcame his fear and stepped out of his comfort zone and braved the slides (especially the big one!) was amazing to me. I was SO incredibly proud of him - so proud I had tears in my eyes. I was incredibly nervous (so nervous I squealed!) when he went down the bigger slide, but he made it down several times safely.
We also went swimming, Loren and I played Racquetball one night until we got kicked off of our unreserved court, enjoyed many talks with family members (including several about Walmart), which led to many late nights, and then it was time to pack up and head home. Austin was generous enough to wake up at 5 am the morning we had to drive 12 hours.
I'm sure I left something out. I wish I could recount every last detail, but this is the best I could do! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
