Remnants of West Virginia

Ok, I will admit, that month long vacation took a lot out of me. I didn't quite expect to halt the blog/photo process for a full month, though. But can I just say DAMN! I'm worn out. If I didn't know better, I'd swear my thyroid was screeching and grinding to a full stop. But alas, no good excuses. I was completely and utterly frazzled and fried by the time we were headed back home, Owen never really 'took' to anyone on the trip save Brittany, and when we got home he started waking at night, not napping well, being wound up/hyper, etc. Then it was his birthday, school started, visitors, yada yada. But I digress....this post will be dedicated to the remaining WV pics, I'll start another for our time home since then.

On our last full weekend in WV, I took the boys to Pipestem State Park, one that we went to almost every year with a big church group. It was one of the highlights of my summers back then. I don't think I quite conveyed the magic of the place, there were no kids for the boys to play with, I was trying to wrangle Owen while giving Zach enough attention, making sure neither one jumped off the tower (Ok, only Owen was up for that) etc. It was nice to go back and relive some fond memories, and Zachary enjoyed it...I'd love to go again when there is at least one other adult with me, and maybe some more kids. While there, I asked a gentleman to take a photo of us with my camera. He did, but despite my attempts at telling him how to use the autofocus it came out really blurry. So he took another, which he was pleased to admit was much better. I'll let you be the judge.

A few days later I got to see one of my college friends, Jon. Jon has been paralyzed from the neck down since he was about 14, but he is amazingly independent and I love him lots. Owen ran laps in his apartment while Zach snuggled the ferret and tried his hand at Rock Band. Thank goodness we had Brittany with us! She is the only person Owen allowed to hold him, and she's the only reason we made it through dinner without the total loss of my mind.

About 2 days later, I met up with some very old friends, I've known them for 30 odd years. Now we are all grown up with kids of our own instead of Crissy dolls. A brief stint at the Cabell county fair, a few rides, then dinner out and a couple of pics the next morning aren't enough to really let us catch up, but it was like old times just hanging out and chatting, no matter how many years and changes go by, it feels just the same.

And again, another old friend from high school, Lisa Robertson and her 2 adorable munchkins. After our dinner out, we met up at the hotel where the kids had a blast with the bed jumping and pillow fighting.

I'm sure there's more, every time I took photos I was mentally 'post' about it, coming up with the words I wanted to describe it here on the blog. But after a month, I guess you're lucky to get the pics haha. Did I mention I'm tired?