Birthday with Black Bears in Shenandoah

So after our first two iterations of plans for Thomas's birthday fell through, we decided we would go ahead and take him on his first camping trip before he officially turned 1.  Since it has been such a hot August, Brian insisted we head up to the mountains where it would be cooler.  We left without reservations, but were able to snag a "first come, first serve" campsite at Loft Mountain Campground.  Located around mile 79.5, it is in the southern part of the Shenandoah National Park.  We picked up trail maps when we got there, but I think I'll start printing them from the website next time.

We finally upgraded the little pup tent that Brian bought in college, and got a tent large enough for all five of us (plus the dog).  The boys were pretty excited about setting it up, especially with it's windows and "porch".

 After we were settled in (and some campers told us they had just saw a black bear near our site), we headed out on a nearby trail.  Some other hikers pointed out a bear up in a tree just minutes into the hike.  Doyles River Falls trail was all downhill, until finally hitting the first set of falls.  Due to time, we went ahead and turned back after these falls, though we heard the second set were a lot higher.  The walk back up was a little strenuous, but Elijah completed the hike all on his own two feet and Brian only had to hold the baby (in his new, garage-sale-find carrier).  I encouraged Eli with the promise of a "hiking badge", and the boys saw another bear walking behind when we were separated.  The < 3 miles of trail took us about 2.5 hours.

We then headed back and had some delicious grilled chicken, steamed red potatoes and corn on the cob.  Elijah is a huge, HUGE fan of s'mores so we made those as well.

The boys slept like champs that night, though Brian and I were both restless.  Theo was terrified of the bears we'd already seen and heard of earlier in the day, so perhaps that kept me up.  But we all woke up excited to celebrate Thomas's first birthday!

After breakfast we then headed for the Frazier Discover Trail.  We weren't sure to turn left or right upon entering the loop, but we chose left.  It was quite the uphill hike until we finally reached the fabulous views the rangers had told us about.  This one was about an hour and half or less, and 1.2 miles.

We walked out and found the Mobile visitor's center, and the boys got to see some nature artifacts up close.

 Don't tell my third-born, but not only did I not have any gifts for him on his birthday (I finally thought of one the next day), I also forgot his cake so we ended up not having it at the campground but enjoyed it later when we got home.  Poor guy.  He didn't mind though, and he was all about getting as much cake into his mouth as possible.  He loved it, and his brothers were excited to celebrate with him (as long as we all kept our party hats on, and they could blast Kids Bop).

First Visit to Virginia Beach, First Landing State Park/Research Trip

We've been pretty housebound since the move a few months ago, and I've been getting antsy.  After thinking about the fact that we really haven't explored much of Virginia at all, we decided to hit the beach.  In typical family fashion we decided this about 24 hours before our trip-spontaneity is kind of a family trait for us.  So we started South for what the map says is a three hour drive without traffic (haha!).

There is no such things as "without traffic" around here, but eventually we made it to the boardwalk.  On first impression, it immediately reminded me of other East coast beach towns (especially with the plains flying advertisements over the water).  We found some street parking and made it to the sand, which was extremely hot as it was probably over 90 degrees-perfect beach weather.  The heat drove us straight into the waves. The kids had a great time chasing the waves, Brian played marine biologist (which, to be fair, is one of his degrees) by rescuing a shark egg case, and I enjoyed the shade from the umbrella we rented on the beach.

After a few hours, we headed to our hotel (we love using priceline to find hotels now) and changed and rested a bit before heading back to the boardwalk for the evening.  After hearing the wait times at a few restaurants (I don't do more than five minutes now-a-days) we finally found a place that had some pretty good pizza, and gelato!  We then rented a family bicycle which was kind of perfect for getting around the board walk without our children dictating a slow pace.  We weren't sure we'd fit in the smallest size bike (but didn't want the weight of a large one with only two peddlers), but we did.  Elijah and Thomas sat in the basket the first half, until Thomas started wiggling and we traded him with Theo.  It was great to see all the street entertainment and we even stopped for a bit to watch a one-man play about the Dictator ship wreck that had my boys all captivated.

The next morning, we decided to go for an early hike at First Landing State Park, as we wanted to check out some of the swamps the area is famous for.  Like the nearby Great Dismal Swamp, this state park is come to a very unique bald Cypress swamp.  (Who ever thought I'd want to go to a swamp on vacation... I think I've officially come to terms with being a boy mom.)  We picked up a $0.50 trail guide (the older boys earned a quarter each for playing the quiet game earlier on the road), and enjoyed the very easy hike through this beautiful ecosystem.  Bald Cypress Nature Trail is located right behind the visitors' center, and is less than two miles making it great for the kids.  We tried to carry Thomas in his carrier, but he ended up just being carried in our arms most of the hike.  A good jogging stroller may be able to make it through most of the trail, but we didn't want to try that.  For families worried about the distance of the trail, at least walk back through the boardwalk and check out the beautiful swamp.  It is something.  The Spanish moss, and bald cypress trees with their knees was exactly what you think of when you hear the word swamp.  The boys claimed it was a little scary, but I thought it was perfectly mystical.

We headed back to the beach, this time traveling a little farther away from the crowds down past the oceanfront to Sandbridge beach.  Unlike the West Coast which is a rocky coast with lots of cliffs and tide pools, I remembered the East coast has many more sand bars with bay and ocean sides.  The coastline consists of marshes, swamps, and islands connected by bridges.  I had hoped we could just keep on going down the coast line and venture into North Carolina just a bit (I've never been to this border state of ours), but alas there is a Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in the way that is the end of the road.  If any of our boys ever get really into airplanes though, we can take them to Kitty Hawk because we were so close to it, but needed to take a different route to get into North Carolina.  Nonetheless, Sandbridge was nice, with less crowds (but also less amenities, no bathrooms, umbrellas for rent, restaurants, or shops).  We had a hoard of ghost crabs that were torturing me (though no else seemed to be scared of them) and enjoyed our time, especially making a castle/playpen for the babe.

My husband, ever the scientist, actually brought some glassware down so he could collect some of the ocean water to use in his lab (and good news, he was able to make a marinobacter virus after working late all week after our trip).

(Written July 21, photos added a month later.)