A Bittersweet Ending

The last day of vacation is always so hard.  It's the day where you try to accomplish all that you had left on your vacation agenda.  This year I will not allow myself to obsess over cleaning and packing and just do a little as I go and rise early tomorrow to complete it.  I want to enjoy my last day here and make sure that Ava enjoys it too.  It's such an amazing gift to get to see her eyes light up over new experiences and new scenery.  A simple thing like the back steps to the cabin bring her so much enjoyment. 

Her older cousins and Nan taught her to fist pump so now instead of high fives she likes giving fist pumps.

 Picking Daisies

 Going up her favorite stairs

 

Enjoying my coffee on our last day

 Cup is almost empty...almost time to wake sleeping beauty

 Time to shead pj's and get dressed and head out on our last beautiful West Virginia summer day.

Photos are loaded and Ava is awake so I will bid you ado for the last time from West Virginia.

Slow as molasses

It seems everything out here runs on a much slower track than we are use to.  The people, the time, the internet...

It takes me FOREVER to upload images here so here are just a few to show what we have been up to.

I asked Ava what she wanted to do today and she said go to Nana's.  Guess she doesn't know we are about 5 hours away from Nana's.  Oh and yesterday Aaron got in the hot tub with his iphone in his pocket so his phone is done.  Not sure what we are going to do about that since for as long as I've had my account I have had phone insurance but when I checked last night there was no insurance visible.  So if you try to reach Aaron or leave him a message and he doesn't respond...that's why.

A short sampling...

Since everyone else will be getting up soon, and it would take me forever to load all of the pictures I took yesterday, I picked a few to share for the anxious Grandparents who I know would like to see some of the pictures from Ava's train ride.  Let me just say these antique trains are bigger, louder, and much more ominous than could ever be portrayed on TV or in movies.  It was such a different experience and I'm glad we did it.  At first when the whistle would blow (imagine a super powered screaming banshee vs. your average choo choo sound) Ava would jump and her eyes would grow wide.  After about the second time her shocked expression turned into a huge smile.

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Since it took almost an hour to load these few pictures and everyone is up I will make this quick.
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Waiting for the train to leave the station

The billowing smoke was unreal...at times it even rained soot down on us and speckled Ava's blond hair with little black dots.

 

 The beautiful views

 Looking at the smoke

 Pulling us

 Then pushing us

 Leaving a long train of black smoke

 Stopped at whittaker station for lunch our century plus old train waits for us to reboard

 Insisting she does it by herself

 The whistle blew again and she got excited to go back down the mountain

 The suns rays exposed threw the smoke

 We sat back and enjoyed our trip back to Cass station

As we were pulling back in the station Ava announced that she needed ice cream.  She requested to have green again.  It's funny she remembered exactly where we had gotten ice cream and wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for more.  I got in line and got the ice cream while Aaron took her over to the gift shop to pick out a little train to remember her trip by.  She picked a shinny red one and spent much of the evening running it along the coffee table saying choo choo.  I'm so glad we got to give her such a fun experience.

Happy Monday

Today was an easy day.  I woke early and it was super foggy out and cold so I watched a movie, drank my coffee, and relaxed while I waiting for Aaron and Ava to wake up.  After a while they woke too and we went out on the deck to check things out.

Then we got dressed and headed to the store for some milk, eggs, and a few other things and then it was time for lunch.

After lunch things seemed to clear up a bit.

 After hanging out for a while we headed down to Cass to check out the train before it took off.  I wanted to make sure Ava would be ok with the sounds of a "real" train.  It's definitely louder than your average choo choo.  

 It was a bit louder than she expected but she still seems excited to go on one.  I'll take that as a good sign.

 Of course we had to stop in for ice creams while we were there.

 

Wouldn't you know I got her vanilla because she asked for it but she quickly took over my mint chocolate chip.  She said it tasted just like candy and I was left eating the plain jane vanilla.

 Touring old passenger cars

 It was actually kind of creepy inside. 

 I exited out of the other side

 There are wildflowers all over the place around here.  It catches me off guard to see so many on every patch of grass.  Nature is truly beautiful without people around to destroy it.

 I picked a daisy for my beautiful rose.

 Playing out the window on the way back up the mountain. 

 I think I was warned at least five times not to drop the camera.  Umm...that is why someone created the neck strap. 

 Back "home" and before I knew it, it was time to cook dinner.  Something about this view makes that seem like so much less of a chore.

 Oh and down in Cass it was clear skies but when we came back up the mountain we were greeted again by fog.  Which I can say has officially cleared as I can see the stars now.

After dinner we went up to the resort and went to the pool.  Ava had a great time even though it was a bit crowded and because of the rain a bunch of bigger kids were swimming inside in what is meant to be the smaller kids pool.  It did eventually start storming and because the indoor and outdoor pools are connected through an opening in the wall the pools were closed.  When they made the announcement Ava got upset and didn't understand why I took her out of the pool but once she saw that everyone was leaving she was ok about it. 

All in all it was a very successful first day of vacation.  Now I am laying in bed with Ava snoozing next to me while Aaron watches a movie.  The windows are wide open (did I mention most places on the mountain don't have a/c...it's not really needed) and fresh mountain air is blowing right on in.  I'm sure the winters are brutal but open windows all summer long just seems down right glorious to me.  I LOVE fresh air.  

Well it's time I turn in so I can get up early and get us packed up for our days adventures.