Birthday Boys!!!

Three important guys in my life have birthdays this month and they all fall with in week's time.  Here's to the July babies!

We have a teenager in the house now.  It is really hard to believe our firstborn is 13 already.  When I think that he will be driving in three short years and graduating from high school in five years, I just want to freeze time.  Yet I know The Lord will continually guide him.

This is of my parents holding Hayden after we returned home from the hospital.

This is my mom's mom (who I called Ha Ha) with Hayden

and my dad's mom (Maw Maw) giving 

him a kiss. All three of these ladies are with The Lord now with my mom being the first to see Jesus face to face.

My dad celebrated his 68th birthday yesterday.  We are so glad to still have him in our lives.  He is a wonderful father.  His physical limitations have kept him from being the Pa Pa he longed to be but we love him so much regardless.

JJ is the final July birthday boy.  He will turn 40 on July 18th.  Yes, I know he looks young.  He's sometimes mistaken for my child.  But we will actually be the same age for just over 2 weeks. 

Wishing each of these fellows many more Happy Birthdays!!!

Natural Tunnel State Park

JJ always has the week of the 4th off and this year we planned a family camping trip.  Our kids are used to camping with other families and were disappointed that we were going solo.  However, we managed to have several other children from the campground at our site.

We went to Natural Tunnel State Park in southwest Virginia.  William Jennings Bryan called it "the eighth wonder of the world."  It was indeed a beautiful park that showed the beauty of God's creation.

We had adventures in tunnels, creeks, canoes, and caves.  (I think I'm getting too old for such adventures.) The campground was filled with berries ripe for the picking.   We had a frequent visitor, a skunk, that we affectionately called Sprayden.  Thankfully, he didn't spray. 

It rained a little every day but we've camped in worse conditions.  Overall, it was a great and memorable camping trip.

Here are more pics and a little less narrative:

Ok, I must confess that getting on the 

chairlift freaked me out a bit.  I never made in past the bunny slopes in either of my skiing attempts so the chairlift was a first for me.

I survived it as well as the hikes into the tunnel and cavern that required crossing creeks and stepping on, over, and around slippery or jagged rocks.

The kids liked cooling off in the pool and especially liked the water slides and diving boards.  There were rain showers every afternoon so our pool visits were cut short.

Drake and JJ went on a canoe trip.  I don't have a pic of the boys in the canoe but here's one of Drake when they stopped for a snack break.

The wild cave tour was my idea and I was probably the most petrified.  It was dark, steep, rocky and muddy. I only took a few pics inside the cave. The guide took our family photos.  One cut Corinna out and in the other my eyes are closed. 

When we got home I made a cobbler with the fresh berries. We finished off our adventures with a trip to the drive-in on Saturday night, arriving home at 2 in the morning. 

I am thankful for our time as a family

and for a fantastic husband even if he doesn't like his picture taken! We are looking forward to many more camping trips together, especially to our group trip to Hungry Mother over Labor Day!