Our Spontaneous Roanoke Trip

Last Sunday evening Jared and I were discussing the level of stress in our lives lately, and I was desiring to take a vacation to visit my cousins in Roanoke, since it would be a low-cost vacation, and we'd have time with much-missed family. It was my spring break this past week, so we decided, if Julie and Mark were up for company last minute, we were up for traveling last minute. Sure enough, they were. So, at 3:15 p.m. Monday we left Birmingham and arrived in Roanoke at midnight.

Here is Coleman passing the time by making silly faces. He was so excited about our spontaneous adventure that he was unable to sleep. Finally at 10:30 he fell asleep. The
next day we all needing long naps to recover. Elise, Coleman and Evan all
loved playing trains together. After naps we went with Elise to her swim lesson and Coleman got to play in the shallow end of the pool. I tried to take him into the hot tub but was reprimanded for that. Oooops!





















The day ended with a fun bath for all the kids except baby Kiersten.
Evan is a very shy boy, and was a little sick that week, so it took
some convincing before he got in the bath. Elise loves the water and
is almost able to swim by herself. She loves to wear her swim goggles in the pool and in the bath.

One day we went to the local zoo which sits on top of a small mountain with hiking trails. The zoo was lots of fun, and Shauna met us there with her kids. Later Eliza and I went back to hike...I miss hiking on the Trail soooo much. I get what hiking I can in when I can. When I got back to the house Uncle Paul and Aunt Laurel were there visiting for dinner. Eliza took to Uncle Paul right away, which says a lot since usually no one will do except Mama for her. As you can see we had perfect weather for the week!













Our last day we all (Julie and her kids, me, Jared and our kids, and Shauna and her kids!) went to the Transportation Museum to see all the trains. Coleman was content to watch the model train go around and around. It was a huge model train set of Roanoke which was very impressive. That evening we had a cook-out at Adam and Shauna's. I walked the short mile over with Elise, Coleman and Eliza. Then Julie and I walked it back with our two quiet kids: Coleman and Kiersten , so we could chat :)





















Our last morning there we were surprised with a birthday ice-cream cake for Eliza's birthday. She didn't quite know what to make of it at first, but slowly started to get her fingers in the icing and then her fingers into her mouth. She was very cautious, especially since all eyes were on her. On our last morning there we finally got Evan smiling at us, hurray!

We got on the road by 10:30 and made a nice stop-over in Knoxville visiting some Boston friends, Christy and Wyatt and their sweet dog Skylar, newly transplanted to the South. Some next-door neighbor kids were playing in the water fountain and Coleman decided he'd like to get in too, so he took off his pants and merely splashed in some of the puddles. That's a lot for cautious Coleman to try. One little boy was soaking wet and shaking and told me "You do NOT want to get in that fountain because it is cold!" I told him maybe he could go home and get dry clothes on because I bet his Mom would be worried. He said "No, my Mom doesn't worry about me." It made me so sad.











We are finally recovered from the trip, and feeling refreshed. We were blessed in every possible way. It was a great trip that will continue to bless me for many months.