2nd to last week in Charlottesville, first farewells

 It was so nice to back in Charlottesville and have a fun Summer week with friends checking a few items off our before we move list and just enjoying Charlottesville, this place I love so much.  

Monday: Peach picking, Bodo's Bagels, playing at Hendricks house and Sunset Hike at Black Rock Summit, Shenandoah National Park

We started the week out with Mark's favorite summer activity, peach picking at Carter Mountain.  We talked about how we were leaving soon and did not need very many peaches but of course ended up with a ton. We had really nice weather and plenty of peaches to pick.  Jared and Lydia did really well finding Mark approved peaches and enjoyed themselves more this year than other years. They are always good sports about going but I think they felt good that they could find approved peaches.  The trees were full of peaches and smelled amazing. The worst part was when we got back to the store area and got in line for ice cream only to be told that were out of peach ice cream!  We could not believe it.  It was very disappointing.  We have been enjoying peaches all week.  I have had many plates of peaches and whipped cream and it has been a perfect taste of Summer. We also stopped at Bodo's Bagels for lunch.  I think we will make it there one more time before we head out. 

Way too many peaches.  On the way home Mark has us all predict how many peaches we had

April: 34

Jared: 37

LydiaL 30 I think?

Mark: 43

We had over 60. Mark could not be stopped. 

Taste like Summer. 

The Hendricks moved here 2 years ago and we have so enjoyed getting to know them.  They are a fun family and Jared and Lydia have become best friends with 2 of their 7 kids.  Parker and Jared are adorable together.  They are very similar and just click so well.  It makes me sad to think of taking them away from each other and I hope they can keep in touch with each other. I know it will be different when we come back to visit next Summer but fingers are crossed that they can pick up where they left off. Lydia and Reagan have a great time together as well.  We have been joking this week that Christa should bring Parker and Reagan out to Egypt to visit next year! 

Our sunset hike didn't go very well.  We left later than planned and when we got onto 29 I questioned whether or not we should even go as it was really cloudy so not great conditions for a sunset.  Mark was determined to go so even though we were late and it was not going to be a good sunset we got it done.  I am alway tricked by Shenandoah.  In my mind all the places are 30 minutes away but they truly are not.  The park entrance is 30 minutes away the hikes are not.  This hike is an hour and 3 minutes away so it was really too late to go for it but we did it.  We hiked up the the summit very fast but as expected there was not much to see as far as sunsets go.  Oh well.  The hike back was fun because it was fairly dark and that makes hiking just a bit more exciting since its different than usual. 

No Sunset whatsoever. 

Tuesday: Sugar Hollow with Hendricks and swimming at Forest Lakes Pool 

We love Sugar Hollow so much and were happy to hike in and play there with the Hendricks.  The water level was surprisingly low so no jumping off the big rock this time but the kids found other ways to have fun.  Christa, Mark and I got some good visiting in and it is such a pretty setting. 

That evening Mark kindly took Jared and Lydia to swim at the pool.  We hadn't had time to go since we had moved into the Leavitt's house and they were very happy to spend time there in the evening. 

Wednesday:  Water Country USA in Williamsburg.  

We decided to spend one more day down there to really make our season passes more worth it.  It was very hot and very crowded. I actually just dropped the three of them off in the morning and went to the outlet shops to check for any last minute Cairo things.  I picked up a Costco pizza for lunch (I had the hardest time finding that Costco.  I missed the exit so many times it was incredibly frustrating.  Google maps and I were not getting along but I finally found it) and then we spent about 2 hours together in the park.  Well, Jared and Mark went off to ride some slides and Lydia and I explored a section of the park we hadn't been to yet.  It was geared more for younger kids but she had fun.  She spent most of her time in the lazy river.  There are 2 in the park and she had already relaxed in one but wanted to go to this one too so she did and enjoyed it very much.  

Quick stop at Richmond Temple on the drive home.  We were happy to see it one more time.  It may be competed next time we see it! 

Thursday: relaxing morning at Leavitt's house (giving more things away to 1st ward people), farewell lunch with 2 of my favorites, will signing and Tyler birthday dinner/celebration.

It felt really good to give away more of our stuff. Most of this was done before we left our house but there were a few things we had to take to the Leavitt's house and I was anxious to get them out of there well before the Leavitt's get back next week.  After more work on Saturday I am feeling good about where we are. Its so nice to be almost done! 

Julee, Jessie and I were able to meet up for a farewell brunch after they were both the witnesses for our updated will.  They are so kind and helpful like that. We updated our will when we were in Utah and the last step was to get it notarized and to do that you need two witnesses.  Since we planned to get together for brunch I asked if they would be willing to first meet and help us get our will done.  It is nice to have that done too. 

I admire Julee and Jessie more than I could ever say.  We have enjoyed getting together as families and as ministering sisters and just as friends.  They are thoughtful and generous and have been so good to me the last years.  I will miss them very much.  We decided to get goodies from Marie Bette a fantastic bakery downtown and enjoy them at UVA Research Park. It was a beautiful morning (Charlottesville was so good to us this week with the weather!) and a very nice goodbye.  I will see Jessie again but Julee is at young women's camp all week. I am so glad we made it happen. 

Jessie, Aprillee, Julee

Tyler is Jared's other best buddy and his birthday is next week but since Chris and Sam Shaw and Jared and Mark will all be at camp they celebrated this week.  We planned to meet at 4:00 at their house but around 2:00 Julie stopped by to see if she could take Jared and Lydia over earlier.  She had just dropped Sam off at a friend's house for a separate birthday party and the friend happens to live around the corner from the Leavitt's.  So Julie suggested she take Jared and Lydia over then and then we could bring Sam back to their house on our way up. It worked perfectly.  Jared and Tyler were more than happy to have more time together.  They can spend hours together talking about Minecraft and playing with Legos. I love their friendship and Mark and I enjoy hanging out with Julie and Chris. Jared and Tyler have been best friends since Kindergarten and I hate that I am taking them away from each other.  Similar to Parker it makes me so sad that I am taking these boys away from each other and hope so very much that they will stay connected. 

They played Legos, opened presents, had dinner and delicious ice cream and brownies, finished watching the 2nd season of The Mandalorian and played more Legos.  I am so thankful for the kindness of the Shaw's and how good they are to Jared and Lydia.  Even though it was Tyler's birthday they bought Jared a present because Tyler hated the idea of not being able to celebrate Jared's birthday with him. 

Friday: Chris Greene Lake Day and fishing with David Dudley

We missed out on the last lake days because we were out of town and then packing up our house so we were really happy to get a lake day with friends in.  We met up with the Shaw's, Hendricks, Farnsworth's and a few others and had an awesome day at the lake.  We mostly had the lake to ourselves, just our group and the weather was beautiful, we had such a great day there.  Mark and I swam out to the dock for the last 30 minutes and had fun doing different jumps and dives off the dock with 8 of the group members. We stayed at the lake from 11:00 until 3:40.  We might have stayed later but Mark had made plans with David Dudley to go fishing one last time.  He has been so good to Jared to take him to different fishing spots and help him improve his fishing skills.  It has been great for Mark and Jared to have the time together too. Mark does not love fishing but he is more than wiling to find ways or people for him to fish with.  Lydia and I had a popcorn, ice cream and movie night and I was happy to have time with my girl. 

Jared, Sam, Tyler and Parker

Reagan, Lydia and Emma

Saturday: Farewell breakfast with friends, swimming and Parker birthday celebrations

Saturday morning I got together with Laura, Christa and Julie for breakfast at Jack's Shop Kitchen while Mark took jared and Lydia swimming (he is the best).  These ladies are amazing.  They are wonderful examples to me and I so appreciate their fun ideas and support. Laura and I met the first days we moved here as we were neighbors when we lived by Pen Park.  We spent so much time together the first 2 years we were here and really reconnected this Winter with bike riding which I loved getting to do with her. Christa has been here 2 years now and we just hit if off right away when they moved here.  She is so kind, generous and inclusive and is always up for getting together.  Julie is probably the person who I have spent the most time with and I know without a doubt if I ever needed help she would drop everything and be there as soon as possible. I am so grateful for these 3 friends. I have been blessed beyond measure with an amazing group of friends here in Charlottesville. It is so hard to walk away from them.  Thank goodness we should be able to get together next Summer when we come back to visit. 

Julie, Christa, April, Laura

That afternoon I cleaned out our Highlander and ran a few errands.  We are passing our car on to the new owner on Monday evening.  I have loved this car, it has been awesome and taken us on so many great adventures. 

We headed over to the Hendricks Saturday evening to celebrate Parker's birthday.  Parker and Tyler actually share the same birthday (July 28th) which works great for celebrating both of Jared's best buddies.  If trends continue then camp will be the last week of July again last year and since we hope to be back here for camp Jared will get to celebrate their birthdays with them again. It was a loud fun evening.  We were the last ones to leave as we are trying to give these boys as much time together as possible.  Hopefully they will enjoy time together at camp next week as well.  It was funny because I told Jared he had 5 more minutes and then of course got distracted chatting with Christa.  When I went to get Jared he and Parker (with Parker's younger brothers Aiden and Beckett) were sitting in Parker's room timing us because they knew it would be longer than 5 minutes.  They had all placed bets on when I would come in.  I got there at 11 minutes so just 6 minutes over, not too bad. It was a cute moment.  

It was a great week with lots of times with our amazing group of friends here.  We have been so blessed with the best friends who really are our family here and we will miss them so much. We still have one more full week here before we move but it will be a weird week as Mark and Jared will be off at Youth Camp.  Mark leave Monday mid day and Jared will drive up with friends Tuesday.  Lydia and I have some fun plans but it will be weird to not have the boys around.  I hope Jared loves camp.  He will just be there Tuesday-Thursday evening but I think he will love it. 

Philadelphia Pa

 We spent half a day in Philadelphia before heading home.  We had a good trip but it was a lot of driving and were ready to head back to Charlottesville. Before we left the hotel for the day Mark and David went out to get some groceries and then stop by Independence Hall to try to get tickets for a tour.  It was good they went then because later in the day when we got there for our tour all the day of tickets were gone. We drove down Benjamin Franklin Parkway to see the international flags, the Rocky statue, and iconic art museum, visited the Reading Terminal Market, and toured Independence Hall.  We have no real ties to the Rocky movies so a drive by was really all we needed.  The street is beautiful and did remind of us Champs Elysees in Paris.  Jared, Mark and I wanted Beiler's donuts and we enjoyed introducing them to David's family.  Lydia has been a stinker with food lately and told us more than once how the donuts were fine, she could take them or leave them, but she did enjoy eating her share.  We finished up with a tour of Independence Hall and a quick walk by view of the Liberty Bell. 

It was SO hot and humid in Philadelphia.  We had really pleasant weather the other places we visited but it was rough in the city. 

The Room where it happened... but not that event. 

The Hall from the front of the building. 

It was nice to meet up with David and Cecily, we really enjoy visiting with them and are glad we could see them before we head out.  Sadly, because there was so much driving this trip I didn't feel like we got to visit all that much but it was nice when we could.  They went to dental school in Chicago but I don't think they have really been out East much since then.  I know they had not visited any of the church history sites so it was fun to see them experience that. Most often we see family out West not out here so it was nice to visit places out here with them.   Our drive home was long.  We had terrible traffic everywhere.  We drove through a crazy downpour but made it to Moo Thru for one last ice cream stop at that shop. We make it to the location downtown, we will see. 

Whitmer Farm, Knight's House (Colesville Branch), Priesthood Restoration Site, Philadelphia Temple

 The Whitmer Farm is my favorite site to visit in this region.  It is so easy to imagine the events that happened there taking place. My favorite part is actually a short 4 minute film they show at the end of the tour that shows the growth of the church.  In it you see a shot of the meeting the day the church was organized and then a current picture of General Conference in the Conference Center.  It is amazing to think about the church being organized there at that farm and for it to be where it is now. It's a great visual. I felt a little rushed there which was a bummer as I love visiting there but we had a lot to see that day.  

Mark really wanted to visit the Knights house which neither of us had been to before.  It is owned by a private family and they give tours and really love the story of the Colesville branch.  It was a nice stop to make.  That branch was so united and I love that it is a place where Hyrum Smith is the main spiritual leader along with the Knights. 

We made it to the Priesthood Restoration Site but unfortunately our arrival came with bad news and a carsick Jared.  We were running about 10 minute late due to our previous stop but then as we got there Jared threw up from being carsick and we got a text from our property manager saying that the tenants movers had broken the stairs leading from our top deck to the bottom deck.  It was really bad timing.  So it was a lot harder to enjoy this tour.  Plus by then we had toured a lot of farms/homes/sites so we were a little burnt out.  It was really nice to have a chance to take Jared there since he just got the Priesthood this January.  

Last time we visited the water was clear and beautiful but this time it had been really rainy the last few weeks so it was very full and muddy. 

We still had to drive to Philadelphia after this site which was 3 hours away and we were getting pretty tired from being in the car all day.  Mark had made an appointment for baptism for 8:15 at the Philadelphia Temple which was really exciting.  We are so glad Jared could have a chance to go into the temple.  We were not sure if it would happen before we moved and it worked out great.  He enjoyed it and said he felt like he was doing a good thing and was happy to be useful which was really nice.  I am so happy it happened. I wish I could have gone but had a nice evening with Lydia.  We went on a walk by the river (we stayed in New Jersey) which has been nicely developed but was not crowded at all.  We walked to a restaurant for dinner and picked up food for Jared and Mark too as they did not have time to eat before the temple.  It was a long day with a lot of driving but also good things. 

Elijah, Sophie, David, Luke and Cecily

The view across to Philadelphia was really nice. 

Grandin Printing Press, Palmyra Temple, Sacred Grove, and Sea Breeze

 The Grandin Printing Press is a neat place to tour.  The amount of work that went into printing the Book of Mormon was incredible. It was really neat to hear the sister missionary talk about all the steps and people involved and how the Lord prepared a way from the way for the Book of Mormon to come forth. From the location of the shop so supplies could be easily delivered to the shop having the most efficient type of printing press.  It was a really interesting tour.  Lydia and I missed it back in 2016 because she was really sick so I hadn't been since 2003 and it was really nice to go again.  Once our tour was done we discussed what job we would have wanted in the process and I decided being the one to emboss "Book of Mormon" on the binding in the gold leaf would be the best job. 

Some of this ink (under a lot of layers) is from the printing of the Book of Mormon. The church built the visitors center around the existing building which is really cool. 

My preferred job 

We drove over to the Palmyra temple after that and took a nice walk around the grounds and then had a picnic lunch.  We had such mild beautiful weather, it was so nice to be out.  Lydia and I were walking together and were a little behind the rest of the group and when we got to the far side of the temple we looked over the grass/woods and it occurred to me that we were looking at the recreated homes/The Sacred Grove.  It is so cool to think about Joseph Smith's experience in the woods there and to be standing on dedicated temple grounds.  

I love that these windows are designed to look like the Sacred Grove 

Looking towards the Smith Farm/Sacred grove 

We enjoyed the tour of the Smith homes.  There were a lot of people at the Sacred Grove which was fine but it was busy.   Many people came this week because they hoped to go to the Hill Cumorah Pagenent but of course that was cancelled because of COVID.  After touring the homes we split into small groups and spent some time in the grove.  Jared and I ended up together and loved the peaceful feeling there.  It is really nice that even if there are a lot of people on the site you can find space for yourself.  On our way back we did pass a few people pondering and many of them were reading verses or talks or listening to things and it made me wonder what they chose to listen to while in that special place.  Jared and I listened to the song "My Own Sacred Grove" as we walked back to the visitors center.  I am so gad we could go on this trip this year but that it the real message to take away.  That God/Christ will talk to you wherever you are. 

Really fun to then look towards the temple from the house site. 

That bedroom! 

This tree has a story.  It is believed to be as old as Alvin Smith.  It was a common practice to plant trees in memory of loved ones who had passed away and so as this tree is old enough to fit in that time frame the tour guide mentioned the connection. 

We stopped for some ice cream at a local dairy in Pittsford (it was good but not as good as Moo Thru here) and then headed over to a local water/amusement park.  Mark's brother David was traveling with three teenagers and wanted to be sure they had some fun outings as well.  It was a cute little park and we spent 4 or so hours there.  There were about 5 slides and a lazy river.  The water park closed at 7:00 while the amusement park section was open until 9:00 so we stayed in the water area till just before 7:00 and then spent just over an hour riding rides.  Lydia had really never been on rides like you find at an amusement park and I was happy to see her so willing to try rides with Jared.  We started with the swings that take  you up high and after that Mark and I were done.  We both ended up with headaches and just followed Jared and Lydia around the the rides they wanted to try out.  They had a blast and it was a great way to end the day.  

In order: Mark, Jared, Lydia, April 

Its fun how they are facing each other in this one