Malcolm and Julie Visit - Summer '11 (pt. 3) The End

So Malcolm really enjoyed one special thing about this trip although I believe he enjoyed the whole thing. He really liked having Josiah here. He commented to me that  "it is just nice to have another boy around to play with". Josiah did a great job playing with Malcolm. He had to go to football every afternoon so he wasn't able to participate in everything we did but whenever he could go he was right there having fun with Malcolm.

On the last day we (Julie, Josiah, Malcolm, Sammy and I) went swimming/fishing again to Smith Mountain Lake. We went to another one of our special spots that you can swim privately. Technically you aren't allowed to swim there but no one has said anything to us yet so we'll keep going until we get told otherwise. We arrived rather early when it was still a little chilly so they planned to fish for awhile. Malcolm had gotten a new fishing pole and was enjoying learning how to cast out.

But the fishing didn't last very long. He just kept getting in more and more until he decided he was done fishing and was ready to swim. And swim they did!

We left in time to come home for lunch and then later that evening Josiah and Malcolm played a whole bunch more!

Malcolm was having trouble eating his dinner and Josiah promised him (all on his own) that if he would eat it he would wrestle with him and that Josiah would get him Dairy Queen with his own money. I was pretty impressed. As was Malcolm. He ate right away and they left for DQ almost immediately.

Then the wrestling began.

Malcolm enjoyed participating when Josiah attacked Uncle Jon and Uncle Jon attacked Josiah. Let's just say there was a lot of testosterone in the house!

Then Aunt Julie and I did what any good aunts would do in this situation. We began the calm down process by playing a nice calm game. 

We had an absolutely awesome time. I find myself eagerly anticipating the next time Malcolm comes to visit (just as long as Julie comes along too). It was nice to be able to share the fun and the responsibility with Julie!

Malcolm and Julie Visit - Summer '11 (pt. 2)

On Monday we visited to Virginia Museum of Transportation. It dealt with planes, trains, and automobiles. Malcolm was in heaven. We weren’t sure if we would even see anything after he saw the layout (which is like a model train city with several lines and all sorts of scenes). He spent a lot of time running around finding out which train ran on which line.

After that we moved on to the train area. This was where he was most excited. He had trouble actually looking at anything because he just ran excitedly from one engine to another. Julie and I were both surprise at how much he actually knew and truly understood about the different types of trains.

Arguably one of his highlights was getting to see a train go by while we were looking at all of these trains in the yard. He is of course sharing what he knows about the train going by.

He got to sit in the drivers seat of one and really enjoyed looking at all of the parts.

We stopped after looking at all of the trains and ate a quick lunch and learned that the airplane section was closed because it was damaged in a large storm and the car section wasn’t all that big but did feature some famous cars like the Love Bug, General Lee along with Boss Hog’s car from the Dukes of Hazard, and Jeff Gordon’s car.

The next day Malcolm and I went hiking all by ourselves. We drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiked the Falling Water Cascades Trail. It is a loop trail that is 1.5 miles long. 

This was really Malcolm’s first real hiking experience. I was interested that the things he noticed the most were the different smells. He kept commenting that it didn’t smell like gas or oil but that it smelled sort of fresh. He enjoyed the sounds of the waterfalls before we could see them and asked a ton of questions along the way. Needless to say I was much less worried about a bear run-in when I realized how much he talked even while hiking.

When we got to the waterfall I realized it was going to be difficult to keep him moving. He LOVED re-routing the water by building dams and digging gullies. He was thrilled to be playing in the water.

I knew however that we had a LONG way to go uphill and that we needed to keep moving so we moved from this wonderful location and stopped a few other places on the way. I didn’t want to be stuck on a trail with a starving Malcolm. We had to get home for lunch. He did surprisingly well on the way up (straight up). Toward the end he kept wanting to stop to “look at things” and kept telling me he needed to stop because he wasn’t getting “any oxygen”. He did soooooo well though. We made it home in time for lunch and while Aunt Julie was finishing lunch preparations he laid down on the couch and ……….

We spent the rest of the day around the house. He rode his bike and we played together. This was the end of a GREAT but tiring day.

Malcolm and Julie Visit - Summer '11 (pt. 1)

I would like to start by saying that Julie was indeed a part of this week. She did not just provide transportation for Malcolm and then do nothing as the photos you will see imply. She was however, the one who took the pictures. This is why you will rarely if ever see her in the pictures below.

Malcolm and Julie came to visit for a whole week this summer and we had a TON of fun. I cannot comment on the trip here as I was not a part of it but......it did include a bit of a "detour" but once they arrived we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We began the week by fishing at Abbott Lake at the Peaks of Otter. It was foggy but a wonderful cool morning as the ranger helped Malcolm put together his came pole and then put the line and hook on.

 He loved it but absolutely HATED the gross parts.

This is where we found out how much I love him. While his Aunt Julie hid behind the camera (and various people) I braved the worms, fish and dangerously swinging fishing pole with a big nasty hook on the end of it.

And he caught 3 fish! 

 After this we went to see Josiah at his football scrimmage where Malcolm enjoyed seeing Josiah "take people out".

On Sunday after church we went to Smith Mountain Lake to a great swimming location that Jon and I found on a trail. It is free and Sammy is allowed to swim as well! There were some very nice people there who let Malcolm and Josiah try out their boogie board. They really seemed to enjoy it!

Sammy signaled when he had had enough by rolling in the sand. *sigh*

We finished out this exhausting day with a game of Memory that Sammy disrupted

and Malcolm and Josiah wrestled.

This is just the first 2 days of the visit. I'll update more of the trip later!