Returning To the Lake, Alas

Halle and Granny Starting Out

Finished A Three Mile Hike

Up at 6:20, to a cloudy sky, an empty house as Drew is flying off to Jacksonville for a few days and the rest of the family is still asleep.  It looks like a decent day for our drive home, some clouds but also sun with highs in the 50's both here in Bristow and back at Chautauqua.  We are in no hurry to leave this morning, just so we get home before dark or at least close to then.

Yesterday, around 10:00, Jill went off to work for five hours and we were left at home with Halle, so we all decided it would be fun to pack some snacks and go for a hike in the nearby Conway Robinson State Forest, about 15 minutes from their house.  It's just off Lee Highway in what probably used to be 'the sticks' but now there's developments everywhere except for this 400 acres of forests, with various intersecting trails.  We talked with a couple who walk the Forest with their dog and the suggested the blue trail, the longest, about 3. 2 miles, so that's what we took.  Most of it is through woods, lots of the common Loblolly Pine, an important source of timber, as well as common deciduous trees.  Most of the leaves were off of the deciduous trees, blanketing the ground and except for the pines, the woods was mostly a winter like brown.  Halle was a trooper, never complaining, observing everything as we walked, finding interesting looking leaves, baby Loblolly pines, deadfall that reminded her of Butterfinger candy bars. Midway we stopped for a snack of cheese and crackers and water, a welcome rest for all three of us. Evie's Nano kept track of our steps, 8600 which Halle loved hearing, and we walked for almost two hours, a great way to spend a morning.  It was chilly walking, so we had to put a extra sweat shirt on Halle when we started and we never did work up a sweat.

An Arcade of Loblolly Pines

Bark of Loblolly Pine

We had a quesadilla for lunch along with Evie's vegetable soup and at 1:30, Evie picked up Sarah, a friend of Halle's who came over for the afternoon.  Both girls play well together, mostly in the basement, and both ended up helping Evie make the fresh pasta dough, before going outside to play on the trampoline.  We then went for a walk with them, in the back woods, along the creek that's about fifty feet from the Bissell's backyard.  It's about twenty to thirty feet wide, and there's a rough trail that follows it for a good distance though when the water from the Manassas Dam is released, everything gets flooded, even the trail. After the walk, Drew and Jill both came home, as well as Hayden after an hour and a half dance practice.  Evie and the girls finished the fresh pasta, making fettuccine to go alone with the vodka shrimp sauce.  Dinner, with garlic bread and salad was great, none left, and the girls devoured the noodles, plain or with the sauce, it didn't matter.  Since the girls have no school tomorrow, they wanted to stay up and watch a movie and since we could not find anything appropriate that they had not seen on Netflix, we watched the new Monsters Inc film on demand.  I am not sure any of us watched it with great attention; I read some, Evie played Words with Friends, Jill went up to bed, Hayden looked bored and only Halle and Drew seemed to be watching it.  Anyways, we all went upstairs to sleep or read by 10:15, after a fun day.  Today the girls have no school because of Election Day but both also have dance this afternoon and this evening.

Walking The Broad Run Creek Path With Sarah, Halle's Friend

The Boys Planting Dogwoods