Our Virginia Family Heads Home, Alas

Da Boys

Tommy And His First Grandson

7:08

It's 8:00 and a few of us have been up for an hour, and a couple more have just drifted in. I just held my grandson but he started to cry and seemed a bit uncomfortable looking at me and hearing my deep voice. I don't blame him so I passed him on to Beth.  The sun has just come out, a nice breeze is cooling our living room and all's well except Jill's family heads back to a warm Virginia this morning. 

Four Generations

Coffee/Prime Deals/Tuesday Morning

Yesterday was a great day, the busiest so far. The weather cooperated for the most part, with a torrential storm in mid-afternoon for about 15 minutes and that was it. By the time we were all up, it was 10:00 and we decided to go hike Chautauqua Gorge. So seven brave souls drove off, arriving at the entrance around 11:00. A good quarter mile hike down the ravine, avoiding mud and tree roots, greeted our arrival. We quickly swam in the cold pool just at the foot of the trail and then we hiked up the gorge for about a half hour, then back. It's a beautiful walk, over shale, stones, and water, with the 50 to 100-foot cliffs green with trees. We have hiked it numerous times with family over the past 25 years but not recently so it was fun to get back and do it again. 

Chautauqua Gorge Pool

Swan Dive

Cooling Off

Mitch And Milena

Rocky Road

Nick And Aundraya

Green Gorge

We were home by 1:00 and Evie had hot dogs ready for us for lunch. It hit the spot and our crew was hungry from our hike. Around 2:30, the girls wanted to go for a boat ride so despite the forecast of rain, Drew and I took the cover off the boat and went for a cruise up past Prendergast Point and home. The wind picked up on the way home, the lake became rough but we made it home easily. By then the dark clouds were accumulating, so we put the cover back on the boat and rushed inside as the rains came. It lasted only 15 minutes or so and then cleared up for the rest of the afternoon and evening. 

Heading Back To LA Today

Tom's Family

We played games the rest of the afternoon or sat out on the porch talking or on our phones. Earlier, we had decided to go for wings at the Bemus Point Casino, a tradition over the years. So we drove three cars to Bemus, parked, and found a table inside. It was karaoke night however and we could hardly hear ourselves talk it was so loud. So we ended up eating out on the windy, sunny deck instead. We had to sit at four different tables unfortunately but the wings and beer were fine, just not as nice if we had been able to sit together.  Around 7:00, we spent a half hour at the playground while Rhys was being fed and then walked into Bemus for ice cream cones, again a tradition.

Selfie # 1

Only Girls

We were home by 8:30 and either played Bananagrams or sat out on the porch, enjoying the coolness of the evening. Around 10:30, we started going up to bed, leaving the girls in the TV room to watch Love Island. It was a full day.

Can't Get Enough Of Our Great Grandson