Vonnie Boy came to visit! We arranged for Trevahn to visit over 4th of July weekend, which meant he flew in an airplane all by himself! Not bad for a 7 year old!
Jilly picked him up from the airport, thankfully he had nothing but great things to report about his flight over. After he arrived we somehow convinced him to try Indian food for dinner... explaining it as chicken and rice. He liked the chicken although it was "a bit spicy" and LOVED the naan bread. He's gotten to be quite an adventurous eater.
The following day, Jill had to work, so Travahn and Stuart stayed home and got things ready for camping. When Jill got home from a half-day of work we headed out to Elizabeth Furnace, a wilderness area just west of the Shenandoah National Park. It ended up being a bit of a long trek (4 miles) to cover with our gear. But Jilly found a perfect campsite which almost made the grueling entry worth it.
Trevahn had a great time setting up and hanging out in the tent as well as helping saw up fire wood & of course helping keep the fire going. That night we ended up being so famished even Vonnie had 3 hot ham and cheese sandwiches. Jill probably created a new campfire favorite with her new hot sandwich ("pudgy-pie") maker, maybe even better than smores! Imagine a perfectly toasted sandwich of peanut butter chocolate & marshmallow... Sugary, yes, but well deserved after our hike.
The next day we hung out and enjoyed nature a bit. Stu and Trevahn cleaned up in the river after breakfast and refilling all of our water jugs. After a bit of relaxing and a few card games in the tent, we broke camp and made the return trip. Vonnie and Harvey were some tuckered boys on the ride home.
The next day was the 4th of July, so we took Vonnie to old town where we played some tag at the park, had a nice big pizza lunch, got to see a bit of a cool magic show and got Trevahn set up with a "Ride-Along" bike that attached to Stuart's bike to make a tandem. For the fireworks we road from our place up the
Mt. Vernon Trail right across the river from the tidal basin where the fireworks were.
There we met up with some good friends of ours, Mike and Carol, and some friends and family of theirs and had a nice picnic as it was getting dark.
It was an excellent display this year. Trevahn even got to do a great introductory video to the show ;o)
Sunday we had tickets to the Baltimore aquarium, dolphin show and 4D theater included. It was tough telling what Trevahn's favorite part was, if asked you could hear anything from, jellyfish, the dolphin show, saying 'Hi' to the sharks. It probably wasn't the movie. The '4D' theater was to a Planet Earth show and was pretty intense, a lot of kids had to be taken out because it was a bit scary, but Vonnie toughed it out. The show was in 3D, but the 4D experience comes with winds, bubbles even snow made in the theater to coordinate with the show, as well as water spray in your face timed to a whale blow-hole puff or snake bite, as well as air blown all over your feet or into your back when a sea creature would strike. Pretty easy to see why it's scary to little kids. Both Jilly & Stuart jumped quite a few times too.
For Vonnie's last day here, we hit up a water park in Alexandria. It was pretty fun with 3 twisty-turny waterslides and 2 shute slides as well as a giant wave pool. It was a great way to enjoy our last day together and spend a Monday out of the office!
After all the sun we were in the mood for root-beer floats and more hot ham & cheeses. Then it was time to get Trevahn back to the airport. It's always sad saying goodbye, but this time was easier because we only counted 17 days until we would see him again in Wausau.
We could not have asked for a better house guest this 4th of July weekend!
Until we come across a rattle-snake that is, and he alerts us all to it's presence by being scared out of his wits and refusing to go a step further. He was so scared in fact, that Stu was forced to carry him to the other side of that scary rattle where he could resume his leading of the pack.
