road trip: VA mountains

After we breezed through Williamsburg (and didn't take in any of the historic sites, mind you) we headed to the Thompsons' home in the mountains of Virginia.  I first met Jimmy & Angela and their two daughters Melissa and Moriah in the UAE.  I think they arrived six or so months after I did, and were in the same apartment complex I was in.  Jimmy is a doctor, and had come to be a part of the Oasis medical staff.  I enjoyed working with him, and getting to know their family in the time I was still in the UAE.  I think Dexter and I spent our first Thanksgiving together with them - tho some of those details are now a little fuzzy; feels like a long time ago!

As I was thinking about how to make the best use of our spring break, visiting the Thompsons in their new home in VA seemed like a good idea.  So I invited ourselves over for a couple of days, and was pleased when they accepted!  The house that they bought is the perfect place for visitors - a huge porch over looking a small pond and woods, a basement with an extra room, and THEM.  They welcomed us back in with open arms. It is hard to believe it had been over two years since we last saw them.

Kyalo took a break from eating any real meals while we were on vacation, so here he is with Angela eating some blueberries (and ONLY blueberries) for breakfast the morning we were heading out to TN.     Since this was our Spring Break trip, I had visions of sipping sweet tea out on the porch and chatting with Angela while Kyalo explored the land (so many rocks, sticks, dirt, I figured he'd be in heaven).  Instead the weather was cold and rainy and the flip flops stayed in the bag all week.

We did get outside between rain showers on Sunday and got to do a little exploring.  Kyalo especially liked their horseshoe/sand pit.  It was hard to drag him away.

There's their house! Which, let me tell you is VERY misleading by looking at it from this picture.  I should have gotten a picture of the porch.  As we stood outside watching Kyalo, Dexter kept commenting how much it felt like Kijabe to him. . .the mountains, the narrow, windy roads we had to drive to get there, the fog.  Needless to say, we both loved Virginia a lot.  After living in a place like Belleville being surrounded by so much land seems like bliss!

After a few days down in TN we drove back through to spend one more night with them, and to break up the trip.

I think it was 25* F but they thought it was warm enough - or occasion enough - to fire up the new grill for the first time.

yum

In between our visits, Angela stocked up on books from a local used bookstore for Kyalo.  Here they are reading together.

Angela, Jimmy, Kyalo

Do you see how close everyone is sitting to the fire? I'm telling you, it was cold!  Here Jimmy had been giving Dexter the finer points of the March Madness bracketing process. I'm sure Dexter will get into it next year!  

 Dr. Jimmy, off to work

Moriah and Kyalo

Angela and me

This visit was really fun and special for us.  There are already talks about heading back.  Perhaps in the summer. Is is a little further away than we'd like, but it is nice to know that we can hop in the car and get there in a day or so, so long as Kyalo remains agreeable.

In the meantime, I'm trying to convince them to come to NYC for a visit.