City Escape

The boys and I are back in Falls Church once again, and Chris has returned to wearing pants. We had a wonderful visit with my family in N.C. for a week, and I gained at least 5 lbs. eating my mom's cooking. Jacob and Benjy explored the woods and the mountains, splashed in a waterfall, and made the most of the great outdoors, letting their imaginations run wild. My mom found some of my younger brother's old toys in her garage, and Jacob and Benjy spent hours accessorizing action figures from the 90s, which as I must point out, is completely different from playing with dolls. They were so busy playing, they forgot to fight with one another. Andrew couldn't get enough of Grandmama, who would rush to his side if he even looked like he might start to cry. So to say the least, we were all spoiled to our hearts' content and have spent this week adjusting to life without Super-mom/grandmama.

The only problem with getting back to reality is that reality bites when most of your friends have left for destinations abroad. June and July brought the great Foreign Service Exodus in which all but one of Jacob's friends and at least half of mine departed for their next adventure. The half that's left is currently away visiting family or taking classes. I'm happy for them, but it's never easy being left behind.

With the heat and Andrew's inability to wear sunscreen yet, we've been trying to devise ways to entertain ourselves indoors. And, yes, we do get cabin fever.

So today, we went on an adventure of our own, exploring Virginia. We headed to Skyline Caverns for the boys' first spelunking expedition.

This was also Andrew's first ride in the backpack. He thought it was awesome.

We saw lots of stuff like this. This looks like sign language for "I love you" which is, of course, part of Jacob's friend making campaign.

This is the lucky rock--the only formation in the caverns we were allowed to touch. Benjy needed to rub this rock a lot.

Look, we're in a cave!  Chris and Benjy act silly but Jacob, for once, is too cool to clown.

After the caverns tour, which Jacob proclaimed to be "the best hiking trip ever!", we did a mirror maze. It was lots of fun, but a bit scary to see my children in multiples.

How many Benjy's do you see? 

Is this what it feels like to have two sets of triplets?  And to answer your question: yes, Andrew is perfectly comfortable in this sling.  He likes to have his feet at his ears.  Don't you?

To wrap up our day of fun, we checked out a dinosaur and hopped a train.

Fred Flintstone's got nothing on these two.

You may be tempted to focus on me and the boys in this picture, but the real story here is the dude with the pony tail.  You should have seen the pair of mutton-chops he was wearing like it was 1884.