Omi Camp part 6

Friday July 1  (my, the time goes fast) -our last full day here

We needed an early start today because whatever we do this morning, we have to be back at least just before noon. It is William's last day of his virtual coding class and he missed the one yesterday. We had breakfast randomly and I found a table and chair to set up in the bedroom William and Caleb are sleeping.

Sarah found a very nice trail for us to do this morning and the goal is to leave no later than 9 am. We had time and decided that the kitchen trash had to go into the bear proof bin outside. How many humans does it take to open a bear proof bin? I took a photo of the green label with directions because the printing was so small (probably so the bear can't read it) and you can make it larger on the phone. Well, you are supposed to stick your finger into a hole and pull a hook. We determined that some WD40 would improve it greatly. But we managed to get it open. 

The Massanutten Storybook Trail was about a 30 minute drive away and we found it easily. The boys had a lot of fun when I asked Papa what the elevation was when my ears popped. He has an app on his phone and duly reported it and held his phone up for all to see how we climbed higher and higher roughly to 2000 ft.

The trail was blacktopped but every few feet there was a rough foot path going up "into the bushes". Of course the boys wanted to explore. They did ask! And Mommy knew and had insisted for all to wear closed shoes. They went up. They came back. 

And so it went. We had to investigate a caterpillar. Unfortunately Mommy didn't have service on her iPhone (nobody did) and couldn't find out what it was. 

I honestly don't know which photo is from whom but I know this one is from Sarah because it is "where in the world are the grandparents?" in this photo.

It must have been Owen who found the toad in the hole/crevice. He likes all creepy crawly creatures and usually needs to be persuaded not to pick up whatever it is. This time he didn't touch. I tried to take a photo. The first photo needed to be deleted. The second is not much better. The toad was at least adult fist size. 

And suddenly we were at the end and the look-out. What a gorgeous view. We spent quite some time there. And took loads of photos.

Not many people were on the trail but a single lady on a bike took this photo of us. She was very nice and we chatted a while with her.

William asked for my camera and took this photo of us. Great job!

William took several more here in different settings. We decided that this one looked best.

On the way back I took a little moment for one more try. This photo I really like!

On the way back Papa had to get the app back out to see the elevation decline, ha-ha. 

Good thing we were back early enough because Omi didn't think of everything. We had plugged the computer into an outlet but totally forgot to get it on the internet. For a moment we were worried because his computer didn't want to wake up. But rebooting did the trick again and all was ok. 

Not to disturb William for the hour we had lunch outside. It was still a nice day then.

But when we thought we should go for an ice cream the weather was questionable. We studied it and decided it should be over by 4 pm. But somehow it never arrived. We were a bit disappointed and felt we should have gone earlier. Yeah, yeah. So we decided now or never because it still looked o.k. and the place was only 3 car-minutes away. 

It took a while for 7 people to decide what they wanted. Everybody is happy ... 

... and that minute heavy drops start. Sarah quickly backs the car up for us to jump in. Ha-ha, everybody is still happy.

Ups, and that is it with me taking photos the rest of this day. Sarah and I were contemplating restaurant vs. take-out and decided on the latter. The Base Camp (restaurant) was also only 3 minutes away and we pre-ordered and picked it up. Sarah had ordered just the right stuff for everybody to be happy. 

Colin was eager for the firepit on the deck to be lit and Sarah found a fan in a closet to use to blow mosquitoes away for a little while. To be honest I preferred the screened porch. Of course the boys also wanted to use the hot-tub again. A very convinient house. Papa and I also played UNO with the boys. The little sitting-room had a TV Sarah could get to work on a channel which was right for the children. What else can you ask for?

Never saw a bear!

Everybody settled into their beds. Night, night!