LittleLilly: REBOUND! Great Weekend

God Bless Antibiotics!!! The abx had kicked in by Saturday am. We went ahead and went on our planned weekend getaway to the mountains and had a FABULOUS time. Mom had an antique show in Roanoke, and Saturday was Dad's birthday. So, we stayed at a hotel in Waynesboro and met mom at Natural Bridge on Saturday, hiked there and had a great time before all heading back to the hotel for a nap. That was followed by swimming in the hotel pool, a nice birthday dinner, and playing on the hotel "putting green." Sunday mom headed back to the antique show and the three of us headed to Shenandoa National Park and hiked there before driving back home Sunday afternoon. Well...Dad drove, Lilly & I slept. ;)

Birthday boy opening presents w/ some assistance...

Here is the fabulous golf shot series...note her fabulous grip, her unique stance, and her ability to watch the ball after her great follow through! Since she's in red...maybe I'll call her Tigress...but she keeps insisting she is Baby Jaguar. Anyway...using this great swing, I am proud (and amazed) to announe that 4 balls actually went it! (Much to the chagrin of her grandfather)

The family at Lace Falls at the end of the Natural Bridge trail. (For those of you who haven't seen Natural Bridge...it is GORGEOUS. Its privately owned/operated and a bizarre combination of lovely state park and See Rock City/South of the Border. We skipped the kitchy stuff and just did the nice, easy hike to the falls and saw the Monoccan Indian Village (where the "Indians" were portrayed by people whiter than me).

On the way back from the falls, Lilly and I ditched our shoes and waded out into the water. She had shorts on until she slipped and fell in a puddle...but this was probably her favorite part of the day.

More golf shots: Sat Night after dinner we "played golf" on the "putting green" (think astroturf with 4 holes next to the hotel parking lot). Lilly was thrilled because she got 4 balls in and Papa only got 2. So - she rubbed it in, and then stole all of the golf balls and declared they were eggs and she was going to sit on them until they hatched. Here she stashing the balls in her pockets & then guarding her nest....

Sunday was a much harder hike...3.4 miles isn't much for a grown up, but pretty significant for a 3 year old. And, it was STEEP. We hike down to a waterfall and then it was all UPHILL coming back. We had a little picnic lunch on a rock in the stream below the waterfall before finishing the hike. Lilly did great. I ended up carrying her probably about a mile total...and had thought I would have to do a lot more, so I was impressed. The other exciting part was seeing 2 BEARS right at the end of our hike. I had never seen a bear in person before (not counting the zoo). Even when I went to Alaska I didn't see one...so seeing a mama bear & her baby (baby sounds too small...think preteen) definietly caught my attention. Very cool.

Examining acorns, picking up rocks, poking sticks at bugs....all thingsLilly enjoyed on the hike.