the essence

Greenwood Hills

After our whirlwind day in DC on Thursday we spent Friday checking out of our hotel & going to Eddie & Sarah's about thirty minutes away. They spared us the horrendous cost of city parking & let us keep our van at their place; Ray had planned to take the metro to & from their house but they were kind enough to actually drive out to our hotel & get us.

We left their place in the afternoon & went to Gettysburg. I do enjoy history but this was more for Ray. I prefer when we can spend a little more time to enjoy some place & we did Gettysburg very quickly. We drove the self-guided 24-mile long auto tour (a very neat idea!) but we did it much quicker than it's supposed to take & with minimum stopping.



After Gettysburg we drove a few more miles to Greenwood Hills! I was so excited to go to their Labor Day weekend retreat. Not only did we get to see a lot of people but I was truly excited to go because it's the same camp my mom went to when she was a girl!





Kate & Ezzie loving on each other



Susannah doesn't seem too impressed by whatever Addison had to say




Joann getting some Clay snuggles - it's what he does best!



James "funnier-than-girls" & me (can you tell I'm tired after traveling all week???)



Kate made friends with Juli! (a recent transplant from Florida)



Addison practiced her soccer skills (or, as she told me, football)



I spent a good part of the day at the playground - excellent playground & tons of kids there! For lunch we went with Eddie & Sarah & children to a local diner, Dodi's, where we were seated next to a table filled with lots of "kids" from Greenwood - kids as in college-age. We kept glancing at them rather wistfully as we all felt we should still be young enough to go sit with them. As Eddie said, he wished he was invisible just so he could hear what they were talking about. Now I know why when my great-grandmother was in her 80's she said that she still felt 18!

We went back to Dodi's for dinner & ended the night with a peanut butter hot fudge sundae! Yummy!



I was so excited when I ran into a couple, Bruce & Connie, from my old church who've known me since I was four. They still live in Florida but I hadn't seen them in about seven years! I was shocked to see them but I think they were more shocked to find out that I have three kids!

It would've been fun to spend more time at camp but we were all exhausted & drove back to Eddie & Sarah's that night. Today has been a much needed day of rest. Our family stayed home from church this morning; we woke-up, ate breakfast & the kids went back to bed - Kate slept for three more hours! Tomorrow Sarah plans to take all of the kids (minus Clay) while Eddie, Ray & I go to several wineries in the area.