This summer, we hired a private swim instructor for Hallie and Emma instead of enrolling them in YMCA group swim lessons like we've done previously. Emma's already a strong swimmer, but she hasn't learned much about proper technique. Hallie is a beginning swimmer who lacks confidence in the deep end of the pool. We wanted to see them both progress in their skills, and especially wanted Hallie to be able to swim in the deep end without wearing a flotation device.
Our swim instructor's name is Briana, and we could tell from the very first lesson that she's a great teacher.
She got right to work with Hallie, making sure that she had the basics of swimming and water survival down. Hallie's been dependent on wearing a snorkel mask that covers her nose because she hates getting water in her nose. (I mean, who doesn't?) After the first lesson, Briana told her that she was only allowed to wear regular goggles during her lessons, so Hallie could learn to blow the water out of her nose underwater. It's a big step for her, but this one-on-one attention is exactly what she needs to progress.
Briana really enjoyed teaching Emma swim strokes and techniques. She primarily teaches kids and adults who don't already know how to swim, so she doesn't get to go past the basic skills very often.
In mid-June, we spent a 4-day vacation in Natural Bridge, VA with the Jester family to celebrate Dan's parents' 60th anniversary!
We love this couple and their dedication to each other and the Lord.
The large house we rented was a beautiful, spacious, 2-story log cabin that had a lot of quirks.
There were mice in the house that we saw sporadically. One mouse ended up drowning in the washing machine because it had hidden in a beach towel and gotten accidentally thrown in the load of wash. (R.I.P., Mickey) The house had a well system, and the water pressure was very low at best, and sometimes the water stopped running altogether. So taking a shower was "exciting," since you had to wash at the speed of light and hope that you still had running water to rinse the soap off. One night, a wild animal tore a hole in the outdoor trash can to get to our leftovers! There was trash scattered all over the place outside, so we kept our full bags of garbage inside the garage after that.
The house had an outdoor pool, but the chlorinator had broken and although the owners kept pumping clean water into the pool, it was very green and murky-looking. The kids were begging to jump in anyway because the days were hot, and we finally decided to let them swim.
The pool had a fun slide, and the kids loved playing in the water together. We made sure they showered after swimming in the green water. No one broke out in a rash or turned into The Creature from the Black Lagoon, so all was good.
On the plus side, the house had plenty of beds, eating areas, and gathering space for our large family. And we got to soak in this amazing view every day from the balcony.
It was so gorgeous and peaceful!
The house had a large dining table for meals together
Plus another kitchen table that the younger kids claimed.
We celebrated Dan's parents' 60th anniversary!
And while we were at it, we also celebrated Rob, Tim, and Dawn's June birthdays.
We were out and about each day and spent our evenings playing many games around the table back at the cabin.
The house had acres of private land, and the kids had so much fun exploring together. They were outside most of the day, making up adventure games and chasing each other around.
There was a small creek on property, which they enjoyed wading and playing in.
We visited one nearby attraction each day while we were in Natural Bridge. On our first day, we spent several hours at Cave Mountain Lake, which has a small beach and a good-sized swimming area. Some of the teens and adults did a long swim to a nearby dam and back.
The designated swim area of the lake was shallow enough for the younger kids to play and swim easily. When they got tired of the water, they had fun playing in the sand.
On Day 2, we visited Natural Bridge State Park.
Emma and Hallie held up the bridge with one finger!
The state park had a paved trail that began with an awesome view of the Natural Bridge. It continued on for about 3/4 of a mile before ending at a small waterfall.
The kids saw a pile of rocks that was perfect for climbing ... before we saw the "No Climbing" sign at the bottom of the hill. Oops!
There was a cool cave to explore about halfway along the trail.
We all enjoyed the coolness of the cave after hiking in the hot sun.
Our nephews, Benjamin, Nathan, and Aaron
The kids pretended to be wild animals living in the cave.
Another fun area of Natural Bridge State Park was a section of flat rocks with wading pools.
One of the small pools was full of tiny black tadpoles! Hallie was fascinated by them and had a great time gently picking them up and placing them back into the water.
The kids could've stayed there for hours!
While the kids played and got wet, the adults found shade and took a rest from hiking.
Then we headed back to the cabin for a well-deserved rest and swim!
We built a fire and enjoyed s'mores that night after dinner.
On our third day in Natural Bridge, we visited the Natural Bridge Safari Park and Zoo. The Safari Park has a drive-through experience where you can buy buckets of feed and hand-feed a variety of wildlife like llamas, alpaca, deer, elk, emus, ostriches, and zebras. The drive-through is chaotic and messy and hilarious! But if you love getting up close and personal with animals, it's so much fun!
We divided everyone into the vans so those who wanted a window seat could have one. If you were beside an open window, you had to prepare yourself for hungry animals to stick their heads right in the car to find food! We had been there before, and we tried to warn everyone, but within the first few minutes of the drive, several people had already lost their buckets of food to aggressive animals who snatched the whole thing from their hands!
Emma loves animals of all kinds, and she was living her best life!
Our niece, Miriam, was one who lost the Battle of the Bucket with an animal. After that, she was uncertain about feeding or touching the animals, but she got more into it as time passed.
It was so cool to pet exotic animals, like this zebra!
There was definitely lots of laughter (and shrieking) in the car at times!
Our nephew, Josiah, had the time of his life! He was hanging out of the van window half the time, laughing and trying to get as close as possible to everything.
Hallie liked having the windows mostly up so they animals couldn't shove their heads in her lap while she fed them.
Hallie rode for a while with her head through the sunroof to see everything from the top of the van.
Dan's mom is passionate about animals, and she loved feeding them during the drive.
Not everyone was interested in touching or getting touched by the wildlife. Grandpa was perfectly happy sitting in the very back seat as far as possible from all the animals - thank you very much!
Our niece, Naomi, enjoyed the experience, but wasn't interested in getting slobbered on.
Our youngest nephew, Micah, had his bucket of feed snatched out of his hands by a hungry llama during the first few moments of the ride.
He jumped in the very back of the van and stayed there for the rest of the ride!
We all agreed that the emus were the scariest animal there. They'd come running at the car with their dinosaur bodies, stare at you with unblinking orange eyes, and snap at your food exactly like a velociraptor attacking its prey. When we saw any emus heading toward the car, we rolled up all the windows as fast as we could!
Nope. Not today, Satan.
After the safari ride experience, we spent a couple of hours at the Safari Park Zoo. There was a goat petting area, and many zoo animals to see. But the highlight was the aviary where you could purchase bird seed sticks to attract budgies and parakeets to come feed from your hand!
On our last morning, we said goodbye to the gorgeous mountains before checking out and driving back home.
We had a wonderful time celebrating two special people on their milestone anniversary!
It was a very hot, sweaty day, and some of the birds found a good salt lick on Dan's neck!
After a while, they started nibbling at his ears, and we had to shoo them off.
There must've been something tasty in Hallie's hair, too!
We all had a fun and memorable hands-on encounter with animals that day!
On our last morning, we said goodbye to the gorgeous mountains before checking out and driving back home.
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