Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Visitor

It's been exciting this summer to receive visitors.  We think Richmond is fabulous and we love sharing it and exploring it with those we love.  This time is was Steve's mom, Cindy. 

Cadance had an absolute blast with her "Grammie." I had an absolute blast not having to bear the whole burden of entertaining Cadance.  Steve had an absolute blast because he didn't have to work on Saturday at all and could play with us all day. 

Our adventures started at Chiles Peach Orchard, just west of Charlottesville.  The hour and a half drive was equalized because of the gorgeous pastures and farm land we saw along the way.  And, of course, the wonderful company.

 
 
And here we are at the orchard.  This is the third time Cadance has gone to pick fruit since we've lived in Virginia.  She loves it.  Although I'm pretty sure she enjoyed strawberries more, simply because they easier to see, pick, and eat.  

 
 
But, she was able to get to some of them, and luckily the peaches were easy enough to pluck from the tree.  Here she is with Cindy.  
 

And here she is enjoying the fruit of here labor. 


Seriously, they had amazing peaches.  Just look at this guy.


Afterwards we couldn't resist the peach ice cream.  We may have also brought home peach donuts and peach syrup. 


Instead of driving straight home we explored a little bit and found Greenwood's Gourmet Grocery.  Seriously, super fun.  I think I ate the best chicken salad sandwich I've ever had in my life.  If you are headed to the Charlottesville area look them up.  It's amazing. 

We finished the evening by freezing about 15 lbs of peaches.  I can now live through winter :)

Saturday we drove south to Pocahontas State Park.  Seriously pretty.  Here's a couple of the gorgeous things we saw. 

I'm pretty sure he was posing for us.

 
 
 
We went for a hike around a small lake they have.  



 
Before we left we went inside a nature center and checked out a junior ranger pack.  Mostly it seemed like the stuff was for someone older than her, but they had a pair of binoculars.  Check out this explorer.

 
Although I'm pretty sure the thing we got the biggest kick out of was looking at us.  


Also on this hike we were introduced to the coolest looking mushrooms I have ever seem, like neon orange.  Probably would have made me sick if I ate it, but it was cool to look at. 

After a long walk we thought it best to cool off in the water.  Cadance agreed.

 
 
Too bad floaties weren't allowed at the state park pool and we had to put them away.  But, we had a really fun time.  There was a kids water playground and Cadance really liked going down the slide. 
 
Even though exhausted we made it to the Hogshead CafĂ© and enjoyed some fabulous BBQ.  Deep fried hot dogs wrapped in bacon.  Hamburgers on pretzel rolls.  Sweet potato fries dipped in a honey butter sauce.  Meat so tender it fell off rib bones.  Yes please. 
 
Some great adventures added to our list.