Hiking and Horrendous Heat

Jonah, mountain man :)

A very nice British couple that we met along the Stony Man Trail took this picutre of all of us at the top of Stony Man Mountain, the second highest peak in the Shenandoahs. This particular trail was probably our favorite.

This is a view of our resort from the Stony Man summit.

A raven flying over the Stony Man summit.

This is a rabbit we met along the Limberlost Trail.

Jonah with Ranger Nicki during Kids' Corner activity time at the Byrd Visitors' Center right before we went on the Story of the Forest Trail.

So we've been without AC for the past month. It really wasn't a problem until this past week because the weather had been absolutely gorgeous for the most part, so opening windows and using the ceiling fans made things prefectly comfortable. That isn't to say we weren't looking to get our AC problem taken care of; we'd had a repairman come out to look at our system, and he determined that we had a freon leak that was bad enough to warrant a complete switch in our system. We knew this would have to be done at some point what with the current AC/furnace being the original builders' grade model that had been installed when the house was built nearly 20 years ago; we were just hoping we could wait another year or two. Oh well. So we spent a couple of weeks entertaining a number of contractors to do the work, finally decide on one, get him to order the equipment, which took a week to get in, set an installment date of last Wednesday, and then he calls and says that he doesn't feel well from working in the heat and torrential rain on Tuesday. We say we understand, reset the installment for Thursday, then he gets so swamped with emergency calls because of the heat that we get bumped again. So once again, we reset the installment for Saturday. The thing that makes things even more complicated now is that we had made plans a couple of months ago to take Jonah to Skyline Drive for this weekend to do some leisurely hiking. We really didn't want to cancel our plans, so the contractor comes over Thursday evening, fills our AC with enough freon to last a few days in order to keep the cats comfortable, my parents agree to come and let him in on Saturday for the installation (very nice of them!), and we head out to the Shenandoahs Thursday evening.

Along comes Saturday. Josh, Jonah and I finish our morning's hike along the Story of the Forest Trail and get back to our room after enjoying a lunch at the Big Meadows Wayside. I try calling my parents and am unsuccessful. Josh tries a little later at about 1:30 and reaches my mom. My parents have just left our house after having been there since 7 AM; the conttractor never showed up. Josh and I are livid. We call the contractor; apparently he got called by a senior center that didn't have working AC, and he bumped us again. He said he tried calling my parents at home, but they had already left their house, and he didn't think to try calling our house to see if they were there. So Josh and I decide to come home a day early because we had no idea how long that freon would last, and we didn't want to come home to baked kitties. It's a good thing we did, too, because when we walked in the house it was 87 degrees in here; the AC had somehow shut off, but a little fiddling with the thermostat got it going again, and now it's moderately tolerable in here (we are going to have to sleep in the basement where it generally stays cool, though, because it is absolutely horrid upstairs). We now have another installation date set for tomorrow, Sunday, and the contractor had better show up or we're pulling out of this contract. I really don't care at this point what kind of emergency phone calls he gets tomorrow; it's now summertime weather with sweltering temps, and there's always going to be emergency phone calls. He has a CONTRACT with us, and he had just better not bump us again.

Anyway, on a happier note, we had a good time in the Shenandoahs as evidenced by the photos above. We stayed at the Skyland Resort, which is right on Skyline Drive. The name sounds fancier than the place really was; the accomodations were a bit rustic, but we were comfortable, and our room had a great view. Jonah really enjoyed the walks we took and seeing the deer, rabbits, and butterflies along the way. I would definitely take him back there again if he continues to show an interest in hiking along paths and trails.

Fun in Bethany Beach, DE

We weren't sure we were going to make the trip (we spent last Wednesday night in the emergency room because Jonah had woken up at 11:30 barely able to breathe because he was coughing so much - he got a steroid injection and a prescription for further steroid treatment, and he seemed to get better over the course of the next couple of days) but decided to risk it because we'd already had the plans set for a couple of months and really didn't want to cancel, and we figured a bit of fun with a friend might even perk Jonah up (and we REALLY didn't want to deal with the tantrum and tears that were bound to happen if we told Jonah that he wasn't going to be able to go to the beach with Morgan when we'd been telling him about the trip for the past week!). Turns out we were right because he significantly improved during the time we were there, thanks to his meds and all the fun he was having with Morgan, the daughter of friends Debbie and Dan who invited us to join them for the weekend at Dan's mother's house in Bethany Beach. We were able to make it to the beach every morning for some fun in the sun (the water was a little on the cold side for swimming, but we did get our feet wet), and the kids had a great time. Jonah absolutely loves playing with Morgan, and I think the feeling is mutual, as evidenced by the photos below. There were, of course, some three-year-old moments, but that was expected, and they never lasted long (I'll be up front and say that it was mostly Jonah who was having trouble keeping his hands to himself - not in a hitting way or in any way that was meant to be hurtful, but he has trouble remembering to keep personal space and will poke or tickle or will touch in some other way to show that he's just being playful - we're constantly reminding him to keep his hands to himself around other kids, and it's proving to be a hard lesson - it's just hard to reprimand too hard when we know he's just playing, but we're doing what we have to do, and I trust he'll eventually learn). We had a great time, and we really appreciate Debbie and Dan for inviting us along for one of the only weekends they'll have the beach house this year!


Morgan and Jonah playing with Jonah's Thomas laptop.

Aaaah, what could be better than refreshments on the beach?!

That's some cold water, Mommy! Hold me up!

Wow, that's the ocean!

Let's make mud cake!

For That Deep Down Body Thirst

Some comments from Jonah this evening regarding drinking:

"I'd like any kind of milk. Boy, I'd really like some milk!"

"The kitties are thirsty. They need to drink some water so they can grow up big and strong like I am."