July in Virginia

The kids and I went to Virginia in July to help Mimi out....she had knee replacement surgery at the end of June.  We enjoyed helping her each day with her physical therapy and making sure she was comfortable and cared for as she recovers.  The kids also practiced swimming a diving (well mostly diving from the high dive at the pool by their house).  We also ventured out to Pinkberry frozen yogurt a few times and tried Josie's Frozen Yogurt where our Josie was thrilled to get a discount on her self serve frozen delight.

The drive (now eight hours) from OH was very scenic with beautiful rolling hills and elevations to 2,400 feet in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, Maryland and PA.  We listened to Rick Riordan's, The Red Pyramid on CD and it made the hours fly by.   We ventured through a comical named town called Paw Paw, WV and weaved between WV and Maryland.  The back roads through WV lived up to their reputation of off the beaten path and even a few WV jokes....like a very obese woman sitting in her front yard in an upholstered chair.  I would have taken a picture, but I figured she wouldn't like that too much.
We stopped off at one of the C&O (Chesapeake and Ohio) Canal and Tow paths near Paw Paw.  

Josie was a little car sick on the way home so we took a break at a roadside farmers market and picked up a bird bath for the front yard and a peck of fresh peaches while Josie took a break from the car ride and the winding hills.  

The kids found the leftover sparklers that Aunt Patty had gotten for Sofia's enjoyment and had Harry Potter wand stand-offs in the backyard with Papi.   The "fire" dog, Theo stayed safely inside and watched from his favorite perch, Mimi's bay window.  Theo isn't allowed near fireworks after his very close encounter in July 2009 when we discovered that he likes to try and eat them.

It was a fun, memorable summer vacation over the hills, around the mountains and through the canal to Grandmother's house!!