Shenandoah National Park

Our country has some really amazing sights. While we were on vacation in Harrisonburg visiting Mike's family, we decided to take in one of our nation's most beautiful places: Shenandoah National Park. We got up bright and early Sunday morning, loaded up two sleepy boys, packed the backpack with all of the essential items, and hit the trails.

We stopped first at the visitor's center to ask what about an appropriate hike. They suggested a place called Dark Hollow Falls, which is a 1.5 mile roundtrip hike that takes us to a waterfall along a very steep trail. First, however, we had to get Drew & Ollie their stamps in the National Park Passport book. Drew was skeptical at first but when he realized that they were stamps, just like the ones used at school for the "fun bus", he was all in. He also wanted a stamp on the back of his hand.

We loaded back into the car and headed for the falls. They were right. It was definitely a steep climb down. I held Drew's hand most of the way. Ollie enjoyed the view from Daddy's back. He was perfectly content in the backpack. It was a beautiful hike down, but all the way I was thinking to myself that it was not going to be a fun climb back up. I always think it's better to climb uphill first and go down last, but that was not the way it worked here.

Drew fell twice. He scraped up his knees pretty badly, but with the promise of some "fruit snacks" he jumped back up quickly and went on his way. He's a fruit snack addict. We enjoyed the streams on the way down and Drew became a master at climbing over the rocks on his own. I only allowed him to run if he was holding my hand because everything was so slippery.

About halfway down, Drew told me in his way..."it's coming out!" And, so, we found a perfect spot to pee over a log. He has become quite good at peeing outdoors.

Last christmas he received a magnifying glass from Santa. It is perfect for hikes so he is able to see all the little things along the way. It is also a good distraction from a tough fall.

We finally made it down to the waterfall. Ollie was very happy to be released from his constraint. Mike found him a perfect nook in a rock for him to sit. This is also where we broke out the snacks and stopped for some pictures.

And, then, it was bound to happen right? Drew telling Mike that he had to "go poops". Oh no. We're nowhere near a bathroom. We're on the busiest trail in all of the Shenandoah National Park. And, what does his daddy say??? He tells Drew to go with mommy. I am not the expert on pooping in the woods. In fact, I've never pooped in the woods. I don't know what I'm doing. And, I was absolutely thinking that Mike owed me after this! So, I took him farther down the trail and as much out of the limelight as possible. I took off his shoes, pants, and cars underwear. I found a perfectly situated log and sat him on it like it was a potty. And, he amazed me. He pottyed so fast that we were done before anyone came up the trail. I, of course, did my best to "hide" the poop under some leaves. At which Drew said, "where's poop go?" He wanted to see it! I did my best to explain why we needed to cover it up and he apparently thought that was a good enough explanation because he was ready to do some more hiking. A success. If you can see the look on my face in the second photo....that's really how I felt. But, Drew is definitely potty trained. He's been doing great.

Then we climbed back up this very large hill back to the car. It took us about 45 minutes to climb back up. We counted all the steps and as Drew was about to wane at the end, I made up a game about a bear getting him so he would run a little faster. The bear liked to pick him up and snuggle him. He would say, "come get me bear." Ollie thought this was funny too. Occasionally the bear would tickle Ollie's legs. He would giggle and giggle. It was my motivation, too, for getting up that mountain - chasing after my little cubs. A lot of fun.