Don't you love this rustic home? The left side is the house and the right side is the barn. What a beautiful setting too... out in the country, off the beaten path.
This is what you see when sitting on the front porch of my sister-in-law's house. I'm imagining what these hills look like in the fall. We've visited at Thanksgiving, but most of the leaves were gone by then, so we didn't get to see the trees in all their glory.
M greets one of the three dogs who reside here. 
D and M hang out on the back porch swing. Do you see the dinner bell and windchimes in the background? I LOVE the homey feel of this porch!While visiting in the area, we went wading in the Maury River, a very shallow, rocky river near Goshen, VA. It was such a gorgeous day and the water felt great. We were having a wonderful time, just chillin' out, when suddenly these horse flies appeared and started to swarm. Seriously. They were all over us! I have no doubt that I put on quite a show for anyone and everyone looking our direction as the flies seemed to be particularly attracted to me and were dive bombing my head nonstop. Honestly, it was miserable! We finally had to just leave. I'm probably now on YouTube as the flailing lunatic with the flies in her hair.
After leaving the Shenandoah Valley, we headed further east to Richmond, VA, to visit with my in-laws. They went with us to Colonial Williamsburg and Water Country USA,which was a total surprise to us. I'd always wanted to visit Williamsburg, and of course the boys were thrilled with the water park. Here are a few photos of our day of fun...
I enjoyed looking at the colonial buildings. Some are restaurants, some are gift shops and some are homes. I didn't realize that people actually live in some of the historic homes.
This is Bruton Parish Church... the first Anglican church built in 1660. Apparently some very famous people had been members of this church... Thomas Jefferson and George Washington among the most famous. The boys thought that was really cool.
This is the inside of the church. It was used as a hospital during two wars and it's still owned by and serves its three-centuries-old parish today.
It was neat to see the horse-drawn carriages and people in period costume. 
The boys get a closer look at the horses.And speaking of period costume...
This gentleman walked through the historic village with oxen following him.
These big critters just followed the man in the previous photo. I found that interesting.
D and M got in trouble and were sent to the stockade!
We checked out the gifts shops with specialty items supposedly made "back in the day." These soaps smelled heavenly!
D tries on a tricorn hat. 
M checks out some handmade games for kids.
Have you ever noticed that huge trees attract kids, particularly boys? Mine are no exception.
And of course if there's a cool tree nearby, climbing it is the obvious thing to do.
Although the boys enjoyed seeing Colonial Williamsburg, they were much more excited to visit Water Country USA. We were able to take advantage of the special deal offered to military families which allowed us free admission. Thanks to the Busch Company for making this possible!
The wave pool was a lot of fun.
It was nice that the park provided life vests for guests. 
M is out in the middle of the wave pool.
This was just one of the many water slides in the park. The boys talked me in to going down this thing and one time was all I needed to decide I didn't need to go again. Water kept splashing into my face and I couldn't breathe, and then once I came out of the tube and splashed into the pool, I couldn't stand up in the water. I thought I might just drown right there in three feet of water. Yep, it's official... I'm gettin' too old for this kinda stuff! I rather like floating in the Lazy River. That's more my style.The four of us decided to go on a family raft ride together, and we were all the way at the top, having climbed what felt like endless flights of stairs, and the young lady monitoring the ride told us we'd have to climb back down. Seems weather was rolling in and there had been reports of lightning and thunder. The boys were seriously bummed that our outing was cut short.
My in-laws took the boys and me shopping early for our birthdays and we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden, a definite treat for all of us as we'd been wanting to go there while visiting the States. Those breadsticks just melt in your mouth, don't they? I LOVE those things!
Our U.S. Vacation was winding down with one stop left... Dover, Delaware, where we would fly out of to return to Spain. More on that part of our trip later...
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