Adi’s first girls trip!

 I had this one in queue but nothing written. At the beginning of August Adi had her first grownup solo girls trip. I mean, she wand Lexi went out for their birthdays, but that was with family. 

She had a good time! She was concerned about money since she’s now a college student paying her half of her living expenses, and she’s very responsible and thrifty, but I encouraged her to go and have fun. 

I’m always happy to see my kids spending time with good people. Love these girls!

9/19-9/20

 I hate being so behind on blogging. I also hate writing and posting wildly out of order. Good thing I can do hard things. 😉 

Christian and crew were planning to come down this weekend for a half marathon with his friends, but he’s been working so much that they decided to stay home. Sadness. I really wanted snuggles from this cute little boss lady! 

The ward free yard sale is Saturday, so we’ve been going through all our stuff and why do we have so much stuff? I’m also lightly going through bins of my parents things to see what we can use and if there’s anything I don’t actually want. Like this free 2008 calendar/sticky note set. 🤣

Christian and Jeanne will soon be the proud owners of this vintage throw blanket. I remember this being on my moms couch forever!

We had a Mexican themed Linger Longer yesterday and then a chill evening. 3 way FaceTimes are crazy but wonderful. 

Sarah Cox and baby Madeline are back at church and Frankie loved holding baby girl. She said she reminds her so much of Mia, only less goofy looking. 🤣 Newborns are so funny. 

Matt and I subbed for sunbeams which was so fun! We only had 2 and they were so good and cute. 

Today is the first day I’m really back to my routine. It’s good. It’s fine. 

One thing. After my last acupuncture visit, my ankle was a little swollen and really sore. Like it really hurt to walk on so I’ve been resting it and trying to elevate it when I can. I’ve never experienced pain there before and thought maybe it had something to do with the acupuncture because that’s when it started. 

So when I was in Utah Laura went to her acupuncturist (all the cool kids are doing it!) and I asked her to mention it. He said there might be some unresolved issue or energy there that needs to be worked out and suggested massaging it. I couldn’t do it myself because it really hurts, but I was talking to Matt and he suggested he could try to rub it. Anyway, he did, just like 5 minutes and it hurt, but then the next morning felt a lot better.

 Then yesterday he massaged it again and it didn’t hurt at all while he rubbed it, and now feels even better today. Not perfect, but definitely better. Bodies are amazing. 

Rocky Point Creamery

After Antietam we had one more ice cream trail stop on our way and decided to end our ice cream trail there. 4 ice cream spots in 2 days is pretty good!

A pic as we left. D and Adi were walking ahead of us. 

We got dinner at Raising Canes, a new to us favorite and I have loved my new national parks puzzle so much that I did it twice. 

So 5 Most Beautiful places, 4 ice cream trail spots, and 4 summer bingo squares is a pretty good haul for 2 days. 

Antietam

 We finally, after 17 years, made it to Antietam. Matt and I both felt my dad there and wished we’d brought him, he’d have loved it. I’m sure he did love it.

We checked out the Visitor Center and grounds, watched a movie, bought some souvies, and decided to do the driving tour. We listened to park rangers telling us about every spot and saw where all the battles and important places were. Like Dunker Church here. 

A few of the interesting facts we learned: Antietam is a civil war site, what happened there was the bloodiest single day in American history, and 23,000 people died. The National Parks have done an amazing job - it’s a truly beautiful historic park. Truly hallowed ground. 

This is the lookout that looks down on the Sunken Road that came to be known as Bloody Lane. 

Truly beautiful country. 

This was my favorite spot - Lower Bridge, which came to be known as Burnside Bridge for an amazingly brave man with some amazingly cool sideburns. Matt remembered that cool fact from Oversimplified. 

We drove all 11 stops on the tour and got out at several. It was really just a lovely day together. 

And if you’re wondering where Delaney was, her beef sting precluded her from walking much. 🙄🤷‍♀️

Washington Monument State Park

This is the first completed monument to Washington, in Washington County. It’s just a cute little monument on top of South Mountain.

We climbed to the top and the views were beautiful. 

I’d say this deserves a spot in the 50. 

After the climbing and hiking we went to our 3rd ice cream trail spot at South Mountain Creamery. They’ve got a huge operation where they deliver milk all around the area and they’ve got tours and stuff. And delicious ice cream, obvi. 

Appalachian Trail

 Our first order of business Sunday was Greenbrier State Park. Only, when we got there we found that they require reservations and there were no more reservations to be had. So I still don’t know why it’s so cool and beautiful but I wish I did.

About 2 minutes from that parks entrance was a portion of the Appalachian Trail, so we decided to take it.

There were signs to Greenbrier and also our next stop Washington Monument State Park, so Adi and I got to walk the 3 miles to the WMSP and after half a mile, Matt took Frankie and Delaney to get the car and they drop there and then Matt met us on the trail again. So he did the front and back end because he’s such a good guy. 

Adi had Appalachian trail as one of her bingo submissions, so it was perfect. 

She’d like to hike the whole thing someday and I hope she does!

Our brave adventurous girl. 

Ice cream trail

 I love the Maryland Ice Cream Trail! I did it in 2017 also, but never got to the eastern shore ones. So about 5 minutes from the Strathmore is a non creamery ice cream trail location called Mimi’s.

This was my least favorite, but Adi’s top favorite, so there you go. Matt and I got a 4 scoop flight, so we got to taste test. 

Next up was an item from Matt’s bucket list - an adventure park session. We still had 2 gift sessions from a Santa gift a few years ago, so we only paid for 2. 🎉

I supervised and read my book that I’ve been reading forever.  

We love the adventure park. 

The only problem was that it was *so* hot. 

I sat in the shade with snacks and everyone’s water bottles that I kept filled and Matt came to me after he’d done the black course and looked like he’d been hit by a truck. 🤣 He said after he got water and chatted with me for a bit, he went to climb the double black diamond and the worker was like “uhhh, when was the last time you had water?” 🤣

Break time!

I’ve don’t the ropes course pictures and they’re never very good, so I mostly relaxed. 

I grabbed a few pictures from my seat though. 

Matt bailed on the double black course about halfway through, which I was grateful for because it gave us just enough time to get to the last ice cream trail spot still open. 

I drove like a bat out of hell to Deliteful Dairy. We got there at 7:30 and they were very much prepping for their 8:00 closing. 

This was my favorite ice cream of the weekend though, so I’m glad we made it. I got a lemon cookie flavor with marshmallow topping on a waffle cone and it was so good!

And we were able to enjoy the most beautiful sunset on their cute little farm. 

So we left at 9, spent an hour at the C&O Canal Park, an hour at the Strathmore, 30 minutes getting ice cream x2, and 4 hours at the adventure park. Such a good day!

I had loosely planned because I didn’t know how long we’d want to stay anywhere, but, other than the extra hour at the adventure park and the creameries closing so early, we were right on schedule with my plans. 

Matt and I spent a few minutes finding a hotel, which proved more difficult than I’d initially thought it would be because, even though I put 5 people into my original searches when I was planning, not all of those hotels had suites for 5. We ended up at not the nicest Sleep Inn and it really earned that low 3 star rating. Even the brekkie was sub par. 🤢 And the pool and hot tub were emptied for repairing. Whomp whomp. 

We channeled our inner papa and grabbed dinner at Waffle House then showers for everyone and a decently early bedtime. At least an early summer bedtime. 🤗