Our lazy days came to a happy halt when Grandma flew in from Hawaii (via Chicago) to spend a week with us. Last year when she visited we all
went to Chincoteague Island to hang with the wild ponies. This year we pointed west and went to the mountains to spend a couple of days in Shenandoah National Park.
We did a little hiking around, Naia took great pride in climbing and walking "all by my big girl self!" She was constantly looking back, asking me, "Am I a real hiker now mama? Am I climbing the mountain?"
She followed Zach like a mountain goat in training, scrambling every rock.
We've been here so many times, but we never tire of it. We always see lots of deer, lizards, and grandma and Zach saw a mama and baby bear together. We all had a very cool close encounter with a baby black bear. We were driving Skyline Drive and there it was, just beside our car on the side of the road munching away. Of course I was buckled in the back on the wrong side of the car and in a ridiculous and desperate attempt to be wildlife photographer extraordinaire, I lunged myself across Zach who was in the middle, and across Naia who was buckled into her car seat to try to snap a photo. The kids were trying to get their own glimpse of the bear and wondering why mom was sprawled over them hollering for daddy (who was driving) to back up just a little, just a little please! I was being a doofus. So I only got a few blurry shots of the bear's back end. Such is life. I should have just let it be and enjoyed the moment.
