Cliff decided a few weeks ago that for his birthday he'd like to take a leisurely drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and spend some nights in Blowing Rock until flooding rains from Hurricane Joaquin closed much of the Parkway.  On Sunday plan B kicked in.  He decided to celebrate his birthday with Hayden, Sofia, Grant, Olivia, Ben, Lauria and Jim, a pug and two cats.  I changed our reservations to a Holiday Inn Express in Warrenton,  packed our bags and headed to northern Virginia.  After the 10-hour drive, we stopped by to hug everyone, pat the pug, talk to the cats and told them we'd see them in the morning.  In our hotel room we started unpacking, placing shampoo, toothbrushes, etc. in the bathroom, hanging some of the clothes on hangers and looking forward to a soothing shower and settling our weary bodies.  The room temperature was 88 degrees but we couldn't get the thermostat to turn on.  The desk manager came right up but couldn't get the unit working either.  She removed a unit from a vacant room to plug into our wall unit but that didn't work.  She and Cliff worked for about 30 minutes trying new batteries and everything else they could try.  By 9:30 she had us booked into a third floor suite for the same price as our regular room.  We packed up again, put everything on the rolling cart, and moved to our new suite, unpacked everything, showered and finally hit the sack at 10:30.

 In the morning when Cliff tried to bring up the internet, the connection was too weak.  He went into the site that shows internet strength and on the third floor it's too weak to use.  SO, now, down to the desk (new front desk manager) to report the internet problem.  Cliff explained the strength and speed difference on the first and second floors with the weakness on the third floor.  She apologized and found us a room back on the second floor, not a suite, which we didn't really care about, and comped our 3 nights at the lowest rate. 

So, we brought the cart to the third floor, packed everything again, and moved to our next room.  This time we checked the thermostat and checked the internet speed before unpacking.   Everything seemed okay.  After totally unpacking again, we ate our hot breakfast in the dining area and headed out to spend the day with the family. 

To celebrate Hayden's 11th birthday, on the 22nd, and Papa's birthday, the 11th, we went to the Mandarin Buffet.  Great food, lots of choices.  Different from what we have here.

We were fortunate to be there for Sofia's equestrian lesson.

Sofia leading Lucky into the stall where she brushed and saddled her.

During that lesson, the students jumped the low bar. She was so happy because she wanted us to see her do that.

Hayden helped muck out the stables.  Look at her smile!
The next day we all went to the Aquatic Center and swam.  There's a cool area called the "lazy river" where the jets push you along in about 3 feet of water.  We played and swam until Ben's lips began to turn blue.  The water seemed cooler than the last time we were there.  I was getting chilled but wanted to stay in the "lazy river" with the children.  Ben was a life saver. 

We got to watch Hayden and Grant at chess club.

I was so impressed with the club.  All ages play against each other and the players get quick lessons and hints on how to put their partner into checkmate in the fewest moves. 

Ben playing chess at home with Hayden.

I asked the children to go out on the front porch so I could take a picture of them together.  This is as together as they wanted to be that day. 
Our weather was great.  We were able to be outside doing yoga, pulling weeds and working in the yard. 

The property had this wonderful outbuilding that will be used for their homeschooling when it's ready.  There's an upstairs, this first floor, and a walkout basement for garden tools and storage.