We camp in style!

Our vacation this year was to a really nice cottage in the Mountains of WV (Isn't all of WV mountains? I don't know. That's all I saw anyway! Whatever.) It was called Faith Mountain and it's a retreat place for Pastors and Missionaries (with discounted rates - awesome!!)

It was so beautiful and peaceful (oh wait...it wasn't necessarily peaceful since we had a 3 and 1 yr old boys with us, but I can see where for anyone else it would be extremely peaceful!) 

I loathe putting pictures in posts. I'm either incapable of doing it the right way or it's a terrible system and I prefer to think the latter is true! So this is just a smattering of things that we did and saw. You won't be seeing pictures of the wildlife that visited our cottage (wild turkeys, deer, rabbits and the random bald man - oh never mind. That was just my dad!) because I'm too frustrated with putting pictures and they didn't make the cut.

This is the Cedar House where we stayed. It was totally the best way to camp. By day we had a campfire outside and a pond to fish in, trails to walk on and a beautiful view and by night we had an amazingly beautiful house to stay in complete with a full kitchen (even a dishwasher if that gives you an idea to how nice it was!) 4 large bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (one with a whirlpool tub!), wood floors - beautiful!! There is seriously no other way to camp in my mind anyway!

This is the earliest stinkin' campfire I've ever seen. This was probably about 6:30pm, but it was fun and delicious (s'mores!!) and the boys were bathed and in bed by 8pm. Doesn't get better than that, sports fans!

Caleb and Pop-pop at the campfire. You'll notice Pop-pop passed him off to me after this picture and when you see the next one you'll know why. Chicken!
Caleb enjoying his first S'more! He was such a sticky, chocolatey mess! And super cute!!

My parents came down the day after us. Dad stayed for 3 nights and Mom stayed the rest of the week with us. It was so fun to have Grammy and Pop-pop with us! We went exploring around the area and discovered there's really nothing to do! 45 minutes away we found Sutton Dam which was super cool. I don't remember ever being to a dam before, but some people are telling me I was at one in high school. I was in my own little silly world doing silly teen things then.  'Nuff said. Anyway, it was impressive and a really fun trip.

This is one of the views from the top of the dam. So pretty! Sammy spotted the playground down there on the left and asked to play for a bit so we drove down there. It's a beautiful park with pavilions for picnics, fishing, etc.

There was a spot for swimming so another day Grammy, Daddy, the boys and I went back. This time we swam with the boys (when I saw "we" I mean "I" because Grammy and Daddy were chicken!) Then we played at the playground and ate a picnic lunch before heading back to the house for naps. It was a great day!

The boys watching a movie. There was no tv, no internet, no phone, not even cell service at the cottage so we came up with things to do!

And here's one of the things Sammy came up with! =)

Daddy and Sammy fishing together. It was the first time for all of us and even though we didn't catch anything it was really fun (and nice to leave Caleb at the house with Grammy since we literally climbed down the mountain and back up again to get to the pond). I don't recommend it with a 1 yr old in your arms! In fact, I just plain old don't recommend it at all!

This was a very cool old, run-down barn we drove by many times. On our way home we finally stopped and took this picture. I think it would make the best postcard or a really cool puzzle. Or maybe I'll just do the boring thing and blow it up to hang on the wall. I don't know what it is, but I just love this old barn!

Caleb being silly and sweet on the ride home. We made it all the way with no traffic at all until we got to the smallest stickin' state (sorry, I can't bring myself to even utter the word - it starts with a "D") and mercy did we ever hit traffic there! We were stuck on 95 for what seemed like an eternity!  

All in all we had a great time and though I don't think we'll ever go back while the kids are young (I'm the kind that enjoys a quiet relaxing vacation every now and then, but really loves a place with stuff to do and see!) I could totally see us going back sometime when it's just the two of us.