This decision was reached as I was looking at Jonathan, listening to him talk about something. He seemed so OLD all of a sudden, leaving me to wonder where in the world the tiny infant son I once held in my arms had gone. Then I realized, with a bit of a shock, that he will be FIVE (5!!) this year and I started to internally panic over the fact that the infant days seem so long ago that I have trouble remembering them. That made the decision for me right there--I must continue to catalog these moments so that I can more clearly remember them.
I pretty much left off with our vacation to Florida in August. While there have been a few posts since then, chronologically in my photos is a trip that we took with my grandparents to Cass, West Virginia. Mama and Papa, as they are more commonly called, are my Dad's parents. They have a "camp" as they call their house in the mountains. As a child, I went there with them several times. Papa has, pretty much since Jonathan was born, talked about taking Jonathan there. This year seemed like the right time so we went for a couple of days over Labor Day weekend.
The feeling of visiting a place with the same people with whom I visited it before, but also with my husband and my son, was pretty amazing. It also was a bit eerie as things looked much the same as I recall from my last visit twenty-ish years earlier.
The case of characters for this trip were Mama and myself,
Papa and Bryan,
Jonathan and his new friend, Davis, acquired right before this photo from the gift shop.
This wooden train was one of a few changes since my last visit. Jonathan enjoyed it quite a bit while the men in the party went to get tickets for our train ride.
The train ride to Whittaker Station was just as I recalled, but for the fact that the train cars are now covered, which is a great improvement. I promise, I really was happy to be on the train.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I have no idea why. Jonathan wasn't scared by the train whistle but it was a lot louder than what his experience with his toy Thomas trains had lead him to believe.
After we left Cass, we headed back to the "camp" to eat dinner and spend the night. Just like Cass, the camp was just as I remembered it. Of note is the furniture, which looks like it came from a whore house from the 1970s.
Also worth mention is the stuffed and mounted squirrel that I killed on my first and only hunting trip with my Dad and my sister Laura; I think I was in fourth grade and she was in third. Bryan really enjoyed this part of the trip as well as the various other dead animals the living room contained, most if not all of which were "taken" by my father. I am super proud :)
We had an incredible visit. Jonathan is so lucky to have great grandparents who are still living and in good health; I feel lucky to have them as well. Sure, Papa is super political (unfortunately, not of the same persuasion as Bryan and myself) and it was a Saturday night spent much differently than we do things at home in Louisville, but memories like these cannot be taken for granted and I am certain that we will wish there were more of them.
On a lighter note, where else can you snap a photo of your precious four year old holding a plastic bear tongue obtained from a bear rug, the same plastic bear tongue that you yourself played with as a child?
Yeah, hanging out with the greats is good stuff.
