Sam got a tank and regulator from Uncle Deke this last weekend – these will come in quite handy!  We took them in today to Rum Runners Dive Shop to have them tested and checked out… we are sure they were upset we wouldn’t be renting nearly as much equipment next time around.  🙂

We didn’t think we would get another chance this summer to take a photo on the mountain, but this weekend’s trip provided us one last opportunity.  We originally started taking these photos for Henrietta and Lillian – we knew they would love to see the boys on the mountain.  Below is a latest photo, not one of our best, and a couple of the earlier shots from 2011 and 2012…. the boys sure have grown.

 We made the trip to Elkton, VA this last weekend to say goodbye to Lillian.  The service was very nice and brought a tear to many an eye.  The small church was filled with family and friends and was quite hot as they seemed to have forgot to turn on the A/C.  As the Preacher, who obviously cared a great deal about Lillian said, Lillian was a very complicated woman that could be crusty, but was also very loving and caring.  Lillian had a tendency to say what was on her mind and to say outloud what most people were thinking.  🙂  Most importantly though, she loved her family very much.
  Lis and the boys adored their grandmother and we know that Lillian loved us just as much, she will be greatly missed.  Along the way we had a chance to spend some time with family and friends at Alan’s house and we got to spend some time in Waynesboro too.  Thanks for everyone’s support this weekend and we hope to see everyone again soon.

We captured a couple of quick photos after the service…

We got a chance to spend some time with Alan and the gang at his house this last weekend.  Along the way we met some new friends…. Plott hound puppies and a few cows for good measure.   🙂

Alex got to go to the beach for the week with his friends, Matt and Jeremy in South Carolina.  Matt’s parents have a time share plan and they get to go 3 or 4 times each year.  So while Alex was away at the beach, Mom and Sam took a trip to Raleigh and went rock climbing.  Sam got to free climb in the morning as the place was packed with ‘campers.’  After lunch with Mom and Dad, Sam went back and tried out climbing with the harness.  Sam had a great time, but rock climbing may not be his thing…. which is probably a good thing, scuba diving is enough.  🙂

Sam finally gets in his first dive of the year – after 6 failed attempts due to weather.  The weather was perfect for the day, light breeze and low 90’s.  Sam had a great time on the dive and got to see a different shipwreck this time.  This boat was recently sunk as part of a program to rebuild the sea life in the area… they plan on sinking a couple of more boats by the end of the year.  The only downfall to the day was that Sam did throw up getting back into the boat after his dive.  Carolyn the instructor said he did it so quietly that nobody really noticed and then he went back up on deck and fell asleep.  She suggested that Sam take two sea sick pills – one in the morning and then one about an hour before the trip.  Hopefully that will work as we plan to get in at least one more dive this year (our original plan was 4-5 dives so he would be ready to take the next certification next year when he turns 15).  Sam’s dive was only about 40 minutes long, but the trip took over 3 hours by the time they made it out to the site and everyone had a chance to dive (there were 26 people diving from Rum Runner’s that day).  Mom and Dad didn’t want to waste the day, so they spent part of the 3 hours on the beach enjoying the day.

King Neptune at the Olympus Dive shop… we think he probably had a trident is his hand at some point.

Sam prepping equipment on the boat before departure.

Carolyn took this photo and the next two photos.  As you can see Sam is wearing his Go Pro camera on his arm, but unfortunately he couldn’t get it to work – hopefully this next dive he can get his own video.

Sam carrying all his gear off the boat.

A little late but it took us a while to get all the photos together.  This was our morning trip to Baltimore and the National Aquarium – same day as the DC United Soccer Game.  Obviously the aquarium was more Sam’s thing and the soccer game was for Alex but everyone had a good time at both events.  Baltimore and DC were a lot of fun – it’s nice to be in a real city for a change.  🙂

We drove down to Morehead City to take Sam to dive at Olympus Dive but right before we got there the Captain called in and said the weather was deteriating too fast and they canceled the afternoon dive for today.  Sam was pretty disappointed as this is the 3rd one he has missed this year due to weather.  He has another one scheduled next weekend so let’s keep our fingers crossed.  We did spend a few minutes on the beach but we heard it thundering and thought it might be a good time to head home.

We took another hike to Rose River Falls and this time we also went to Deep Hollow Falls.  As it turns out it might not have been a great idea to do both on the same day – at least not from the direction we hiked.  Our first hike was down to Rose River Falls, which we went to a couple of years ago.  This is a fairly easy 2.5 – 3 mile hike down to the falls and back from Skyline drive.  If you take the whole loop it will go by Deep Hollow Falls along the bottom of the canyon (this is about 5-6 mile for the whole loop).  We decided due to time and the possibility of bad weather we would just hike down Rose River and then drive to the parking area for Deep Hollow and drive from there – probably only a 2 mile hike down.  Unfortunately for us, the loop would have been much easier as the shorter hike from the Skyline drive to Deep Hollow was in fact quite deep and not for the faint of heart or knees.  Everyone was quite tired by the end of the day and some of us were complaining more than others but all in all everyone had a great time.