Day 10: Trippin' out with the Rawlings

Morning - Stay in pj's until after lunch. I was reading and crying. The book I'm reading is Goodbye Wives and Daughters. It tells about an actual event, The Smith Mine disaster, in which my father lost his father when my dad was just 6 yrs. old. The instant I saw my grandfather's name in print I started crying. It was such a tragic event. It happened in Montana during WW II. The book has been slow going for me as it is mostly a lot of facts and introducing me to a lot of people I'm having a hard time remembering. Today though I finally got to the telling of the actual event. So heartbreaking.

Afternoon - We headed to the indoor pool. M-Ann brought the boys over and we all headed over to play in the pool. M-Ann then went to wake up Jared and get him and Grace ready for our outing. Kenneth and I took all the kids for a walk down to the lake. Then we headed back to the cabin to get ready ourselves. The Carpenter bees are everywhere. Some of the kids are a little freaked out by them. They totally ignore us humans though. Yellow Jackets on the other hand do not. There's a nest right outside our door and one got in this afternoon and stung Theron. Poor kid, he's fine, but it did hurt him pretty bad.

Late Afternoon/Evening - We went on a private tour of UVA. Our tour guide may or may not be part of a secret society here at UVA, the Zs, the 7s, or the Ravens, he would neither confirm nor deny. It was so cool to see all the stunning architecture. It's just such a beautiful campus.

Our drive to Charlottesville was so gorgeous. We drove along a back road with some amazing homes and luscious farmland. I felt like I was looking at a painting.

After our tour we drove to the Downtown Mall, one of the longest pedestrian malls in the US. It has lots of cute shops and restaurants. We started by ordering out pizza and then walking the mall. Then we got our pizza and it was soooo tasty.

It was in the high 80's today and it felt fantastic. I didn't mind walking and sweating in it. I loved feeling warm. It's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. Luckily, we do have a/c here at the cabin. It has more moisture in the air so it feels like a soft warm blanket. 

Haiku to this day:
UVA is nice.
Did our guide hold a secret?

He would not tell us.