Home School Stamper of 3: Sugar Grove, West Virginia

Sunday we headed to West Virginia for a few days to enjoy a mountain getaway. The boys got to do some skiing and Cassie and myself did some relaxing. Had Cassie and I not had stomach aches, we probably would have joined the boys and done a little site seeing while they were on the slopes. Instead, we decided to lounge around and take it easy.

Since we got an early start Sunday, we were able to take our time driving. We weren't in the car 30 minutes before our first stop. I was looking out the window at different birds. I had seen Tundra Swan, Canadian Geese, and a couple of hawks, but then at the top of this isolated dead tree, there it was a beautiful Bald Eagle. I couldn't believe my eyes and Dan stopped the car in disbelief.

Once we got back on track we decided to take the ferry from Surry to Jamestown. The weather was perfect for the trip across the water. This is a monument at the Jamestown settlement.

The trees in the mountains are all bare this time of year. I love the fall foliage, but there was something beautiful about the cold grey sky, leafless trees and icicles. Farms are abundant, we saw cattle, alpacas, sheep and chickens. Every farm had it's own charm.

Here's my littlest man all decked out going down the slope! I wish someone could take photo's of Danny, because he can ski backwards to capture video of the kids!

Since Monday was ski day for the boys, Tuesday Danny started the day with a wonderful country breakfast and then took us bowling. They had something planned for later that afternoon, but they were tight lipped about what it was.

Colin would strategically calculate how he wanted his ball to bounce off the bumper and hit the pins. This was pretty impressive, because he was actually able to pick up spares!

Since it was only a two lane alley, Cassie would walk down the side of the lane to watch her ball hit the pins. Occasionally, Dan would have to assist her ball to the end. The lightest ball was 8 pounds and she only weighs 28!

Even Cameron had a very unique style. I for the life of me couldn't figure out how he threw the ball without hurting his wrist, but he managed to do it gracefully.

You couldn't hear Dan set his ball down, but once he released it, it flew and the pins would shatter.

For me, I haven't touched a bowling ball in many years. Some of you may know that bowling is something I used to enjoy. I may look like I know what I'm doing, but without my own shoes and ball...lets just say my score didn't reflect my knowledge of bowling! We had so much fun!

Finally, the boys had a little surprise up their sleeve to finish out the day. On their drive to the ski resort they passed a farm that had what looked like were Alpaca's. I would love to have an Alpaca (or some Alpaca's) one day, so they thought taking me to see some would be the next best thing. So, they took me back to this farm where I saw sheep, a couple of donkeys and a couple of lama's.

You'll see lama's with different herds because they protect them. So, it was snowing...a lot...it was cold, but I got to see some lama and sheep. Then I saw the owner of this sheep herd and I asked him if we could take a closer look at his animals for just a minute and he very warmly invited us to come on in. It just so happened that his herd was all female, they were all pregnant, and they had just started to lamb (have their babies). The babies were less than a day old and he said he would continue to deliver babies for the next two weeks. He picked up one of the babies for us to hold. That was a mistake for me because I fell in love! I mentioned wanting Alpaca's...well, now I want sheep too! The babies are precious, while I was holding him, he just nestled his little nose right in my neck. I could have taken the little guy home had his mama not been stomping her foot at me to put him back!