April 2022 Trip to VA: Children's Museum, Monticello, Crabtree Falls

 Thursday morning, Coco drove with her kids to Charlottesville and met us at a bakery. After the num-nums, we went to the children's museum.  

After the museum, we headed to Monticello, where it started pouring rain before our tour started. 

I like that Tiny appears to be educating Anson about life in the olden days in this picture. 

We got dinner in Charlottesville while Coco headed to the Airbnb to get her kids to bed. On our drive back, Tiny was struck by an urgent need to go to the bathroom. We pulled over and had her go by this wall. It was an incredibly picturesque area, especially with the sunset.  

Dustin and Lucy drove out after work and school, respectively, so they were at the Airbnb when we got back. It was a late night for the kids, but Anson and the girls enjoyed a cousin sleepover in the bunk room. Tiny and Anson talked for a bit, and Tiny taught Anson how to jump off the top bunk onto a bed below. 

Friday, April 8, we hiked Crabtree Falls. Tiny and Antonio led the way.  

While hiking, Berry imagined a bunny that was giving her a ride. She very carefully collected all sorts of things to feed her bunny - various leaves and flowers and twigs and things. She found leaves that had pretty dew drops on them and walked very carefully so as not to disturb the dew. It was so incredibly sweet (but also made her very slow on the way down, in particular). On the bridge at the top, she arranged a salad for her bunny. (Possibly somebody stepped on it, and she was very upset when we passed it on our way back and saw that it was messed up.) 

We picnicked briefly at the top, but storm clouds rolled in and we were freezing. We had to head back pretty quickly. 

I think Berry was carrying a leaf with a dew drop here (and other things).  

She carried things all the way down.

Back at the car, Jim got a little Ever snuggle time, and it was very cute. 

We drove some of the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way home and stopped at Afton Overlook because Afton! It was beautiful. Just could've used a few more weeks to get leaves on these trees. 

We stopped at Shawn's BBQ in Culpepper for dinner and then hit Moo Thru on the way home. So much ice cream. And so many pictures of people eating ice cream. 

We flew out early Saturday morning and traveled all day. We had left the car at a lot near the San Diego airport that Jim picked (I always choose a lot that is farther away and cheaper), and we got a wonderful surprise when we got back that night: when you are parked on the roof of that structure, the planes fly right over your head as they land. First you see a light in the distance, and it gets closer and bigger, and then it flies right over you, so close. It was so exciting and fun. The girls got on the roof of the car, and we watched a bunch of planes come in before finally heading home.