With Jonathan entering OCS for the Army in February, and training in Georgia, we wanted to have me be close but somewhere I had good support (we didn't know then that he would not be able to visit us, nor we him). Going back to Buena Vista, VA came immediately to mind. I was tremendously excited at the prospect, as I had not expected to be able to return there for a long time, and certainly not to live. But we did not see how we could financially move there until right before he would leave, so sometime in January.
We started calling some of our friends to find out about rent options, etc. We called our good friends the Anderson's with whom we have previously lived, and who had just recently moved back to VA themselves from Idaho. They offered to let us stay with them rent free until we found a place. We both felt like this was our chance to get out there, and decided to go as soon as we could. We couldn't afford a moving truck, so we packed up all our stuff we didn't need for the next few months to store in my brother-is-law's house until we could get it, packed up our car until there was barely enough room for our bodies, and drove across the country with little Elenore once again, heading back to the homeland.
We made it back to BV by the end of September, and as things worked out, ended up staying with the Anderson's instead of looking for another place to rent and it has been great for our whole family. Elenore especially loves them all to pieces and it will be a huge blessing not to be alone while Jonathan is in training. Here are the first pics of Elenore with her favorites in the family (the girls).
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| I think she likes Bryndy more than Mommy... |
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| And Grammy is fabulous too! |
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| Onyx the black lab who is beyond patient... | | | Elenore is panting here. |
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| The beginning of her love for dogs... |
Here are a bunch of pictures of our first adventures back in BV VA! As there are a lot, I will probably split some of them up into separate posts.
Boxerwood Gardens
(first with the Davises and then a return trip later on our own)
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| Walking to the fall festival |
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| looking at the big dogs |
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| playing in the water |
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| Jack and Elenore... not too sure about each other |
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| Elenore and her Daddy with the cool bird |
Below is our return trip. This place is really a wonderful spot, and trying to conserve the natural beauty and provide fun learning for kids too!
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| Our return trip to the Playtrail! |
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| going through the willow tunnel with daddy |
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| trying out the bench in the tunnel with Daddy |
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| are we to teh end yet? |
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| eating wood... |
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| giving it to mommy... with the "but aren't I cute when I'm naughty?" look |
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| finding leaves... |
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| learning how to make mud! |
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| Another "I'm so cute" pose |
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| fountains and fish! |
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| fish fascination |
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| going home on Daddy's shoulders |
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