Back from Virginia!!!!!

It is SO good to be home!!
We left bright and early at 4 am on Wednesday morning. Poor Owen had a 102.8 temp the night before so I worried he would be sick going down. Luckily, it went to 100 by the time we left, and by the time we got to VA there was no temp at all.
We drove, 2 adults and 7 kids, for 11 hours to get to VA (added time for bathroom breaks, nursing breaks, eating breaks and traffic). Owen cried for almost 2 hours of the trip down, right in the beginning, which was pretty hard. Thankfully he settled down and slept a lot. He also ate anything the kids would feed him!
The kids were amazingly well behaved during the drive down.
We got to VA and Mike and Renee and Leah were still there. It was raining, so we couldn't go to the lake that night. Instead we visited with everyone and got acquainted with the house, and were able to tour Wally and Mom's new 4,000 square foot house on the lake!!
On Thursday and Friday we spent lots of time at the lake. It rained on and off on Thursday but not at all on Friday. We all swam in the lake (which felt so good, like bath water!) and went on Wally's boat. We tubed a bit (my arms are still sore) and some of us went on the jet ski (not me). Owen was only in the lake for a little while, he didn't like the life jacket at all. He did enjoy the boat ride though.
On the top of Wally's "dock/boat house" is a roof, and we all jumped off of it! I only did it twice... once willingly, and the other time because Colby decided he wanted to do it and then we spent 45 minutes trying to get him to jump. We finally had to get him back down the ladder, and I had to jump.
On Saturday Wally's sons and their families came to spend the day with us, partly the celebrate Wally's 60th birthday. We had cakes, gifts, and lots of fun. His grandkids were really nice to our kids, about the same ages, and they all got along very well. They exchanged email addresses before they left!
We talked for a long time with them all, and it was great to finally meet them.
"Dzia Dzia" (what the kids call Wally) was so nice to offer his home to us, and we hope to go back again!!

One minor emergency we had though... on Thursday morning, Will woke up covered in poison ivy, and his face was swollen from it. Mom and I drove him into town to the local CVS to ask them what to do. The pharmacist was worried that it was too close to his eyes, so we had to call the doc in NY, get them to call in a script to VA for a steroid, and then wait to get it filled. We also got him zyrtec and benadryl and oatmeal soap because he was really uncomfortable. It's a lot better now, somehow the lake water helped it dry up while we were there. But I forgot the steroid in VA... my mom is bringing him home today.

It's so nice to be home. Not so nice to be in this humidity with no lake! But, we have a pool and the kids are in it! Yee ha!