Last week we had the wonderful chance to go for 3 days to Massanutten! Remember when I posted here about us going there last Fall to listen to their spiel? Yep, well this vacation is the free one that came from simply listening to them talk about their resort. :)
The "free" vacation that resulted from the talk, gave us a 3-day, 2-night stay at Massanutten. We would be staying in a hotel room. And, yes, I meant for the word "room" to be singular. One hotel room. Well, when Mama called to set our reservations and told them our family size, the lady told her she'd need to talk to the front desk and see if it was okay for 11 of us to be in one hotel room. She then called back and said we would be given two rooms but fire code says there can't be more than 5 people per room, so one of us would have to stay behind. We talked about what to do and started packing our bags anyways. The day before we were supposed to leave, Mama called the lady again (she had called Mama and left a message a few days before). Long story short, Massanutten decided to give us a condo for free!! A condo that slept 12 people...and that cost $200 a night normally! We all got so excited because we now wouldn't have to squish into two tiny hotel rooms! We would have our own house (practically) with two kitchens, two bedrooms, a jacuzzi and everything! One of the best parts about the condo was having a kitchen to cook meals in. Mama wasn't sure what to pack for us to eat if we didn't have a kitchen to cook stuff in, so the condo was an answer to the prayer we never uttered. :)
Last Monday was our "pack day" and then Tuesday morning we finished packing and Daddy loaded the van. Our goal was to leave before 12 P.M. and we left about 15 minutes before then. :)
We definitely are not the family that packs light for vacations! We all bring our pillows, a spare blanket, long sleeves, short sleeves, bathing suits, snow bibs, etc. and Mama packs TONS of yummy food! See those two, white coolers in the left picture? They contained our food. :)
Josiah and Lydia playing on their little computers before we left. :)
One cannot go on vacation without a few good books, right? :)
The 2 hour trip to Massanutten was accomplished without incident. I was too engrossed with my Henty book to get out and take pictures of the passing scenery, so you must forgive me. :)
Before I knew it, Daddy was yelling out "There's Massanutten!!" We were 2 hours early for the normal check-in time but we got the keys to our condo anyways, and off we went to the Eagle Trace Condos!
As we drove past rows of condos, we maybe saw one car in the parking lot. :) Obviously, Tuesday is not a very busy day for Massanutten!
We soon found #214AB and Daddy pulled up to our little walkway and we piled out. As soon as the door was opened we rushed in to explore our temporary home! It was so nice!
The upstairs was viewed first...
This was the living room. The best part about it was the fireplace and the two sofa beds. :)
This was the little kitchen upstairs. It didn't have an oven, stove, or dishwasher but it did have a sink and fridge.
This was the only room upstairs and was where Hannah, Lexi, Eden, and I slept.
Our room had a wonderful jacuzzi (as well as a bathroom)!
This was the view from our little porch. :)
Downstairs we found another nice living room:
The living room downstairs...
...the bedroom downstairs (with a full bath attached)...
...the table downstairs...
...and the wonderful kitchen downstairs!!
After we were done admiring our little home, we had to set to work and unpack everything we had brought!
Mama worked in the kitchen, unpacking our massive coolers.
There was a lot of variety in the food Mama packed. We had everything from Coconut Milk for Judah to peppers, tuna, chicken nuggets, cookies, and ice cream. :)
Judah wandered around and was loved on by anyone nearby. :)
Eden, Josiah, and Judah enjoying one of the decks.
Don't ask... :)
Posing with the endless beauty of the mountains behind them!
Eating lunch!
Okay, so you've probably seen enough pictures of Judah to last you a few days. :)
While I was doing random things to help unpack, I went outside for a few minutes and took some pictures of my younger siblings.
Lydia has become the next Lexi. By that I mean, that she loves to pose for pictures. :) She set herself up for most of the pictures and would plead for me to take her picture. How could I resist? :)
Josiah climbing on the beams that supported our walkway. :)
Caleb climbed all the way up the beams until he was right under the walkway. :) [It was probably about 15-20 feet above the ground. :)]
These guys are best buddies...it's rare to find them apart. They love playing together!
Lydia set herself up for this picture too. She went and laid on the table in the living room downstairs and said "Timmer, take a piture of me!" :)
Caleb unpacking a cooler.
Hannah chopping up some veggies for lunch.
After everything was unpacked we all crammed around the little table and had lunch! It was about 2:30 P.M. (I think) when we ate.
We had chips and hummus for lunch. The hummus in this picture has cilantro, which I'm not a huge fan of, so I took another picture of my favorite hummus from Trader Joe's:
Now, doesn't that look good?!
Eating lunch out on the deck.
The weather was really beautiful...not too cold and not too hot.
We also had veggies and dip, bread and jam, animal crackers, and more. :)
After lunch, Mama stayed home with the 2 youngest (so they could take naps) and the rest of us went to LeClub and explored! LeClub had ping pong, racquetball, a workout room, basketball court, swimming pool, game room, movie room, hot tub, etc. We played racquetball and ping pong first. None of us had ever played racquetball before so Daddy taught us! I must say that I failed miserably at this game. :) Ping pong came easier for me and it was lots of fun!
Eventually Hannah convinced me to go to the workout room...I wasn't feeling like exercising (after all, I'm on vacation :) but Hannah got me to do it and I was thankful for it...after I did it! We went to the treadmills and she and I ran around 3 miles. I had never really run on a treadmill before, so that was a new experience. I was doing okay until I started getting tired. Long story short, I stepped halfway on the belt (which was moving) and half-way on the side (which wasn't moving) which made me fall...on the moving treadmill. (Yes, I forgot to put the little clip on that stops the treadmill when people like me fall. :) I was scrambling like crazy to get back up, but, wonders of all wonders, the belt kept moving without me! :) I eventually made it back up and kept running after a little breather. After my 3.2 miles was over we went and stretched and I looked at my knees. They were bleeding because I managed to burn the top layer of my skin off when I fell on the treadmill. Yeah, not fun. So, I was in a little bit of pain the rest of the vacation. :) I was always nervous when anyone would get near my knees because if something rubbed them they would hurt really bad. [By the way, I've been exhausting our stock of band-aids recently! The week before I fell on the treadmill I fell off a horse and scraped/bruised myself up pretty well too. :)]
Anyways, enough with my injury story...after we worked out we went and played a little bit of basketball. Daddy helped Hannah and I get the basics of shooting down and then we (Dad, Hannah, Caleb, and I) played a game of "Around the World." Daddy, of course, won and I don't remember the status of anyone else! :)
Around 8 P.M. we went home and ate a wonderful meal fixed by my lovely Mother. :) [We ate dinner late because lunch was late.]
We had chicken nuggets, mac 'n cheese, green beans, corn, and garlic bread.
Lydia told me to take this picture of her. :)
After our wonderful dinner, we all got ready for bed. Some of us took showers and the rest donned their bathing suits and hopped in the jacuzzi:
Caleb did a few push-ups over everyone. :)
Lydia tried to do one too! :)
This is Judah's face when he's screaming at someone to save him from his loving, yet clingy, siblings. :)
Everything was better when Mama saved him from the swarming mass of water and siblings. :)
Playing peek-a-boo with Hannah!
That was the majority of what took place on our first day at Massanutten. After everyone got their jammies on, we gathered together downstairs and had ice cream before bed. :)
Day 2 at Massanutten coming up next!
Kimber :)
Josiah climbing on the beams that supported our walkway. :)
After everything was unpacked we all crammed around the little table and had lunch! It was about 2:30 P.M. (I think) when we ate.
Eating lunch out on the deck.
The weather was really beautiful...not too cold and not too hot.
 |
| This is the salad I had for lunch. |
We also had veggies and dip, bread and jam, animal crackers, and more. :)
After lunch, Mama stayed home with the 2 youngest (so they could take naps) and the rest of us went to LeClub and explored! LeClub had ping pong, racquetball, a workout room, basketball court, swimming pool, game room, movie room, hot tub, etc. We played racquetball and ping pong first. None of us had ever played racquetball before so Daddy taught us! I must say that I failed miserably at this game. :) Ping pong came easier for me and it was lots of fun!
Eventually Hannah convinced me to go to the workout room...I wasn't feeling like exercising (after all, I'm on vacation :) but Hannah got me to do it and I was thankful for it...after I did it! We went to the treadmills and she and I ran around 3 miles. I had never really run on a treadmill before, so that was a new experience. I was doing okay until I started getting tired. Long story short, I stepped halfway on the belt (which was moving) and half-way on the side (which wasn't moving) which made me fall...on the moving treadmill. (Yes, I forgot to put the little clip on that stops the treadmill when people like me fall. :) I was scrambling like crazy to get back up, but, wonders of all wonders, the belt kept moving without me! :) I eventually made it back up and kept running after a little breather. After my 3.2 miles was over we went and stretched and I looked at my knees. They were bleeding because I managed to burn the top layer of my skin off when I fell on the treadmill. Yeah, not fun. So, I was in a little bit of pain the rest of the vacation. :) I was always nervous when anyone would get near my knees because if something rubbed them they would hurt really bad. [By the way, I've been exhausting our stock of band-aids recently! The week before I fell on the treadmill I fell off a horse and scraped/bruised myself up pretty well too. :)]
Anyways, enough with my injury story...after we worked out we went and played a little bit of basketball. Daddy helped Hannah and I get the basics of shooting down and then we (Dad, Hannah, Caleb, and I) played a game of "Around the World." Daddy, of course, won and I don't remember the status of anyone else! :)
Around 8 P.M. we went home and ate a wonderful meal fixed by my lovely Mother. :) [We ate dinner late because lunch was late.]
After our wonderful dinner, we all got ready for bed. Some of us took showers and the rest donned their bathing suits and hopped in the jacuzzi:
That was the majority of what took place on our first day at Massanutten. After everyone got their jammies on, we gathered together downstairs and had ice cream before bed. :)
Day 2 at Massanutten coming up next!
Kimber :)
