Just call me Mountain Mama...

Over the Fourth of July weekend, we traveled to West Virginia for a family reunion and some relaxation with Papa and Nana. We stayed in a hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere/up the side of a mountain. It was very nice and so peaceful. We all loved it!

Beauty...

View of the cabin from across the lake...

We were on a hunting preserve, so we saw a ton of wildlife during our stay. Elk would come out and swim every morning and we would sit on the cabin porch and just watch.

Don't worry, we didn't actually hunt for any wildlife, although Benny did shoot a vicious bear that was about to attack. Good thing Papa brought along the bb gun...phew! :)

The boys did A LOT of fishing. Ben, honest to goodness, caught at least 30 fish (mostly little blue gill) over the course of a couple of days. He even caught a pretty good sized bass and was so proud of himself. He is definitely our little outdoorsman!

Two of my favorite pictures from the trip...they love animals (like their Daddy!).

This was Max...he roams the property and is the owner's dog. He was such a good boy and Nat and Ben couldn't wait to play with him each morning, as soon as they woke up. Ben cried when we got home and looked at the pictures because he said he missed Max "soooo much!" He asked for a picture of Max to go on his bulletin board in his room.

I'll title this series of pictures...Hillbilly Baby. She took off her shirt and was sitting at the side of the dock throwing rocks in the water one evening while the guys were fishing. I look over and she is dunking her whole head in the water?! I said "What in the world are you doing?" and she replied, "I just takin' a bath, Mommy." Ummm...ok? She also gave herself a little mud facial...who needs the spa?

There were lots of antlers to go around....and we couldn't resist (Ok...it was mostly just me.). You definitely wouldn't want to stay here if you had a problem with animal heads staring at you all day. There were heads and skins and all kinds of animal parts everywhere. Taxidermy heaven!

Nana with two of her favorite people...she hasn't confirmed this, but I'm willing to go out on a limb with this one. :)

Family reunion!

Sparklers...clearly Benny was in his glory running with fire in his hand....real safe, I'm sure.

What would a trip to West Virginia be without a ride on an ATV?!

Finally, an attempt at a family photo. Unfortunately, we were looking into the sun and this is way overexposed, but I like any photo that contains all five of us looking in the direction of the camera...so I'll take it!

What a fun weekend with people we love!