Ellie Turns THREE!!!! 🎉🎂

Y‘all we officially have a threenager in our house. For those that may not be aware of the term it is like having a teenager without a full vocabulary and facial expressions. Regardless my youngest daughter Ellie is a bright, sassy, warm, full of life little girl and we wouldn’t have her any other way. She is a joy to have and I honestly can’t imagine our family without her. So for her birthday we went to go play in the snow.

Our tradition of going to the mountains to go snow tubing, as well as other adventures began the year she was born. Ken was about to go back to work after being out on paternity leave. We wanted one last hurrah and we went Massanutten, Virginia to have one last weekend get away before he went back. We have gone to several other resorts but we really loved Massanutten.

This year we returned to where it all began. Massanutten bills itself as a four season resort. It is actually a time share community but they rent out unused condos when they are available. The resort has a lot to offer year round. There are hiking trails, ropes courses and zip lining as well as a petting farm and horse back riding. They have slopes and snow tubing as well as ice skating. There is also putt putt, go carts and an indoor/outdoor waterpark. You can also camp on the back side of the mountain. And they have several restaurants and eating options to select from. (If you are interested in learning more let me know!

We got up there Friday afternoon and immediately headed to the snow tubing area. It is cheaper to get your passes for a weekday, rather than the weekend. We were really excited about tubing this year because Ellie was finally tall enough to ride the regular tube lanes. Ellie is about 9 months younger than Abbie’s first time tubing and they could not have been more different. Abbie has a healthy sense of self preservation, that Ellie doesn’t seem inclined to share. Abbie has always been tentative about tubing, each year she is more at ease with it but that first year she was more than nervous. Ellie on the other hand, approached it with reckless abandonment. She was hooked on the first run, laughing all the way down in sheer delight. We were able to get about 5-6 runs in before the wind picked up and made it to miserable to be outside.

That night we ate at the Campfire Grill restaurant. It has a nice selection of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, mains and skillets. I had the shrimp skillet and it was the perfect portion for me. Ken had a prime rib sandwich with some fries. The food was good and we enjoyed eating there. The wait wasn't long and we were in and out with relative ease.

After dinner we took the girls down to the arcade. They played a couple of games and got a glimpse of the next day‘s activity, the indoor waterpark. We grabbed some ice cream and then went home.

The next day we ate at the BBQ/ Pizza joint for breakfast. We let the girls play and then had lunch. After lunch we took Ellie for her first pony ride. She loved it. Afterwards we spent the rest of the day at the indoor water park.

The water park has two hot tubs, one for kids and one that was adult only and a small swimming area with an attached lazy river. There is also a massive water tower play set with various size waterslides. They also have three tube slides as well as three body slides. There is also a flow rider. Abbie was brave enough to try the flow rider. She did amazing! Good practice for our upcoming cruise this spring. After swimming we ate in the restaurant that was there. It has good food and is different from the other places we ate.

The next day we drove an hour down the road to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s house. Abbie has been there before but was so little. I love being able to take our kids to places of historical significance. Abbie has been learning about slavery in school and I thought this would be a good place to take her. Jefferson is a complicated man. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, states all men are equal, yet owned slaves. The tour of the house doesn’t back away from this. They do try to frame the house and Jefferson with that in mind. They have a great new exhibit on Sally Hemings which is very thought provoking. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay for the slave tour but Abbie did get to see the slave quarters and was asking good questions. Also if you are looking for an idea for your summer plans, this may be the place to go. The tour guide informed us that on the 4th of July, every year, they have a citizenship ceremony on the front lawn. They take their oaths and then are given a few minutes to speak afterwards. They have period lawn games for kids, food and fireworks.

We left around noon to make it back to Charlotte to celebrate Ellie’s birthday with Nana. She made a wonderful birthday dinner of ham, broccoli casserole and green beans. Ellie was showered in gifts and cake. It was a nice ending to a fun weekend with our girl on her birthday!!!