House is Sold!!

Just needed to make a quick post .... we closed on our house yesterday! What a fantastic Christmas present to Mark and I to have that off our to-do list! Now let the real savings plan begin once again! I am so thankful!

Apple Blossom Grand Parade / Circus

Our little town has over 250,000 guests come in for a little over a week to celebrate Apple Blossom. The colors for the festival are kelly green and bright pink. (You'll notice my outfit at the end!) We had a great day at the parade and then got free tickets to the circus for the early evening show. We ended up leaving early from the circus due to hunger pains but overall we had a great day. We did have an accident happen right in front of us at the parade - a crushed plastic chair collapsed on to a girls foot and she just about lost her big toe! That added a little more excitement to the parade for us but overall it was nice to sit back, relax and not be in charge of a single thing!

PS - Even the rain held off all day today!

Mark & Max riding the elephant at the circus.

Max driving the elephant!

Lots of riders on the elephant!
Elephants in the parade - they had a busy day!


Our local high school band!

The Queen & her court. The queen was Michael Landon's grandaughter.

More local high school bands.

We had two princesses floats!

Another local high school band.

Erik Estrada ... our Grand Marshall - he also showed us his pink socks!

Budweisser Clydes Dale Horses.

First float of the day.

Mom & Max - Max is holding a soft pretzel.

Max & dad ... we were ready for the parade!

Winchester Ice Storm

I found these pictures on my camera from about 2 1/2 weeks ago. We had to explain to Max that now all falling snow was fun to play in and make snowmen with. Here are some shots of Mark and Max working on clearing our ice. Max could walk on top of the ice no problem. In different places it held Mark and I just find as well. Slippery ice is not much fun to play in!

Get me off this ice!
I'm sure I can help dad ...

Windy Winchester

Have I mentioned the wind in Winchester to you? I have never lived in a community where the wind blows so darn hard! Last night the wind started to blow in the early evening and boy it kept our entire family up most of the night! Mark was pacing while I ended up down the hall helping Max to try & sleep through the night. I was nervous the roof would be 100 miles away by morning. Thankfully, just a few lawn chairs relocated, the grill took a little ride and one of the heavy pots on the front porch tipped over. Of course our real estate sign went wild and part of it broke but can be fixed. What a crazy evening and still the winds are coming through. We don't have huge trees in our yard but I know many areas are concerned about the trees coming down on houses. Many of the neighborhoods in our area were built on old apple orchards so much of the land is more of a rolling hills idea vs. tall trees. Anyway, here is my opinion on the wind .... I don't like it! Thankfully we don't see hurricanes or tornado's in this area either.... I have no doubt they would scare me too!

Our Backyard Visitors

Just recently I was getting ready to make dinner and looked out in to our back yard. There sat three deer just grazing away on the grass and whatever else the woodchucks and squirels had left behind. They were so close - just over the fence line in our neighbors yard who owns 5.5 acres behind us. I got Max to the window so that he could see them and he finally got focused in on them and loved watching for them. He could hardly wait for Mark to get home to show him. When Mark got home, it was dark outside but they grabbed a flash light and headed out to "scare" the deer! Max was loving it! I had been teaching him that we did not want to make too much noise or open the doors because it might scare them away. Mark says, lets grab the flashlight and go scare them! I guess that's the difference between mom & dad.

Watch Out for the Bear!

We are back from our little trip to Las Vegas and Utah. Mom and Dad gave us an early Christmas present of a new digital camera! I was so grateful and it was soo fun to have a camera again. I'll have to update the pictures soon.

In the meanwhile, I'll tell you to WATCH OUT for the BLACK BEARS on Weather Mountain! Last week at 6:40 am on the way to the airport we were crossing Weather Mountain and as I was watching the road for deer, fox, etc. my heart skipped a couple of beats as a Black Bear was crossing the road!!! I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I have never seen a bear upclose in person or from a car for that fact! Luckily, the bear was crossing the highway and kept moving without stopping to wave at any of us in our cars.

So there you have it! Shenandoah Valley comes complete with picturesque views and black bears!

Love the Fall

Fall really is my favorite time of the year. There is something that I really love about the crisp air, changing and falling of the leaves, apples, pumpkins, wearing of a favorite sweater, watching football, drinking apple cider and of course going on a hay ride. Simple pleasures of this time of year make me very happy.
This picture is along skyline drive here in the Shenandoah Valley. I have not taken the time to drive this entire valley but, I have seen parts of it from time to time. I'm hoping that Mark and I can take advantage of this drive within the next week or so. While Westerners would argue about these Virginia "mountains" and not classifying them as mountains I still love that they are completely covered in all sorts of trees and evergreens. Doesn't this picture make you want to catch a flight and come on out? If you come ... we would serve you apple cider and of course give you a warm bed! Come see our beautiful valley!!

Hill High Farm Pictures

Here are some highlights from last weekend. It was a beautiful fall day!

Halloween Faces

Max loved to see the cows, horses, bunnies, chickens, sheep and goats!

Getting three men to smile and look at the camera! What a challenge!

Does anyone know that mom is trying to take a picture?


Max has been driving for years now.

Look how big that tire is!

While I miss my digital camera, I'm glad this disposable was able to capture some of our weekend. Hopefully the great pumpkin king, will deliver us a new digital before Halloween comes!