A Practically Perfect Fall Day 4 All Today

The morning started with a Finnish Pancake (Thank you Janelle for how you love me so...)

We finally found and purchased a Farm Table which we have been seeking out since moving to Virginia, and it was delivered to our home for free, and it was half the price of many that we had seen or attempted to purchase previously.

We then spent the afternoon enjoying our neighborhood shops, purchased a sleeper sofa ***so we are now ready for visitors! Don't worry we have a memory foam mattress topper so you won't be sleeping on springs :o)

We then stopped for Ice Cream much to Thaddeus' delight!

Johannes testing out the durability of our new table and showing his autumn spirit with his sweater knit by Janelle

Farm Table

Made from barn lumber from early 1900's

Johannes has been giving us lots of indelible smiles as of late

"Brother's don't shake hands, Brother's Hug"

Thaddeus reminds me of cousin Matt in this photo

Our Dining Room

The plan is to have two benches made of the same lumber and stain and then two ladder back arm chairs for the ends.

These two pieces of furniture were completely different looking when we found them in a store. After much sanding, painting, and again sanding them to "shabby chic" they are now in our living room to help give it a beachy feel.

This is the same barn window frame we had in our Michigan home, but now it has been sanded down to be more shabby chic and the photos are from my archives of beach photos comprising trips to Brazil, Pacific City, Florida Keys, San Juan Islands, and Lake Michigan

Thaddeus enjoying his "Uhm keem" as he prefers to pronounce it

Enjoying the final drops of ice cream warmed in the autumn sun

I'm 2!

Johannes only gets a rattle this time...

His smiles tell me he is okay with that for now

Fall in Virginia is hard to beat

Be informed...need I say more

Click here for your Non-GMO shopping guide

This weekend we took a trip to West Virginia (5 hour drive West) to the

Historic Cass Railroad

to take in the autumn foliage. It was splendid!

The Cass Scenic Railroad is the same line built in 1901 to haul lumber to the mill in Cass. The locomotives are the same Shay locomotives used in Cass, and in the rainforests of British Columbia for more than a half-century. Many of the passenger cars are old logging flat-cars that have been refurbished.

"Someone is blocking my view"

Golden Light

Thaddeus dressed for the occasion and was a big hit with the other passengers.

He was so excited to go on the train, and at 1am the next night we heard him say choo choo in his dreaming state.

Janelle alerted me to this character and I just had to get his photo. It turned out to be my favorite shot of the weekend

Well maybe this was my favorite shot of the weekend...

Whittaker Station is located four miles up the track from Cass. This is part of the Whittaker Camp One exhibit, a recreated logging camp of the 1940's which shows both the living quarters and the tools of the loggers.

The next morning we met up with Janelle's cousins from Virginia and enjoyed a beautiful hike with them. This caterpillar intrigued me as I had not seen a white one before.

Vantage Point

Photo taken from the fire lookout.

Johannes 6 1/2 months

Father/Son

enjoying the weekend and letting the scruff grow before returning to duties as a captain