Helicopter Ferrying to DC

We somehow wound up with a 45 min. flight and 6 hours of driving today! Driving out to Farmville (way west of Richmond), flying up to DC, driving a rental car back down to Farmville, Steph following J in the rental car out to the Richmond airport to return the rental car, and then back home. Whew! We saw some cool sights during our flight - a parachuter on the way back down to earth, a helicopter dusting some crops, cottonball clouds. I love the view from the sky...it always reminds me of how amazing God is to hold the whole earth and all its going/ons together.

Getting the helicopter ready for flight

Looks like a funny bug with big ears!

The phenomenally intelligent and ever-so-beautiful co-pilot!

A skydiver with his parachute

Jason with his head in the clouds - so typical!

Yankee Candle

This afternoon Jason & I decided to wander off to Williamsburg and visit the famed outlet mall. After browsing through overcrowded stores, we went off down the road to find dinner and ate at a restaurant next to a Yankee Candle store. Except for it wasn't just any Yankee Candle store...it was HUGE!! It had rooms upon rooms of every candle scent they have probably ever made. There was an amazing Christmas room, a candy store, a toy store, a fudge shop, a garden room, and a large atrium/cafe area with a fountain in the middle. Jason was lucky I got out of the store with only one candle!! I could have stayed there for hours and just smelled the variety of fruits/trees/flowers/spices/linens.

On the way home, I decided that my favorite sense is scent. I love smells (good ones of course!) Somehow we wound up in a conversation about some of our favorites of each sense. Since people often believe Heaven will contain sights we can't imagine, I wonder if there will be scents we can't imagine. Hmmm...deep thoughts from Stephanie!!


These pictures are from a Yankee Candle website, so I have no clue who these people are.

Bears & Butterflies

We spent a gorgeous afternoon in Maymont park, a hundred-acres in downtown Richmond that contains a nature center, children's animal farm, wildlife exhibit and several gardens. As expected, there are bears in the Hundred Acre Woods - though these weren't as cute as Pooh Bear. Two black bears who are part of the wildlife exhibit decided to have a romp in the park, wrestling for several minutes with one another. Reminded me of good ol' sibling rivalry:) Later, we walked through a beautiful Japanese garden and an Italian garden full of butterflies. We couldn't have asked for a more relaxing and phenomenal August afternoon. We love seeing God's glory in the great outdoors!

Rumble in the Jungle (er, woods)

Jason on a bridge in the Japanese garden

Italian Garden

These flowers were as big as dinner plates!

Smoky Mountains

While Steph was off at a conference in DC, I took a trip to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. I met up with my friend Ben from Nashville for a three day hike. Ben and I were roommates in college but have not had a chance to hang out for a really long time. It was an awesome hike, 21 mile round trip loop that climbed from about 2000 to almost 6000 ft in elevation. There really were'nt any great viewpoints along the way because the trees were so overgrown. The best part of the scenery was the different creeks we crossed. I got some great pictures. The worst part of the trip for me was the blisters. I had not used my hiking boots in a long time and my feet were not happy about that. I got a blister within the first hour of hiking and now two weeks later my left foot is still healing. We had a great time though and it was really good to spend some time with Ben.

Campsite on our first night

Creek at second campsite

Same creek after a thunderstorm

Cooking some dinner at our second campsite

Cool night shot of a creek - reflected the flame of the campfire