Snowshoe with the Starchers - July 2012 - Part 1

The Starchers invited us to join them on their vacation to Snowshoe, WV as Chris's dad owns a condo on top of the mountain. Being the year we'd had so far, we were very gracious of the offer and excited for the opportunity to get away for a while. Tanner was away at JIM Club so he missed out, but the other three boys had an absolute blast!

We started our getaway by gathering around the outdoor fire pit for a little smores-making fun.

Dads + sons = priceless

 We headed to the pool, which had an indoor pool linked via a swim tunnel to the outdoor pool.

I think the boys loved it, especially the big slide. 

The large slide at the indoor pool was also a big hit! 

It wasn't exactly the warmest of days, so the hot tub was a big hit too.

It was about 90% enclosed so it kept the cool mountain breeze out. 

And then the clouds rolled in. If I hadn't have seen the clouds roll across the sky and settle on top of the mountain I would have sworn it was fog. It was even crazier when it began to rain out of clouds that were basically right about our heads.  Because there was no lightning at that point, we let the boys keep swimming. 

Eventually, the lightning did show itself so we had to make other plans for the afternoon.

The arcade was a nice place to settle in and allowed the kids some space to run, games to play, a board game collection, and two large bounce houses. It turned out to be a fun time. 

And yet the kids still weren't tired out enough to pile them all back in the condo until the cloud covered moved on.  So, when you have just about zero visibility, a mountain trail map you think you understand, and six kids with energy to burn, what should you do?  Go for a hike, of course!

The boys thought the clouds were awesome!

There was another condo development even higher on the mountain than where we were staying that had a really cool stone arch entryway. We stopped here for family picture time. 

Lucas and Samantha loved the Justin-mobile!
It made a nice treat for two kids with tired little legs.

As Justin was walking down the extremely steep steps
back to the condo, he kept saying, "Should I jump from here?"
To which Lucas and Sammy would scream, "NOOOO!"