L i t t l e R i v e r M a m a : summer at summersville

so we survived our first vacation with a newbie. or maybe i should say that olive survived her first vacation with us. it was fun telling the restaurants that we were a party of 6. the kids enjoyed pointing out that everything we did was the first time for her.

"it's her first time in west virginia."

"it's her first time in a hotel."

"it's her first time in a bathing suit."

you get the point. it was...endearing.

so being married to a history major is fun. it means you will be seeing all state & national parks on your way to & from, well, anywhere. hubs was born in west virginia (don't hold that against him) so over the years we have done quite a few "tours" of wv. but this summer was going to be the summer of baby. we knew she would be coming the beginning of june, therefore we weren't planning on doing any type of vaca. weeell, she came a little early which threw vacation plans back in the mix. maybe just a mini-vaca??

our first plans: lake erie. we had been wanting to go there anyway so we made reservations. then, the reports of unsafe water. so we cancelled. but didn't want to give up the idea of getting away for a few days. we had friends who had been to summersville lake in wv & loved it. it was already on our go-to-someday list. we called hawks nest state park lodge & thankfully we were able to make a reservation for the same days we had planned to be at lake erie.

day 1: we waited till the last minute to pack (gosh i just dread packing for myself + 3 kids + a newborn). we made a morning stop at cracker barrel (why do their fried apples taste so good), let the kids pick something out at their general store (they all picked gum of all things), checked in at the lodge (surprising nice! upgraded our room for just 13 more dollars-so glad we did-the more room, the better), changed into bathing suits, saw a lighthouse & headed to the lake (storms unfortunately put a stop to that). we made it back to the room, fed our complimentary raccoons, ate dinner with a view of the gorge (kids enjoyed free ice cream) & rented spongebob out of water (thumbs down). finally, we (i) slept like a champ (their beds were so comfy).

day 2: complimentary breakfast (not so gluten-free friendly), let the kids pick out something at the gift shop (all 3 got slingshots...) & momma got a homemade essential oil bath bomb, got dressed for the lake again, spent the day in the sun (getting toasted), grabbed food and milkshakes at fat eddie's, continued swimming at the lodge & enjoyed an early bedtime for everyone.

day 3: momma got tudor's, we hit babcock state park (fought off hordes of mosquitoes), saw the new river gorge bridge (kids became junior park rangers), stopped at hawk's nest overlook (while i fed baby), checked out kanawha falls then ended the day having a popper burger at fat patty's (why are all of the restaurant's named fat-something?? i'm starting to get a complex).

all in all, a good first trip as a family of 6.