Mountain living (& Karl is giving away a CD!)

When people ask me where I grew up, the answer is hard for me to find. Erik can easily reply "Just a streetlight away here in Fairfax, VA". I usually choose between North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Now that I think about it I could probably just reply "Monterey, VA" seeing as most of my summers were spent there in the cool mountains. It is a gorgeous place to visit and even better if you get to spend at least a week there. My mother legitimately grew up there and we are so lucky that we have a place to stay there.

This past week Karl visited Monterey for the first time. Mom was up there working on her latest book (spoiler: it's awesome!) and didn't mind if Karl, Elizabeth and I came to bother. My parents have worked tirelessly on renovating the cottage that was previously two apartments, the office for the local newspaper, and an optometrists office (not all at the same time). And just this past year they acquired the cottage directly in back of the one mentioned above. It looks awesome!

Anyway, Karl had a great time in Monterey and in Waynesboro. Here are some pictures of our time there and Karl's take on everything:

The first night in Monterey- Aunt Lele and Grandma taught me how to play the guitar. I was a natural!


What a morning! Mom and me at the playground next to the old Elementary school.


Later the same day, we went to visit 98 year old cousin Venie. She loved me and let me crawl all over her floor and lap.


When we were finished playing with Venie we went outside to leave. Silly Mommy and Aunt Lele had left the gate open allowing Venie's sheep to get into her garden. Aunt Lele carried me around while she and Mom herded the sheep around the house and out the gate. It was really funny.





The day was exhausting and I required sleep. Mom was nice enough to put me down for a nap.
That afternoon I had another music lesson: the xylophone. Grandma taught me how to play it and now I am sure to look for the wooden mallets if I want to play!

We left the next day after visiting the library and playground again. Grandma showed me a chair her father made for her when she was about my age. I wasn't too happy about sitting in it because I wanted to play!


After I made a mess of my outfit and Mom took some pictures of me in the garden...



...we headed to Waynesboro. Aunt Lele and Mom took me on a walk to the playground in the park. I can't wait until I am old enough to explore the park and the big playset they have!



On Saturday, we all went to see Grandpa's Bluejeans & Bluegrass festival. I was hoping to meet my favorite bluegrass artists: Kim and Jimbo Cary. Grandpa gave me a cd of theirs that was recently featured as background music on some of my crawling videos Mom posted on this blog. I was in heaven when I arrived and heard my favorite song "Be Nice to your Animal Friends" being played. Jimbo and Kim let me play with all their instruments and puppets. I was glad to add some tambourine and drum beats to their songs. I think it really added something.

Kim and Jimbo said I was SO good that they gave me another copy of their CD! Mom says that not a lot of people read our blog, but I told her we should give it away to a lucky follower. It's great for kids and adults! Leave a comment and we'll pick one at random :)