Backed Up!

Yikes! February is almost over and I still have January's photos to finish weeding through!

Castlewood

This old estate is known as Castlewood and it is located in Chesterfield, VA. It was once owned by my Great-Great-Great Grandfather and he was buried on the back of the property.

When my family came out to visit we drove the two hours to Chesterfield to see the house. The house is now used as the Office for the Chesterfield Historical Society. We were able to take a small tour of the house which included the central part of the home and the south wing. Our tour guide gave us a brief history of the home and once she fully understood that we drove two hours just to see the house and nothing else in the area, she gave us a full tour, which she was unable to do. We then were able to see the north wing which was used as their office. We went upstairs and also to the basement. It was pretty neat. Most of the original wood work is still in tact and incredibly beautiful!

This is probably one of the most unique things I have seen. The original house, built in 1754 was just the central part of the house. Later they added the two parallel wings and breezeways. The north wing was originally a smaller building located on the back of the property. They moved it and connected it to the house in 1817. It has it's own corner stairwell leading up to the second floor above it. But the house looked off balance and so they built the south wing to mimic the north. However they were unable to build a stairway. Instead they built an exterior walkway between the second floor of the central part of the house and the second floor of the south wing. My father was told this was were my great aunts slept. The only access out of their bedrooms were to pass through their parents room, so they knew their daughters were always tucked in bed safe and sound each night. However our tour guide told a story of the boys sleeping in this room and they used a large tree by a window to escape through at night.

After leaving the house we went to the back of the property to locate the grave site. This was tricky because the acreages since been divided up, sold, and were now home to new housing developments. However with a map and some directions from my Great Grandfather who visited the place in the 90's we were able to locate the grave site fairly easily. The site is fenced in and is sitting in the middle of a retirement community. Jared hopped the fence and looked for signs of a marker. However, it is believed the markers were stolen years ago. There are a few oddly shaped bricks and thing that help identify that this was a grave site. The site is very overgrown and I wonder how it would look if it were cleaned up. We believe my Great-Great-Great Grandfather and Grandmother are buried here as well as other people who may have occupied and lived int eh house at some point.
RJ thought the experience was pretty neat and asked to have his picture taken by his Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather's grave.

Today's Testomony Meeting

Last week RJ told me he wanted to get up during fast and and testimony meeting and share his testimony. He had me write down what he wanted to share and then looked forward all week for Sunday.
Today he said he was nervous but he really wanted to get up and share his testimony by himself without any help. Jared offered to at least walk up to the pulpit with him and share his testimony as well, but RJ said no. He wanted to go alone. And he did. He was the third person to get up and did an incredible job.
We were nervous for him because he is quit and shy in a crowd. We were afraid he might stumble over his words and freeze and we wouldn't be there to help him. But he did a beautiful job. He lost his place and got a little nervous but soon over came his composure. He shared a scripture we read as a family about doing our part; having faith and keep the commandments, and our prayers will be answered.
We couldn't be more proud of RJ and grateful that he is part of our family. He has such a sweet spirit and we love him so much.

On This Day .....

Today February 5th 2011, RJ finally learned how to ride his bike without training wheels!! We are so excited and proud of him!

The conditions weren't the greatest. He was home sick with a fever all week long. 5 days stuck home with a fever, we were all excited when the fever was gone and just couldn't wait to get out of the house. The weather was cool, gray, and wet. Once the rain stopped, we decided to adventure out and walk the trail on Percival's Island. We let the kids ride their bikes. RJ has been terrified of the thought of removing his training wheels. We have tried and tried unsuccessfully to teach him and help him grasp the idea of riding a bike with only two wheels.

The training wheels were up high and we watched RJ lean to the side to allow at least one wheel to hit the ground to help support him. Jared couldn't take it anymore, so he removed one training wheel. After a little coaching and much frustration and tears with one training wheel gone, we were harsh and removed the other wheel.

After some more tears and encouraging coaching, RJ started to ride with some support and then Jared let go and he did. He rode a good ways by himself and stopped with little trouble. He was super surprised with himself and his face was full of excitement and victory. It is these little moments when you couldn't feel prouder of your children.

We rode for another 1/2 mile and then went out for ice cream to celebrate.

More pictures from visit with family

Sweet Captured Moments:

Savannah with her Great Grandmother

Savannah and Uncle Chris

Zachery got his Great Grandma to read him his bedtime story.

He even got his Grand Dad to spend a little one on one time with him.

On Monday, Jan. 3rd Jared and my parents took RJ, Savannah, and Matthew to the Luray Caverns in the Shenandoah Valley. They had a great time.

That evening I took my mother, grandmother, and brothers to watch RJ in action at his Karate class. RJ really wanted his uncles to try it out, but they weren't interested. (They were playing the "tough not interested" teenage role. But my mom showed them up and gave it a try. RJ was proud of his Grandma for doing karate with him and she surprised herself by enjoying it.