Up for a little rock climbing?

June 2nd, we drove up to Northern Virginia to do a little rock-climbing with the Baileys as a "last hoorah" before they left for Residency up in cold Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic. Chris was in George's Med School class at UVa and Rachel and I have become great friends over the last four years. We sure are sad to see them go!

Chris's parents live in Fairfax, VA and his dad rock climbs almost every weekend. We have gone with Chris, Rachel and Chris's dad once before during the start of our second year in Med School and were excited to go again.

The climbing areas were right next to the Potomac River on the Virginia side. Lance was with his dad for the weekend, so we decided to take both the little boys with us.

Jude thought his ride was pretty sweet.

The river was very high because of recent rain, so many of the climbing areas were under water.

Apparently, the park was hosting an Ultra Marathon that day--a 50 mile race! While we were hiking to the site, we saw tons of "ultra marathoners" running along the trail.

Not only were they running 50 miles, they started at 5 a.m. to do it and the whole trail was dirt! Can't say I have a huge urge to start training for one, but honestly, way to go guys! That's awesome!

Watching the river.

When we made it to our site, Chris's dad, the expert climber, set up the ropes.

Jude wanted to help so badly.

Ever taken a baby and a 2-year-old on a hike before? How about change a stinky diaper on a boulder, or nurse a baby while balancing yourself on a bunch of rocks over a river? That was an adventure in and of itself.

Watching Chris's dad set up the lines.

Doctors! Can you believe it?

Jude decided to get in a little climbing action himself. He was so excited to be out there!

Chris's dad was so nice to take us out there! He even kept an eye on Jude while we climbed. Apparently he goes almost every weekend and knew several of the climbers that were there that day.

So what did we do with Cole while we were there?

He was pretty chill hanging out in the sand.

He did finally get tired and once I put him back in the carrier he fell fast asleep. He was so good!

Here's George starting a climb.

Almost there!

Beautiful, isn't it?

After we climbed for a bit, we hiked back to the picnic area where Rachel was waiting. She hurt her back a few months ago so opted to set up lunch instead of climb.

We sure are going to miss this neat family. It's been so fun getting to know them over the past four years. I'm sad to see them go, but excited for their new life at the Mayo Clinic where Chris will study Urology. Good luck, guys! We already miss you!