Two holes, one Hollow

Mid-July to mid-August George had a research rotation. It was a wonderful break from regular work hours and while he was still a bit busy with research, he was home most days. We made the most of it by visiting family, painting various rooms in the house, and by taking day trips with the kids.

Our favorite day trip by far was visiting Sugar Hallow's Snake Hole. It's only about 30 minutes from our house.

To get to the swimming hole, we had to hike about half a mile. The hike is mild enough Cole could do it almost without help.

It did take us a good 45 minutes to hike it, though, because all the kids kept finding interesting rocks, bugs and creeks to wade through.

Rocks!

Lance thought maybe we were at the swimming hole and jumped right in.

Isn't this place gorgeous?

We're not there yet, boys!

Lily was a trooper the whole time and just hung out on my back.

Lance got to be a big helper and carry in a couple towels and some lunch. He was a very good sport!

We made it! This little hole was really neat. It had a rocky, sandy beach area to sit on and then a large water hole that was shallow on one end with rocks to climb on and deeper on the other for the bigger kids.

It is mountain run-off, so the water was very cold!

Even Lily ventured in!

Lance immediately made his way over to the deeper end. This kid is a fish!

See the cool little waterfalls behind Lance?

There was a deeper area where you could jump off a rock into the water. I think this was Lance's favorite part.

Finding rocks...

"Ahh...my precious."

This little boy cracks me up! He is 100% personality.

 

Venturing out into the deeper water.

Cole wanted to come, too.

"Jump, Jude!"

The boys wanted to see all the rocks on the other side, so George took them exploring.

We had so much fun at Snake Hole, we went back two days later to do the longer hike to a deeper water hole called Blue Hole.

Cole needed help with this hike.

Love my men!

(Lance was pretending to be tired.)

We finally got there after quite the hike only to find it wasn't very kid-friendly. It was very rocky with a huge rock to jump off of into basically a water hole.

Cole had fun exploring the rocks.

I wanted to jump off the rock. It was super scary! It doesn't look that high, but when you're up there and you see how far out you have to jump to clear the rocks below, it's intimidating.

Jude and Lance hung out on these huge rocks with some other boys that happened to be there.

Trying to psych myself into it...

Yes!

It was super scary and very, very cold. But fun!

George didn't hesitate as long as I did and jumped right in.

Even Lance jumped, but from a spot closer to the water. We videoed it so no still-shots.

Lance had a good time at this hole exploring and swimming in the deep water. This hole is definitely geared more toward bigger kids and adults.

It was so pretty!

On the hike back to the car, Jude found the last-standing remains of a house.

Resting.

We need to go back again! It's hard to believe these beautiful places are only about 30 minutes from our house. No wonder Charlottesville tops the list of best places to live. We sure love it here!