Labor Day Weekend in Gordonsville

On Saturday Rob wanted to get stuff in Lowes so he could get the stove fire working in the garage. We ambled up and down all the aisles until my attention was captured by a nail gun that had been opened up from its plastic wrapper. It was a superb tool and I wanted my photo taken with it.

 Then Rob thought a more sinister tone was required so he took the one below.

 Awesome! Just as we were finishing, two members of staff walked past and we were very relieved when they laughed. With today's society being so numbingly petty, we wouldn't have been surprised if the alarms had sounded and the police called because someone was brandishing a weapon in the hardware aisle. I'm glad this thought didn't occur to me before we started our antics as I'm sure it would've soured the moment and probably led to the photo not being taken. But it was, and I love it!
Later that evening after Rob had recovered from the extortionate bill he'd had to pay at Lowes, we drove down to Fork Union Drive In Theater. I was very excited as this would be my first drive in experience after having seen them hundreds of times in TV movies.

The theater has been open since 1953 and holds 180 cars. We snuck in beers and munchies and settled down in our car seats. It felt really odd to be sitting in the car but the picture and sound quality were fine. Some people sat in the beds of their trucks which looked like a cool idea. We tuned into a radio station to hear the movie but the speakers could still be hooked onto the car if you preferred.

Rob fooling around with the speakers, and then he got some guy to give up his seat so I could have my photo taken, by telling him I was on vacation and it would be a nice momento to have a picture to take back to England. 

The concession stand reflected in the car roof. The movie we went to see was poo, (The Other Guys), but it didn't matter as the experience was great and I will definitely want to go again next year.
On Sunday, Debbie, Jim, Peyton, Lukester and Maximus came down to visit. Rob and I were laughing about hosting a redneck BBQ but didn't want them to turn right around and head back to NoVA as soon as they saw us so we didn't. The boys were very excited to be able to run around and have so much freedom.

Despite all their huffing and puffing neither Rob or Luke managed to push a tree over. We wandered down to the pond to see the fish and dragonflies.

This one was peeking round his blade of grass at me.

A family portrait in Jim's wonderful old wagon.

Little Max wasn't at all scared of the cows and patiently stood and watched them as they drew closer. The cows loved the children but Debbie kept well away, she prefers smaller creatures. Back at the house it was time for a trailer ride so Rob got the tractor out and hitched up. Everyone climbed aboard and poor Jim had to take a chair as his leg still isn't healed properly.

I couldn't stop laughing at Jim perched on his throne as we rumbled along the road. Although the ride was fun no one had taken into consideration the fumes from the exhaust. Debbie was laughing and gagging at the same time and we all thought we were going to get high from the black smoke as it pumped past us.

We all laughed harder when we found a tick on Luke's neck and everybody started rummaging in clothes and scratching. But the fumes and ticks were forgotten once we were on the driveway again as Rob let the kids take turns in driving the tractor.

 I particularly love this photo of Peyton and Rob paying tribute to 'My Name Is Earl'. I was howling when I first saw this. If you're a fan, you'll know why...

The children also loved the hammock and everybody had to climb aboard.

They didn't stop laughing the whole time apart from when Max fell onto the pipe underneath, but he was soon up again and bouncing with his siblings. After spending ages on the hammock, they decided they wanted to say goodbye to the cows so we roamed back down the field again.

After a fond farewell, it was sadly time for them to leave. The closest we came to a redneck BBQ was cooking the burgers and chicken on a broken gas BBQ which now uses charcoal instead. And I ate my meal at an old school desk. But the kids left with memories of cows and tractors, a promise to go snipe hunting and a party of ticks. That sounds like a redneck experience to me!