Westmoreland State Park

Last Tuesday I drove about 1.5 hours south of DC to vacation with my brother Dan and his wife Trish and daughter Ava at Westmoreland State Park. It's a place that Dan visited multiple times growing up - and I went once on a family camping vacation. They had rented a 'rustic' cabin as a "tester" for real camping. Westmoreland's main draw is Fossil Beach. It's a short section of beach with limestone cliffs on either site. The sand is course - but with a little sifting you can usually find sharks' teeth. The park also has a few hiking trails, a big pool, and a fishing pier.

Here are a few pictures of adorable Ava.

Ava and Dan 'swimming' in the river. She's fearless. Mostly though, she liked eating sand and shells. And finding trash on the beach and carrying it around.

Ava and Trish. Ava just turned one on August 17th.

Playing in the cabin. Yes - it was a real log cabin. With spiders.

It rained a lot of the week but on the last day we were there the rain was scattered so we ran down to the pool. For a swim. It was cooooolllddd but Ava didn't care.

Jon came down by train on Friday. It was a long week and he had just flown in from Florida late Thursday evening - so this was one of his well deserved naps that day.

Here's a video of Jon awake and practicing for the 2012 Olympic diving team. His fan club is HUGE - so just remember to keep your comments short to let others tell him how awesome he is. (Jon will happily note that I didn't post the underwater video example of the dangers of loose diving shorts.)

And here is an example of my brother Dan's skill diving. Not too bad! :)

It was fun to spend a few days with family. :)