the post I title Labor Day Weekend because my creative juices haven't given me any better title ideas

We spent Labor Day weekend with family in West Virginia. We visited with Grandmere, some aunts, and an uncle and a cousin.

This year, when we visited Oak Hill for the Oak Leaf Festival, we were able to take a trip to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. I enjoyed looking at the simulated coal camp and exploring the model homes, school, and church. The boys enjoyed running around and exploring, ahem, a tree stump. We also rode through the mine and visited the gift shop.

Saturday we hit the festival (after watching the parade, of course!). P was telling me about our visit today - I think he remembered his visit as he was enjoying some of the candy he "caught" at the parade - so I showed him some pictures and asked him to tell me about them.

Here is P's retelling of our Labor Day weekend adventures.

This is when we went to the place with a coal train. There were houses and I liked the place to cut hair they had and the school but it was different from mine. Then I found this cool tree that could be a house for somefin' leetle so I was climbin' around it. And I showed it to C and he was climbing out (at) it. An' I was helpin' be keerful so he wouldn't get hurt.



The guys said I could sit and pretend to drive the train so I did and Daddy said, "Smile!" an' that was him taking my picture. An' I'm smilin' in it, see? 'Cause I was smilin' 'cause I liked drivin' that train.



In the store part C wanted a hat so I was helpin' it fit his head. An' Grandma buyed him that hat an' I was likin' to borrow it to play with it too.



C is wearin' the hat now 'cause it's his but when we get back to Grandmere's house I turned out the lights and the bed was a train and I was using that hat and the light to take people in the dark mine tunnel. An' so I got a pink hat to keep 'cause pink is my favit (favorite) and I can take people to the mine an' be safe. You got to have a light hat down there to be safe in case you need your hands an' you got to found somefin'. (You read that correctly - P chose a souvenir Friday, but he wore C's hat so much that we stopped on the way home Monday and let him get his own "light hat". It was his first show and tell at school later that week.)



Oh this is another day. I'm waiting for the parade. I'm standin' right by the street 'cause they gonna frow candy right out me an' I'm gone catch it. But you got to be in the street to catch it so you got to be keerful an' no cars can hit you, okay, Mom? You can be keerful?



An' C is holdin' Poppa Fred's han' 'cause he's leetle. An' you got to hold hands so you can be keerful an' no cars will hit you. No cars hit me or C 'cause we follow the rules.



This is at the ride part of the fessul (festival). I was likin' that they had a leetle Thomas an' you could ride it.



An' I was smilin' 'gain 'cause I was likin' to ride Thomas.



C was sleepin' when I was ridin' Thomas that time.



I don't know 'bout this picture, Mommy. What it's about? I was ridin' Thomas? (Yes, indeed, this was taken while P was riding Thomas. We posed for a family pic with John, Diane, and Katie.)



This was at the jumpy houses! It was my favorite one wif a slide. I was climbin' and slidin' all around at the fessul... you remember? An' I remember it was fun!

Hey! This is a picture of you, an' me, an' Daddy. An' we are all happy only C is sleepin' still.

An' this is all the guys in our family after all of us guys are awake!

I hope you enjoyed P's guest post! And for the record, C did get to ride Thomas after he woke up - he didn't miss out on the festival fun! The whole weekend was a fun family trip!