Pretend Camping and REAL Camping

PRETEND CAMPING:
A few weeks ago, we had a last minute urge to pack up the camper and head to Harmonie State Park for a weekend away. So that's just what we did...slaved all day Friday getting "ready" to go camping. We grabbed some McD's on the way out of town and got ourselves all excited for a weekend under the stars. To our disappointment (HUGE disappointment), one of the cables snapped and broke when Chris was trying to pop up the camper and we had no other choice but to head back home. We had 1 really sad girl, 1 girl who didn't know what was going on but loved eating her dinner at the picnic table, and 2 really sad parents (who were probably more sad for our girls than for ourselves).

So.........to make the best of the weekend, we decided to take our already packed cooler and make the trip back to New Harmony on Saturday to spend the day. It turned out to be a WONDERFUL day, filled with bike rides, picnics, hikes and lots of playground time. We couldn't have asked for better weather and the girls were both GREAT, even though Addie seemed to be coming down with a cold and there was no time for napping. I'll let the pictures do the talking......

Momma and Lydia after a walk along the river

Daddy and Addie near the river

My favorite

Eating her first Smore

You have to open wide to fit it all in!

Bike riding, loving their new "car" as Add calls it

Sunday, we headed over to Chris's dad's house so we could take a look at the camper to see if it was fixable. We took our lunch and had another picnic and even pitched two small tents for the girls to play and nap in. So even after a huge disappointment, we made the most of the weekend and had some much needed family time together!

REAL CAMPING:
This past weekend we were invited to join some friends for camping at Patoka Lake. Rather than trying to rush and fix the camper, we decided to revert back to tent camping but we needed a much larger tent to house the four of us, plus all of our "stuff." We ended up purchasing a wonderful cabin tent from amazon.com and I would highly recommend it if you are interested in a good size family tent that will keep you dry. Yes, dry. After a little drizzly rain on Friday night and a LOT of heavy (and even sideways) rain on Saturday night, we only found a few spots of water that dripped in.

The weekend turned out to be pretty relaxing and nice, despite the rain. We were very thankful our friends were renting a pop-up camper and welcomed us in out of the pouring rain and gusty winds. The weather was beautiful during the day on Saturday and we went on a pretty good hike and did some bike riding too. Lydia did so well on her camping debut! Addie kept herself entertained and didn't even touch any of the toys I brought for her. She was very helpful with the two babies and enjoyed every bit of being outside the entire time.

Lydia getting ready to slide!

On the hike to Totem Rock

I think we'll call it "Trusty the Tent"

Sleepy girl after a bike ride

If you look closely, you'll see the green inchworm reaching out off the wood right by Addie's nose...she was so excited about all the "nature stuff" the whole weekend. Lots of deer tracks and various animal "scat" (poo). We even saw this on our hike:


Yuck...it was about 3.5 inches long...gave me the heeby geebies ;)

Little Tiny is 11 Months!

This little baby is not going to be such a little baby much longer! One more month until Little Tiny turns one! She does not always have such a serious expression, but I couldn't resist playing around with this beautiful picture of her :) Those pouty lips are irresistible.

Lydia is our more adventurous daughter by far. She climbs and bounces and wants to be in the center of the action at all times! I've recently started taking the girls to a place called Pump It Up about once a month and they play in the inflatable "bounce houses" and slides. This past week, Lydia went down the huge slide with me and loved it. She was fearless when it came to climbing up on things and bouncing by herself in the bounce house. I just have to keep reminding myself to allow her to explore and enjoy her independence.

She has started walking with a little push mail cart that Addie used when she was about this age. It's funny to watch her little brain process each step as she goes across the room :) I know that once she has walking mastered, we will be in for all sorts of fun! The poor girl already manages to get a new bruise or scrape just about every day from all of her courageous maneuvers!

I usually do school time with Addie while Lydia is taking a morning nap, but sometimes we extend some of our activities later in the afternoon to involve Lydia. Just today, she helped pick up the blocks by putting them back in the bucket one by one. I was kind of surprised she let go of each one, but she wanted to mimic her sister and was very helpful :) A new trick she started today is to put her head on the ground and bottom up in the air as if she's about to do a somersault. I then flip her over and we cheer. It became such a fun little game and she did it over and over and over again all around the living room. I'm just getting such a kick out of how quickly she is changing.

Even her food is changing...she wants to eat what we are eating now and refuses to take a bite of her food until she gets a taste of what we're having. She's still mastering the pincer grasp and practicing with a LOT of Cheerios and goldfish crackers. I think if I let her eat them all day, she would. With her new food habits, we are working on the sign for "more" and she has almost got it down. She would actually rather say it than sign it, which is just fine with us! Some of her newest words are "grandma" (which sometimes sounds like Garmin), "papaw," and "amen" after we say our prayers. Addie talked at a pretty early age, but I'm starting to think that Lydia might have her beat by the time she turns one! She definitely wants us to know what's on her mind!

Along with her adventurous side comes a very loving and snuggly side. I love every little thing about her, but this is probably my most favorite part of Lydia. She LOVES to snuggle...always has and hopefully always will :) Recently, she started giving kisses and snuggles when we ask for them. I just adore her open mouth, gentle smoochies! She is a sweet sweet girl :)

A Friend Named "Mim"

One day a few weeks ago, Addie mentioned something about her friend named Mim. Hmmm....I thought for a minute and wondered if this could be her first imaginary friend! After asking her a few questions about Mim, I realized that Mim is indeed imaginary.

Addie informed me that Mim lives in a place called "Basanta," which she says is in Indianapolis. We're not sure where she came up with Basanta, but she does have an uncle and lots of good friends who live in and around Indianapolis :)

Mim has blond hair and always seems to be wearing an outfit that matches Addie's :) She is the same height as Addie too. I have never heard Addie talking to Mim, but apparently Mim tells Addie things like, "Mim said I need to send my yucky nummy (her pacifier) to Jamaica." I think I like this Mim character very much! Of course Mim is totally WRONG when it's naptime or bedtime, at least that's what Addie tells me for now.

We asked if she had any other friends who live in Basanta with Mim and one other character has been mentioned. This friend is a boy and his name is "Kylophone"...you know, like xylophone with a 'K' :) We don't know any other details about Kylophone, other than he's a boy. I almost fell over when she said this, but I'd never laugh at her! I don't EVER want to crush her beautiful little imagination!

2 Months and Counting...

....that is, until Lydia turns ONE! We can't believe it, of course. Mostly me. We are having SO much fun lately! While Peek-a-boo is still a favorite, she has figured out how to do things that make everyone laugh, especially herself. She'll do things like knock over a stack of diapers or wipes I've just folded and when I pretend to "get mad" (of course in the most playful way) she just laughs her head off...and so do the rest of us. Then she does it over and over and over and over again.

I keep thinking she's just going to take off and walk somewhere because she has learned to "cruise" around the furniture and even stands by herself for a few moments. I can't wait to have 4 little feet running around the house, instead of just 2 :) I also can't wait to hear 2 little voices chattering back and forth! Lydia is starting to mimic words after us and she says, "Hi," "Addie," "Momma," "Dadda," and "Uh Oh." I know she has tons more to say and I love watching her little brain work to try to figure it all out :)

Peek-a-boo!

I'm not going to say much about it, for fear of jinxing myself, but Little Tiny's sleep habits have shown great improvement in the past month. Even with her little teeth breaking through, she has been such a trooper. Speaking of teeth, she has 2 on the bottom and 2 on the top now. You can almost see them all in the cheesy funny face she's making here:

Say cheese!