Never Too Cold

To play in the sandbox.

Happy Thanksgiving

I sure am thankful for a few minutes this morning to post a blog while Kate and Don snooze. I'm a little bummed that I chose to put the pumpkin pie in the freezer last night, or I would be enjoying a slice right now.

At any rate. It was a fun Thanksgiving. There was lots of good food, family, a wheelbarrow ride, some collard pickin and all the things that make Thanksgiving in Hartsville so fun. See for yourself!











Hope you all had a Happy Turkey Day!

Rocky Mountain High

Well, I think we came back refreshed. Last week our little family adventure took us to beautiful Denver, Colorado. You know, just because. We had some vouchers to spend and some Skymiles to burn and so we closed our eyes and placed a finger on a map of the good ole US of A and voila! Denver. Ok, not really. The voucher/Skymile part is right, but we used that as an excuse to go visit the world's coolest bike being built. Yeah, you read that right. We flew roughly 1600 miles across the country to see a bicycle. Don might like bikes... a little bit.

Here's the boy with his dream bike. It's a Black Sheep. Bet you've never heard of that one. Custom made and everything. I think I measured just about every obscure dimension for this one - earlobes to knees, thumb to belly button, you name it. Boy he sure looks happy. :)


Kate was just excited that it is going to have a sheep on it. Speaking of Kate, this was her very first trip on an airplane. We weren't quite sure how air travel with a two-year-old would go, but she flies like a seasoned traveler. She never seemed a bit hesitant about the plane or any of the bumps or noises.

First good look at a plane.


Checking out the sky.


Insisted on holding onto the handrails in the subway train at the Atlanta airport.


Nice long nap on the long leg to Denver.


Know what else a nearly two-year-old likes about traveling? The hotel room closet. We spent a lot to time in this closet. And by we I mean Kate, Don, and me. And yes, all at the same time.


We kicked around Fort Collins for a bit.



After we visited the bike in Fort Collins, we drove up to Estes Park to see the snow and then down the Peak to Peak Highway on our way through Boulder. Sorry there are no snow pictures. We stayed in the car a lot because it was cold and windy. Kate was happy with her snow experience though. Turns out a clod of snow on the sidewalk is just as exciting as an inch on the ground. She thought it was cold and slippery.

Great Canyon views. Call us East Coast Kids because we were constantly amazed at the size of those mountains!


Back in Denver we had dinner with our good friends Sean and Winnie. They moved from Atlanta not long ago. One of my favorite parts about traveling is seeing friends that live in fun, faraway places. Winnie suggested the Mammoth exhibit at the Museum of Science and Nature, so we packed up on a VERY COLD Saturday and headed that way.


There was a well-preserved Mammoth found not far from Denver and they had parts of it on display the Saturday we were in town. Needless to say that there were lots of people, so we didn't get too close to the mammoth.


It didn't matter. Kate enjoyed another Mammoth just as much.
'
And there were Mammoths to color.

The museum is quite fun. Kate was a HUGE fan of the wild animal exhibits! We put her down and she ran from exhibit to exhibit saying: "I so excited!"

See... I told you there would be wild animals.


We searched and searched for a Moose.


So one more trip to look at the bike (which you can see more of here), and some shopping in Boulder, and it was time to head home. A couple of smooth flights (with free wifi) later and we were home sweet home.

Just in time for a haircut!

Before


After


Just in time for Thanksgiving!

More Miscellany

I don't know if Miscellany is a word , but that's what this post entails. A bunch of miscellaneous photos from the past few weeks. I told you November was going to be crazy, so there has been no time to blog. Don was on the west coast, I was in Nashville, then I was in Greenville and this week we're preparing for another family adventure. This time we'll be heading west to much cooler climes. There could be snow involved. Maybe bikes. Maybe a few wild animals. I guess you'll just have to stay tuned.

In the mean time... just in case you're worried that Kate's already driving or attended the prom because it's been SO long since my last post, never fear! She's not even potty trained yet, people. Let's not jump ahead of ourselves. I'm pretty sure it would be hard to get a date to the prom if you were still in diapers.

Here's the potty princess. I refuse to get too worked up about this potty thing (yet), but she is aware of the whole process and can go on demand now. We've had MANY MANY false alarms, but I think we're starting to make progress. A book and a Dora blanket never hurt.


She "helped" Daddy set up his tarp.


Um, yes, he is going to sleep under that thing. It's supposed to protect him from rain. I am not giggling as I type that. No tarps will be involved in our westward adventure.


Kate's a fan.




Not sure what's going on here. Exercising Daddy rules for sure. A chair on the bed? A tu tu? A puzzle? A Dora blanket? A Snoopy doll? Lots of toddler fun.


It's pretty late, so I won't be posting video evidence of our child's disdain for vegetables tonight. I'll try to get that edited and up here.. you know.. before Kate gets married.

While You Were Away

We try not to have too much fun while Daddy is away, it's just hard not to have fun with Kate.

We Rocked the Vote. (Or "Bote" as Kate would say) This picture makes her look angry... like a Tea Party Member. Don't worry Daddy, she is not a member of the Tea Party. I know this because she said that she voted for me.

We played with Foster and our Halloween candy in the PERFECT weather. Shhh... she doesn't realize that you can actually open those KitKat bars and eat them. She just carries them around talking about candy.

And we refreshed with a pudding mask.

And thankfully, tomorrow Daddy returns.

Spooky Spider!

Fall is my favorite time of year! I can't believe it's already November. We spent our weekend enjoying Halloween festivities and trying to relax before what will definitely be the craziest November on record.

Here she is.. the spookiest spider in Lexington. I'm not sure why, but she's been asking to be a spider for weeks. It's not like we had to talk her into it, she definitely decided "all by myself."

Saturday night was Boo at the Zoo. It was a fun time.

She was determined to hold onto her "pumpkin bag," which, of course, wasn't a bag at all.

The "bag" came in handy for her first foray into trick-or-treating.

Sitting with the Tiger... a zoo tradition.

Daddy got in on the fun - or Dad as he is often called lately.

Ran across this other spider...

And this tarantula molt.

On Halloween night there were sparklers...

And some trick-or-treating at Nanna's house. (Nanna gives out the best treats, by the way)

Kate was really into the trick-or-treating. We went to 2 houses in the neighborhood so she could try it out. She had the "trick or treat" part down, and the "thank you for the candy" part, but I guess we failed to mention that you don't go walking into people's houses when they open the door! She's super cute, so everyone loved it, but we'll work on that for next year!

Hope you all enjoyed the holiday! I am going to try and be a better blogger this month, but I'll be honest and tell you that the next 30 days will be absolutely crazy and at times exciting (if we're not completely worn out). My goal is to make it to December and do as little as possible until the end of the year!

Starting to Wonder?

Were you starting to wonder if we were still around? Well, we are. Here's a little of what we've been up to.

Preschool Art


First Tiger football game.


Picking Pumpkins.


Carving/Scooping pumpkins.


Lighting pumkins (and blowing them out).


And at this very moment, there's a bubble bath going on in Kate's bathroom. I thought about taking a nap, but decided to blog instead... you know, in case any of you were starting to get worried about us.