Fairhaven weekend!

Last weekend we left on Friday to go to Fairhaven, some cabins in Roan Mountain, TN with the Dirks.  We loaded up our new Honda Pilot and Thule car-top carrier with all of our luggage, 2 high chairs, 2 pack n plays, and our beautiful girls.  Our first stop on our weekend adventure was dinner in Newland, NC at a very country BBQ place.  Fortunately for us there was live music (by a duo - 1 of the guys was blind!) to go along with the checkered table cloths.  A couple of people even stood up and danced (including Maggie!).  Caleigh and Maggie were glad to be out of the car and to partake in the fabulous food.

In order to leave for Fairhaven you had to be wearing a blue t-shirt.

Check out the music in the background - we had front row seats! And any restaurant that recognizes the goodness of Adam's favorite drink, Mountain Dew, has to be a good place.  Is anyone concerned about all of those implements around the sign?  After a good night's rest we drove into Blowing Rock.  We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway, played on the big park, the girls swung on the swings, we ate a good lunch, and best of all we got some really great fudge!  After afternoon naps on Saturday we went for a quick hike.  Caleigh had the most comfy ride on the trail. A break from the hiking for a super cute photo op.  Pretty impressive if I do say so myself - to get a 17 month old and a 9 month old to sit still for pictures and to both be smiling (sort of)... Both looking at the camera would have been too much to ask. Caleigh is taking a break and Maggie is narrating the action for her. Quick family pic in the gazebo. We walked up to the pond.  Here Caleigh is showing off one of the leaves that she found - she did manage to eat an untold number of leaves that I was too slow to remove from her grasp. Tyler and Adam in the canoe in the tiniest pond ever. What are our daddies doing???  The cutest thing was how well Maggie played with Caleigh.  This photo was not orchestrated!  Maggie just walked over and sat down right next to Caleigh... so sweet.  And here Caleigh is eating another leaf. A trip to the swing set after our quick jaunt to the pond. Fairhaven was teeming with apple trees!  Of course we couldn't resist the photo op.  This is my favorite picture of the whole weekend... Another family pic...  Does Caleigh look bored of them? This is a little lake just off of Fairhaven's property. On Sunday we headed up there for some exploring. Most of us on the bridge... We were at the lodge looking for some fishing poles for the pond but Caleigh was pretty occupied by Adam's shoe strings. A little rock-climbing.  What a risk taker.  Good thing she had a spotter. Tyler did most of the fishing using flower petals as bait (very manly).  You will have to check out the Dirks blog for the HUGE (note the sarcasm) fish that Tyler caught.  After he caught the first fish though they all got wise to his scheme and we couldn't catch anymore. All in all we had a great vacation!  The girls were so cute together and we adults had fun playing Bananagrams, Settlers of Catan, and Hand and Foot together.  Can't wait to do it again next year!

bumbo

I think Caleigh likes the bumbo so much more now that she can climb on it than when she was a little baby that sat in it.

Let me see if I fit in it this way... What is in there??? (I LOVE when she squats like that.  I think it makes her look like such a little girl.) Mom, my leg is actually stuck in there... No other way to get the leg out...

busy

Mom can't you see that I found something pretty awesome on the edge of the carpet in this corner - can't you see that I just don't have time for pictures anymore...

PS She is wearing a Carolina Girls... best in the world t-shirt.  She looks so big to me in this picture!

just being silly

A tisket, a tasket, Caleigh's in a basket...

She tips over these baskets on her changing table (which we don't actually use to change her anymore) several times a day so we thought we would give her a taste of her own medicine.  Look at me... Smiling only for Daddy of course... Trying to flee the confines of the basket but not quite sure how to do it so she's just being silly.

lake nantahala

Last week we were gone from Aug. 9th until Aug. 16th to Lake Nantahala in the far southwestern corner of North Carolina (basically near where NC, SC, GA, and TN meet).  We went with my family and we had a great time.  The lake is small but absolutely beautiful.  There was no cell phone or internet service so we felt a bit disconnected from the world, but we did have TV and watched ALOT of Olympics.  Besides relaxing beside the lake (my mom and Karen shown here)...

We also spent alot of time watching the dogs swim and fetch (our Bales swam so much more than she ever has!).  We rented a pontoon boat on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.  Here are some pictures from the boat.  We tried to follow the rules and keep Caleigh in a lifejacket the whole time but she REALLY hated it.  Since she was so unhappy we decided to go ahead and let her practice driving the boat (with my assistance of course). In this photo Caleigh is saying, "Mom, I really don't like being out here with nowhere to crawl or cruise and nothing to explore... but at least you took off my lifejacket for a minute." My parents enjoyed some great Caleigh time while we were there.  I just weaned Caleigh/ she weaned herself the week before we left for the lake so each morning my parents got Caleigh up and fed her her bottle and her breakfast so that Adam and I could sleep in (which we are not very good at) but it was nice to at least be able to relax a little in the mornings.  And let me tell you - we needed the sleep with how late we were staying up watching the Olympics.  While we were at the lake I really saw the importance of DVR. :)

Here is a shot of Caleigh snuggling up to my mom (a special treat since the snuggling really doesn't happen too often with Caleigh - she is way too busy and not into being held that much).  Here are some (not very good!) shots of us tubing on the lake.  The pontoon actually pulled us pretty fast, especially with two people on there.  Here are some action shots of Adam and I. As you can see Adam was the deadweight on our team... Adam was a little exhausted and took a break for a little while in the boat with Caleigh. Then he went back out there with my brother, David. The dogs were exhausted after each day on the boat and all the swimming they did. Other than the boating we played alot of games; our favorites are: Settlers of Catan, Bananagrams (my new favorite!), and Hand and Foot.  Here is Karen working on one of the crafts that she brought for the week. Caleigh got some good Daddy time and laughed alot for him. Adam, David, and I also went rafting on the Nantahala River one day while we were there.  It was so much fun and I am SO bummed that I don't have any pictures of it.  The Nantahala River only has class 2 and 3 rapids but it was awesome because we went in a smaller raft by ourselves without a guide.  The 3 of us took turns guiding the raft down the river (about a 9 mile stretch).  We had a few mishaps along the way and the 37 degree water was FREEZING (we thought they were joking when the asked us about wetsuits but apparently not)... but it was so much fun.  I have never been so sore in my life as I was after paddling hard for 2 hours straight.

For those who have never seen it I wanted to include a short clip of Karen throwing a little tantrum (this one is just a joke - she is putting on a show for us as you can see from her smiles - but there are definitely real ones that I didn't film).  In this video we are joking her about what she is going to get to order for dinner when we go out that night.  Of course we all knew she wanted and would order: chicken fingers and fries as she does EVERYWHERE we go EVERYTIME we go out.  I seriously don't think she has ever gotten anything else.  She is such a good sport with all the joking and our trips would never be the same without her.  She always makes us laugh and is included in all of our best memories about vacations.

For those who were concerned about what Karen got to eat that night - she did order chicken fingers and even shared half of one with me!

All in all we had a great trip and can't wait to do it again next year.

pulling up and showing some personality

This video clip was taken before we went to the lake over a week and a half ago (Caleigh was about 8 months and 1 week).  She had just started to pull up on stuff before we went to the lake.  Her favorite thing to pull up on before we left was her little musical table.  

As you can see in the video Caleigh is also really starting to have a will.  She tries to pull herself up and then when she can't do it she throws a little tantrum to show us that she is frustrated with herself.  She is also persistent - she will try and try again to pull herself up.

All of that persistence has paid off though because now she is pulling up on EVERYTHING.   She has even taken to a modified form of crawling - she crawls with one foot up as if she is half walking.  She also has really good balance and sometimes will let go of whatever she was holding on to and just stand alone for several seconds.  It is so fun to see her grow up and change.  She is getting so big!  We go for her 9 month appointment on Aug. 28th and we are excited to see how big she really is.

blowing zerberts

Adam introduced the word zerberts to me... I guess it is another way to say blowing raspberries.  Caleigh has been doing it for a while and we decided to finally get it on video.  In this clip she is also doing one of her primal yells - this happens when she gets super excited and doesn't know how to express it so she kicks her feet and squeals in the highest octave possible.

knights game!

We had a semi-lifegroup social on Saturday night (the same night of the Panthers fan fest - a truly sporty day) and headed to the Charlotte Knight's game.  I don't know if anyone actually watched the game... I didn't - I am pretty sure the Knight's lost though.  The game was fun and brought back lots of memories of when Adam worked for the Carolina Mudcats during the first year of our marriage.  It also brought back memories of junior high and going on New Life 91.9 night and hearing Jeff Moore and the Distance, or Point of Grace; ironically that radio station is still playing those groups... hilarious.  

Here is the group...

And Caleigh and I looking all matchy-matchy before we left. Pastor Dave wants to know, "Do you like this face?" We really do. :)

...quoting the one and only Bennett Kulp...

panthers fan fest

On Saturday we had a very sporty day.  In the morning we skipped Caleigh's morning nap and went to Panthers Fan Fest.  It got us so excited about this season of Panthers football; hopefully it will be better than last season.

Our girl was a sleepyhead but she did great! My eyes are like half closed in this picture - I was a sleepyhead too. And we got to see the Kulps - the Kulp girls helped to wake Caleigh up.  We have always thought that Caleigh would be such an introvert just because she is content to watch and observe people and she has just seemed quiet.  Lately it seems like she is coming out of her shell.  She doesn't laugh much but she thinks that other babies her age are hilarious and she laughs her head off when she is around them - especially the Kulp girls.  So I don't know what she will be like as she gets older - we are so excited to find out... her personality is a mystery.

swingin' gal

caleigh LOVES to swing.  she always laughs while swinging (and her laughs are hard to get).  unfortunately we started recording this too late, after the big belly laughs subsided, but she is still a cutie.

hanging out

Even now I know I will look back on these days with such fondness... When Adam (and I on some days) get home from work we tag team feeding Caleigh, her bath, and her bedtime and we have her in bed by 6:45 or 7.  On typical nights we eat dinner right after she goes to bed around 7.  This time for us is so fun to hang out... One night this week we had wine and a big grilled chicken salad for dinner.  The salad didn't do so well as to blunt the effects of the wine.  So... you get a daddy and a dog - both a little crazy...

And a little Nachooooooooooooo (if you haven't seen Nacho Libre, the greatest movie ever, you might want to stop reading here). Here is a clip of Adam performing his favorite moving from this movie about Luchadors (sp? = wrestlers in English).  Every time Adam does this I absolutely die laughing (a very wheezy laugh from which I acquired the nickname "Wheezy" in college).  We actually had to tape it twice because the first time all you could hear was an extreme wheeze.  Only one question left to ask: Have you seen these moves?

If you haven't seen Nacho Libre you should seriously borrow it from us - we LOVE it!