Nose

North Carolina Weekend

We just got back from an overdue visit to the Wilson's from North Carolina. As always we had an enjoyable time. It was nice just to be able to sit back and relax for a weekend away from home. We were also able to check out Chris' land where he's building himself a cute house, we loved it! We also checked out the local pottery scene. There wasn't anyone throwing pots, but it was still fun to walk around. There was also a local children's museum/park which was really pretty cool. It had farm animals, reptiles, two lions, monkeys, and smaller animals outside...and inside there were dinosaur bones, a play area, and small discovery areas. We saw a two-headed turtle, and as always I didn't have my camera...but it was really cool. The really freaky part was that the lions were fed by food on wagons, so when we walked by with Autumn in the stroller they acted like they were hunting her...now that's something that would spook any parent (speaking of spooking...I'll try to post Halloween pictures later, Nellie took them b/c I didn't grab my camera...do you notice a theme in my life?) Here are cute pictures of Autumn in her new winter hat, I love it!!

Chris+Jodie, and Greg...I took some pictures just before we left in the morning. It was fun to spend some time together catching up...
We stopped at the New River Gorge in West Virgina on the way back. It's the second largest arched bridge in the Western hemisphere built in the 1970s...a little trivia, one man died while building it. The first picture is the old bridge in the Gorge, and the second picture is the larger one. It's a little scary driving over it...hope this one is inspected.

Trax Farms

Over the weekend Grammie and I took Autumn to Trax Farms while the guys worked in the backyard. The weather had finally cooled off a bit reminding me that fall was here and it was not to be replaced by summer. Anyways, Trax Farms had different sections outside for the kids to explore, kind of a fall festival thing going on. There were huge mounds of pumpkins the older kids were crawling on, a petting zoo (we just looked...but it not only had the staples of goats and sheep but there was a baby cow, a lama, and pig!), a hay ride, corn maze, a train ride, blow up jumping things the kids could go into, and a corn and hay pit (pictured below). I had a great time just being outside enjoying the atmosphere. Autumn was too cute exploring the grounds. I do have to say that I had the best cinnamon roll from their farmers market, yummy...

An update on the work outside...Miles finished laying the drainage pipes around the house on Monday night right before the rains came. I'm happy to report a dry basement...Yeah!!

Chihuly at Phipps

Last night (Thursday) we finally got around to going to Phipps Conservatory to see the Chihuly exhibit. We couldn't have picked a better night...the weather was awesome (I think it only dropped in the high 60s). Anyway...Chihuly works with glass, and his pieces were throughout the conservatory. Some pieces looked like centerpieces and some were mixed in with the vegitation. If you ever get the oppurtunity to see his work I would recommend it. We went to the night showing which was really fun because we were able to see them with the lights. Autumn was too cute looking at all of the different sculptures. She was imitating our sounds while we were walking around...I think she liked it! If you want to see better pictures you can google "Phipps Conservatory" and browse their web site.

This is one of the main pieces that was hanging from the entrance to the conservatory...

The next two pictures are of pieces that are mixed in with the vegitation...

These two pieces were outside.... (the first one reminds me of rock candy)

Dormont Park

I think Dormont Park is my new favorite park around. Autumn is old enough now that she has no problem walking (or running) around. She loves to explore the whole castle area. It is really fun just to follow her around to see where she'll go next. The park is cool because the castle part is like a really big maze for the kids with slides and climbling things coming off of it. Here is a picture of the park...to the left there's another castle type area for the kids but I couldn't get it in the picture. (My U key is stuck on this computer...you wouldn't believe how many times you actually press it....)

Backyard Work

Here are some pictures of the backyard. Miles (with the help of Grandpa and Jeff) already ripped out the concrete pad. He's now in the middle of digging to get the area ready for a new concrete pad. Here's our work in process

The Zoo

The weather here has been awesome this past month. It has been warmer here then I can every remember. We took advantage and went to the zoo with Grammie on Sunday. It was so much fun to take her to the zoo this time around. We went early in the morning before her afternoon nap, which must have been perfect timing because all of the animals were awake. The coolest was the tiger (I think it was one of the cubs~14 months, 200+ pds) was pacing in front of the observation window. No kidding we were about 5 inches from this thing...Autumn was amazed. We also saw a giraffe run, an elephant give itself a dirt bath, the snow leapord was playing with a cardboard box, and in the new polar bear exhibit the two bears were wrestling in the water (which was so cool because you can walk under the water and watch them swim). It was crazy...all the animals were so active. Autumn was so funny...she was watching them all. I think her favorite was the ducks and fish in the pond because she was able to get so close.

Miles was busy busting out the concrete in the backyard to make way for a new patio. I'll have to post a picture of all the hard work he's doing out there. The guys had 4 dump truck loads of cement taken out of the yard, crazy hard work.


Here is a picture of Tessa after running around outside...she fell asleep before she could eat her dinner...funny...