Hoccckking Hills

ha, ha! Can't you just hear the big ol' loogey?! We went to this place in Ohio, Hocking Hills (comparable to Turkey Run, but better sights), on Wednesday and Thursday. We rented a cabin as a late birthday gift for me since I've been wanting to go to this place for a while now. Lots of hiking = lots of pictures so I'll just post a few of my favorites. I might add a slide show of more later.....I just need to get this up here since we're taking off on more trips tomorrow! That, of course, means more posts to come!
Appropriate!
A hocking we will go, a hocking we will go!

Can you see the sphinx head?

so strong!
Upper "Falls" @ Old Man's Cave
Ash Cave --the picture doesn't do this place justice! This place was really cool.
view from Conkle's Hollow -- again, the picture doesn't do this justice. Absolutely beautiful views. 2 1/2 mile hike around the RIM of the gorge (we are so sore today!) Oh, and Allie said something really cute here...as we were walking along the trail she said it was "too hairy". We were trying to figure out what she was talking about and then realized she was talking about all of the pine needles covering the ground! Too funny!
view from inside the rock house
I just have to mention this because it was one of the highlights of our trips (Well, Derek's anyway.) We stopped to eat a late lunch on the way home and I asked Avery for a kiss. She leaned in and just as she was about to kiss me she belched the loudest burp anyone of her size could possible do! It was disgustinly hilarious!

Gymnastics and a Few Other Things

Yesterday was Allie's first day of gymnastics!! She was really shy at first, but once her friend Adeline got there she was ready to go.

Over Labor Day weekend my family came for a visit and we headed to the beach for the day. It wasn't quite as hot as it has been lately and the water was pretty chilly.....but that didn't stop most of us from getting in (I didn't get in because I had a cold).



On our way home we stopped by Young's Jersey for a BIG bowl of ice cream. So yummy! We passed this awesome field of sunflowers on the way.......
Pretty, huh!?
It was a great weekend.....thanks for visiting us guys...you know we love it when you visit!
Allie was exhausted after the busy weekend. This is how I found her shortly after everyone left:
Speaking of Allie, this weekend we found a lump on the back of her neck. So, of course, I got her in to the doctor as soon as I could. Basically, after lots of poking and prodding and tons of questions the doctor finally said that it was either a bacterial infection or cancer. Great, way to put in bluntly! Of course, there were no tests done to rule out cancer or any other type of information given except to come back in two weeks if it was still there. I was like so I guess that means you think....or hope....it's just an infection and so if that's what it is then it will just go away on it's own.......no medicine. I guess so! Gotta love military doctors!

Avery ~ 13 months

Today Avery went to her 12 month well baby visit. I know, I'm behind....that's nothing new! Everything looks good. Avery was cracking the doctor up because she's so outgoing. She went straight up to him, grabbed his hands, and started dancing. Her stats show her in the 13% for weight (18.13 lb), 18% for height(28in), and I forget what it was for her head. She's staying right there on the tiny side for everything which we expect she'll always be that way......just like Allie.

She's a very accomplished walker now. She flies across the room!! It's so fun and WEIRD to see Avery chasing Allie. It's so fun and WEIRD to see them play at their play kitchen together. For the most part, they get along great.

Avery has two new obsessions.....babies and dogs, especially dogs. When she was getting her one year pictures taken over at the Barkers all she wanted to do was go get Chloe. Whenever she hears a dog bark she gets so excited and start barking right along with them!

As far as her vocab, she's really just addeded.....baby and dog..GO FIGURE!! She does like to point a lot now though, which is pretty cute. It's cute because she has crooked fingers like her momma!

That's really about it. I'm sure she is happy to have this doctor's visit over with since she had to get 4 shots AND blood drawn! It was so sad because it took her forever to catch her breath after the shots and then she went and did the same thing with the blood being drawn :( Not looking forward to her 15 month shots!

28

Man, I'm getting old! In a few years I definitely won't want to be posting my age as the title! :)
Just wanted to share a picture of the flowers Derek got for me. I LOVE them! He never gets me flowers.......we both are kind of like what's the point...they are going to die anyway. So, that made these a total surprise and they are so beautiful!


We went to dinner at one of my fav restaurants, The Cheesecake Factory, while Kevin watched our girls (Thanks, Kev!) Derek also got me the nicest card and a new mp3 player that he already loaded up with some songs....all a subtle hint about, well you know (if I knew how to draw a fat cow here then that's what I'd draw so instead I'll draw my usual) ;)

(____)

( o o )

( - - )

U

Next week, we're going to Hocking Hills.......the plan is to get a cabin and hike around the area for a couple days. I'm very excited about it!!

The Past Week

We've actually been keeping pretty busy lately.

• We got Avery's one year pics taken by Nicole so you can check those out on her blog.
• We went to the base pool once again (wish I would have taken pics b/c Avery had the cutest swimsuit on).
• We also played frisbee golf, which we hadn't done in over a year, so that was a lot of fun.
• Derek, Abe and Kevin installed the tower on the boat and now Derek...I mean we... are anxious to get it out.
• Derek's sister, Louise, and her family visited the past two days. It had been at least 5 years, if not more, since we had seen them last. We had a little BBQ here at our house, went hiking and to the AF museum.

• Today the girls and I did another favorite pastime of ours (again, probably a year since we've done it).....geocaching! I finally figured out how to upload the waypoints straight onto my GPS, which made it a lot easier to try and find the "treasure." That's what I had to call it to entice Allie to search with me. Otherwise she just wanted to play at the playground. The first cache was full of junk, but the second one had "There's a Wocket in My Pocket" and a dinosaur book so the girls were happy with those!