Autumn adventures

We drove over to the Old Forge area of the Adirondacks to go hiking and decided to branch out from our  traditional Bald Mountain Fire Tower hike (high reward for little effort).  We decided to do the loop hike around Cascade Lake.  It was a nice walk that was pretty level and Brie was able to hike some of it.  When she asked to go into the pack though we were happy to put her in so we could actually put some miles on.  Turns out it was a good thing that she wanted to ride in the pack, because it rained/drizzled on us for most of the hike and the trail was muddy.  We would never have been able to do the whole thing if she had wanted to walk herself around since it was 5 1/2 miles in not the most optimal conditions.  It still was great to get out and we only saw 2 other adventurous hikers (or were they just crazy and/or desperate-to-be-outside like us?) in that whole time and we had the waterfall to ourselves.

 

Autumn Hiking

It's been blissfully sunny and nice the last few days.  Or maybe it just seems that way after returning from sunny and warm Utah. and surviving a week or so of rainy, gray and cold weather upon our return which means being cooped up indoors.  :( 

So the past few days, we've been making the most of the nice weather and have been out hiking.  Mat was able to get off of work a bit early yesterday and we went out to Whetstone Gulf State Park. 

Of course it was raining when we arrived because Mat asked me if I wanted to turn back around to get my raincoat when we were only 2 minutes from the house.  I said no.  Anyway, we did end up getting out of the car.  We hiked out to a lookout point on the South Trail and it drizzled off and on.  Don't tell anyone...but we did venture out at 4 p.m. even though the signs did mention something about not starting on the trail after 3 p.m.  Which was a topic of discussion with us for some time.  Why?  In the summers it is light until almost 10 p.m.   That's a lot of hiking hours it is cutting into.

Anyway, Gabriella was a fantastic little hiker.  We just hiked up to a lookout point starting on the south trail and it was probably about 2 miles roundtrip.  Brie hiked about 1.5 miles of it on her own and some of it was pretty steep.  The most elevation we've seen out here other than in the Adirondacks.  It was a pretty hike even though it was drizzling on us and the pictures don't do it justice. 

What I love about Brie today

Last week Gabriella refused to wear pants and a diaper and just wanted to try to use the potty.  She sat on her "potty" and the toilet a bunch.  Brie drank lots of liquids and I would read to her hoping she would pee in it.  She didn't. 

This week she doesn't seem interested in being potty trained.  (I'm trying to follow her lead in it, as I've read that it's a little early still and that you don't want to traumatize your child and then it will take even longer.) 

This afternoon after Brie's nap, she put red-haired dolly on the potty, then Brie laid down on her tummy with a book in front of her to read to the dolly while dolly was on/in the potty.  (Luckily, Brie hasn't had success in there yet!)

Gabriella is Two!

 

People were not kidding when they say time flies when you are having fun.  This past year has been delightful watching Gabriella emerge from the baby she was!  

Gabriella is a happy little girl who likes to clear her dish, especially to hear it crash into the sink as she drops it in!  She's talking more and more.  And she is definitely an imitator - if we are walking and I turn around to face her, she will also start walking backwards.  When we are eating dinner and she's not sure about something, as long as we look at her and take a big bite and smile big - she will usually eat it.  (Although, nothing works for us to get her to eat red or green peppers when they are cooked.)  Gabriella enjoys hiking with us, especially if Maddy is along.  She giggles the whole time Maddy runs ahead and all around in the woods.

 

Happy Birthday, Brie!

 

 

"Mama die"

 

Gabriella is talking more and more and putting words together.

She's been saying:

"mama come eat"
"dada come sit"

But she is having some trouble putting two consonant sounds together.  For example, she calls Grammy Mary "jammy"  and when we were on the plane she would say:

"mama bang (plane)"
"dada bang"
"gabiella bang"

Her newest saying is:

"mama die"
"dada die"

which I've interpreted as "mama try" and hoping that she soon gets the double consonant sound figured out because it's fun wandering around Target as she's loudly saying

"mama bang"
"mama die"

Moab adventures with friends...

It was awesome to see Mat's college friends which travelled from far away to meet up in Moab with the kiddos for some hiking, biking and camping and visiting!  Mat, Brie and I had so much fun and enjoyed getting to visit with them.  Hopefully it can turn into an annual event!

Autumn Colors

 

Holy cow, were we lucky or what?  We ended up visiting Utah at prime fall colors in the mountains.  We enjoyed looking at the mountain view from my mom's house in Midway and then enjoyed a beautiful drive up Pine Creek canyon.  So beautiful!  Our intent that evening was to go on a hike to some glacier boulders in the state park, but apparently I was unable to follow directions so we paid to go into the park and then promptly left it (on accident) and instead went for a drive up Pine Creek canyon when we realized we weren't going to be finding the trailhead on the road we were on.  :-)

Thanks to Spencer/Jonene and Phil/Mar's family for making the time to hang out.  We loved to seeing them and having Brie play with all her cousins.  Mat had a good time playing with the nieces and nephews too.  In fact, the next weekend when we had a family dinner and Mat had all ready gone down to SLC for his conference, Henry asked me very nicely "where is Mat?"  He wanted to play football some more with him.  We had a fun loop hike in the American Fork canyon with Spencer and his kids. 

Thanks, also, to Juliette for driving down from Logan to hang out in the park in Ogden.  As always, Brie has fun and it was good to catch up. 

We have lots of pictures up in flickr of our trip, if you want to see more.  Click here.

I still find it frustrating that blogger makes me upload pictures to Google Photos and that I can't just insert a picture from flickr like I used to. I hate loading pictures to all sorts of places and then it is even more likely that they might get used by someone else without permission.  :(   Interestingly enough, we found a picture of me relaxing by our tent on the Appalachian Trail on a real estate site selling some property in Nevada...

A bit of a lapse...

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  I am hoping to do some this week, but in looking at my last blog I realized I have a lot of catching up to do. 

I finished my summer season at the state park and in the last week had a fantastic allergic reaction to some poison ivy or oak or something.  My arms had a terrible rash and my eyes were so swollen that when I went to the first urgent care they told me that they wouldn't see me and that I needed to go to the emergency room.  Thankfully, the second urgent care saw me and gave me some stuff that helped me immensely.  (Eye drops and prescription for perdnisone.) 

Brie went to her 2 year appointment and her stats at that time were:
               Weight:  27 pounds
               Height:  33.5 inches

Went to Utah and had a fantastic time.  I'll blog and post pics about it later.

Came back home from Utah to rain and chilly weather.  Finally it's sunny today. 

Brie's 2nd birthday is this Saturday.  How did that happen?  Sheesh.