First Snow

This past weekend we had the first snowfall of the year. Hello Winter! It was actually really nice...we didn't have anywhere that we had to be so we took opportunity to stay inside, relax a bit, and put up all our Christmas decorations. What could be better than snow falling as you listen to some carols while hanging ornaments?

We did take a little break to enjoy the snow outside...although "enjoy" may not be the best word to describe Morgan's experience....just take a look for yourself. Perhaps cold wet stuff falling from the sky takes a little to get used to. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday; we enjoyed celebrating in Chicago. Here's Morgan in her Thanksgiving dress at Great Grandma Ruth's house.

Month 22 in Review

Can it really be December already???? Month 22 had to be the quickest yet...most of it was spent enjoying a great visit to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

Before we left, we enjoyed the Annual Harvest Dinner at Morgan's school. All of the family's are invited to participate in a lunch at the center with traditional Thanksgiving food.

Then we hit the road to start our drive to Chicago. Along the way we stopped in Dayton, Ohio to spend some time with our good friends Todd, Cindy and Olivia at the Wright Patterson Air museum (pictures courtesy of them) as well as a visit with Great Grandma Donna.

We had a great time in Chicago visiting with the Reineke family, staying at the McDonald's lodge, spending some time with Great Grandma Ruth and Poppy, having a great Thanksgiving dinner with the family, eating at Portillo's (just a few times), seeing some of the FL7 gang (including .2 and .3) and even having an early Christmas celebration under the trees that the lodge just put up. Then before we knew it, we were on the road again, heading backto PA.

Month 21 in Review

We had a great time this month enjoying the fall. The big event was of course was the birth of Olivia, as well as a fun Halloween. But we also really enjoyed the leaves, various outdoor activities and a really hot day at the Annapolis boat show for Mommy's birthday (her birthday dinner was the largest Maryland crab-meat dinner ever...YUM!) Daddy is hooked...on a boat and the crab meat!

Some of Morgan's favorites this month

Thing: Pumpkins

Music: Dan Zane

Toy: Stroller (Anything can and will get pushed around the house in it.)

Food: Pumpkin seeds (There have a been a few but as of today, I think this one wins out

Books: Love you, Love is a handful of honey, Twinkle/twinkle, Gossie

Activity: Stomping through leaves

Game: Put "___" down for a nap. This is soooo cute. Everything takes a nap...her doll, her cup, her spoon, her book, etc. She lays it down, covers it with a blanket/washcloth and pats it. Sometimes we even get Twinkle, Twinkle hand motions.

Another favorite activity this month is apparently screaming...she is exploring her vocal chords and she is definitely 100% Little Girl.

Happy Halloween

Halloween with Morgan was a lot of fun this year! As you can see she was one cute bee...and with her little "Jump up and down" song she was actually one cute dancing bee...complete of course with a flower candy basket.

The festivities began yesterday at school with a Halloween parade. All the kids dressed up in their costumes and walked around the front circle for their parents...they were adorable. Morgan's friend Jack was a little lion and her friend Emma was Raggedy Annie (a great costume handmade by her mom).

Of course for the little ones there was a lot going on. And for a certain little bee all the excitement was down right overwhelming. But even a crying bee is still cute.

After the parade we went to the pumpkin patch at MerryMead Farm. Unlike the parade, Morgan loved it and was picking pumpkins like a pro. After we were done in the patch, we walked around the farm and actually saw a new calf that was only hours old.

This morning we decorated our pumpkins and saved the pumpkin seeds for roasting...Morgan's new favorite snack. YUM!!!!

And Halloween wouldn't be complete without trick or treating after dark. The weather didn't completely cooperate but at least it was warm, and the rain didn't stop us from going to a few blocks. Morgan really got the hang of ringing door bells and collecting candy, especially after she broke through one of the wrappers and realized what was inside. :)

Welcome Cousin Olivia!

Morgan's new cousin was born yesterday morning...an absolutely beautiful baby girl named Olivia Marie. Mom (Aunt Stephanie), Day (Uncle Matt), and baby are doing wonderful. We were so excited to meet her just after she was born. Here are some of our favorite first pictures of her. As you can see, Morgan was able to keep herself entertained...courtesy of Oswald, a big, blue octopus. :) The DVD player was bought for vacation, but this was the first time she really showed any interest.

Grand Tetons

After spending 5 days visiting Yellowstone we headed south to Grand Tetons National Park. Unfortunately, the long drive (since we were now at the north end of the park) was made even longer by a little detour. The Arnica fire which we had briefly seen from West Thumb on our first day, had left us stranded on our second night, and had threatened to evacuate us from the Lake Hotel was causing havoc again. This time closing our route south resulting in a several hour detour through Montana and Idaho (but hey we can cross two more states off our list). In the end the fire burnt ~10,000 acres of forest over >9 days, it never did get too close to the hotel, but was only put out by the snow that arrived on our departure day the following Friday.

The Grand Tetons were breathtaking. And it was a perfect time of year to go…the sun was warm but the air was just crisp enough, the crowds were low but everything was still open, and the fall foliage was at its peak. We stayed at the really nice Jackson Lake lodge in the park and ate some of the best food we've ever eaten. In this park, we had a little more chance to relax and just enjoy the scenery. One of our days we took a boat ride across Jenny Lake and took a great hike up through the mountains.

Our last two nights were spent at Jackson Hole a ski resort type of town with many shops and some great restaurants. And then all too quick it was time to board a plane again and head home.