Camping at Caledonia

For Christmas this year, Mark's only request was that I "take him camping" at some point this summer. Well, he finally got his gift this weekend. We spent the night in Caledonia with our friends that Mark met when he was working in Hagerstown. We always cherish the time we have with them - such special relationships have been developed over the years. There is nothing like living in the midst of God's creation and we are so fortunate to have such a marvelous specimen so close to us - nothing compares to the smell of pine trees covered with dew, the crackling of camp fires, the songs of the birds in the early morning hours, the crickets serenading us to sleep (well, some of us - see below for details ;)...

We set up camp after a rain storm so things were a bit soggy and muddy but thankfully the rest of the weekend was gorgeous!

Daddy taught Lydia how to roast hot dogs and she discovered the joy of eating them right off the fire. MMMMM...



Baby Andrew (5 weeks old!) was such a trooper on his SECOND camping trip. His parents are so brave.



Ok, so sleeping was an interesting issue on this trip. We attempted to put Lydia down near her typical bedtime (7ish) on her little air mattress in her little sleeping bag in the tent (with her cow, blanket, and ba-ba's). She found it much more fun to crawl around the tent, so daddy let her sit on our laps by the fire and have a snack. We decided to all hit the hay around 10pm. We thought perhaps if all of us were "sleeping" she would be inclined to do likewise. Um, no such luck. Lydia preferred to crawl around the tent saying, "Daddy, what you doin'?" Crawling over daddy's head. "Mommy, what you doin'?" While running her fingers through my hair. Response: "I'm sleeping Lydia" "Where'd Guinney go?" (when she discovered him at the end of her mattress) "I found him" REPEAT. Finally, when we totally ignored her, she crawled into bed and fell asleep. This process lasted about an hour. At 3:00am Lydie woke up wailing. It sounded as if she were totally disoriented and frightened. Even with daddy and mommy right beside her, she was challenging to console. At this point, Mommy had to get out of the tent to use the bathroom (not surprising for a woman in her 3rd trimester), take some Tylenol (I missed my extra pillows :), and have a snack. Well, that set Lydie off again. When I returned she had another outburst and Mark said, "Liz, you're going to have to take her home. She's disturbing the campground." I was all prepared to pack up and head into town. A minute later she settled down and we all slept until 7. Gotta love adventures with a toddler. ;)
Obviously Mark had no problem catching a little shut-eye.


Camping with the Timmon's always yields some fantastic food. We had "MountainMan" casserole for breakfast - hash browns, sausage, eggs, cheese. MMMMMM... For dinner we had chicken cordon bleu with sauce, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, bread, salad - and they ate peach cobbler after we left. Unbelievable. Of course we all ingested more than our share of S'mores which was certainly fine with me and Cosmo!

Avery came on Saturday morning and these two just had a blast. Amy had the foresight to bring 2 of every toy to prevent any "It's mine." squabbles and they played quite nicely. Lydie was a little on-edge running on negative sleep, but with minimal redirection they had a blast.




Here are some photos from our jont through Caledonia.
A pre-hike hug. Mommy's belly is getting a bit big for that! ;)


The whole crew (minus the Moore's who joined us for dinner Sat. evening). Next year we'll be adding at least 2 new little ones!

Early Summer

Photos of our early summertime adventures...

Our Play Group Mommies took the kids to the wildlife refuge in Fairfield. As you can tell they were in awe of the animals. And Lydie was obsessed with feeding peanuts to the goats.



Can you believe we got them all to sit still? (Didn't quite achieve the whole "looking at the camera and smiling" thing, but what we got was quite an achievement!)


Chasing ducks over Memorial Day Weekend


Lydia LOVES her dog - and I mean, LOVES! He's the third person she asks for when she wakes up in the morning (after mommy and daddy). She enjoys snuggling with him on our bed, chasing him, commanding him, feeding him... She thinks he's hilarious repeating often, "Guinney's funny".



At 31 1/2 weeks pregnant I finished the YMCA 5K in the middle of a thunderstorm (rain was literally pelting us) while pushing Avery. Mimi pushed Lydia and we met up with Avery's mommy at the finish line (she jogged it in her 2nd trimester!)



I just love this photo of me & my precious little girl.

A windy day in Johnstown visiting Lydie's great-grandparents.


Mommy & Daddy took a Pre-Cosmo, Sans-Lydia get-away to New York City last weekend. What amazing experiences we had and so refreshing for us! We are so thankful for this opportunity to be spontaneous and connect and relax.



Our fair little girl enjoying her banana in the shade. She loves climbing up onto these comfy chairs on our porch and relaxing.

Picking "strah bah dees" with Aunt Leslie

Our little farmer helping Dr. Bobo plant pumpkin seeds.



We took a morning jont to Cowan's Gap. Lydia loved our hike around the lake during which she pointed out all of the animals, boats, and waters.

"I see fishies!"

She was sooo funny with the sand. When daddy was about to put her down, she hiked her legs up to her chest. When he got her standing, she refused to move. We finally coaxed her into the water and played some games which included splashing. She attempted to mimic a little boy swimming which was not the smartest idea for a child who doesn't really know how to hold her breath under water. Understandably she was hesitant to pursue "swimming" with daddy and we resumed splashing. A gorgeous day.


Our little mimicker is now into doing "faces". Check this one out! When I was a teenager I got scolded for "wrinkling my nose" - she's starting early, G-pa!


Lydie visits her Great-ma once a week and loves to run up to her lap & engage her.


Happy Father's Day, Daddy!


Lydia loves for others to join in her own little adventures. She often says, "C'mon, Mummy" or "Sit down" She's also a riot with her plurals and pronouns. For example, if she's looking for a stuffed animal she'll say, "There she is, I found him" which can be quite amusing when it's totally the wrong use. I was quite impressed when she actually handed me something and said, "Yours" the other day (quite a contrast from the "Mine" we hear with increasing frequency). Our little drama queen also decided today to emphasize her longing for certain things by saying, "I NEED it" :)