Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful day with Reese's 1st Halloween.  She was very festive in her "Baby's 1st Halloween" onesie and later switched into her costume.   

She was the cutest cow we have ever seen!   

She enjoyed going door to door to see the neighbors.  She also got a kick out of seeing other kids running from house to house in their costumes.  

Happy Birthday Lee!

Lee turned 26 today.... he says he feels old!  We celebrated his birthday with my parents last night when they took us out for a nice dinner.  They even called ahead to make sure the waiters would come out and sing Happy Birthday to him.  He was SO embarrassed!  

This morning Lee started celebrating his day by going deer hunting with one of his buddies.  He didn't see a thing... but a morning in the woods is never a bad experience.  They other guy got a little 5 pointer (he thought it was a doe) so that kept them busy for another hour or so.  I had pizza and beer (both are rarities in our house now that we are trying to eat healthier) at the house for him after he got back from hunting.   

He told me earlier in the week that he wanted a Red Velvet cake made from scratch.  So I spent hours baking and icing away.  The cake itself turned out pretty yummy, but my decorating skills are pretty lame.  I intended to have the cake say "Happy Birthday Lee".  It's really freakin hard to write with icing.    

Reese loved watching the candles.  She also kept trying to stick her hand in the cake.  

                                          He'll never see 25 again!

Girls get a Bath

Last night we hung out with Tess, Brett & Adahlyn.  Tess made an awesome supper and we let Reese and Adahlyn play while we ate.  After supper we decided to give the girls a bath.  They were so cute! 

                                         Naked Babies!


Adahlyn is ALL over the place, pulling up on everything!

                                         Bathing Beauties!

                                      Reese

                                      Adahlyn

                         Reese loved Adahlyn's bath duckies!

1st Hair Cut

I'm about a week late in posting this but Reese got her 1st hair cut a week ago.  Her hair was getting into her eyes, matting & knotting in the back and just generally looking disheveled so... Lee and I put her in the high chair, got out the scissors and started cutting.  

Sarah trimmed up the back and around Reese's ears.

Trimming the bangs was nerve racking with Reese moving her head around, so Lee took care of this part.

She still looks cute, doesn't have any bald patches, and still has her eyes and ears... so I'd say it beats paying someone else to do it!  Maybe once she gets a full head of hair we'll take her to a professional, but for now Lee and I will just add 'hairdresser' to our job description.  

Gone Hiking... Again

On Sunday we got together with Sarah's parents and one of her aunts to go hike a new local trail.  It was a 4.5 mile trail up a mountain.  Parts of the hike were a little exerting, but overall the trail was pretty easy.   

 

We carried Reese in the Ergo Carrier.  

She fell asleep!  The cover over her head is to keep her head from flopping backwards when she falls asleep.  You unsnap the hood when the baby is awake so they can look around.  This baby carrier is awesome... I can't say it enough!  

When Reese woke up she really enjoyed looking at the leaves on the trees.  She is mesmerized by leaves rustling in the wind.  

 
                              Reese with Mammy & Pappy.

Back on the Trail

We returned to the OVTA trail for another long weekend.  We had a good time finishing up the march; however, in my opinion the end of the trail is not near as nice or pretty as the area we were in the week before.  We camped in the bed of Lee's truck again and we all slept well.  I have to admit is was very nice coming home to my own bed though.  It will be interesting to see how next year goes since Reese will be a year and a half old.... and walking!  

Reese on a real bear hide.  This bear was 600+ pounds when it was killed by the mountain man shown in the previous post.    

One of the monuments that has the name of 1st Lieutenant Reese Bowen, who was killed at the battle of Kings Mountain.

Reese in the bed of the truck.

Big Daddy is Sarah's grandfather (Reese's great grandfather) and will be 86 years old next month.  He is the reason the family is so involved with the OVTA.  Years ago he said he was going on a 200+ mile hike.... we all thought he was crazy.  But he said he had walked all the way from Northern Africa to Italy during WWII.. so 200+ miles was nothing.  My dad and uncles decided they better go with him to make sure he'd be okay and to bring him home when he got tired.  Well, he out walked all 3 of his sons and has been back on the trail every year since then!

   

Here is Lee and Reese throwing a rock on Patrick Ferguson's grave.  This is a tradition at Kings Mountain.  Some like to say the rocks make sure he stays down in his grave.  Others see it as a sign of respect.  

OVTA Hike

We spent the last 4 days hiking and story telling along the national historic Overmountain Victoy Trail.  Two weeks out of the year members of the OVTA reenact the march the Overmountain Men took from Abingdon, VA to Kings Mountain, SC to win the battle against major Patrick Ferguson and become the turning point in the Revolutionary War.  Check out the website if you want to know more about the Overmountain Men.  www.ovta.org  

 
We got to experience some breathtaking views while hiking.  The Blue Ridge Mountains are so beautiful.  Lee and my dad both dressed the part for the hike; however, Reese and I stayed in civilian clothes.    

We did a program at the Orchard at Alta Pass.  This is always one of my favorite stops.  We had a little down time so Lee, Reese and I picked a peck of apples out in the orchard.  They are the best apples I have ever tasted!  Lee wants to get an apple tree of the same variety for our yard.  Hopefully we can find one!  JonnaGold is the variety and it puts a Gala apple to shame.

Everyone loved having Reese on the hike.  Here is Reese with a true mountain man.

Reese was a trooper the whole time.  She did fine on the long drive up there, although we did have to make numerous stops to feed, change and play with her.  She was much more fussy on the way home.  She wanted to get out of her seat and play, but we just wanted to get home!  We didn't have any problems with finding gas.... although there were plenty of stations that were completely out of gas.    

Reese liked playing with Pappy's whistle and powder measure.  She also got to see the guys fire their flintlocks.  The loud gunfire didn't bother her a bit.  

All 3 of us slept in the bed of Lee's truck.  It was quite interesting, but we all got decent sleep.  Reese slept the best out of all of us.