Fall Hikes

Fall is the perfect time to go for hikes and or walks here in Arkansas.  We have definitely taken advantage of the beautiful fall weather here.

Some of the leaves here are so stunning.

Fist up: Crystal Bridges.  No season would be complete without a walk around there.  We collected leaves while we were there so we could dry them and make pictures out of them later.

Calder found some great leaves!

Part of the museum.

They are in the process of relocating a Frank Lloyd
Wright house to Crystal Bridges, which I think is pretty cool.

I love the ombre leaves!

Adelaide added a few leaves to our collection, too. 

Next Up:  Devil's Den (Yellow Rock)

This was a hike that led up to an incredible view!

More leaves...I can't resist taking pictures of them.

We found a fun little cave.  Calder was skeptical.

Adelaide was enjoying grabbing the back of Craig's head.

At one point Craig was carrying both kids.  This was the moment we realized any hike we went on should only be a mile.

Love.This.Picture.

We made it to the top!

Craig's mustache. All of our November pictures are tainted.

Arkansas has so many pretty places!

...and another pretty picture.  I really can't help myself.

Thanksgiving week: We took a trip to a place called Mount Magazine.  It is the highest point in Arkansas.  (roughly 27,000 ft is all)  And again, another beautiful place! There was a lodge at the top of the mountain that we got to stay in.  We got to see the sun rise, and have breakfast overlooking the valley below. When it warmed up a little, we finished walking the 0.4 miles up to the top of the mountain.  And what a surprise, we actually felt like we were on a real mountain!  Not just a big hill, like the rest of the places around here. 

The view from the lodge.

Both kids loved that our room had a deck.

They each had to take a turn sitting in the chair.

On the hike, Calder gathered all the little acorns/nuts that he could find.  

Adelaide was pretty thrilled with everything she was finding, too.

Playing around with the camera...

 At one point during the walk/hike, Craig and I both thought we heard a growl.  Like, what a bear would sound like.  We did see some deer bounding away, but didn't see anything else.  We were a little paranoid after that, though.

We made it to the top!  The kids were't quite as thrilled as we were.  

After hiking, we rode our bikes with the trailer around one of the loops at the top of the mountain.   More gorgeous views.  They say, on a clear day, from the top of Mount Magazine you can see clear to Oklahoma, and if you total the miles seen from all sides of the mountain you can see 25% of the state of Arkansas.

Crazy how far you can see!

Last but not least: Shaddox Hollow Trail

Jared and Ali, my brother and his wife, came and visited for Thanksgiving.  So we took advantage of one of the warm afternoons and took them on a little hike in the Ozarks.  This one hiked down to Beaver Lake, where we spent most of the summer boating.

Yay for Jared and Ali!  It was so fun spending time with these guys.

Made it to the lake.

Adelaide had a great time finding rocks in the mud.

She is going through a phase where she is bothered when her hands get dirty, so she wasn't so sure about the mud for a few minutes. 

Calder was upset because we took him away from throwing rocks into the lake for a family picture.  How dare we.

He was throwing with all his might!

All the leaves are off the trees now, but maybe we will get another hike in before Christmas!

Trick or Treat

Halloween this year was a bit of a marathon!  We started it off by carving our pumpkins.  Calder wanted the classic happy jack-o-lantern face.  And he was so proud of it.  He kept turning off all the lights in the house so he could look at his pumpkin.  Even if one light was on clear on the other side of the house, he would go turn it off, then stumble his way back to admire his pumpkin.  It was pretty cute how excited he was!

We had a hard time nailing down what Calder wanted to be for Halloween.  He kept changing his mind, and we kept suggesting things that he would like at first, but then was not happy with. So then we came up with a monkey, like Curious George.  I think we found a good fit. :)  I made both kids' costumes, and I am happy with how they turned out.

I told him to act like a monkey.  I think it looks more like a yoga pose? 

Adelaide was my little Lady Bug.  Mostly because I wasn't interested in making a complicated costume for my one-year old. I did her hair in pig tails so she could have little antennas. :)  I brought them outside to try and take a few fun pictures.

Once again, so happy with his pumpkin.

I told Adelaide to go get Calder, and she did!  I think she was going to give him a hug. :)

 

This was not staged!  I think both kids were just ready to go inside!

When we got inside, Calder was sitting down and Adelaide tackled him! I think he was pretty surprised!

Our ward had a Trunk-or-Treat on Wednesday.  It was fun seeing all of the kids all dressed up. On Thursday, Craig's work had a Halloween party, so the kids dressed up again.  And then Friday, we took them out Trick-or-Treating.  It was cold - the coldest day we have had yet!  So we did a quick trip up one street and down another.  Our neighborhood didn't have many trick-or-treaters, so every house we went to gave us handfuls of candy.  It was very efficient. Adelaide was in heaven.  She held on to one piece of candy in each hand the entire time!

We had fun Halloween stickers on our windows this year.

The kids kept admiring their pumpkins every time we went outside.

Checking out the goods when we got home after Trick-or-treating.

I love this season!  I love how excitement just keeps building from Halloween, to Thanksgiving, to Christmas - one right after another!

All about Adelaide

Adelaidy had her 1st birthday on Aug. 6th.  (So I am 3 months late....oh well!) I can't believe how much she is growing up!  Here is a little recap on her birthday, and then some things about her.

We kept her birthday fairly simple.  She loved the balloons I had blown up for her.  And she was definitely drawn to the little pile of presents we had wrapped up.  

Craig's sarcastic comment was "I love how I got to wrap the presents AND unwrap them, too." Needless to say she needed quite a bit of help unwrapping. But hey, it is all in the spirit of Birthdays. Presents need to be wrapped, in my opinion!

Grandmas and Grandpas got her a doll and a stroller, and a fisher price car that she can sit and ride in.  We got her a purse with a little brush and some hair things.  She also got some ABC blocks, a doll, and a stuffed animal from some of our friends and neighbors. It is so fun to have girl toys!  She loves to push around her baby in the stroller.  She'll go all the way down the sidewalk until I turn her around, and then push it all the way back home.  But she does stress out if her baby isn't in the stroller the right way.

That day was fairly normal.  We spent some time in the backyard, where I snapped a couple of pictures of her.

This is what she did as soon as I started singing "Happy Birthday" to her.  She loves songs.  And attention.

I made a teddy bear birthday cake for her.  She LOVED looking at it!

The pre-frosting stage.  I stuck all the layers together and did a basic sculpt.

The finished product. :)

We invited some friends and neighbors over that night to celebrate and help us eat all that cake!

Adelaide was very dainty at first, trying to use a spoon to eat her cake.  :) She got into it a little more by the end.

A few things about Adelaide:

• She started walking at 10 months!  She has never been one to stay still for very long, and always has to try to keep up with her brother.
• She loves to ride on our boat.  Anytime she sees us pull out her life jacket, she gets very excited!
• She has a lot of personality!  And can be very dramatic already. 
• She LOVES Calder. She always wants to be doing what he is doing.
• She is such a good eater. She will eat anything that we put in front of her.  Plus anything she can find lying around...which is never a good thing!
• She loves music and will dance (do a little shoulder wiggle) any time she hears a song.
• She will wave to every person she sees at the grocery store, and most always stop and smile back, and tell her what beautiful eyes she has.  
• She has a very hearty laugh.  She can squeal too, but when she is laughing hard, it all comes from the belly.

We are so grateful to have this little lady in our home!  Happy (late) Birthday!