Skinny Dip Falls

We have been in a little bit of a rut recently, going to the same waterfalls over and over again. We knew it was a "safe" (not too long or hard) hike and the waterfalls were pretty to look at. Also, we've had family with us as we've been going to these waterfalls repeatedly and we weren't wanting to try something new when we knew some perfectly good ones we could go to as it was. All that to say, this past weekend, it was just the four of us, and we decided to head up the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike to a new waterfall. We wore our bathing suits and packed a lunch, thinking we could take a swim in the pool at the bottom of the falls, then have a picnic lunch. On the drive up (and I mean up-we were nearing a mile elevation!), we were literally driving through the clouds, making it difficult to see. The drive was beautiful, if were able to keep your mind off the cliffs you're driving fairly close to. Anyways, we hiked to the falls and loved it. The difference with this waterfall from the others we've gone to was that the hike was much more hike-like...meaning, lots of roots and rocks on the trail, which we enjoyed. Also, rather than just look at this waterfall, we were able to climb all around it on rocks-that made it so much more fun to me. I like the interactive waterfall! As previously mentioned, we had planned to swim at the falls, but little did we know how cool it would be. When I stepped out of the car to start the hike, I wished I had a jacket-it was that cool. Not expected. It was a fun morning-so fun, we spent too much time at Skinny Dip falls to be able to hike to the other waterfall we had planned to view the same morning. I guess we'll have to plan another trip up there sometime soon!

Here's the view from the bottom:
My little hiking buddy:

Bob with his heavy hiker:

And the view from the top:

Having a good time:

Addie ended up needing to get out of the backpack, due to small spaces we were climbing in. It worked out, though. She is a great little hiker-just not ready to go without the backpack completely yet!

Getting tired:

Time to hike back to the car:

More Celebrating

I know this is a little late, but here are the pictures from Levi's birthday celebration at our house. His actual birthday was on a Friday, but we had his party on Saturday. He had 2 grandparents, an aunt, and uncle, 2 cousins, a sister, and 2 parents come to it...not bad! Levi had a good time, though he obviously didn't know what was going on and needed lots of help to get his presents open (don't worry, there were plenty of volunteers to assist him).

Levi had his well check-up at the doctor a couple days ago. It came as no surprise to us that he is very small for his age. For those of you wanting to know, he weighed in at 16 lbs. 13 oz. (he actually gained close to 2 lbs. since his visit 3 months ago , which was more than I expected!), which is the less than 3rd percentile (as low as it gets at our doctor's office). He is 29.5 inches tall (25-50%) and his head was 45 cm. Basically, the doctor said she is in no way worried about him-he is probably small because of his genes as well as how active he is. We totally agree. She said he looks perfectly healthy and we are so thankful.

Enjoy the new pics!

Poppi did a mini shoto shoot with him before the party started:

Happy Birthday, Levi!Ice cream cake!

Can you tell whether he liked it or not?

Melting...

Loving the balloons and streamers:

Addie made a card for him:

All the kids:

Trying to get what's at the bottom of the bag:

Angove family reunion 2011

Bob's grandparents (on the Angove side) started a family reunion at Hungry Mother state park over 30 years ago, where all of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are invited to spend a week together every summer. This year, the event took place last week and we were able to be there for 4 days. We had a lot of fun and were able to see lots of family that we hadn't seen since last reunion. Something extra-special was that we got to celebrate Levi and Julianne's (Levi's counsin, who was born exactly 13 days before him) first birthdays together. It's hard to believe that neither of them were born yet at the reunion last summer, and now they aren't even little babies...they're almost toddlers!

Here is Addie, ready for the party to start:

Levi with his cute little "1" shirt:

Dottie with the birthday "babies":

Eating his birthday dinner:

Trying to get a decent picture of Levi and Julianne together:

We love our little boy!

Almost time for dessert:

There they are!

Chocolate cupcake!

Getting a little bit of a mustache:

He wasn't afraid to dive in:

One of Addie's favorite things to do right now is to have tea parties. Victoria (Bob's cousin) had actually brought her play tea set from home, and had a tea party for the younger girls at the reunion. Addie loved it...thanks, Victoria!

Addie "cutting" her food:

Victoria, getting some sugar for her tea:

Erin (Addie's 2nd cousin), helping Addie out:

Michaela (Addie's cousin), snacking:

Scavenger hunt time!

Levi got to go first this year since he was the youngest participant:

Levi with some new, cool toys:

Kids trading their stuff:

Happy birthday, Levi!

Levi's latest

I will update soon, as Levi approaches his first birthday and try to write out all the stuff he is up to and learning. But for now, here's a video of his newest trick. I took this video about a week ago and he has improved a lot even since then-going further, falling less, and able to regain his balance much more.