Cincy/Indy and Conner Prairie

We have been looking forward to traveling to visit Uncle Dann and Aunt Julie and their two sweet girls for a long time (since the birth of our newest niece last February!).  We made the trip to Indiana over Labor Day weekend (better late than never!).  It was such a joy to spend time with them all. 

While in Indy, we ventured out to Conner Prairie - we visited the living history museum last Fall and have been eager to return. It's an amazing place.

We love having time with family.  I only wish we were able to spend more time together. 

*As an added bonus, we also had time over the holiday weekend with more family in Cincinnati.  Grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts, bowling, swimming, and boating on the lake - we are thankful for family. 

First Lost Tooth

Maclaren is so proud to have lost her first tooth!

She worked on this wiggly tooth for a long time, and wouldn't let her big brothers pull it out for her.  It finally came out while on a FaceTime call with Gramma - quite special!  

Our Tooth Fairy has been MIA for many years (too many teeth!), but Maclaren had two visits for this first tooth (thanks Hiwot for acting as back up :)

She has 3 more wiggly teeth . . .

Roan Mountain

In early October, our family camped a weekend with Burke and Kolpin's Cub Scout Pack on Roan Mountain.  The weather was absolutely perfect and the fall foliage was gorgeous!

Nestled among lush green rhododendrons, the State Park rustic group campground was set in an ideal location alongside Doe River.  Our family met the pack in the afternoon (after Nutcracker rehearsal and soccer games).

No toys, no electronics, no distractions, just wonderful family time outdoors (and lots of Cub Scouts running around!) 
We love camping as a family. 

After setting up camp, our kids couldn't get to the river fast enough!  Hendrick caught (and carefully released) over 20 salamanders.  Many of our explorers stayed in down by the river till twilight.  In the evening, our Cub Scouts performed skits and told ghost stories around a big bonfire.  The rest of us enjoyed our own campfire with s'mores before settling down in our tents for the night. 

The next day, our adventure was cut short by a fast approaching storm system.  We had enough time to break camp and enjoy a quick breakfast (and amazing low-cloud mountain scenery) before heading back home ahead of the storm.
It was a wonderfully refreshing escape for our family. 

Uncle

We love having visitors!

A few weeks ago, Uncle Matt (Mike's brother) came down to spend the weekend with us.  We packed a lot into our two days together: soccer, downtown Bristol, Blackbird Bakery (dance rehearsal), driving tour, backyard grill out and fire, the arcade, and a trip for the kids to pick out treats from Uncle Matt at Dollar Tree.

Thanks Matt!  We're glad we have a Greyhound station close by :)

New Window (House Projects)

We've checked another project off the list!
Thanks to the help of a local home improvement company willing to be creative, we've added an egress window to one of our basement bedrooms.  This project was a long time in the making (lots of planning plus a month for the custom window to arrive) and took two weeks to complete.  We're thrilled with the end result - natural light and a safer basement!

Bonus: the kids were quite entertained by the process :)
(And, our new window well has been attracting frogs!)

We did work to preserve the landscaping in the bed disrupted by the construction of a window well - permanently relocating some plants and bringing others back to help the window look less like an afterthought.  I'm thankful for big boy helpers: Hendrick for moving large plants several times and Tesfaye for climbing in and painting the window well to match our house trim.