Sophie's First Camping Trip--Cumberland Falls

Way back in October, we took Sophie on her first camping trip to Cumberland Falls. Our first attempt had been at the end of September, but we were rained out, so off we trekked again to the campground in October. On the way, we stopped at the Sanders Cafe (the original KFC). It was a strange mix between a normal KFC and an old cabin/cafe.

We had to pose with the Colonel:

We finally got to the campground and set up our new, larger tent.

Sophie enjoyed her first camping meal!

And after dinner, Daddy started a fire so we could roast marshmallows. He also told her some not-so-scary campfire stories while I cleaned up.

By the end of the day, she was exhausted!

We were able to visit the falls, and as you can tell by how tight Sophie was holding on to us, she was a little scared of them...

Sophie also enjoyed throwing rocks into the river...what kid doesn't?!

Hanging out:

Posing on a hike we took:

Hiking with Mommy and Daddy:

September/October 2009

In the interest of trying to catch up on posts here, I'm am going to wrap up the last few months in just a few posts. They were busy months, but I think I can do it!

We had planned a camping trip in September to Cumberland Falls, but when we got there, it was pouring rain, and our campsite had a river of mud flowing through it. Luckily, Cumberland Falls is only a couple of hours from our house, so we turned around and "camped" at home.

Sophie also had her school picnic in September, and she tasted cotton candy for the first time, strangely enough. Her reaction was mixed:

Most of the afternoon was spent climbing on the strange playground toys they had at the fair grounds (where the picnic was held).

Later in October, we went to a Cincinnati Reds game with some friends of ours. The stadium is beautiful--right on the Ohio River.

Surprisingly, Sophie enjoyed herself the entire game! (Soon after this, we had to hunt down a kid's baseball bat, and Grandpa Wilson sent a small baseball glove for her. Pictures of that adventure to come...)

Bill in DaVille

Yesterday, President Bill Clinton stopped by Danville for a stump speech that was open to all (and in fact, was given from a front porch just down the road from the college). We didn't bring our camera because we didn't know about the visit until we had arrived at work, but thanks to a couple of friends (Genny and Gareth), we have a few pictures to share.

Here is the best picture of Sophie with Clinton speaking in the background (on the porch). We had to stand toward the back because Sophie wouldn't have lasted in the crowd toward the front, but as you can see, we got good seats...the perks of living in a small town!





And here is a group of us from Centre after the speech. (Jami, who has the sign is a Clinton supporter, while Gareth, making an "O" with his hands is an Obama supporter...)

Car Accident

Well, Sophie was in her first car accident yesterday. No worries...she's completely fine. She and I were driving home from the grocery store when an older man decided to pull out in front of us. I honked and braked, but apparently he didn't hear or notice us. Luckily, it was on a stretch of road with a 25 mph speed limit, so we weren't going too fast to begin with.

There were no injuries, but our car is not drivable at the moment...we're waiting to hear about estimates, who's insurance is going to pay, etc. It is obvious that it was his fault, but he never called his insurance company (thank goodness he was insured!) and is now claiming to my insurance company that it was my fault and that the accident occurred elsewhere. I don't think that there is going to be any issue about the fault, but this just throws a little kink into the "smooth" runnings of the insurance world.

So now we're driving a hot gold minivan rental...

Big Girl Bed

So, Ian and I have been trying to decide when to move Sophie over from her crib to a "big girl bed." We knew it would be before we left for Strasbourg since the apartment only has twin beds in the second bedroom and with the amount of traveling we'll be doing, it will be a hassle to try to figure out a crib for each place we stay. I thought that maybe we'd start the transition around her 2nd birthday, but we recently changed our minds. I bought a bed for her dolls recently, which she's really enjoyed using (for her dolls), and on our spring break trip, we stopped at Ikea to have lunch (Sophie really goes for those meatballs!) and had to walk through the kids section. She really wanted to climb in and out of the kids beds, so I thought, why not try it?

I changed her crib to the toddler bed on Saturday morning, and so far, she's loved it! I was expecting to have to go into her room constantly to drag her back into bed now that she can escape, but so far we haven't had any problems. She seems actually excited to go to bed now in her "big girl bed" and doesn't get out until we come in to get her. (Actually, this is sort of a problem because she will stand up in bed when she's ready to get up like she did with the crib...I'm kind of afraid that she's going to fall out on her head!)

Here are some pics of her enjoying being a big girl:

Snow Day!

Last Saturday, we woke up to four inches of snow. For us, that's a lot, so we took Sophie out for a little fun.

Here is our Sophie-sized snowman that we made. I think she was more interested in the candy we used for the face than in the snowman itself!

Ian and I needed to shovel the driveway, so we broke out Sophie's beach bucket and shovel. She enjoyed "helping" us.



Eventually, Sophie was ready to go inside, so I went in while Ian was nice enough to finish the shoveling. Sophie insisted on watching him from the doorway. She even went so far as to bring her chair over to the door so she could be comfortable while watching.

Ponytails

Sophie's hair is just long enough to be messy, but not long enough to do much with it. I put her hair in two ponytails for the first time this weekend, and it seemed to work (even if it was a little uneven!). I was a little worried that she would play with them a lot and they'd fall out (which is what she does when we put in a barrette). She didn't, though, and they even lasted through her nap. Here are some views of her new hairstyle: