Thanksgiving in California

We spent Thanksgiving in California with my family. (Yes, I know that this post says that Ian is posting, but my account is too full to post very many pictures, so I'm going through Ian's account.) We were so tired from the long semester that we didn't take very many pictures, but here are some of our favorites from what we did take.

You can't see it, but Great Grandma Linda is reading Sophie a book here. Sophie was fascinated with her necklace:

Here she is with Great Grandpa Fine:

Giving Great Great Grams a kiss:

One of the highlights of her trip was to make cookies with Grandma Fine. On Nick Jr., her main source of cartoons, they played a segment (endlessly) of a man making turkey sugar cookies by using their hands as the base for the turkeys. Sophie was set on making these, and Grandma had the patience of a saint when she helped Sophie for over three hours with them!


Sneaking a taste:


Very proud of her creations: (There were more, but these were the main turkeys.)


Eating the turkey cookie that's almost as big as her head!

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...)

A Trip to Pittsburgh

A couple of weeks ago, while my parents were visiting, we took a trip to West Virginia/Pennsylvania to visit Uncle Kyle. We spent the full day we all had there in Pittsburgh, a city we all enjoyed. One of our first stops was a spice store called Penzey's Spices. It was probably one of my favorite places in the city and was full of every herb and spice imaginable!


We wandered around a little before lunch. Although Pittsburgh definitely isn't in the best shape, it's obvious it was a beautiful city at one time and is in the process of being returned (maybe?) to its former glory. There were some beautiful details in the not-so-new parts, though.


My dad had heard about this sandwich place called Primanti Bros., so since we were in the area, we decided to try it out. (That's my dad in the lower right-hand corner.)


The sandwiches were huge and contained all of the sides, including the french fries and coleslaw!


And Sophie decided to use her french fries as chopsticks...


After lunch, we headed over to the Monongahela Incline to see what the view beheld.


It was worth the ride in the un-air-conditioned funicular:


Grandma and Grandpa treated us to ice cream after a hot afternoon. Sophie enjoyed hers, as usual.


But I think she enjoyed playing with Grandpa more!