There's been a two month gap since our last post. Let me bring you up to speed. At the end of August, we moved out of our home in Watertown, NY. We're going to miss that place and all of the wonderful friends we made there!
We went on a vacation to southern Vermont and visited Jamaica State Park where we hiked to Hamilton Falls. Unfortunately, we set out on this six mile hike at about 5:30 p.m. so by the time we got back to our car, it was completely dark. It was so dark, Heidi and Kjersti thought they saw a ferocious beaver on the trail, but as we got closer, it turned out to be only a puddle. Good times.
We bought a crazy looking, but very functional hat for Eve in
Straton, VT.
We were joined on our trip to Vermont by Cody's parents (Gary and Cheryl), Cody's brother, Chris and Heidi's mom, Elaine (behind the camera). We stayed at this awesome cabin. We had a great time!
We moved back into our
townhouse in
Dumfries, VA and blessed Eve our first week back to our old ward. What a long, strange trip it's been.
Here we have Superwoman (Heidi), the baby gnome (Eve), Cody (the pumpkin head), Snow White (Kjersti) and a Power Ranger (Eli). Cody really went to the extreme for Halloween this year. He gained 10 inches in his chest, lost all flesh and bone in his thighs and managed to get that plastic pumpkin mask on his head. Amazing!
Trick or Treating at Hershey Park was pretty nice. The chocolate is great, its in-doors and you don't have to go far from "candy-give-away-point" to "candy-give-away-point". As you can see however, while Kjersti and Heidi had a wonderful time with it, Eli wasn't sure what to think about the Hershey Park employees doling out the candy. We're just happy he didn't use any of his Power Ranger moves on them.
This ride was one of many Heidi and Cody enjoyed from the outside looking in. As you can see, the kids really enjoyed flirting with danger.
When the Baby Gnome gets ahold of the reigns, watch out! She's going to run that horse into the ground.
Snow White was on her faithful horse "Po-Po" and our Power Ranger used his super powers to make "The Black Stallion" ride to victory. In a brief "out of character" appearance, Cody ensured the beautiful princess and mighty super hero maintained proper focus so as to avoid any embarrassing mishaps.
Kjersti: Welcome to Girl Talk. Where we talk about the stuff girls really want to talk about.
Kjersti: Sure! Just smile and I'll help you through it.
Kjersti: That's ok. Ewe, something's smelling pretty ripe. That's not you is it?
Kjersti: Oh great Eve, it got all over my pants!
16 SEP 09 - Eve: "The doctor gave me my shots today. I wasn't expecting that kind of pain and agony so early in my life. To make matters worse, he gave me blue band-aids instead of pink ones."
16 SEP 09 - Eve: "This is my brave face."
27 SEP 09 - Eve: "I just couldn't stand the binki anymore when I figured out I've got something much more tasty attached to my arm. My mom says I've nearly, 'mastered the left thumb, but still need some work on my right thumb'. I'm not quite sure what that means.
27 SEP 09 - Eve: "Sometimes I try to sneak my thumb in by masking the act with my right arm. My mom just thought I was being cute putting my hands up by my mouth, but there was a lot more going on she didn't know about... and I'm not talking about what was happening in my diaper."
27 SEP 09 - Eve: "Ok, my mom totally busted me in the act here. Dang it!"
On 13 July 2009 at 1:40 p.m., Eve Marie Strong was born at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY. She weighed in at a healthy 9 lbs 11 oz and is 23 inches long. She has been a great baby! She cries very little and spends a lot of time just looking around as seen here. As you can see, she has a full head of dark hair complete with tipped highlights. I guess that explains why she was five days overdue; she had to get her hair done.
