enjoying the ADVENTURE: happenings....

I've been waiting for about two weeks now for my cousin to email me a family picture from our Thanksgiving celebration, but it still hasn't happened yet. I had the blog post all ready... it was going to be titled: "Happy Thanksgiving..." and then go on to say, "What? If you don't know our family, then you might think we're crazy. I promise you, we ARE crazy, but we also know that Thanksgiving is at the end of the month. Every year our family gets together to celebrate Thanksgiving early, that way we can celebrate separately on the actual holiday. It's an annual reunion of sorts."

But since I never got the picture, I can't quite go that route. So instead, I thought I'd share the only pictures I do have from that weekend.

Ava in action, running after my Grandma's cat, Ellis.

I've started calling my Grandma "GG, or Gigi"... short for Great Grandma. Ava has a lot of grandparents, and distinguishing between them all isn't easy.

Ava loves water bottles, and thinks every bottle is hers.

These next two are just random pictures. The first was taken after we got home from gymnastics (okay so really, it's just the little ones running around on the mats, but it's free, so we go!)

And the second is of Ava in her favorite play spot, the laundry basket. Can you see the red bump on her head? The one above her right eye (your left). That's where Ava met the hand rail as she and I fell down the stairs... fun trip let me tell you. Luckily, she was fine and her bump went away in an hour or so. I, on the other hand, didn't end up so lucky. I now have a long scar on my right arm... not sure where that came from, and that night I woke up at 2am in horrific pain. I couldn't walk and until I hopped into the bathroom, I would have sworn my right foot was 3x the normal size and totally black and blue. It wasn't so, and now seems to be fine.

This past weekend we made a quick trip down to Morgantown to see Nathan's sister Kristi, who was home from Iraq, and brother Todd, who was home from West Point. After lunch we decided to head up to Cooper's Rock. Kristi had invited two friends and their son to come up for the weekend and they hadn't ever been to Cooper's Rock, and we had wanted to go for the past two years, and just never made it. Unfortunately we went a little late in the year to see the beautiful foliage WV has to offer.

The group heading out to the lookout point

The only picture I got of Kristi... she is taking a picture

of her friend Andrea and her son Sam.

isn't this why bibs were invented?

Ava wanted down so badly, but with the incredibly uneven terrain, she couldn't walk well. (Cooper's Rock is just that... a rock... or a mountain if you want to be more exact.)

This is the only picture I got of Todd and his Girlfriend Jenna.

They are such a sweet couple.

Daddy and Ava

Trying unsuccessfully to get a family picture.

The new friends we made: Mike, Andrea, and baby Sam. Sam was such a cutie, and a real trooper when Ava tried to get him off his own play mat so she could play!

The group heading back to our cars.

Had we gotten to Cooper's Rock a few weeks earlier, all the leaves that are on the ground would have been brilliantly colored and still on the trees. Fall foliage is amazing in WV, we both really miss it.

And this:

was another site we were able to take in at Cooper's Rock. Yes, it was very warm for a November day, it was probably 74 or so... but not warm enough to be sunbathing... if that's what they are doing. Maybe they are sleeping, they didn't move once the entire time we were there.

Our little Mountaineer

mowing the grass with Joshua's bubble mower.

And running away, as we chase her.
Its a game we play all the time.

This past week has been a long week, as Ava hasn't been feeling the best. On Wednesday evening Ava attached herself to Nathan after he got home and wouldn't let go. The following pictures were taken just minutes after she finished her dinner. (Nathan came home while Ava was eating)