Kuh-rah-luh

We spent this past week at Corolla in the Outer Banks. We had a great time going to the beach, swimming in the pool, lounging in the hot tub, watching movies, shooting pool, riding bikes, being tourists, and even using the gym from time to time! Here are a few snapshots from our summer vacation. ;)

Rob and Charlotte outside the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island. We went there to see the lost colony- the English settlement at Roanoke that disappeared... but, umm, nobody knows exactly where it is because it's lost.

The Wright brothers memorial at Kitty Hawk. We took our kite and flew it from the top of the hill. We also enjoyed the museum and learning about the first airplane flights.

I don't know why I'm standing on my toes in this picture... just something I tend to do when standing next to Rob. ;)

Charlotte didn't "enjoy" the sand and waves but she tolerated them okay. She did like looking for seashells though and we brought home her favorite ones. It was awesome to have the beach to ourselves! And while there was a lot of talk about Gabrielle, we had gorgeous weather with hardly a drop of rain all week.

Charlotte REALLY liked swimming in the pool. She would stand on the step and hold my hands and jump off into the "deep" water and kick her legs! By the end of the week she even put her face in the water to "blow bubbles." (Although I'm pretty sure she was just trying to drink the pool.)

Gee, I wonder who wrote that in the sand!

On our way home we decided to make a detour to Colonial Williamsburg. I had never been there before and was curious about it. We only walked around for a couple of hours but it seems like a pretty neat place. We'll have to go back when Charlotte is a bit older I think. This is Rob and Charlotte standing in front of the Governor's Mansion.

Tag

Lindsay "tagged" me in this game.

The rules:
A. List 7 habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag 7 people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag whoever wants to do it.

Hmmm, let's see...

1. When I was in high school, I would look for the Orion constellation at night and blow him kisses.
2. I just got a part-time job as a tutor.
3. I guarantee that I know more about Nascar than you do. (Unless you are my dad.)
4. I make really awesome oatmeal raisin cookies... seriously.
5. I once held Huey Lewis' grammy for "The Heart of Rock & Roll" while his manager "brought the car around." She gave me a BYU brownie.
6. Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) and his twin brother were in my freshman ward at BYU.
7. In high school I was published as one of Pennsylvania's best young poets. I won a savings bond.

I tag... Rob, Tom A., Becca A., Brandy, Kendra, Kat and Kristen J.

busy days

Allen has left the hospital and has entered rehab! Yay!!! He is getting around in a wheelchair and has two cute girlfriends performing as his personal Florence Nightingales.
I don't know how he does it. ;)



Also, some little picture stories for ya...

We decided to check out a section of Gunpowder Falls State Park. Aside from this cool tree rooted in solid rock, I'm afraid we didn't see much that was impressive. Including waterfalls. Does anyone know if there even are any waterfalls?!?!

Charlotte loves storytime at the library. Charlotte loves puppies. Therfore, no visit to the library is complete without giving Clifford hugs and kisses.

We had a great time at our ward's Labor Day picnic. Rob played petanque with Nate, Garrison and Bro. Fultz.

Charlotte played her own improvised ball game with Ella.

And last, but definitely not least, Charlotte flirted with her favorite beau- Gregory.

life is crazy

As some of you may already know, my nephew Allen was in a very serious motorcycle accident last Thursday. The good news is that he was wearing a helmet and he is going to recover... the bad news is that he is still in the ICU and will continue to be for some time yet. He is stable, but has been seriously injured and is being kept heavily sedated in order to make him comfortable. It's been a long week! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers on his and his family's behalf.

Charlotte, of course, is keeping us busy as well. She has discovered the toilet paper in the downstairs bathroom. Also, one of her favorite things to hold for some time now has been a Crayola marker... today she figured out how to take the cap off. ;)

Luckily there wasn't much left on this roll.

our baby "Blackbeard"

Charlotte's work is never done

As every good librarian knows, weeding the collection is very important.

walking the hippo

Charlotte's got some new moves we thought you might like to see.

four score and seven years ago...

... well, actually, it was yesterday.

Pop-pop, Linda and Dan came down for a visit and we all went to Gettysburg for the afternoon. It was fun to walk around the shops downtown and interesting to visit the cemetery where so many soldiers are buried (and so many gorgeous trees grow too.) We visited the spot where Lincoln gave the famous Gettysburg address, and quizzed Pop-pop over pizza about how much of it he still has memorized from when he learned it in school.

We also drove around the battlefield a bit- if you've never been there it is rather large- and stopped at Little Round Top which is not only a great scenic overlook, but also the site of Pickett's Charge. And finished up our visit with some ice cream- which Charlotte was really happy about. :)

Gettysburg National Cemetery

The view from Little Round Top

keepin' it rural

Last night, after dinner, we went to the Carroll County 4H-FFA Fair at the Ag Center. We had a great time! It reminded me of going to the West End Fair as a child... except this was WAY smaller and more "rural."

For example, it was FREE. Also, tractors pulling wagons picked you up in the parking area and drove you to the main tent. Instead of a tractor pull, there was a mule pull with the biggest mule plowing teams I have ever seen in my life. They looked like Clydesdale horses! There were no rides- but there were kids playing kickball and there was a little tent with mist spray that kids were running through to cool off from the heat. There were lots of food vendors, and craft displays and TONS of 4H exhibits and animals being judged.

It was great to show Charlotte all of the animals that she'd only seen in books.

This little lamb scared her by coming over and saying hello ("Maa-aa-aa") rather loudly.

She was still recovering from her conversation with the lamb when we found a terrific, radiant, humble thing-a-majig of a pig.

The nicest animal we met (in Charlotte's opinion) was this beautiful cow. We're so glad we live in a little community where we get to enjoy events like this.

August in Westminster is "Movies in the Park" month with free movies each Friday night. We may go tonight, if it cools off enough, and watch Charlotte's Web on the big screen from our picnic blanket. Now that Charlotte has met some of the characters in real life, we think she'd enjoy it! :)

overdue

Sorry for the lack of posting this week... this is just a little update as to what we have been up to.

Charlotte had a nasty little bug for several days and actually lost more than 8 oz. of weight! Thankfully, she is all better now and has been eating like a lumberjack to make up for it.

Also, Rob & I have been extra busy with our various projects.

*I taught a workshop (well 4 actually) on family history at youth conference.

*We worked at the Family History Center on Saturday.

*I had a Story Gathering on Tuesday.

*Rob began a new blog (you should check it out- it's http://zokilavabe.wordpress.com/. It is non-Charlotte-centric and very reflective of Rob's various interests... obviously, I'm a fan.)

*And just for kicks, we've decided to have a yard sale this Saturday. (Feel free to stop by if you're in the neighborhood!)

Anyway, for Charlotte's die-hard fans, I wanted to at least post a picture of Miss Pinkness herself. Even as a sick baby, she was very sweet and generally happy.

Sleeping like... well, a baby. ;)

What the world eats

Check out this photo gallery: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html

Rob & I just spent like 30 minutes looking at these pictures together and discussing them. There's really a lot of food for thought- sorry that was a shameless pun. But, notice how much food costs in different parts of the world... how many people eat tomatoes and drink Coca-cola... the food to number of people ratio... packaged vs fresh foods... which family is yours the most like? Let me know your thoughts. I just found this fascinating. :)

9 is fine

Someone once told me that most baby dolls are designed to look like 9 month old babies... I can believe it! Charlotte turned 9 months old yesterday and she is just more fun each day. She had her check-up this morning and she now weighs 18 lbs. 3 oz. (45th %) and is 29 inches long (85th %).


Charlotte really enjoys going to storytime at the Library and playing with the other babies. We even did their summer reading program (they have one for pre-readers) and she won a beach ball and a kid's meal at Chick-Fil-A among other things. The other night Joshie came over to play and they were so cute jabbering to one another and "sharing" toys. Charlotte generally has a very friendly and quiet personality. She plays well on her own now and likes to "read" her books. We are thankful every day that she is part of our family. :)

Charlotte and Josh- two heads are better than one?

Charlotte as a cartoon character-

boy, I'm glad she isn't that orange in real life.

Sitting outside by the garden...

Happy 9 month birthday Peanut!

busy busy baby

Charlotte has been keeping herself and everyone else in the house busy as she crawls around as quick as can be! She is such a good helper though. She especially likes to put things away... for example, she put Rob's watch away in a drawer in the guest room, she put her sippy cup away in the bathroom, and she put my flip-flop away in her toy basket. (Don't worry that isn't something yucky in the Bumbo seat- it's just a plastic leaf that Charlotte pulled off an arrangement.)

All of this hard work can wear a girl out! After dinner, Charlotte sometimes likes to make a big mess having a Biter Biscuit and some Cheerios. (On this particular night she was actullay falling asleep in her highchair.)

This past weekend Charlotte and Rob helped me set up my CherishBound display for a Craft Fair. It was a great success (and more fun than I thought it was going to be.)

Charlotte really is a busy little girl! And we love having so much fun with her. :)

7-7-07

This past weekend was very busy! We attended Mark & Sandy's wedding in PA at Our Lady Queen of Peace and then the reception at the Stroudsmoor. It was a beautiful day for a wedding and we very much enjoyed ourselves.

We also spent the night at the Palmers' house, enjoyed a picnic, watched fireworks, and swam in the pool. Cousin Eddie was especially interested in all of the new things that Charlotte can do and helped her (along with Rob) to climb her first tree! Cousin Max helped to (carefully) bounce Charlotte in the moon bounce (along with the help of Lucy.) It was all very exciting for Charlotte!

Ring bearer, (and Sandy's son,) Keith blowing bubbles.

We made a pit stop at Burger King in Brodheadsville for some french fries and they crowned Charlotte their queen!

Max bounces baby Charlotte while Lucy ensures that she doesn't bounce away.

For some reason the title field on Blogger isn't working for me right now! Oh well, we just wanted to take a little space to say congratulations to Mark & Sandra Miller! Your wedding was beautiful on 7-7-07 and we loved seeing the two of you so happy! :)

On the 4th of July we spent time with our good friends the Senzees. It is always nice to get together and talk with them! We also played a game of Monopoly that ended in a stalemate, enjoyed yummy food, and lit some sparklers and other fireworks.
Charlotte and Laura seemed very interested in each other this time and it was fun to let them play together.

"The Bean" and "The Peanut"

here she is as promised

I do a lot of talking on this video! Charlotte tends to get distracted when she sees the camera so I was just trying to encourage her to keep crawling. :)

mobility update

Well, she's on the move! :)

On Sunday afternoon, Charlotte surprised us by getting up on her hands and knees and doing some "proper" crawling. She can also pull herself to standing on any stationary (or assumed to be stationary) object. So, needless to say, the head bumps have begun! Poor girl. I'm trying to keep a step ahead of her and move objects that she shouldn't have up to about 3 feet or higher... but she is still finding them. She seems to really enjoy her independence- and I am glad about that- but it's wearing me out! ;)

Our little Peanut also has a new nickname- "Tout de suite." For you non-francophiles out there, it is pronounced kinda like "toot sweet" and means "right now" or "immediately." Which is exactly how Charlotte wants everything. Incidentally, "toot sweets" were the candy invention in the movie Chitty chitty bang bang and there is a song that goes along. (Much to my joy and Rob's chagrin!)

You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiKjAiK7yII

(Although, personally my favorite song from this movie is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thJOfavJLeA ) Awww... how could anyone not love Dick Van Dyke? :)

Anyway, we'll try to post a little crawling video over the weekend- so be sure to check back soon!

Enjoying a sunny day in the front yard.

8 is great!

Charlotte is eight months old today! So what's new?


*She is as friendly and sociable as ever, although she needs to know where mom and dad are at all times, and she cries if anyone leaves the room- even if she just met them.

*She likes going to Storytime at the Library on Tuesdays and is quickly learning to clap and dance along with the other babies (up to 24 months.)

*She has an affinity for shoes, and I struggle to keep our dirty ones away from her as she scoots and rolls around the house.

*She is eating lots of solids and some finger foods- little bits of macaroni, soft veggies and berries especially.

*She desperately wants to walk on her own, but still needs someone to hold at least one hand.

*She is starting to repeat sounds that we make... we call them "words" but we know they wouldn't be recognizable to anyone but us. ;) For example, "uffff" is "love" and "ap, bap, bap" is "clap, clap, clap."

SOMEBODY decided to let Charlotte taste chocolate on Father's Day!

(Yup, she loved it.)

Standing with support from the drying rack.

Happy 8 months baby!

Mama's got a brand new ride

This past weekend Rob, Charlotte and I went to look at cars. The air conditioner went on the Rodeo about 3 months ago and the estimate we got to fix it was $1500-- which isn't much less than what the Rodeo is worth! So, we decided to put that money into a new car instead and become a 2 car family again. :)

We were kinda focusing on the Honda Civic and went and test drove one of those first- but weren't really impressed with it. So we decided to stop by the Toyota dealer and we saw this green 2004 Nissan Altima that had just been marked down. We didn't believe him at first that it had just been marked down- but after a call to Pam to check the Blue Book value for us we learned that it was priced just below that! Yay! It had previously been used as a driver's ed car and has really low mileage and we figure has probably never been taken much over the speed limit. We also checked Consumer Reports and found that the '04 Altima had top marks in most categories. We were sold! So here are a couple of shots of our new family car.



I especially am very excited to have 2 cars again! Now the Rodeo can sit at the park-n-ride while Rob's at work and Charlotte and I can get to the library, grocery store, park, etc. whenever we want!

Hiking the Falls Trail

This past weekend we visited Rickett's Glen State Park with the Haydt family. While there, we all hiked the 7-ish mile Falls Trail- which is gorgeous! If you ever get a chance to go there, don't miss it! I'll spare you from pictures of all 21 of the waterfalls that we saw, but here are a few of our favorites...

Mark, Connor & Pam

Rob & Charlotte

(Thanks for lending us the baby backpack Spiveys!)

Mark, Leah & Pam

Yup, that's Rob and Charlotte down in the front.

Camping Out

We had a lot of fun in addition to the hiking that we did. We told scary stories around the campfire (but not TOO scary,) we went swimming and got ice cream at the beach, we caught tadpoles and a salamander that Connor named Spiderman, we had a funeral for Spiderman, and we had an enormous raccoon come to our campsite and peek in the tents and open the cooler (while we were all there! Apparently raccoons are no longer nocturnal at Rickett's Glen because they have learned that food is out during the day. The Brownie troop next to us said he stole their chocolate out of a tupperware container.)

Anyway, here a few pictures from our time at the campground:

Charlotte at Lake Jean. She loved eating the sand and banging the shovel on things.

(She's better at manuevering a sippy cup than a water bottle.)

Connor and Charlotte at the campsite.

A very tired Julie and Rob at the campsite...

Charlotte didn't let us get much sleep the first night!

Cooking breakfast... I LOVE campfire cooking!

Connor near Lake Jean.