A Quick Dip

We decided to take an impromptu trip to Oconee State Park this afternoon for some swimming! Wow, that cool mountain water felt awesome! Cooper "went swimming" for the first time, and I was amazed at how well he did in the water! He stayed in the water for almost an hour and never gave the slightest indication that he was unhappy. After about an hour, he started grunting which we assumed meant, "I'm done with this whole water thing." Gracie had a good time kicking around in her little float that I grabbed on the way there. I wanted to get a picture of Cooper in the water, but we had our hands full with both of them in the water so by the time I realized I hadn't gotten a picture of him, I had already dried and changed him. Oh well! I had to settle for a quick shot of him chilling on the blanket while waiting on Gracie to finish swimming.

On the drive there, we passed some very pretty overlooks that gave a great view of the mountains. As we were talking about the beauty of the mountains I said, "Gracie, did you know that God made the mountains?" Her response: "Oh, thank you God! That's very sweet!"

Fast Favs

I haven't had a lot of time to post lately, so here is a random assortment of some of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks. (I know some need to be cropped, etc. but if I wait until that is done, they probably won't make it on the blog for another couple of months.)

Hook, Line, and Sinker

This clip is very special to me. A few weeks ago, my parents went camping at Moccasin Creek State Park. The park has an awesome lake and a creek running by the campground that they stock daily with trout. There is a special section of the creek, right where they stock it, that can only be fished by kids under 11 or people 65 and up.

I have two older brothers and a dad who loves to fish. Every year, when my family would vacation in the mountains, we would all go trout fishing. We would go to the river and hike a few miles to get to the hard-to-reach, secluded fishing holes. Very quickly, I learned that if I was going with "the men" I had to bait my own hook, catch my own fish, and clean them. When my younger sister became old enough, she joined us as well. We would spend hours on the river and usually come home completely exhausted. I enjoyed fishing when I was younger, but now I absolutely LOVE going.

The time that I have gotten to spend with my dad and my siblings out on the river has meant so much to me. Now, John joins us as well. Unfortunately, due to various obligations, it is a rare event now when all of us are out on the river together. Still, I try to make sure that I go several times a year (that's all...it's hard with little ones).

Anyway, I really want to pass the fishing tradition on to my kids. So, we went to Wal-Mart and bought Gracie a purple and pink princess fishing rod and headed up to Moccassin Creek. In my opinion, there is no better trout fisherman than my dad. I decided that if I wanted Gracie to catch a fish, getting his help would be our best bet.

We went down to the creek and after about 2 minutes with the help of Granddaddy, Gracie had a bite. She started reeling it in and did pretty good until she saw the fish flapping in the water. Gracie got so interested in watching the fish that she completely forgot about reeling! We are lucky the fish didn't get away. I was so incredibly proud, and so was Gracie. She ended up catching 3 before we called it quits, and she walked around the campground showing everyone her "fish-ys". John ended up cleaning them, and they are now in the freezer waiting to become part of the next family fish fry. I hope Gracie will enjoy fishing as much as I do...maybe she'll be "hooked" for life. :-)

Tiny Talker

I have been wanting to put some video up for a couple of weeks, but I was having issues getting my computer to detect my video camera. Yes, I am married to a tech director, but I forgot to ask him to look at it until tonight. Anyway, Cooper is "talking" up a storm. He is such a sweet little thing. I think he has the cutest little smile! I absolutely love to hear him talk and coo. I pulled out the camera one night when he was acting hyper on the changing table. I love how every once in a while, he will open his eyes really wide and then kick his legs really hard. You'd think that I had a load of caffeine in my breastmilk! He went on kicking and talking that night on the changing table for about 15 minutes.

I also added another quick clip of Cooper talking in his bouncer. I didn't even realize it until I was watching the tape but I swear Cooper says something towards the very end that sounds like "I love you." What do you think?