Snow Day

We got abound two or three inches of snow in Columbus over Friday night so Saturday was a fresh winter wonderland.  Eliana put on her new snow pants for the first time and we ventured out.  Last spring I bought a sled at a very good price, so this was our first chance to try it out.  Eliana was NOT a fan.  She actually didn't really like the snow or sledding.  When snow got on her or on the sled, she would cry for me to wipe it off.  She did, however, like to pull her little bath squirt toys around in the sled.  As long as she didn't have to be in the sled, it wasn't so bad.  Of course, snow could not touch them either.  So we just took a little trip around the block pulling the sled full of animals behind her.  We had one little mishap with the neighbor's dog trying to run off with a rubber ducky, but other than that it was a good trip outside.

Not riding in the sled

Oh, that's better

Bath squirt toys

It was a very determined little march around the block.

The best we can do for a family picture.  Oh well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving, or at least Eliana and I did.  David is on night shift right now, so he had to work Wednesday and Thursday night, thus putting a damper on any holiday celebrations.  While he was sleeping the day away, Eliana and I went over to our friends the Bennett's house.  Morgan and Anthony are such generous hosts, and their son Sam is just a few weeks younger than Eliana.  The two of them had a blast together!  After our dinner with them, we did stop by the hospital and drop off a Thanksgiving plate for David. 
Friday and Saturday we went to Indianapolis to spend with our families.  David was pretty tired on Friday since he worked all night Thursday but we made the best of things spending time at my grandmother's house with my family.  On Saturday we went to David's parents' house to spend time with his family.  Eliana, Gloria (Grandmama), and I went to the Indianapolis zoo for a little bit.  We had a great time!  The weather was really nice, sunny and not too cold.  The zoo was not crowded so it was the perfect time to go.  Eliana really liked the elephants and the monkeys.  The best part was when the monkeys were grooming each other, Eliana said, "ooo hair nice!"

Rhinos

The lions were right by the fence just for us to see!

Cheetas

Elephants including a baby!

Walking the "balance beam"

Inside the dolphin exhibit. 

Michael and Melissa's Wedding

November 2nd my little brother got married!  Is it possible he is old enough to get married?  I know I have been married for three years and have a toddler, but it seems like Michael should still be in high school or something like that.  But instead he is a grown man marrying his college sweetheart.  Melissa is a wonderful sister-in-law and I'm so happy to officially have her as part of the family.  Michael and Melissa are actually living in Columbus near us, so we see them fairly frequently.  It is great having them so close, and they are wonderful with Eliana!  She loves playing with them.  So anyway, here are a few pictures from the reception.

My family with the bride and groom.  Anna, my cousin's daughter, was the flower girl.

 

Not the best quality picture, but Michael and Melissa eating cake.

Eliana had sooooo much fun dancing with all of her little second cousins.  She was running all over the reception just having a blast.

Eliana dancing with my dad.

David and a very tired Eliana.  She didn't want to stop partying.  Just a little bit after this, David took her up to our hotel room to go to bed.  Eliana looked like a zombie she was so tired.  But David said when he tried to put her to bed, she said "More dancing!" and started bobbing up and down.  So funny!

Apple picking

To round out our fall activities of pumpkin patches and hay rides, we took Eliana apple picking in Granville, OH.  We picked over 13lbs of apples, so all October we had apples coming out of our ears.  We made applesauce, apple pie, apple pancakes, and ate pounds of apples plain.  Honestly, I can't eat apples right now, I had so many.  But it was delicious at the time.  :)

We went with our friend Melissa and her daughter Claire.

Snacking on her pickings.

The girls riding in the wagon.

A third pumpkin patch

At the end of our hiking trip to Hocking Hills, we stopped at a pumpkin patch that was on the way home.  This was the first pumpkin patch that David got to join us for.  He got pretty excited about the pie pumpkins, so we ended up with two pie pumpkins and just a few days later -- three made from scratch pumpkin pies!

I know that grasshopper!

And that's a rather cute little lady bug too.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day.

Checking out the insides of the pumpkin.

We spent a long time throwing corn cobs inside this hollow pumpkin.

Eliana also liked running through the corn field.

Picking out a pumpkin to take home.  We were quite saturated with pumpkins by the time Halloween finally came.

Hocking Hills vacation

David had one of his vacation weeks in October, so we decided to take a little trip to Hocking Hills, a beautiful state park in south east Ohio.  We rented a cabin with a loft and a fireplace, and spent three days relaxing and hiking.  The weather was a little wet and cold, but we didn't let that slow us down.  Every evening we built a fire in the fireplace (David's favorite part of the trip just might have been chopping wood), and one afternoon when it was really raining, we stayed in and built a fort inside for Eliana.  She loved it!  Eliana seemed to enjoy the trip overall.  She liked the hiking backpack better this time than the last time we went to Hocking Hills.  Until the last day that is...  But it must have made a good impression on her because even now she likes to wear her little back pack (or "pack-pack" as she calls it) and put Mickey Mouse in it. 

The front porch on our cabin.

As you can see, it was a little rainy.  This was our first hike to Rock House.

The colors were beautiful in October!

Inside Rock House, which is a cave on the side of the sandstone cliffs.  Good hike for a rainy morning because it was nice and dry inside the cave!

We let Eliana run around a bit inside the cave.

Good hike!

Our second hike was to Conkle's Hollow.  It was beautiful inside the gorge, ending in a little water fall.  The water pooled there by the rocks, and there were lots of little fish swimming about.  That was Eliana's favorite part, until I yelled at her for walking into the water to check them out.  Guess she didn't realize it was too cold to be swimming.

That afternoon, it really started raining, so we spent some time inside the cabin.  While David grilled us lunch in the rain, Eliana and I played with the Yahtzee dice.  She thought they were little blocks so we built tiny towers with them.

After lunch we built a fort!  We added all the pillows from the couch and Eliana would have us lay down to take a "nap."  She would "pat pat" our back and say night night.  But don't think she would actually let us sleep.  After closing your eyes for a second, Eliana would then tell you to wake up and it was someone else's turn to nap.  We also put all of Eliana's plastic bugs inside her fort and then hunted for them with tweezers (they glow in the dark!).

The view of the fort from the loft.  

Once the rain stopped, we took one more hike to Cedar Falls.  Except we couldn't find Cedar Falls and just hiked around this area instead...

The next day the weather was much better.  We decided to hike to Cantwell Cliffs.  There were a lot of steps down!

At this point, Eliana decided she didn't like the hiking backpack anymore.

Mostly she wanted to be carried.  That's when we knew our hiking trip had come to the end.  What a great time!  I can't wait to go back.  This is definitely one of my favorite places in Ohio. 

Is it really November already?

Thank you to all for your prayers and well wishes for my family.  It has been a while since I have posted on the blog because so much has been going on.  Eliana and I were back in Indianapolis for four days after my uncle passed away.  It was a very very sad time, but also a time of seeing lots of family and celebrating a wonderful man.  Please continue to pray for my Aunt Karen and her daughters as they struggle with the loss every day.  May God be their constant companion and comfort.

The weekend after Uncle Joe passed, my family got together again, but this time for a happier reason - my little brother got married!  More on Michael and Melissa's Cleveland wedding sometime soon...

Here is just a few photos of Eliana from a while ago at the park.  She brought Minnie Mouse with her who played right along side her the whole time.

She had to sacrifice Minnie to climb the ladder to the slide.

Pushing her in the swing.

Then I pushed them both.

Showing Minnie the "horn" on the bus.

After all the playing, it was time to go home and Eliana wanted to push Minnie Mouse home in the stroller.  She did NOT want me to help.  This makes our usual ten minute walk home from the park take about thirty.