Berry Pickin'

This week I have been working nights/late shifts at the hospital--kind of a vampire schedule, but with the added perk of being home in the mornings to be with Jessica and Aeva. So this week we went strawberry picking at an area berry farm.

As you can see from the pics, Aeva had a very good time! For every other berry I would pick, Aeva would partially mal one, drop it in the basket, then pick up another and start on that one before I knew what had happened. Talk about a mess... but one happy little girl.

New Patio

Yesterday our home got a visit from this 87,000 lb behemoth. After over a month of planning, comparative shopping, and a lot of help and advice from my father-in-law, I finally decided to take the plunge and do a backyard cement patio DYI style.

Good thing captain Curt was there to tell me what to do. A 15x30' patio is no small job for two guys. He drove all the way from South Carolina just to help out.

Fortunately our truck driver, Toni, decided to pitch in a also give us a hand. Still we could easy have used just one more person out there to help us.

In the end, though, I think we've ended up with a pretty nice looking patio. It'll be great to celebrate Aeva's first birthday out there in just 4 months. That means I'm going to have a lot of landscaping to do in between now and then. I'll keep you posted.

Mother's Day

Happy late Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there. We had our own little celebration here last week with family.

Vacation

The week of my recent birthday, Jessica and I decided it was time for some much needed R&R. We threw the road bikes on the back of the car, stuffed some groceries and extra clothes in the back seat, left Aeva with her abuela, and headed off the Smoky Mtns. We spent a not-so-relaxing but definitely refreshing week trekking and biking through Tennessee's most spectacular scenery.

We stopped by the Gatlinburg visitor center and for $1 bought a park map with all the day hikes outlined in red. We decided to start checking off all the hikes marked "strenuous" one by one. Here's a picture from the first---Ramsey Cascades. Supposedly these old growth tulip poplars along the trail are some of the oldest in the country. Something inside me says I should believe this, despite the abundant proof I usually require at the hands of google to confirm all of life's greatest truths.

The Ramsey cascades are the tallest in the park, beautiful, and well worth the eight-mile round trip. We were fortunate because this was the only treks we were able to experience without getting rained on.

We also made a bike trip up the mountain to Cades Cove, then rode the scenic loop at the top. As fate would have it, we got caught in such an hard rain that it was stinging our faces and legs at times, making it difficult even to see. Ah, but the faithful were rewarded with a rain free moment when we spotted a blackbear and her cub, as seen in the background to the right. At one point, Mamabear even stood upright on her feet and cast a backward glance at us. Cades Cove is beautiful, perhaps even idyllic. But maybe next time We'll go in drier weather. Here's the view from our cabin's back porch. We sat out here almost each night in the hot tub and admired the view under a full moon. Talk about beautiful. What a way the relax at the end of the day!
Mid week we did a 10 mile-hike up Mount LeConte. The weather was pleasant enough starting off, but soon we were closed in by thick fog, rain, falling temperatures, and a stout stiff wind. The wind would start off like a howl lower in the valley, then rush up through the trees with a roaring sound that was heard long before it finally blasted you! When we had started in the parking lot, we saw lot of hikers donning northface jackets, pants, and hats, even though it was almost 70 degrees out. We soon found out why. Our shorts and short-sleeves soon were grossly inadequate for that kind of weather. We were soaked and chilled to the bone by the time we summitted at 6,000 ft. Fortunately, we discovered a semi primitive, no-electricity lodge at the top of the mountain that had shelter, and karosine heather, and--can you believe it--steamy cups of hot chocolate (3$ each) to wayward and foolish hikers like ourselves.
That same day it had been pretty stormy in the valley as well. The road back was blocked by several fallen trees.
On our last day we did a 22 mile ride up Chilhowee mountain.... that's 11 miles uphill one-way.
Great view from the top, even better ride down!
After a good lunch, we finished off that afternoon with a hike up to the Chimneys.
We reached the top pretty late in the day, but were rewarded with yet another spectacular view.
That night we drove back to Nashville, and back to reality land with leaden legs and heavy eyelids. What a great trip, though. Definitely one, we might repeat.

Crawling!

Hooray! Aeva officially crawled for the first time today! Maybe it wasn't far, maybe it wasn't graceful, maybe she even worked up a genuine sweat from the effort... but she did it. Congratulations Aeva. Keep up the good work honey.

Garden Time

Watch out hydroponic Bob! Jessica and I decided to grow a real live garden this year.... the kind that uses 100% genuine sunlight and dirt.

A small 8x15' space at the side of the house was the perfect spot (except for my small oversight that it only get a couple hours of full sun per day---oops!)

We were fortunate enough to have Aeva's advice expert farming techniques. We ended up planting several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and even several blackberry bushes that came from a berry farm in South Carolina.

Of course we had to throw in a few herbs like cilantro and basil, for good measure.

I think this will be a fun project. Hopefully one that will bear fruit, literally.

Either way, Aeva has been enjoying helping with the daily watering, weeding, and sampling the soil quality of our little farm.

Mobility Madness!

The hamster ball... the baby walker. You can't help but note the erie similarities between these two scenarios. Both knock around the house, get stuck, need rescuing, and in general make their captor believe that they are enjoying themselves and the exercise! In all seriousness though, Aeva has finally learned the joy of ambulation, and she is loving it! Overnight, she has learned how to take off in her walker. For example, when her Papa comes home after work, Aeva lets out a delightful squeal and rolls across the floor at lightning speed to see her Daddy, holding her little fists in the air and shaking her arms . True, she often gets stuck when goes to explore the back hall or the bathroom, but she isn't shy about making her needs known. Also Aeva has starting doing a modified army crawl across the carpet if you set some food or her bottle just out of reach. Looks like it won't be any time at all before her Mom and Dad are going to have to start baby-proofing the house.