Mill Creek Falls

We took a drive to Hawks Nest State Park to enjoy the beginning of fall. 

It had been 4 years since we saw the leaves change color so Mike and I are excited to see the change of season.

 We were going to do a hike to a waterfall. 

One of the options to get to the trail head was to take a gondola from the state park lodge to the bottom to where the river is. 

I about had a heart attack. 

There is nothing I hate more then heights. 

 I have never seen so many train tracks before living here. West Virginia transports coal by barge and train. No matter where you are going, you will at least be crossing tracks. 

 Emma was loving all of the leaves that had fallen already. 

It being a flat hike, it was nice to let her run around and explore. 

Of course it takes 10x longer because of that.

 Along the way is a old coal mill. 

1921

 We finally made it to the falls. 

There hasn't been much rain, so the falls were not at their full potential. 

 I am eager to see this view in the peak of fall. 

19 Month Emma

I wanted to do this post last month when Emma was a year n half...but that didn't happen. 

So Emma is now 19 months.

I swear every day there is something new with her. 

Emma had a check up.

With us moving she had missed her 15 month appointment, so this appointment she had two shots.

The new Dr. seemed OK. I felt a little rushed during the appointment. I am not sure if that was because Emma was being crazy in the room and she wanted to hurry it up or if they were really busy and they were trying to squeeze appointments in. 

She wrote down her height and weight for me but then forgot to hand it to me after it was over. I am guessing she weighted around 19 1/2 lbs. Her percentile was really low for weight but really high for height. 

 I went to a MOPS (moms with preschoolers) meeting. Its not really for moms with preschoolers, just moms in general.  Everyone seems really nice. While all the moms are in the meeting, the kids are in a daycare. It was Emma's first time. She walked right in and started playing. When the meeting was over, I walked to where she was and she was screaming. The caretaker said she had been upset for awhile. New things are always scary so hopefully she will get used to playing with others besides me. 

 She tells me when she goes to the bathroom now. She points to her diaper and says "du du du du" over and over in till I change her. 

My next step is to buy a little potty.

She has been OBSESSED with bubbles in her bath. 

There is no bath time if there are no bubbles.

She has been really into her education apps. on the ipad. She gets so excited to sit down and point to the objects that they are asking for. I am really impressed. She now knows was a saxophone, kangaroo, fire truck and many many more. 

She is still been really obsessed with shoes. She likes to help take Mikes shoes off after he gets home from work. She puts them in the closet and insists that the socks be taken off too. She likes to also tell other people that they have shoes on, constantly saying "shoes" in till they answer her.  

She has learned how to jump.  It has been added to her list of obsessions. 

Her dance moves are advancing. Besides clapping along she now does the roll with her hands. 

We are starting to learn how to use a fork and spoon. Sometimes I feel like she is playing more then eating and she ends up wasting food and being hungry later. 

She has a problem with getting dirty. Its like she becomes stiff and cant focus on anything else besides wiping her hands off or cleaning her shoes. I want her to be carefree with things so we are working on relaxing when things get messy. 

Books are being read at a rapid rate in my house. I am being brought a book probably every 30 minutes after we finish the last. Its a good thing my mother saved all of my books when I was a child so we have a wide range and I don't have to keep reading the same ones over and over. 

 Her favorite food as of right now are raspberry's. This baby can not get enough! 

Mothman Sighting

Point Pleasant West Virginia is the place where it all happened in the 60's. 

A creature was spotted by a couple. 

They said it was a "man sized bird".

The Mothman

We went to the Mothman festival this year. 

Boy, was it interesting! 

 This is the only Mothman museum that there is.

The vendors were selling lots of books about creatures that have only been sighted by a few. 

 Big Foot, Sasquatch and of course Mothman.

 Jewelry, masks, clothes and who could forget about food.

 There wasn't much to do besides walk around. They were busing people to where the actual sighting took place but we opted not to do that because it was just a big wooded area. 

I would say the Mothman festival was definitely interesting. 

Wine Cellar Park

Emma and I explored Wine Cellar Park for a little outside time. 

This park is on the National Register of Historic Places because of the pre-Civil War wine cellar. 

 The three cellars were used after the grapes were pressed and fermented by the sun, then put in the cool cellars to age. 

After checking out the cellars, we wandered around the park a little. 

 We relaxed at Anderson Lake 

 Reflection 

 Such a beautiful place. 

I cant wait to come back after it has rained. There is a creek that runs along the whole walk to the lake that was dry at this time of year. It will probably be even more beautiful once the creek is flowing . 

Labor Day : part 3

As much as I would have loved to hike every trail that was in Babcock State Park, we were just staying for one night and we had to be out of the cabin by 10 am the next day. 

Bolo's energy level is nonexistent, so hiking with him would never happen, so instead we explore a overlook of the mountains, stopped at a playground and then ventured to the old mill before we left. 

Because it hasn't rained in awhile this waterfall was not flowing nearly at rate that it could have. 

It is so unbelievable hard to get a photo with no people in the background! 

The largest wild spider I have ever seen!!! 

I swear it was the size of a cat! 

We had a great time camping. We usually like to camp in a tent, but with Emma's first time sleeping in the woods I am glad we went the cabin route.