Hiking with Friends, part 1.

So, this weekend was aweeeeessssooommmeee....slept late, went hiking Saturday afternoon, had a fabulous chili supper with Tris and Eric, cleaned the house, had a tapas dinner with gal pals, hung a mirror (you don't understand how much that's been bothering me)...and all the while it felt amazing outside. David got us some firewood yesterday and I cannot wait to put the fireplace to some good use. I'm kind of snuggled up cozy-like in my chair right now...with my microfleece pants, sweater, and fuzzy socks. Every year, I try to see how long we can make it without turning the heater on. I think I just might break my record this year. Every year I get more awesomer.

Saturday afternoon, we met up with Eric, Tris and Reid to go hiking. Despite the fact that it was quite chilly and shady and the trails were slightly muddy, we had a great time! I realized on the way that only two of the hikes have huge overlook points and those are the most strenuous hikes, so we enjoyed the nice glade and glen hikes. Here is our excursion in pic-a-tures...

Reid, what do you think about going hiking?

Hey guys, I'm not too worried about it. I say...put the camera down and let's go!

Oh, the horror! Why is Eric pushing his son into the white water-engulfed rapids of doom??

Did the young boy survive the dangerous crossing?
Yes...David pulls him to safety while Eric maintains the same pose throughout.
The trails were a tad muddy...thanks to the multitude of bikers and their stupid bikes.
Tris does her best to avoid the mud-filled chasms...all the while displaying her flexible talents from her circus days.
David took over pushing Mr. Reid.
Yay! Bellies at the North Trailhead.
Old, scary, rickety bridge...high-above a raging river...a most certain death awaits below.
My poor jeans...so muddy.
Such gentlemen.
Hiking through a glen....and what was I doing?
Eating crackers, of course.
It's snack time!
Braaaaaaaaains....feeeeeed meeeeeeee......
David noticed this sign right beside the phone... says "Cell phones may not work in the campground. In case of an emergency, a pay phone is located in front of the campstore."

Thank you, Captain Obvious.
Snack time done! Mission accomplished.
Zombie baby is still hungry...rawwwwwwrrrrrrrrarrghghggggggg blanket delicious!

This is about how we all felt at the end of the day.

Hiking

This past Wednesday, my whole family was supposed to get together and go hiking for the week and weekend, but we had to cancel :( because my dad ended up being on call. Sad day. I love love love to hike. My family used to go every single year. Dad would always find this awesome cabin and we would hike all day, every day. It was so much fun.

We'd give each other Indian hiking names. The only ones I can remember are the ones we gave to Mamaw and Papaw G. Papaw was Falling Rock. Driving up through the mountains, you always see "Watch for Falling Rocks" signs. And, one day on the trail, Papaw ATE IT. It was a slippery trail...lots of loose rocks. Hence, Falling Rock. Mamaw was Hen Wallow. One of the trails led to a waterfall called Hen Wallow Falls and we thought it was perfect for Mamaw...a hen wallowing in the woods. It just seemed funny at the time.

There was also the time when Noah and Peter had gotten some new hiking boots and pants and we were walking and Noah kept whining about his feet and legs hurting. Mom, and all of us, just think he's whining because it was a long hike and we kept telling him to chill out and keep walking. When we got back to the cabin, Noah was undressing for a shower (calm down, he was maybe 6) and Mom noticed his legs and feet were streaked with blood and blisters. The pants and shoes were so stiff from not being worn enough and they just mauled his legs...poor Noah. To this day, Mom apologizes for that. I say it built character...it was good for him. He's stronger because of it.

Anwyays...since we didn't get to go hiking and since it feels GLORIOUS outside, David said we could go tomorrow. Yay!! So, he's taking me here...

Who knew that was 20 minutes from my house. Sigh....I don't think the leaves will be quite that pretty yet, though. But anyways. I'm soooooooooo excited! We're going to take some snacks and maybe pic-a-nic. I got a fabulous new backpack from Cara, that I adore.

Except, it looks nothing like that. It's more round and red and black. But this is all I could find online in 5 seconds.

I love the mountains ALMOST as much as I love the beach. And our new video camera and digital camera came in this week, so pictures! I will also film us petting a bear, because I'm pretty sure that will happen. (Just kidding...I saw that Grey's Anatomy episode.)

Oops

I apologize for the current state of the blog...I'm an idiot and I don't know what I've done. Will fix later.

Woes

Aside from my meat hands, a few other physical ailments have become my constant companions during this journey.

I have meat feet, but that's to be understood. At the end of a long day of walking, standing, eating, etc...I pretty much have hobbit feet. My toes look like little weiner dogs...fat and roly. Not as much fur, though...hopefully.

I'm starting to get one of those lines. I'm not super tan or anything, but I'm not porcelain white and el doctor said that a lot of gals who have some color will more than likely get the line. It's called the linea nigra...linea...something. I can't remember. It's not very dark (yet), so I'm calling it the linea almosta. It's completely ridiculous and unnecessary, but nevertheless, it's there. It doesn't bother me at all...well, except for one thing. Supposedly, you only get the line from your belly button down. Well, that's just a lie. Everyone I know that's gotten it has gotten it there and from the belly button up. I even see it in pictures. But all the "medical" journals and what have you say it's only on the lower half...obviously men wrote those. Well, the lower half of the line I have is perfectly straight...great. The upper half...well, it's wonky and not straight. It's inconsiderate. I figure if you're going to tag along and get a free ride out of it, you should at least have the common courtesy to uphold yourself in an orderly fashion. Moocher line. Whatevs.

When I first got babied, people kept telling me that I would get "pregnancy brain." I'm like..."yeah, okay, sure..." Oh my gosh, no...it's totally a real thing. And it's craaaaazy. It all started when I went for a walk a few weeks ago in the neighborhood and couldn't remember which side of the road you're supposed to drive on. I couldn't remember David's middle name the other day. I forget a lot of people's names nowadays. I can't make complete sentences (well, that's always been an issue for me, so I guess that doesn't count). I was meeting Malinda for lunch last week and I got ready, looking super cute, grabbed my keys and purse, headed out tha do. As I was walking to my car, I thought, "Something feels weird. I feel like I'm missing something." I look down...shirt, check...socks, check...shoes, check...pants, nope. Yeah, I still had on my boy brief pajama bottoms. It's very sad. People said I would be clumsy...I'm not so much clumsy as much as I just run into walls.

I will say one of the many fun things about being babied is that you get to mess with people. Like, at DSW a few weekends ago...kid walks up to me..."Is there a baby in there?" I say, "Nah, I swallowed a watermelon whole. That's why you have to chew. I'm paying for it now." After seeing the look of sheer horror on her face as she backed away from me, I quickly threw out there, "Yes, yes, I'm kidding. There's two babies in there, actually." They usually like that and don't run away screaming, and at least I got my laugh. David doesn't think it's very funny...I do.

Morning Time

A lot of people have asked me..."Ruth, how do you look so amazing in the morning? Even when you have no make-up on and haven't fixed your hair, you're a delight to behold."

I, myself, looked in the mirror this morning and thought, "Wow...you are striking."

I wanted to take a picture so I could share it with you all, but seeing as how I just sold both of my digital cameras in a yard sale this weekend and my new one (WOOT WOOT!) hasn't come in yet, I thought that'd be pretty tough to do. So, I decided to draw you a picture of what I look in the morning. Drawing is my untold skill...my true passion...poems will be written about my abilities one day.

This is what sweet David gets to see every morning...he's so lucky.

Hands

Oh, my poor hands. Dr. Mac said they might start swelling soon and develop arthritic symptoms, which will fade quickly after the birth of the girls. Well, yes...I have-a the swelling and-a the hurting. Usually only in the morning and they go back to normal during the day. It's very sad, though. They look like meat hands...whatever that means. Clown hands. Man hands. It's gross. And I'm so past being able to wear my wedding rings. Sad. I miss them. I can sorta wear my regular wedding band, but it's tiiiiiight. And my left hand doesn't like it. I drew a very accurate and incredibly detailed representation of what it looks like. Send the children out of the room...for you are about to behold MEAT HANDS!

It comes for you in the niiiiiight......

Completely Random

So, you know when it's late and you're tired and everything is funny. We were visiting Zack and Malinda last week and Malinda is one of the troop leaders for the Girl Scout group here and they had a retreat this weekend and the theme was jungle stuff. Wild stuff? Something about the jungle and being wild. Anyways. So, we (David) helped her inflate the animals and then set them on the back of the love seat as sentinels. I dunno...it was hilarious to me. I found the picture this morning and well, it's still funny to me.

Also, is it okay that I push the babies around? Not like in a bossy sense, but in the sense that I can feel them bouncing around in there and I'll push them away and they'll come back up. They totally high-five me so I know they're cool with it and I figured since they're in there bashing each other anyway, a little love pat or two from me won't hurt them.