Surprise Visit

I received an unexpected call this morning from a dear family friend, Bobbie French. Bobbie and her husband, Lew, were headed back to Colorado from the Pennsylvania and had spent the night just up the road with friends. They were planning on driving through Dayton on their way to Kentucky and wanted to stop by and see our new house...and us too! :)

What a treat! :)

Bobbie and Lew are from Montrose, CO and have known me most of my life. She took care of my brother, Micah, for years when he was growing up. I'm sure it was fun for them to see Lucas at the same age they had once seen my brother and I.

It was wonderful to catch up over lunch and hear about everyone's family members. It was also great to have our very first visitors! Hooray!

Here's Bobbie, Lew & Lucas making scary faces.

And Mommy too.


Bobbie & Lew - Thank you for the visit and the tasty lunch! Safe travels!

Love,
The Anderson's

Pumpkin Carving

About a week ago, I got anxious to carve our beautiful pumpkins. Lucas wanted nothing to do with getting the seeds and all the pumpkin insides out. He could just tell it was yucky and let mom do that part. He was way more excited about drawing a scary face on his pumpkin.
We even made a scarecrow out of packing paper to scare the birds away. Lucas learned all about scarecrows at preschool and his favorite Caillou movie and was eager to have his own.
As you can tell, the pumpkins won't make it until Halloween. The mold is already here making them extra scary!
We are headed to the pumpkin patch today for some new ones. :)

Rocktober Fest Photos

Today was a great day!

First, I found my camera charger right there with all the other camera accessories. I knew it was in a safe place, just had to find that safe place.

Second, I finally found the box with the rest of my maternity clothes including my most favorite belly brace! It's like someone helping you carry around your belly which is the very best during hikes!

Third, it was just a beautiful day and we took a wonderful Fall hike at a local park. The leaves covered the ground and Lucas hiked...mostly ran at least 2.5 miles if not longer. It was all done in little sprints with Daddy while Mommy waddled behind. Okay, I'm not waddling yet but slower these days! We were impressed and have a tired boy this evening...so why won't he stop talking and actually go to sleep???? Who knows???

On to ROCKTOBER Photos!

Lucas and I picked up Daddy at work and were actually a little early. To burn some extra energy and time, Lucas would run all the way to the tree and pick up leaves for me. I was very successful at wearing him out and he sept almost the whole way to the Red River Gorge!

Taking a little break between runs.
Our home-away-from-home" for the three day weekend. The Rocktober Fest Crew included
Mike, James, Kristina, Amy, Tommy, Jake, Lucas & Janelle.
Lucas wanted nothing to do with the camera this weekend. You'll see the theme as you go through the photos...little stinker bug!
Our first, RRG snake! This one scared the crud out of me right when I walked up to the wall not expecting it. He turned out to be a pretty big snake, over a yard long and I guess a "black snake" which according to folks at the crag is a harmless one. We kept our distance!

Mommy getting ready for her turn to climb...only a few more weeks of climbing for me. Check out my cool prego-harness! It's wonderful and puts no pressure on your belly when lowering down...just like sitting in a chair.
Lucas getting all ready for his big swings and jumps too! He loves to help with the "carrot-biner!"
Can you see the dirt on this boys face?! Every weekend we all come home covered with this fine, dark, dirty dirt. As you can see, it loves hot chocolate faces!
Big swings with Daddy's help. (Sorry for the bad lighting and dark photo)
Pulling the rope, such a big helper at the crag!
Running away from the camera and the rope! We have him well trained! :)
Dinner and relaxing while we wait for the movies and bands to start.

Lucas found a soccer ball and played and played and played. He was the only one with energy after a long day of climbing. No photos please!
Watching movies with Kristina. Mom, no photos please!
HA! I got you!

Time for SMORES! Thanks to Tommy we had all the ingredients including a great fire!"I want to do it all by myself!"
Hooray, it's a rest day. We headed to breakfast before our hike to the Natural Bridge. Daddy signed up for a climbing clinic with his climbing hero Tommy Caldwell so no rest day for him! However, Jim was there so Lucas was very happy. Jim and Lucas have been buddies since the day they met! He is dating Kristina and boy is he wonderful with kids. Someday I think he'll have a bunch of his own running around.
Kristina and Amy stopping at my favorite spot along the hike. A Kentucky jungle of sorts.
Checking out a small rock cave with Jim.
We made it! If you look close in the photo you can see it. It was a short hike but a steep one, 1/2 mile up hill but definitely worth it.
Mommy and Lucas on the other side of the bridge by all the pretty trees. Yes, finally a photo of Lucas looking at the camera!
Narrow gap on the way to the top of the bridge.
Sitting on top of the bridge. We then had to head back to the car to go get Daddy. Lucas was not impressed that we had to leave all our friends behind and was sad the whole way down. About half way down he told me, "The only thing that makes me happy is chewing gum." " I love chewing gum!" "Going to the car makes me sad but chewing gum makes me happy."
Daddy and Tommy Caldwell chatting.
Tommy climbing...a rare top-ropping photo!
Checking out the cave at Torrent Falls. The tiki torches were a big hit with Lucas.
More hiking but this time with Daddy.
The colors changing! I LOVE FALL!
Chewing gum to the rescue for the ride home!
That about sums it up! We were all tuckered out after this weekend.

Pregnancy Brain!?

That's what I'm going to blame my forgetfulness on these days...pregnancy brain! I've stashed my camera battery charger somewhere and have no idea where. I'm certain it is in a safe place for easy finding but where that might be is unknown. hhhhmmmmm????

Anyways, last weekend we headed back to the Red River Gorge with a bunch of new friends from the area. Rocktober Fest started Friday night and we wanted to join in the fun and festivities. Rocktober is held every year to raise money for a section of the gorge that was recently purchased by the climbing coalition. It's a wonderful climbing area but one that is not fully paid for. We met some wonderful folks, ended up with some great deals and had a super time! It was a long 3-day weekend and the bands played into the night so we were exhausted by Monday.

I will have to find my battery charger and then you can see all the fun in photos! And all the beautiful colors changing!

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Lucas has been quite the trooper lately. He loves our climbing/camping weekends, has adjusted to preschool and to our new home. It's nice to see him back to his normal self (if there is a normal for a three year old?!). His new thing is getting to know people...no matter where we are. His first three questions are...
1)What is your name? 2)What is your middle name? 3)What is your nickname?
He makes friends everywhere we go and puts a smile on everyone's face. I love it!

He also has been very intrigued with things that he cannot use...nail guns, knives, Dad's tools, etc. His comment the other day was, "I can use a nail gun when I get as big as Uncle Micah!" I agreed that was a great idea!

Other Funny Lucas Comments:
"Mommy, you're belly is going to get as big as this house!"
"I want a WHOLE BUNCH of pancakes to fill this whole room, up to the ceiling!"
"I don't like the daytime, I only like night time!"...used in an attempt to get out of going to bed. In other words, I want to stay up later because I love night time. Very clever!

Alright, off to look for my charger!

Our House

Here's a photo of our new house. I don't dare take any photos of the inside yet. :) You can almost see the humidity in the air and look at that beautiful grass! I haven't had to touch it with a sprinkler. Such a difference from Colorado's dry climate.


Yesterday, we woke up to rain so it was a perfect day to do a little baking. Besides, I had to come up with something for my cooking club meeting that night. Lucas was very excited to use the apple peeler the other day so that got us all warmed up to baking Fall treats!

He thought the apple peel "snakes" were hilarious!

We decided to make some pumpkin pies and what better time to try a new recipe than for a cooking club. Everyone would understand if it turned out horrible, or would they?! We went for it...

No photos of the mixing process. Too much risk of pumpkin pie camera splatters or maybe I just forgot!

As you can see, Lucas was a big helper and made his very own dough. This was great because I didn't have to worry about my batch. He was very intense...
He mixed and mixed and finally it was time for the fun part...using Mommy's rolling pin! Oh, check out that hair cut! Yep, mommy bought some clippers the other day and still needs some more practice. Overall, it worked out but barely!

Yummy! Ooops...forgot to take finished photos but they were delicious!
The winner was "Mom's Pumpkin Pie" a recipe I found on Google! The pie filling was more wet than normal but I think it was due to the extra eggs. It took a long time to set up (the entire cooling process) but turned out with a wonderful flavor and texture. I think it even tasted better today after a night in the fridge.

Moms Pumpkin Pie

Makes: One BIG 9 inch pie...recommend using a little bigger pie dish like 10 or 10.5 inch.

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie...I used Betty Crocker Pie Crust Recipe

3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

In a large bowl, combine eggs, egg yolk, white sugar and brown sugar. Add salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Gradually stir in milk and cream. Stir in pumpkin. Pour filling into pie shell. Bake for ten minutes in preheated oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for an additional 40 to 45 minutes, or until filling is set...until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean.

Red River Gorge-ous...Back Again!

It's so nice to get back into our old routine of climbing on the weekends. I feel like I'm always unpacking and packing but it's so worth it. Lucas is truly at home at the climbing crag!

We headed to the RRG again this past weekend and had a wonderful time. The days were sunny and the nights cool. Fall is definitely here and we woke up a little chilly in the middle of the night but to a wonderful sight in the morning. You can see the humidity hanging in the fall air and beautiful colors in the background! I love it!


Here's Lucas taking a little break from playing in the dirt...no nap for me, don't want to miss anything!

We found the perfect spot for some actual climbing, not just swinging. We were so proud and he did a great job going both up and down.




Here's a photo of Daddy in the RRG jungle. This place is a little different in vegetation than Colorado!
Lucas in his very own jungle. Check out that sweet shirt! (Thanks again Angie!)


Mommy & Lucas...boy, looks like we both need hair cuts!Lucas photo...

Miguel's Pizza slowing down on a Sunday afternoon. This place is hoppin' at night!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and were able to get out and enjoy the fall season. It always goes by too quickly! Love, The Anderson's