New Year's Hike

We like to start the New Year off on a good note by getting outdoors and exploring nature with a good hike. We may not always go on New Year's Day, but we try and go the weekend following New Year's Day. It always feels so good to get outside and enjoy the cooler temps while reflecting back on the previous year's activities and looking forward to new adventures that coming year. 

We love to hike to a waterfall. Hiking along a river and listening to the sounds of the water is so relaxing...and very refreshing during the warmer months! When we asked Cal if he wanted to go hiking, he gave an emphatic 'YES!' We followed up by asking where he wanted to go hiking, and he responded with 'waterfall!' He already shares our love of hikes that lead to a waterfall. We are always looking for new trails to take, especially ones with waterfalls at the end of the hike, or along the way. Thanks to our friends Liene and Roberts' recent adventure to a waterfall close by, we chose to go to the same area to see Falls Creek Falls. 

I opted to carry Callen on my back for the trip in, knowing that there would be two fairly steep climbs. I made the first one without much difficulty. We opted to stop at the large boulders for a lunch break and to let Cal stretch his legs for a while. He had a big time climbing on all the rocks and then jumping off the smaller ones to the ground. This proved to be a great stop for lunch and to fuel up since the remaining part of the hike was a bit challenging.

We made it to the top of the rock!

It's a little higher than I thought now that I'm looking over the edge

Climbing on the rocks...his favorite thing to do

More climbing

After leaving the boulders, there was a good part of the trail that was flat and good for Cal to hike along. In order to keep him on the trail and hiking at a reasonable pace, we had him looking for the purple blazes that lined the trail (this was the best marked trail I have seen in a long time...and for that I am thankful since it kept Cal on task to the waterfall!). Anytime he would start to wander off, we would ask him to find the next blaze, and off he would go to find a purple blaze!!

Cal always has to have a hiking stick to hike. He does a good job of finding one on his own

Hiking with dad

Mom trying to get Callen to come along and find a purple blaze

Look! A purple blaze!!

The last 1/2 mile of the climb to the waterfall was pretty steep. Cal attempted to hike this part himself, but he kept slipping and it was taking forever to go just 10 feet with him, so we put him back in the pack. I only lasted a bit further with him in tow before I had to give him over to Doug. It was steep and my short legs couldn't climb the steep steps and roots with him on my back. Once at the falls, we stopped for a few minutes to admire the view, but soon headed back because there wasn't a good place to sit and enjoy off the trail without getting too close to the falls...and it was too cold to get too close and just sit. We have been in places like that before with Callen, and he gets miserably cold so fast. 

View of the lower portion of the falls through the trees

View of the upper portion of the falls

The hike back was uneventful and Callen slept most of the way. It's funny how it seems so easy and quick to get back to the car after it was so tiring and took twice as long to get to the falls!!! 

It was a great day and I hope we can continue this tradition of a New Year's Hike year after year.

Christmas Celebrations

Another year in the books. I'm sure everyone is saying it, but how is it already 2016?! Sorry for the lack of posting last month. It's crazy how quickly time slips by with last minute preparations for the holidays, spending time with family, and traveling...and trying to relax just a bit and enjoy everything happening with the Christmas season. 

We had a wonderful Christmas! This year Cal was finally able to understand what was going on, and was excited for presents. He loved handing them out to family, but enjoyed opening them just as much. However, he would open one present and play with it forever and not worry about anything else he had to open. We had to force him to open each present because he was too busy playing and enjoying the previous one he had opened!

We were able to be home for Christmas Eve and morning this year. We thought with Callen getting older, it would be a good time to start being home on Christmas morning so he can enjoy Santa here. We went to Christmas Eve service at church and came home to fondue for dinner. This was a fun tradition of my family growing up and we thought it would be fun to do this year. Cal dipped a few pieces of bread and veggies in the cheese, but opted to mainly eat his bread without any dipping. 

Enjoying fondue

 

Hanging his last advent calendar present (an ornament) on the tree

Christmas morning was fun...and interesting. We all know Cal is not a huge fan of Santa. So when we told him Santa had come to visit, he immediately clung to me and would not get out of my arms. Even after showing him all the toys and books he had asked for, he still would not get down to check it out. We finally had to tell him that the toys just showed up there and they weren't from Santa! He eventually sat down with me and we went through his stocking. That loosened him up and he finally started playing with all his toys. Who knew vintage Fisher Price toys would be such a hit and so captivating to a two year old!! He could have played with the toys all day...but we had to eat and then get ready to head to my family's celebration. 

Taking it all in

Feeling a little more confident

Wow! Those toys look great

I'm going in for it

These are great! I had nothing to worry about!

The Epps family all joined at the Jones' house for our celebration. Lots of laughs and even better times watching the kiddos open their gifts. Cal either played with his currently opened toy, or was trying to snatch a toy away from Ella. After all the gifts were opened, the big gifts were waiting outside...a new bike for Cal and a Barbie convertible for Ella. The convertible was great. Ella is too small to drive it yet, so Cal took her on a ride. He was giving her whiplash over and over with his stop-start-stop-start driving!

New PJs! He wants to wear them every night

More toys! This is great!

Hold on tight...we're going for a ride!

Cal has a balance bike that Santa brought him last year. It has a wide wheel base in the back and he can zip through the house and outside on it without any problems. He has ridden it the 1/2 mile to CVS and back with me running behind! This year his aunts and uncles went in together to get him a new balance bike that is more like a real bike with thinner tires and larger frame...one that will grow with him over the years. I thought he was going to need a few weeks to get used to this new bike. Nope...he was off and riding it (with Uncle Scuba chasing behind) down the hill in front of the house. No learning curve needed for Callen! 

Big boy on his bike

After our Greenville celebration we headed to Charleston to spend the remainder of Christmas Day with Doug's mom's family. We spent the evening opening gifts and hanging out together outside...since it was close to 80 degrees! Cal enjoyed opening his gifts one at a time, with the highlight being his own 'real drill,', a power screwdriver, that he loves to play with. He was able to help Oupa make a box to carry all his toys using his new 'drill.' He was given safety glasses to use with his new drill and for all other projects he helps Doug with. These were a big hit too!

A big present!

Safety glasses are needed to open the big one

Looking for the full moon hiding behind the clouds

Reading my new book with Dave

What a great Christmas! It was so great to spend time with family over the course of the Christmas holidays. IT was neat to see the magic of Christmas through Cal's eyes this year. The joy he had with everything we did was so sweet. He was so happy looking at lights and blow ups around the neighborhoods, opening his advent calendar each night in anticipation of Baby Jesus's birthday, and cuddling with mom and dad on the couch to watch a Christmas TV special. He took everything in and loved every minute of the season.

Our Visit to See Santa

December...that wonderful time of the year when we decorate our houses for Christmas, bake cookies and other goodies, drive around looking at all the beautiful displays of Christmas lights, send out Christmas cards to friends and family, and of course torture your young children by making them sit on Santa's lap!!

Last year's Santa visit was a disaster, but in an attempt to have a picture of Callen sitting on Santa's lap every year, we made our way to the Shops at Greenridge once again to see Santa. Several weeks ago I started talking to Cal about Santa and going to see him. At first I got the 'nooooo' response with a small amount of fear in his voice. About a week later I mentioned sitting on Santa's lap again to Callen, and his response was 'yeah!' WooHoo! Winning! I then asked him what toys he was going to ask Santa to bring him to which he replied, 'no, books!' What kind of books do you want? 'Pete books.' Great! We were ready to see Santa. Cal was ready to go until the moment he saw Santa pull up in the horse drawn carriage. Once he saw him, he became very quiet and very aware of everything going on around him. When it was our turn in line, I walked Cal up to Santa, but he was gripping me tightly. Santa was kind enough to talk with Callen while he was in my arms, and Cal gave the same responses of presents as he had to me a few weeks earlier. 

Telling Santa what he wants for Christmas

I/m done talking...let's go!

Once he talked with Santa, I did the mean mom thing in order to get a picture of Cal sitting on Santa's lap...I pried him off my shoulder and plopped him down on Santa. Mistake!! His reaction was priceless...

Please don't do this to me again!

Sweet Santa trying to console Cal

Thank goodness Mom is back to save me!

I want to note that I started this post on Monday right before I went to pick up Cal from school, thinking I could finish it later that day when he was napping. Well, 4 days later and a total of 2 hours of napping by Callen (and one frazzled momma), I am finally getting around to finishing this post. So, if Cal's nap schedule keeps up with this current trend, there may be fewer posts over the next few weeks and months!

Furman Football

As mentioned before, the fall is quite the busy time of year. Most weekends are spent going to Clemson football games, and spending the day tailgating with family and friends. On off weekends, we are headed to Charleston for shrimpin', working on projects around the house, and attempting to make it to the mountains to hike. One thing Doug and I have wanted to do is go to a Furman football game. I had not been to a game since I was a kid and it had been about ten years since Doug last went to one. We thought Callen would love to play football and run around (he does these things at Clemson but there are sooo many people and we are always trying to talk and hang out with others). By going to Furman by ourselves, it would allow us to give our undivided attention to Cal and let him run around and have a big time without all the hustle and bustle of Clemson tailgating.

We went to the Furman vs. Mercer game last Saturday. Game time was 1:30pm, so we figured we would leave between 10-10:30. We arrived at Furman around 10:30am, and I was afraid I had gotten the dates mixed up...there was NO traffic! We drove right through campus and found a spot in the public parking lot beside the chapel. We had our choice of spots since there were only about 30 others cars parked at this point! (The lot did fill up closer to game time but it was close to 12:30-1:00 before the large majority rolled in). Before leaving that morning, we threw a few food and drink items in the cooler, loaded up the tailgate tables and chairs, and packed a diaper bag for Cal. We were ready to go in less than 30 minutes compared to the 1-2 day prep to get ready for Clemson games! After arriving, we set up our tables and chairs, got out snacks, and enjoyed ourselves. Cal ran around in the parking lot since it was so empty, grazed on the food table, and just enjoyed the freedom he had.

One thing we didn't realize going into the game is that one of Mercer's colors is orange. Oops! At least we were all wearing purple...but all our gear was orange!

Just chillin'

Pretty great set up...Cal height table!

Has to be just like mom and dad with koozies on his cups!

We were fortunate enough to be given 2 tickets by random people outside the stadium. We were glad not to have to pay for tickets because we didn't know how long we would make it in the game since Cal usually naps around the time the game was starting. We also wanted to leave by halftime in order to get home and watch the Clemson game on TV!!

The 'Champions Walk' to the stadium

Cal enjoyed watching the band and other pregame festivities. He spotted the bounce houses just outside the gates, so he was very intrigued with them...and then became very concerned when they were deflated! He liked watching Furman running through the blow up helmet onto the field. But, that was about the end of the excitement for him during the game. We kept trying to point out the players throwing and kicking the ball, but he was more concerned with climbing on the bleachers at this point! The Furman football game did not provide the amount of excitement needed to captivate Callen's attention for 30+ minutes! We lasted most of the way through the 2nd quarter before heading home. It turns out we missed the best part of the game as Furman went on to tie up the game in the 2nd half, but ultimately lose in OT.

Cheering for all the Seniors being recognized

Starting NOT to sit still!

We really enjoyed our low key tailgate and day at Furman. Spending time with just Doug and Callen at a football game is sooooo rare, and I enjoyed every minute of it. It's also nice to see how other fans and teams tailgate as well as the excitement in the stadium. 3,500 people attending a game for a team that isn't doing so well is WAY DIFFERENT than 85,000+ fans cheering on a football team ranked #1 in the country. As much as Clemson home games wear me out by the end of the weekend, I wouldn't trade that excitement and activity for anything. I may feel like I am always having to do something and running around at a tailgate, but it's worth it to walk into Memorial Stadium and see the Tigers running down the hill. And I think Callen enjoys it too. There is always something going on that holds his attention, and he knows he is watching the 'paw' team whether it be in person or on the TV.

An Overnight Getaway to the Mountains

We love the fall! It seems like every weekend we have something going on. We always talk about how fall is the best time to camp, but we can never find a weekend to go. We always make time for something else or end up being lazy and stay at home to watch college football on Saturday. We decided this year was going to be different. Callen loves looking at the stars and moon each night he can see them in the sky. He enjoys hiking, and gets excited if you mention camping with him. We knew we needed to take him on a camping trip again soon, but didn't know when the best weekend would be because of everything else going on. After looking at the calendar, we decided on Halloween weekend. Cal doesn't eat candy, so we figured he didn't need to go door to door collecting candy for us. Plus, he won't wear any costume from the store, so he was going to be a tool man...which is what he does everyday at home!

Our plan was to leave after Doug got off of work on Friday, and head to Pisgah Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We would camp two nights and head home on Sunday. We stayed there on our trip in May, and really liked the area. We knew we would be able to see the leaves changing colors at one of the many overlooks, the weather would be nice and cool for sleeping, and it's less than a two hour drive from our house. As the weekend got closer, the chance for rain on Sunday became close to 100%...plus the rain was going to start in the middle of the night, making packing up on Sunday not fun with wet gear. We decided to only spend the night Friday and spend the rest of Saturday hiking and stopping at the overlooks for the wonderful fall views. (What ended up happening is that we had a great time Friday night and got up Saturday morning to bone chilling cold weather. The air was damp and humid, no sun was shining, and there was a slight breeze. Cal was freezing by the end of breakfast and ended up spending most of the rest of the morning playing in the car while Doug took down our camp site! We decided it would be best to head on home as Cal's hands were little ice boxes and they were only to get colder being outside and stationary in the hiking pack.)

 

The time we spent in the mountains was great. Cal absolutely loves being outdoors and is really excited about camping and hiking. All day long he was so happy to tell you he was going to sleep in a tent. If you asked him if he was going to sleep under the stars and moon, he would answer with 'No, a tent!' When we arrived at the campsite, Doug unloaded the car and I went to pay for our spot. When I returned, Cal was carrying ThermaRests from the parking spot over to where our tent was. He helped Doug with the poles for the tent as well. Anything he could do to help, he was going to do it. He took his own 'pat' (aka hammer) to help Doug hammer in the tent stakes. He helped break sticks to use for firewood. Cal was having the best time at the campsite! 

The night sky was crystal clear and you could see stars forever. Cal bundled up in Doug's lap in front of the campfire, and looked at the stars. He was amazed at how many stars he could see. Anytime you talk about the camping trip now, he has to talk about the stars in the sky! After a while of sitting there, Cal drifted off to sleep while Doug and I sipped on some champagne and enjoyed the evening ourselves. 

 All the work and effort put into going camping for a little over 12 hours was so worth it to see Cal's excitement!