Sophie turned three on Tuesday. We had a little birthday party in the morning and then went camping for the night.
We got her a little doggie pack because we feel she is old enough to start pulling her own weight and because we wanted her walks to give her more exercise (load the pack with water bottles and off you go, more walk for your money.)
Grandma sent her some toys, including this wiggly giggly ball which she immediately loved...
...and some peach-flavored doggy bubbles.
We camped at Roaring River State Park.
We visited the local hatchery. Sophie wondered what the splashing black things were in the water.
Ew...
Some of the trout were huge, lazy, fat suckers, like these. I put my foot in to show scale.
The hatchery is fed by this natural spring.
Not-so-Roaring River.
The water was 64 degrees, but felt amazingly refreshing.
The humidity does a number on my hair!
After a night of noisy neighbors, ravenous racoons (I heard one sneeze while it was sniffing around our tent) and weird-noise-making whatevers, we got up early and went for a hike. I thought I was really smart because we were beating the heat and most likely the snakes. Being the first one on the trail though, we snagged every fresh spider web there was. It was great.
Some cool stairs on the hike.
Should be renamed Tick Trail. We pulled seven ticks off Sophie and one each off of us. Needless to say as soon as we got back to camp, we packed up and headed back to the lake house.
Waiting for moderately tick-free civilization.
On our way home I thought it would be a great idea to climb this National Forest tower. It didn't look to scary, but after four rickety flights up, with railings at about our knees, we decided to go back down. Sophie was a trooper, but when I realized that she too was scared, I knew I was stupid to even have suggested it.
Zach having second thoughts (if you can see my reflection in his glasses, you'll see I was close to tears realizing what we had just done.)
Wondering what we were thinking...
After such an adventurous/stressful 18 hours, Sophie is finally able to relax.
We got her a little doggie pack because we feel she is old enough to start pulling her own weight and because we wanted her walks to give her more exercise (load the pack with water bottles and off you go, more walk for your money.)
Grandma sent her some toys, including this wiggly giggly ball which she immediately loved...
...and some peach-flavored doggy bubbles.
We camped at Roaring River State Park.
We visited the local hatchery. Sophie wondered what the splashing black things were in the water.
Ew...
Some of the trout were huge, lazy, fat suckers, like these. I put my foot in to show scale.
The hatchery is fed by this natural spring.
Not-so-Roaring River.
The water was 64 degrees, but felt amazingly refreshing.
The humidity does a number on my hair!
After a night of noisy neighbors, ravenous racoons (I heard one sneeze while it was sniffing around our tent) and weird-noise-making whatevers, we got up early and went for a hike. I thought I was really smart because we were beating the heat and most likely the snakes. Being the first one on the trail though, we snagged every fresh spider web there was. It was great.
Some cool stairs on the hike.
Should be renamed Tick Trail. We pulled seven ticks off Sophie and one each off of us. Needless to say as soon as we got back to camp, we packed up and headed back to the lake house.
Waiting for moderately tick-free civilization.
On our way home I thought it would be a great idea to climb this National Forest tower. It didn't look to scary, but after four rickety flights up, with railings at about our knees, we decided to go back down. Sophie was a trooper, but when I realized that she too was scared, I knew I was stupid to even have suggested it.
Zach having second thoughts (if you can see my reflection in his glasses, you'll see I was close to tears realizing what we had just done.)
Wondering what we were thinking...
After such an adventurous/stressful 18 hours, Sophie is finally able to relax.
