This weekend we headed up to Cloudland Canyon for a camping trip. It was the perfect fall-leaf weekend to go up there. The leaves we're bright red and yellow and orange. However, we didn't realize how cold it was going to be. When we got there at 3pm it was already 46 degrees. I don't know what it ended up dipping to in the middle of the night, but it was cold. (The kind of cold where you hold it all night because you can't bear the thought of having to leave the safety of the tent)

Not that the tent offered any protection from the cold, but it did offer a little against the wind. And somewhere between 10pm and midnight the air mattress completely deflated, leaving all four of us on the frigid ground. (Yep, all four. Jon, Me, Laurel and Roger) The funny part was, although you are on the ground, the bed isn't really completely deflated...so every time any one of us would shift the others would get popped up like popcorn.

On top of all of this the baby (who went to sleep very quickly around 8pm) woke up screaming at 10:30pm. Then again at 10:40pm, and again at 10:50pm. I tried everything. Sitting up, laying down, putting her in her pack-and-play. I even tried nursing her. (Which was a miserable failure. Laurel has been weaned for 3 weeks now. Only three weeks. So I assumed even if she couldn't get anything, she'd at least be comforted by it. Not so much. She looked at me like I was crazy. She wouldn't even try it!) After I got her back to sleep she slept on and off until about 7:30AM. I slept NONE. So when daylight hit I tried my hardest to wake everyone else up so we could get off the ground and go start a fire and have some hot coffee.

Once we had warm breakfast in us the weather mellowed out and we packed up and spent the rest of the afternoon hiking before heading back home. The hike was beautiful, but tough, and the waterfall at the bottom of the canyon is the picture posted above. And I learned a good lesson about not camping in the cold weather with a baby.

This weekend we had all of the kids. It was crazy, but fun. Laurel has really grown to enjoy her time with her aunts and uncles. She can even say Abby. Of course she calls both of the girls Abby, but she'll learn.

We all went to an organic farm on Saturday. The event was pretty laid back, but fun at the same time. The kids were good about trying most of the things. They had everything from gourmet foods to pomegranates to fermented beet juice. (Apparently fermented beet juice is supposed to be refreshing. It isn't.) There were arts & craft, organic chocolate and plenty of plants and animals to see. The kids loved being chased around by a duck.

Laurel just likes being free to roam around. She stays in the backpack as long as you need her to, but once you let her out, she doesn't want back in. This is a picture of her and me on the grass listening to one of the bands.

Laurel has been growing and changing so much lately. It's scary. She's almost walking, she talks constantly and she has an unbelievable temper. We've also been introducing her to a lot more recently, hiking, camping, etc. Throughout the fall we have a lot planned, more camping, pumpkin picking, Halloween, and two Thanksgivings. (Yep...twice the turkey for me this year) So even if I don't have time to write that much, I will try to keep up the pictures.

The picture here is from Laurel's first official hiking trip. As you can see she found it very tiring. We didn't know how she'd do, so we started with a fairly short 2 mile hike. We first tried the jog stroller with the big fat bike tires...but that didn't go well (too bumpy). So we heaed back to the car to try her in the snuggly. (too small) We hadn't tried the snuggly in months, not realizing that she had outgrown it. So, finally we tried the good-old Maya wrap (just right). At first she was mesmerized by the sun coming through the leaves, then she was irritated by the leaves brushing into her, then she was lulled by the constant rocking motion...and before we knew it she was out like a light.

Since then we found a cheap hiking backpack at used it camping and hiking, and she loves it. (I'll put those pictures in later) We have also taken her to some dirt trails around town and let her play in the mud and the creeks. It turns out she loves mud. Loves to play in it, loves to eat it, pretty much loves everything about it. Mud has lots of minerals, right?