Little Pumpkin

Last weekend we made a little trip up to Louisburg Cider Mill for their annual Ciderfest. We were meeting some friends there at 10:00am, which was an unfortunate time because this was in the middle of Sophie's morning nap. But heck, when faced with the choice of nap or hanging out with 200 hundred of your closest friends at a craft fair, you always choose the latter.

Until late I never knew that Soph enjoyed the sweets as much as her dear old Ma, however, as evident by this picture, we can't get enough! ME LOVE DONUTS

This is during a rare break from jamming donuts down our mouth. A word to the wise, don't stand within arms reach of this little monster, she will steal and eat your donut too. Poor Ryan learned this the hard way. Good thing we bought a dozen of them!


Now to the important part, PUMPKINS! We had two choices when it came to pumpkins, either pay the $8 per person to go into the pumpkin patch/corn maze or just pretend and take pictures outside of it. Being the cheap family that we are, we just snapped some photos by the display and called it a day. We were getting pretty tired and this was the best we could do.

Now see all those lovely pumpkins, nice right? You could not purchase them there, you had to go all the way up the hill, past the stinky sewer smell, through the craft booths to buy your pumpkin (or you could pay the $8 and then by your pumpkin). Needless to say, my one and only goal of getting the Sophapotamus a pumpkin, was a big fat FAIL. Hen House pumpkins, here we come!

The day wasn't a total lost, we got to spend the day with great friends and I got this picture of my two favorite people. Life is good!

Across The Pond

First off let me say that this trip scared the crap out of me (question, can you say "crap" on a blog about your baby?!?). Anyway, back to what kept me up at nights - the FLIGHT!!! If you have a been around Sophie in the last few months you know that this is not a girl to sit quietly and not make a fuss. This is a mover and shaker. There is no obstacle big enough, no room loud enough. If there is a something to climb on we are on it, if there is a quiet room we will scream just to hear our voice. I could just imagine the daggers coming at us when we boarded the plane, the snide comments about how children shouldn't be allowed to fly. I was expecting the worse!


However, as with most things, this wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. The flight to Chicago was a cake walk. Even people commented on what a good girl she was. Of course this was just the appetizer before the main event!! The NINE HOUR flight to London was still ahead of us. I read every website, packed our favorite toys and some surprise ones in our carry-ons, brought plenty of snacks (seriously, I should buy stock in Goldfish) I was ready. But really what could you do with a one year old for that long. Luckily my child is amazed with saying hi to everyone in the world, so friendly!! That occupied us for at least an hour. Also good for us is that we bought her a seat. This was an absolute life saver, I really have no idea what we would have done if the three of us were sharing two seats. Another lucky thing came in that there was an open seat next to us, so when we tried to get Soph to lay down I could push over a bit. Here is the nifty little restraint that my boss let me borrow. Isn't it cool? Plus we didn't have to lug a car seat!


Sophie was a complete angel on the flight. We had a little airline food and proceeded to sleep for the next 5 hours of the flight. We woke up on our way down, about 4:00am in the morning our time. Here is us rejoicing in the fact that we made it with our sanity still intact.

I love England!! I love the people, obviously. I love the atmosphere. I love the little red phone booths. I love it all. I was happy to finally be there and get to spend some quality time with the In-laws. Here is Soph playing with Granddad, although you can really see it. This pictures was just too cute not to include. My CDs!

Almost every morning we got up and took a walk around town and out by the ocean. It is so quaint and charming. Seriously, you don't get this kind of stuff state side.

Corfe Castle in Dorset is probably my favorite place in England. I had been there once before a couple of years ago, but it was so great to be back. The scenery is amazing and they serve the most delicious scones with cream and jam you have ever had. Seriously, i would go back just to have tea and scones here, it is just that good!

Being down in Poole, we had to take Sophie to the beach. It was kind of cold so we didn't really want to go in the water, but you have to at least put your feet in. This is a girl that hates being in the grass or playing in the sand box so it should come as no surprise that we hated the ocean as well. Oh well, at least we can say we were there!

The best part about hanging out in England was that Sophie got to spend plenty of time with the other side of her family. It is amazing the bond you have with family, Sophie went to them like no time had past and they had always been there. Elaine and Buller are the best grandparents you can imagine.

Once we left Poole, we went back in to London to see Andy's brother and his family. We were able to stay with them while we were there and it was amazing. Because of my love for everything King Henry, here we are at Hampton Court Palace (one of the King's many houses). Sophie really didn't care, but we were able to run around in the huge garden.

While in London, we had lunch on the River Thames. Because that's how we roll!

Finally, here is a picture with Sophie and her cousins. They love entertaining her and giving her lots of cuddles. This isn't the best picture of them, but it was the only time we could get all of them at the same place at the same time.

So that is it! 10 days, two nine hour plane rides and lots of kiss from the Michaels. Thank you England for having us, we will be back soon.

P.S. On the flight home there was a baby on the plane that cried for 4 hours (no joke) and you know what, no one said a thing. We all just felt bad for that poor mother (I was just thankful that I had the good kid!)

Happy Birthday to our Sophapotamus

In order to catch up, here is what you have missed over the past 6 months. Our little girl turned one. Thank you to everyone that helped us celebrate the big day in our new house. Here are a few pictures from the event, please note the adorable dress from Mady and Me:

Sophie doesn't really care about what is actually inside of the box, but only if she is allowed to climb and/or sit on them. Needless to say, we loved this one.

I actually don't know if this is my kid, she had absolutely no interest in her one of a kind Hippo cake. However, I enjoyed much of it the day after. I guess I do deserve something for pushing this little watermelon out of me last year :)

Staying with the Hippo theme, here is our little girl playing with her giant pink Hippopotamus.

Again, thank you all for making Sophie's first birthday memorable. I can't believe it has been a year. Sophie, you have changed my life in so many wonderful ways. I can't wait to see what you do next. Thank you for being the most amazing daughter. Happy Birthday