Pretty Boy

That's really all I have to say about that.

...Run Away, Run Away...

I still don't know how he managed to get it off the table. Seriously. Sorry, Dad, umm, that one was supposed to be for you.

For an update on our youngin' - well, still only 2 teeth. He weighed 20 pounds at his last doctor visit (his 1 year) and was about 30 inches tall. He's a great eater, and there isn't much the child won't try. He loves Poppy's Reese Cups, green beans, peas, and sweet potatoes. He'll eat anything sweet, but that's something he got honest.
Still not walking, though he cruises alot and will stand on his own with good balance. And smart. He's so smart, I think...but I'm his Momma and that's to be expected of me.
He got his second haircut last night, and we didn't mangle it toooo bad. He looks so grown up now.

Jon will be heading to Georgia this weekend, leaving us alone - again. He's going down with Adam Krantz to watch the Bulldogs play, so I'm sure he'll have a good time.

I start Course Two of my Cake Decorating class tomorrow. I really enjoy doing it, so maybe one day I will be good enough to get paid to decorate cakes. Who knows? At least it would be some extra money. (I think no such thing exists..."extra" money.)

Hope everyone out there is doing well and enjoying the cooler weather and a strange start to football season for teams everywhere.

Family Day Field Trip...Mountain Lake

So, Nicole lives in Raleigh now, but she's the one who sends me a link about Mountain Lake and the incredible waterloss. Honestly, since the day I left working there in 2001, I have only been back up maybe 4 times? The last time we went was in October last year after Seven was born. We had a great brunch there...and though the lake level was down, and looked, well, so sad, today was just unbelieveable.

These two pictures were taken in October, at the far end of the lake. The "Deep End" if you will. As you can see, the water is very, very low.

Many of you will remember the days when the Boathouse was completely surrounded by water, all the way to the trailhead. And when the Gazebo steps led right down to a floating dock. I even remember when the LakeHouse at the far end had water in both the back AND the front. When you needed to walk the dock to get to the front door.

Those days are no more.

These two pictures were taken today...from the same vantage point as the Ocotber photos.

There is not even enough water to float a boat in. No exaggeration. No water at all. The dark spots in the photos are just silty dark hardened mud, not water. It's so hard to describe, as you really need to see it in person to get a gauge on how overwhelming it is. If you look closely in the top picture, you can see a man on the left hand side, about halfway down. That's how deep this end was. Over 100 feet. The rocks at the top? People use to jump off of. You can see the water line on them if you look closely. But now? Gone. It's all gone.

Everyone should go and see it...especially if you can remember the Dirty Dancing Days. The days when Mountain Lake was still a lake.

You Talkin' to ME?

Seriously, it's plastic.

He's been playing with it at Mommaw & Poppy's along with a toy pistol. Perhaps he is in training to be a gangster...just so long as he get's the ginormous bathtub like Al Pacino, well, okay then. He's my son and I need to support him in his decisions, right?

In case you didn't see it, I posted a video of him being all genius-like on my DoughMessTic site. But the genius doesn't stop there. He is now intrigued by the stacking rings - the kind we all played with as babies, except now they make entirely too much noise. What's WITH that? What happened to cars that require YOU to make the engine noise, or stick horses that don't neigh? Must everything make a bunch of racket? Just an observation...but I think maybe we are requiring less and less of an imagination out of our children these days. As soon as he's big enough, Sev's getting a big cardboard box and some crayons to turn it into whatever he wants...no noise, no batteries...and I hope that he will love it.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

I can't believe how fast you've grown...