Visit to Tennessee

Hunter and I spent half a week in Tennessee visiting, hiking, playing, and eating. We met Mom half way on Jeremy's Wednesday off so he could get back home to work on the porch screening/thumbnail ripping. Except that last part was an accident. Ouch. Mom and Dad have a great backyard full of places to explore and plants to water, so we got right to work.

no stopping for things like a change of clothes

mommy, don't just stand there taking pictures, I need more water please! (he now signs sentences)

Hunter made time for a little swinging on the awesome tree swing that can take you 20 feet off the ground if you want it to (Hunter didn't).

We went out to see Damie and meet sweet baby Isla who was all smiles. I need to hold her next time when my toddler isn't occupying my arms so fully!

Nancy played with us at the cool Shelby Farms playground, but I'm terrible at taking pictures when i don't  have my camera in hand, so there's no proof we did :)

Great aunt Ethelyn is working hard on rehab after being sick, and she looks, sounds, and walks great! As a bonus for Hunter, they had birds out at her place which provided us with lots to talk about later. 

Friday afternoon we headed out to Mom and Dad's cabin in the country. Behind the long black fence, over the rolling hills, and through the woods sits the two story log cabin, then the barn and tractor garage, and somewhere among the grass are three horses. Hunter and I saddled up -- he got in the ergo on my back -- and we went hiking out to find those three.

 "smell my stinky feet" is a fun game to play, even with horses apparently

Although he has met them before, he was tickled to get to feed them carrots and a couple persimmons as well as grass, which he tries to feed to almost any animal he encounters. He kept imitating their pffft noise-- does it have an official name?-- and I have since told him many horse tales to help him to sleep at night. The barn cats, Megan's dog, Penny, the geese, and the toads that hopped into the pond have all made it into my stories as well. We spent the night out there and had to go out again first thing the next morning. It was pretty exciting to get to sit on a real big tractor and to drive a real small tractor too. The days went by really fast even while missing Daddy. 

This could easily just turn into a baby blog, but I do still have an interest in all things triathlon. I took a couple days off while out of town, and during that time, we picked up a nasty cold, Hunter and I (mine isn't too bad so far). Jeremy is pretty sure we got the same thing as baby Isla, right after I told Damie how Hunter almost never gets sick. Those really strong germs can still get ya. All of this to say that I keep coming up with more excuses not to run! And I'm not even looking for them. But I'm back at it as of tonight, and it went better than expected. More running to come.

Hunter has started drawing pictures and then signing what they are. I leave you with "Flower," by baby Hunter. Medium: chalk on concrete.