Daycare Firsts

Sorry it's been so long between posts. Daycare means a lot of "first"s for Miss Amelia. Her first day was August 17th. I have her first take-home picture from August 20th; she is tolerating tummy time (she doesn't enjoy it yet as she finds it too frustrating). Amelia completed her first piece of art work on the 25th. Apparently she can stamp a picture with the best of them, if an adult guides her hand.

Of course, there is a down side. She stayed home on the 24th with me as we were busy sharing her first cold. Of course, mom got it worse than baby. Let's see, who isn't getting as much sleep as she wants and has a not-so-balanced diet...

So far, though, daycare's been a terrific experience. Amelia acts like I'm doing her a favor when I drop her off. She starts working the room as soon as she enters, figuring out where the most interesting infants are and totally dismissing the less interesting (inactive) individuals.

Mammoth Cave Tours, KY (by James)

(Thursday the 13th) We went on two cave tours called Mammoth Passage Tour and Frozen Niagara Tour. They are both the same cave but have a lot of differences. Mammoth Passage is 1 1/4 hours long and Frozen Niagara is 1 1/4 hours long too. Frozen Niagara uses a man-made entrance and Mammoth Passage uses the natural entrance. Frozen Niagara is a small area and the Mammoth Passage is really wide. They both are very cold.

The cave is very interesting. In the Frozen Niagara tour, there were a lot of crickets. The crickets looked like big spiders. In Mammoth Passage, there was also a place where it was closed because of the bats. The bats leave in the summer and come back in the winter.

Underneath the Frozen Niagara, if you use your imagination, you could see an elf, cactus and the 10 Commandments. It also had stalactite formations that had sharp points at the bottom. In Mammoth Passage, there are no formations, but we saw artifacts that the Native Americans left behind. In another part of the tour was a church area. Sometimes the preacher preached over 4 hours and the people couldn't leave because he had their lanterns.

Jefferson Davis State Historic Site, Pembroke, KY (by James)

(Wednesday the 12th) We went to the Jefferson Davis Birthplace Monument. We went up the obelisk, which stood 351 feet tall. After that, we went to the museum inside. My favorite part of the obelisk is looking down from near the top. The obelisk is 2/3 the size of the one in Washington, D.C. So I liked the monument better than the museum. Oh yeah, it takes 3 minutes to get to the top in the elevator.

Elk and Bison Prairie, Land Between the Lakes (by Kristen)

(Tuesday, the 11th) - Since James “adopted” an elk at the preserve, we got a free ticket back to the Elk and Bison Prairie. At first, we were not seeing anything… and then BAM… a whole herd of bison. They were all in the road so that the two cars in front of us could not move. One of the bison was licking the car in front of us. The first car moved on but the other still could not move because a baby bison decided to nurse in the middle of the road. Then that car moved on but we were still stuck. We backed up but a huge cow decided to follow us part way down the road. We had to wait for the rest of the herd to cross the street before we could drive on. By the end of the day we saw this herd of bison (about 30), no elk and 18 whitetail deer.

Woodlands Nature Station, Land Between the Lakes (by Kristen)

(Tuesday the 11th) - Then we were on our way to the Woodlands Nature Station. We saw fallow deer, red wolves, a screech owl and a bobcat. Did you know the fallow deer were brought here from Europe so that people could still hunt deer. (Teri – The whitetail population was really low at that point.) These animals are a really light brown that looks white from a distance. The red wolf was so beautiful. These animals are very shy and will avoid humans at any cost. They are almost extinct because people are scared of them. They have brown-red coats, are taller than coyotes and have wider heads with longer ears. The screech owl was small and cute. This is the smallest owl in this area. Did you know that this owl starts molting from their head downwards? Did you know that a bobcat’s tail is used to communicate with her young? When the tail is up, it means “Follow me” and when it is down, it means “Stay where you are”. The bobcat actually looks like our cat T.K. (he is a tabby) but bigger with a short tail. This was so much fun and Amelia also enjoyed herself.

The Homeplace, Land Between the Lakes (by Kristen)

(Tuesday the 11th) - Today we started out by going to The Homeplace, a Living History Farm. This place had people dressed like they worked back in the 1850s. We also saw chickens, oxen, ducks, and horses while we were there at the farm. The breeds that we saw, like Dominique chickens, Percheron horses and Milking Shorthorn cows, were breeds that would have been here in the 1850s.

Land Between the Lakes, Tennessee and Kentucky (by James)

(Monday the 10th) - On the drive north through Land Between the Lakes, we saw a bison herd. There were a lot of baby bison and families. We watched one baby bison nursing. In the Elk and Bison Prairie, we saw 4 elk, 2 bison and 4 wild turkeys. On the way out of the park, we saw a herd of bison.

Fort Donelson National Battlefield, Tennessee (by James)

(Monday the 10th) - We went first to the visitor center and bought Union and Confederate general playing cards. Next we saw the Confederate Monument. It stands for the people who died in Fort Donelson. Fort Donelson is dirt and grass like a serpent snake mound that protected them from the enemy,a kind of fort known as an abatis. Next we saw a log house that the Confederates slept in the winter. The surprising part about it is that it was very small.

Tennessee Trip (by Kristen)

The last couple of days were loads of fun and Amelia’s first road trip. On Saturday, Amelia met Dad’s family. Amelia got to meet Aunt Sondra, Ethan, Alethia (all 3 pictured with Amelia), Grannie, Grandma Beverly (pictured with James and Kristen), George, Shane, Jamie and Takalyn. When we were sitting at the table, Grannie and Amelia were having their own silent conversation. Aunt Sondra got Amelia to smile at her often. On Sunday, Amelia met Grandma Meg, Grandpa Bill, Wade, Zach, Nicole, Katie, Gillian (both girls pictured with Kristen, James and Amelia) and a couple of Grandma Meg’s friends, Ruth and Diane. After dinner, we all went swimming, which was Amelia’s first time.

On Monday, we left for the rest of our vacation. We documented (through pictures) the states Amelia had been to. Amelia has been to 5 states, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. Only 45 to go!

Meeting Miss Amelia

While my parents were visiting, we had a "Meet Miss Amelia" party at our church. We think we had about 40 attendees. I have many good pictures, but I won't stick them all up here.

I did want to post a picture of one of the cakes that were made for Amelia by a very special friend and babysitter, Autumn. One cake was purple with green writing and the other was the opposite. One was a white confetti cake and the other was chocolate. Both bore Amelia's name, birth date, weight and length. Thanks so much, Autumn.

I also wanted to post a picture of dad and Amelia conversing. Amelia took a shine to dad the first time she saw him. Too bad that picture didn't turn out. Finally I have a picture of three generations, my mom, Amelia and me. I think Amelia looks a good bit like mom.

Teri