Bluegrass State

A week after Andrea and Eli got back from Indiana we left for a week in Kentucky. We spent the whole time at the lake and had a lot of fun. It was good to see my parents and Pops as well as friends at the lake. My parents also watched Eli one night and we drove to Elizabethtown and watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! (It was great and I can't wait to see it again.) We were able to return the favor and let my parents get away for a day while we were there.

Our first trip down to the boat. It was actually the first time
we had seen the new boat, the last one on the dock.

One day we rode over to Sandy Beach so Eli could play in the sand.
When Jill and I were little we spent many a day at Sandy Beach.

Eli loved Pop's walker.
He used it as a jungle gym as often as he could.

Grandpa and Eli playing on the floor. Eli loves his shovel.

Eli driving the boat with Grandpa.
He liked to grab the throttle and slow us down.

Focused on the task at hand.

Look at that smile; he is loving it!

Eli and Grandma cruisin'.

A pit stop on the boat for Ice Cream!

Eli fell asleep on the way back from ice cream.

Eli trying corn on the cob for the first time.

Elkin & Stone Mountian Fun

In early July we went up to Elkin to hang out with Steven, Libby and Luke. We went to a local Art Council Kids Festival thing and then to Stone Mountain State Park. We had a great time!

Eli and Dada blowing bubbles, Eli wasn't very impressed.

They had a bunch of games and musical instruments for the kids to play. Eli and Luke were a little young for most of it. They did, however, get goodie bags with coupons for a free lemonade, a free hot dog, and a free sno-cone which we enjoyed for them :-)

Eli and Andrea even made it into the local paper. Online it is the "Featured Photo" so we don't know how long it will be there! The file when downloaded was called "Kidfest_Kid_w_Ducks".

The Scheffers at Stone Mtn.

Andrea and Eli at the falls.

Stone Mtn has some fun rock slides in the river. The longer slide was very crowded so we did not stop but the smaller slide was vacant. In this picture we are judging the water temperature which was a unanimous COLD!!

Backwards and head first!

I think these splash pics are really fun!

Steven's splash!

I think we can see who won this race!

Eli is ONE today!

I can't believe it! Our little guy is a whole year old today! He has been such a joy and blessing in our lives and we thank God for him everyday!!! We'll post pictures from his party soon; we are still trying to catch up on the blog! For now here are some pictures of the sweet boy on his actual birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Eli!
aka: Mister, Mister E, Buddy Boy

**CHEESE!**

A nice shot of all 6 teeth! :o)

An afternoon treat for the birthday boy!


Eli, how old are you today?

The rest are just a few pics from our "photo shoot" today :) He has so many facial expressions, i LOVE it! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get to him smile, that's what skipping a nap will do to you.
Hope you enjoy!

In this last one he is actually responding to a dog he hears near by...
he's making a "barking" noise back to him! :)

Blueberries

Another fun thing about Lake Norman is that we have a huge Blueberry bush in our front yard! We have thoroughly enjoyed picking and eating the berries. Eli is a blueberry fiend, he will eat blueberries forever if you keep feeding them to him! He is like this with most fruit, which is why we call him a fruit-a-tarian.

Blueberry bush.

Our haul early in the season.

Eli in the Bjorn while mama picks blueberries.
Eli is a better leaf picker then berry picker.

Our haul the day before we left for Kentucky.
It had only been two days since we picked last.

Indiana!

June 28 - July 4 Eli and I had the opportunity to go to Indiana to visit my relatives and we took it! Alison, Wyatt, Claire, Eli, and I took the van and Mutti and Vati drove with us in their car. We had to make a number of stops along the way and it was very helpful to have them with us to help with the 3 munchkins! Unfortunately both Jason and Matt had to work that week. Hopefully they'll get to go the next time!

Mutti and Vati on the road.

At one point all 3 of them were "reading" these cute little books from Grandma.

We had a week full of going from place to place and visiting lots of relatives. We stayed with my cousin Michelle. She even gave up her room for us! Alison and I shared her bed, Wyatt slept on the floor in there, and Eli slept in a pack-n-play in her closet! Claire slept in a pack-n-play another room. It actually worked out really well! Here are some pics from our trip. We had a lot of fun!

Visting at my Grandma & Grandpa Eakright's house, our cousins and their kids came over to hang out too.


Grammy and Great-Grandpa hanging out with Eli!

We had taco pizza from Pizza Hut at my Aunt Vicki and Uncle Doug's house. Indiana is the only place I know of that has taco pizza's at their Pizza Huts...and it's awesome!!

We got to spend some time with my Grandpa & Grandma Nichter too!

Wyatt loving on his little cousin!

Just hanging out at Michelle's house!

We went to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo and had fun looking at the animals, riding the train, and ....sleeping!

Eli is checking out the bird!

Taking a nap at the zoo.

The whole zoo gang, minus me and Eli. He's still sleeping on me while I'm taking this picture.

A fun train ride to end our day at the zoo!

This was Eli's first time on a train, I think he liked it!

We were also in town for the birth of one of our second cousins, Alivia Brynn Mowery! Our cousin Jason and his wife Hollie now have two little girls! It was so fun to get to see them while they were still in the hospital! What great timing to be in Indiana to experience this, oddly enough this is actually the second time we have been there when a cousin had a baby! I guess when you have 34 first cousins the chances of that happening are better than if you had 5!

Hollie and big sister Abby.

Our cousin Jason with Alison and the new baby, Alivia!

Our last day we went to a lake with our cousins Michelle & Angie, and her kids Gracie and Austin, to have some fun in the sun!

Eli, Claire, Alison, & Michelle getting ready for lunch!

Eli playing in the sand. Also the last picture of him with a paci!
On our trip home he refused to take it and hasn't used one ever since!

Grandpa with the kiddos during a pit stop on the trip home!