Eno Play Day

We stayed in town after Noah's memorial service because we already had plans with Andrea's family for the weekend. Since we didn't have plans on Friday we called up some friends and spent the morning at the Eno playing in the river. We didn't take the camera but we used a cell phone for a few pics...

The gang playing in the river.

We went to the Eno with Laura, Jon and their two girls and Carla and her two girls, it was a blast. We collected macro-invertebrates (mayflies, snails, crayfish, water pennies, etc.), fish, and even played with a few snakes. All of the kids were so brave, but Carla's oldest, Abby, got the gold star for the day. When she got to the river she went straight into touching things and when we saw the first snake she was the one that wanted to hold it!!

The small Northern Water Snake we found.

After our fun morning in the river we went to Bullocks for lunch and while we were there Hilary, Russ and their family members still in town all walked in!! It was great to see them again!!

Abby and her snake!

Baby Noah

On September 29, 2011 we returned to Durham but this time for a much more sobering event. We went to Durham to celebrate the life of Noah. Hilary and Russ delivered Noah on 8/27. Noah did not breath on his own and was in the NICU until his passing. Unfortunately, we were thousands of miles away but we were deeply affected and were able to talk to them a few times. Hilary and Russ showed amazing strength and faith and are an amazing testimony for Christ!! The whole event brought many stories of God's provision and personally taught us much about continual prayer. We felt very helpless and shell shocked by it all! Thankfully we know this is part of God's perfect plan but we are very sad and long for the day when we get to meet Noah!!

Brothers Gotta Hug!!!

Eli and Emmett are such great brothers and friends. They talk and make noises together, they fight and hit each other, they play together and most of all they love each other!!!

One arm brother hug.

Awe, hugging for the camera.

Emmett is using two arms and leaning away like he is trying to pick Eli up!!

Vati's 60th!

After our Anniversary we spent the night in Durham and celebrated Vati's 60th birthday! We had a yummy Bar-B-Que lunch out and then we all gave him his gift, a new bench for his pond.

The birthday boy.

A cute pic of Paige playing with a ball.

Vati and Mutti on the new bench.

Old man and (most of) his grandkids.

A cute pic of Alison and Paige.

6 Years!!!

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with an awesome day of rock climbing!!! Alison watched the boys and even took them and Doc to Durham for us while Andrea and I went to Pilot Mountain State Park. The weather was cold and rainy but it was awesome; no crowds, all routes were open and we got to "climb" with little embarrassment :-) It was such a fun way to spend our anniversary with my adventure partner!!!

Perfect day: Chick-fil-a breakfast and coffee, cold enough to wear my North Face 1/4 zip, and on our way to rock climb!!!

Andrea ready for a rappel.... did I mention she is not a big fan of heights...

Partway down, she did great!!

Now climbing up.

Me climbing up...

Rappelling down.

On another rappel.

We climbed very easy routes and realized exactly how out of shape we are!! It was a lot of fun. After Pilot Mountain we had a fun dinner at Chili's and got to spend a little time with the Bakers before heading to Durham to celebrate Andrea's dad's 60th B-Day.

Cute Boys

These are some cute pics of the boys reading a new book from Grandma Gwinn and wearing new shirts from Grandma Mutti.

Snuggles

My parents came for a visit in mid-September and this is the only picture from their stay. Emmett was being super cuddly with grandpa one morning. Emmett is much more of a cuddler than Eli was!