Mount Mitchell & Emma Updates

We decided to visit Mount Mitchell on Saturday. It's about an hour and half drive from the house. Mount Mitchell is the highest peak East of the Mississippi. We went through several curvy turns to finally reach the top, but once we got there the view was certainly worth it. They say that you can see as far as 85 miles from the top on a clear day - unfortunately we couldn't see that far, but nonetheless the view was beautiful. Once you park at the summit parking lot, its just a short walk up to the summit lookout tower. We stayed for a few minutes to enjoy the view and take a few pictures and then headed back down to where there is a picnic area right off the parking lot and ate our picnic lunch.

It was about 15 degrees cooler up there (approx. 70-72 degrees) which made it very comfortable to do the walk and sit outside to enjoy lunch. Emma did very well in the Wallaby carrier on the walk and was in a great mood during lunch. We have added another meal at lunchtime now for her so she is now eating a meal three times a day in addition to her bottles (eating much less ounces in formula per feeding). We've also started her on apple juice in a sippy cup (thanks to Auntie Michelle for getting them for us) and she is doing really well with it. She has no problems grabbing the handles of the cup, but is still getting the hang of leaning back to get the juice. Per the advice of many others we are trying to be really good at limiting her time with the pacifier - she really only needs/wants it when she's upset and at bedtime. As a result she is babbling up a storm, she's even starting to say "dadadadada" - Allen loves that! She is also right on the verge of crawling, she's not quite there yet, but makes a lot of movement when she's sitting up and trying to reach for her toys and when she's on her tummy - I'm not giving it too much longer before we see some real movement from her, which of course means now I have to start baby-proofing! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

views from the summit

lunchtime

don't ask - being silly!

lots of kisses