15 weeks

I am not sure when a pregnant woman is "supposed" to start taking pictures of her growing belly, but since I have gotten large enough to not fit into my normal clothes, I figure there must be enough belly there to warrant a photo.

Mike took a few this afternoon; ignore my pimples and poor hair style in the last one. Just focus on how cute the baby is :)

First Baby Purchase

On our way to Raystown Lake, we passed through a very small town called Orbisonia (one of those 'don't blink or you might miss it' kind of places). As we were driving, I spotted a furniture store with some highchairs out front. We decided that if they were open on our way home, we would stop and see how much they cost.

So today, on our way back to New Jersey, we found the furniture shop open so we went in to look at the highchairs. They had solid wood chairs made in Tennessee and we decided that they would be perfect for us. We picked out an oak chair and loaded it into our already overpacked car. We are so excited to have a nice highchair, neither of us wanted a plastic one. I was hoping to have a wooden one very similar to the one my parents had, and we found one!

It is a little silly that we bought something that we cannot use for at least another year, but at least now we are prepared. And we have started the baby shopping!

We used Mocha (our pseudo-baby) as a test model for the chair. Shortly after the shutter clicked for this picture, she bailed. She wasn't a good sport.

Raystown Lake, PA

Somehow Michael and I got lucky enough to have MLK weekend totally off, so we decided to make a trip to Raystown Lake, PA. We picked this random (and likely unheard of) location because it is halfway between our house and Mike's Dad's house in Cleveland. We were able to meet them in a great cabin in the woods for some quality family time and relaxation.

Mike and I got in late Friday afternoon. We went and had some pizza and did a little grocery shopping while we waited for his family to arrive. They ended up getting in almost 2 hours later than we were expecting them because their GPS took them on a very scenic detour! Once they arrived, we spent the evening eating and talking.

Saturday we got up and went to breakfast and then did some exploring. We drove down to Raystown Lake to get a view and to see what everyone was talking about. The lake is beautiful. It is 32 miles long and surrounded by mountains. It is very easy to see why this town is popular in the summertime. After seeing the lake, we went for a hike. It was a trail that was labeled 4.5 miles and we decided we were all okay to do the whole thing. Well, halfway into it we passed a couple people who said, "Wow, you guys are just getting started!" We all looked at each other and the dogs and decided that we needed to cut our hike short; we were getting tired and hungry and it was already 3:30. Mike and I said how blessed we were to have those people come along the trail, otherwise, we might have kept going and been stuck walking around a dark trail.

Saturday night we went to a little dive restaurant for dinner and then went home to play some games before bed. Sunday was a lazy football and pasta kind of day, with more games and plenty of naps. And finally, Monday morning we all loaded the cars and headed home.

I am sorry to say that I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. The property that the cabin was on was beautiful, with a creek running in front of the house and plenty of trees and hills around. I guess I was just lazy and only took a few, which I am kicking myself for now. Here are some from what I did take: