**Summer update** 7 weeks old

On October 23rd Summer turned 7 weeks old. We scheduled her 2 month check up a little bit early, so she went and got all of her shots that day. She did SOOO good and only cried as she was getting the shots. Here is a picture of her showing off her pink camouflage band-aids :



At only 7 weeks old Summer has already gained 3 pounds and grown 1 1/2 inches since she was born , making her a big 9 lbs 9 ounces and 21 1/4 inches long!! What a big girl :)



Here is Summer after she fell asleep sucking on her pacifier - what a tough life :)

Summer really enjoys playing on her activity pad, she loves looking at all the toys hanging from it and listening to the music it plays. Buddy just loves sitting beside her and watching her :


On Saturday October 24th, Brett and I drove to Jacksonville, FL for our friends Chris and Sarah's wedding. We got a hotel room right on the beach, it was so beautiful. This was our view from our room when we woke up on Sunday morning :

This was taken at Chris and Sarah's wedding. We had a lot of fun spending time with our friends and getting away for the weekend, but we missed our baby girl really bad. This was our first time leaving her overnight and we couldn't wait to get home and give her lots of hugs and kisses.

Summer's grandma (my mom) and aunt Kara watched Summer at our house while we were gone so that she wouldn't have to be taken out of her well-known environment. This is a picture that Aunt Kara took as Summer was winding down for the night on Saturrday.

Every afternoon around 2:00, Summer and I curl up on the couch to relax and watch a little TV. It almost always turns into us taking a nap like in this photo here :

*Summer's First Vacation*

On Friday October 9th at a whole 5 weeks old, we packed up and headed out on Summer's first vacation - to the Great Smoky Mountains, TN. This was really exciting because it was my first trip to Tennessee as well. Here is a picture of the 3 of us getting ready to leave :

We followed my mom, Tim, and Kara in Tim's Explorer because they have been to these mountains several times and they were our "tour guides" for the week. This picture was taken as we entered North Carolina. I missed the "Welcome to NC" sign :

I was prepared this time and got the "Welcome to TN" sign :

Mom and Tim rented us a cabin in Wears Valley, TN for all of us to stay in for the week. We got to our cabin around 6pm Friday night. We ordered pizza and just relaxed after traveling the whole day. Here is a picture of Tim's very first time holding baby Summer, he was telling her about how he will teach her to go hunting and fishing in a couple years :

Brett and I snuggling up with our daughter and watching movies on our first night in the mountains.

On Saturday it was very cold and rainy outside, and the clouds were very low making it hard to see the mountains, so we decided to go to the local indoor flea market and look around. That afternoon, Brett and Tim wanted to watch the Carolina football game. We went to Applebee's to eat lunch and let them have their fun. Back at our cabin we had a pool table and a hot tub. Since it was still so nasty out, we decided to have another night in - the boys made good use of the pool table and thoroughly entertained us :

On Sunday, Brett had to go back home and get ready for work the next day. Tim's mom Lois and step-dad Stan came up to stay in the cabin beside us for the remainder of the week. Here is a picture of Stan telling me, Kara, and Summer stories by the fire :

We got up early Sunday morning to take a ride through Cades Cove. Tim has been here numerous times, so he knew that this was the most active time for all the wildlife. I was determined to see a bear, but didn't have such luck. Instead we saw over 100 deer - they were everywhere!

Right down from our cabin was a local wood carver. We went to visit his store and see how he makes these beautiful pieces of art. This was taken outside of his store :

The way these wooden animals are made is amazing. They start out as a huge trunk of a tree, then the artist uses a chainsaw to create his masterpiece. Since Kara loves parrots this one of course was her favorite :

Here is me and Summer with my favorite :

Every night after Tim would cook us dinner, our critter neighbors could smell our yummy food. The raccoons were the friendliest. This mother and her baby would sit at our back door each night searching for our left overs. She was so sweet.

"Cheeese!!! Thanks for sharing your food with us!!"

On Tuesday, the girls (me, Summer, Kara, mom, and Lois) went out around town while Tim and Stan had their day to hang out. Kara really wanted to go to a local attraction called Parrot Mountain. It was an actual mountain that was made into a Parrot rescue. There was every type of bird you could imagine there, and most of them were trained and could talk very well. Here we are at the entrance to the mountain :


This Cockatoo became our favorite bird right away. As soon as we walked up to him he said "Pet me!!", so we did as he told us, and as we were petting him he said "I love you!". He was quite a character.

A beautiful Scarlet Macaw :


Summer didn't seem very impressed by this and slept through the whole thing, even through the defening squawks and all!!





After we were done at Parrot Mountain, I wanted to go to the Disney outlet nearby. This was Summer's first trip to the Disney Store and I was very excited about it. They had an entire section of Tinkerbell things, so of course I had to take pictures!! All of the Tinkerbell outfits were 18 months and up, so we just strapped some wings on her :

I think Summer just enjoyed all of the bright colors in the store, she didn't know what to think!

We headed back home on Wenesday, October 13 after a fun 5 days in the mountains. I really enjoyed my first trip to TN and hope to go back soon :)