Micah's 1st Birthday

We had planned for the birthday party to be outdoors but unfortunately the weather threatened to be nasty so we ended up moving it inside just to be safe. So there was a lot of last minute re planning of the decorations. Uber and a friend ended up being in charge of the garland and I have to say  I love that they decided to deck out the front of the house!

 lebkuchen were worn

 as well as lederhosen (outfit courtesy of Mum's amazing sewing skills) but don't worry only by the wee one. 

We tried to get a mini photo shoot in but there were a lot of distractions... wind... dogs...

 This child kills me. 

 Mustaches which had nothing to do with the fest they just seemed like they would be fun

 and they were!

 Micah enjoyed his gifts

Though not so much when I put him in his gift...
**Disclaimer** there were awesome balls in this box... he should have enjoyed this!

 Kubbs was played - have you all heard of this game? It's Swedish and it is a blast- dad made our set. 

 Micah wasn't sure what to do while everyone sang to him 

 He was also rather miffed about the large cake in front of him, like we were playing some sort of trick on him.

 He was more than happy to feed it to other people 

 But we found out he is more of a chocolate boy.

1st Birthday Invitations

I know I am finally getting to Micah's birthday. 

I went back and forth trying to decide on a theme and then it hit me - It had to be an Oktoberfest. 

So here are the invites, party pictures will be tomorrow.  

Jacksonville Zoo

We took Micah on his first trip to the Zoo a few weeks back. Just thought you would enjoy some pictures!

Tennessee

This was our first family vacation - Uber and I have spent every other vacation visiting family- not that that is a bad thing our family happens to live in some awesome places. This trip is the farthest I've ever visited into the 'middle' of the states, I've been all over the coasts but the furthest inland before this was Atlanta.... which isn't saying much! 

It was very pretty - and we saw a LOT of it! We logged a little over 1800 miles this trip and Micah was awesome about it. 

The first full day we were there was raining so we got to know the area we were staying in. Which just happened to be where the largest tree house is... I think it was somewhere over 6000 sq ft... and creepy as all get out. 

 This is the less creepy side of the monstrosity. It's being built by a priest and the place could totally have a horror movie filmed in it

 Group shot at the top - to the left you can just make out the end of Jesus mowed into the lawn with a huge cross

 In addition to a church/cathedral-ish area there were a good 20 of these carved people hanging out. It definitely made you a little worried in a few place whether you would make it out again. 

 I am not sure I would say I recommend it but if it is raining and you have nothing better to do it's definitely special!

 We spent a day hiking (2.5-3 miles) in Fall Creek Falls. Very pretty.

 It claimed to have the highest fall east of the Rocky Mountains. I am sure in the spring these falls are a bit more treacherous but we had a blast climbing all over them  

Here we are at the 'biggest' fall

 Millikan's Overlook- reminded me of a mini Yosemite 

 Great Smokey Mountains (hills) National Park this was a nice relaxing day.  We spent most of the day driving Cades Cove Loop- the scenery was gorgeous. And just did a small 2 mile hike which I wont bother you with pictures of. 

 We did the loop because I was told we would see bears- and we did! We saw the bottom right one first he was a cub! I totally wanted to pet him! (haha) we drove right under him- which is why its a terrible pic but he was only 10-15 feet above us. Then the top right was next I would say he was a teenager and a good 35-45 ft up a tree. We were exiting the loop when the guy on the left decided to walk by. He was big! 

 The last hike we did was 5.5 miles (it totally did us in) we went all the way up almost into Kentucky to Big South Fork National Park they have twin stone arches- here is Micah and me under the larger of the two

 Micah waiving to the horses. It's the first time he took notice of a larger animal... this is the distance at which he decided he wanted to be friends with them.

 This is how Micah hiked. 

 This is me at mile 4 of the never ending hike... it was serious... we were climbing up and over boulders, we could barely move the next day!

Ok well this wraps up our vacation- not sure everyone would see this as a vacation- but we had a blast. I am almost done catching up- sorry these posts have been more to catch our family up then anything else!