All My Adventures and Lots of Birthday Celebrating!

Greetings from me...the one year old Bridger! In the past two months since my last post I have visited 3 other states, been on two round trip airplane rides, hiked to amazing waterfalls, eaten my first donut, met all kinds of friends and relatives in person for the first time, and had three fabulous birthday celebrations. Since it has been so busy this post is 10 miles long. Sit down, get a nice beverage, and start from the bottom to hear all about what I have been up to. (and thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate being one and who let me visit them and came to visit me in the past year. I know I am very loved and that is the best gift of all.)

On the final leg I had lots of fun with both sets of grandparents. My parents were away and GrandDad put me in a Virginia Tech hat. I am still washing the contamination from that hat out of my hair. Speaking of awful things to wear, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and GrandDad took me on a paddle boat one day and I had to wear the most uncomfortable lifejacket ever. Some birthday present that was. Otherwise I did have lots of fun in VA...especially since there was another birthday celebration and I learned about sliding. Going down a slide, any slide I can find, is about the best thing ever!

On the third leg of the SE adventure we went to Charlottesville aka the greatest place on earth. I got to see the University of Virginia. Mommy has been telling me about how great UVA is since I was in the womb. Maybe I will go there someday. :) I got a tour of the grounds and Mommy, Daddy, and the GranDeCamps went to the IU/Virginia football game. Virginia put the smack down on IU. Wahoowa. I do feel sorry for Grandpa and Grandma though. They drove all that way for no good reason. They say that they have a rule: Thou shalt not go to IU away games. I don't think they will be breaking that again anytime soon.

The second leg of our adventure was a visit to Asheville. While we were there we got to meet Braden. Braden belongs to Ansley and Lee...Mommy did residency with Ansley. Braden is 7 weeks older than me but he is one big dude. We had fun not sleeping very much, doing some wrastling, and going to fun places like the nature center (well I didn't like the petting zoo at the nature center...more on my petting zoo aversion below). Ansley and Lee gave me this really cool scrub outfit for my birthday and Braden has one two so here we are as the future Dr. Miller and Dr. DeCamp. Aren't we handsome??? While we were there we also saw Auntie Noodle and Uncle Jake and we did lots of hiking. I loved the waterfalls when we were hiking. All I wanted to do was touch the water even though it was very cold. For some reason Mommy and Daddy held onto me very tight everytime they let me touch the water. Maybe it is because they were afraid I could go right over the edge?

On October 1st Mommy, Daddy, and I left for our Southeastern Adventure. We flew to Richmond and then drove to Durham, NC. Durham is special to Mommy and Daddy as that is where they met and bought their first home. I really liked it there. I thought their old house looked nice...especially the yard. The rock wall in the back looked perfect for climbing. Rumor has it that Dada actually built that thing all by himself (well with a little heavy lifting from the neighbors). While we were in Durham we stayed with Britton and her parents. The Corwins are great friends of my parents. Britton is just 4 months older than me. She can do lots of great things like talk and walk really well, but she was still very sweet to me and let me sleep in her crib and shared lots of her toys. While we were in Durham we also had my second first birthday celebration. John Chistolini came to my party...he was born the same day as Britton but he belongs to Meredith and Jeff. Meredith and Mommy know each other from when they were in high school. All these people...are you loosing track??? Well other people came to my party too..."Uncle" Mark, the Wilders, and the Glass (Go Gators!). It was very fun to meet all of my parents friends because they brought presents and we got to eat cake. Yum... Ooops almost forgot we went to the Duke gardens one day. I loved the ducks.

My First First Birthday Celebration!

As you know I turned the big one on October 9th. It is such a special birthday that we had three birthday celebrations for me. Ezra and I had a joint birthday party the last weekend in September for the first celebration. He was born on October 6th so it was just fine to celebrate his birthday too. We had tons of fun eating our first cupcakes and making a big mess. Claudia came to our party too (and our other friend Cecelia). The moms got all teary thinking about the big adventure they had survived in the past year. I am just glad I have two fun playmates and that my mom can have someone other than Daddy to listen to her crazy ideas about what to do with me.

Fall Fun in Michigan!

After our trip to California we had very pretty weather here in the Great White North. It was a perfect day at the park when we celebrated Claudia's first birthday. She is very cute and prim and proper. She even sashays when she walks...me I am doing some walking these days but Daddy says I look like Frakenstein. Back to September now, we also went to an apple orchard to enjoy the fall weather. I had my first donut there. It was the GREATEST. I also got to check out some apples on the tree and see a very loud baby lamb. The lamb was baaing so loud it was scary for me so we did not stay at the petting zoo very long. I preferred the cow that day as she was nice and calm and quiet. (and I did not have to touch her.) I have been to a petting zoo three times in my life now and quite honestly I am not a fan. The animals are stinky, they startle me sometimes when they get up and walk off, and you might get sick if you don't wash your hands after you touch them. I think that is good enough reasons to stay well enough alone for now.

All about my trip to California!

For the Labor Day weekend Mommy and I went to California. It was great to see all of my relatives there again. I had a great time getting some love from the great-grandparents, hanging out with my little cousin Jonan, my big cousins and Aunt Jody, going to the zoo, and eating lots of food that is not good for me. I even got to meet my Great-great Aunt Katie. I really liked the music box at her house. Also, I really like the weather in the Bay Area and I slept very well. That gave my mom some much needed time to relax. I have decided I like that time zone better so I think we should move there. Plus then I would get all kinds of love (and pinches!) from everyone. Oops I almost forgot that while we were there we also saw my Great Uncle Len and Aunt Liz. They have a great pool that was fun to float in. They are sort of crazy...they thought it would be funny to get me a Cal paraphenalia for my birthday. Apparently Cal is supposed to be some great school, but I don't know about that....my mom went to The University of Virginia. Well that's enough about CA...enjoy the photos.

Auntie Denise and Uncle Jake helped me get into all kinds of mischief when they were here for Mom's Birthday. I saw them again in Waynesville, NC in early October. They were just about to leave for their big move out to Park City. I can NOT wait to be able to visit them and learn how to ski and snowboard. Congrats on your first home Denise and Jake and save some pow stashes for me!