John Bryan State Park.. Dont hurt yourself part II

Adam and I took camden to a state park about 20 minutes out of town for a fun Sunday reconnecting with nature. The park was beautiful and we only skimmed the surface of what there is to do there. Behind me in this picture you can see the big river that has formed the gorge we were hiking around. Camden loved all the scenery and fresh air, not to mention riding in style! Camden and her daddy before the big hiking trip at the house

WHOA, thats a big rock!

Camden and me taking a minute to enjoy the scenery and a quick break from carrying around 20+ lbs of love. I carried her the first half of the hike and Adam graciously relieved me the 2nd part which was more up hill, I planned that well...Thanks honey :-)

We had a great time and cant wait to go back. The only downfall was that all the leaves had fallen and made the path really slick so we, I mean I was constently loosing my footing, to which adam would caution me "Dont Hurt Yourself!" - see previous blogs for that story - our friend Diana reminded me the other day of the hilarious golf outing that brought meaning to the phrase dont hurt yourself that I never thought it could have... haha

suiting up for the hike, and in desperate need of sunglasses!

H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N

Happy 1st Halloween Camden!
Camden had two outfits this year for her halloween costume. Since the holiday fell on a Gator football Saturday she was of course a UF Cheerleader. I took her to the gym all decked out in her UF Cheerleader outfit and she got tons of compliments but everyone also wanted to know where her Ohio State outfit was... the answer "at #10 in the BCS" hahaha GO Gators #1
In the afternoon before the UF vs UGA game was on, Cam helped me rake leaves in the front yard, she was hesitant towards the foliage, but once she discovered the leaves in her own way she was all about being mommys lil helper on leaf duty. As I was loading the leaves into trash bags she would start taking the leaves out of the bag and laughing hysterically
Silly Camden with her Ghostly T-shirt and family of pumpkins

Cam was actually afraid of the pumpkins, as I moved the pumpkin closer to her she grew more and more scared... poor thing, but I had to get the picture

our Camden in a nut shell..."No more pictures MOM"

Miss Ladybug aka Cams Halloween costume

the antennas on her head were hilarious, I just loved how cute they looked

Camden and gma getting ready for trick or treat

There's a buggy in my house!

Me and the peanut, I mean ladybug

yummy! candy. We hit about 5 houses on our street and we were spent.

Camden kept throwing her candy over her shoulder and kicking it around the kitchen floor, so funny

Off to bed for our little ladybug! The first Halloween... officially a success

Pumpkins and Baby destructo

One happy little girl! 11 mos old today, I just cant believe its almost been a whole year. I better start party planning.

Tonight, Camden's 11mos bday, we carved pumpkins for Halloween. Camden was very cautious of this new and very strange thing we call pumpkins. She was not a fan of the pumpkin guts one bit. She immediately grabbed the spoon after getting just a slight feel of the gooey guts and seeds. Oh so dainty...

A perfect replica

Yep! that lasted about 90 seconds... no more pumpkin carving for Cams

ALSO...

Camden now has 6 teeth! 4 on top and 2 on the bottom, if you look closely you can see her top teeth in this first picture.

Baby destructo begins her raid of the tupperware cabinet and then she moves her focus to the pantry!

At her gma and gpa Walz's house obliterating the bottom shelves of the pantry. Their dog, Shelby, is trying not to get whacked in the head by flying cracker boxes and pudding cups. And yes, Camden does have a bow in her hair, I broke down and put one in her hair just to see what she would do, but she was much to involved in her plan to destroy the pantry to realize it was there, so unlike hats it actually stayed on her head for the evening.

I managed to catch a video of Camden in action. She was actually throwing the food items at a faster pace during the first 5 min of her tirade, but the video is still funny. When she hears me call her name, she drops everything and hussles out of the room as to say "Oh crap, I am caught! Mom, it wasnt me, someone made a mess, but nope not me"

WARNING! White girl rapping!

So I cant believe I am posting this video but if I am determined to be the next pop/hip hop sensation this is the way to do it... the internet! I absolutely love the song "Baby down down down" by J. Sean and featuring Lil Wayne. Its a good beat and I have memorized the Lil Wayne's cameo verse -- i.e. the hilarious video that is me signing/rapping. Unfortunately you cant hear the song, just me. Adam put me up to this and it was a lot of fun to just let go, my facial experssion at the end says it all. So enjoy; and to all you music producers just have your people call my people...haha!

Here is the actual song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGxcL8CYYoc

Watch Out Divas

Lately I have been a little stressed out for a whirlwind of reasons, so instead of illegal substances (just a joke, dont freak out mom!) I have turned to dancing around my house after Camden goes to bed to the latest teen pop songs. One day I will look back and laugh...

My new favorite hit, already listened to it like 10 times today... Cam thinks its totally hot too!

Marathoning baby

On your mark, get ready, get set, 3, 2, 1 GO! Its race time! Last Saturday morning I ran a 5K for a friends charity in Xenia, OH and to my surprise I finished in the top 5! I had no idea my body even knew what the word "fast twitch" muscle fiber meant, let alone had any... haha. (all my exerc sci geeks get the humor behind the last sentence). The race started at 9am and that early in mid October, Ohio weather can be a bit unpredictable - like 40 degrees and windy ... no wonder I ran fast, I was COLD!! I am looking forward to more races and couple half marathons here in the next couple months, before the really cold weather takes over the Miami Valley and all I want to do is stay under the covers and drink excessive amounts of Hot Chocolate. By this year Kroger probably has a special stock of the low cal Swiss Miss in the back with my name on it.

On Sunday I bundled Cam up and took her for a hour jog around the neighborhood. Since I run with super speed now, I made sure to layer her up with a hat, hoodie and blanket so the breeze wouldnt be too cold for her. Little did I know my super speed is only possible with the adrenaline of race day, so my super sonic run turned into more of a brisk walk... haha! Either way I think she had fun, just check out the pics below... not a half mile into my workout and she was OUT!

Watch the drool kid!

Go Gators, Cam rides in style!

By the way, Tebow was cleared for Saturday's game vs. LSU in Death Valley. He helped lead the Gators to a modest 13-3 victory. The Gator defense really deserves the credit, led by Senior Brandon Spikes they held LSU to a measley 3 pts! Go Gators, this weekend is homecoming in Gainesville. My predictions thus far... Alabama and UF in the sec championship game with an SEC team definetly in the BCS Championship Game.

T- minus 4 weeks till I am back in FL, Nov. 5 here I come G-ville

New Foods and Polka Dots

Camden has recently discovered how yummy real fruit is, she loves melons, strawberries, bananas, grapes, almost any thing. Its funny to watch her miticulously pick up each little piece and then shovel it into her mouth... ahhh the little things in life. Camden is eating more and more real people food and less jarred baby food. Its awesome she eats what we eat, like tonight we had lasagna for dinner and Camden loves italian food. She just goobles up the noodles and meat sauce.

Miss Polka Dot! here she is in her super cute sweater from Molly and Marie last winter, She is finally big enough to fit all her cute fall jackets.

Mommy and Me

Just a couple cute shots of Camden, if you look closely in the next picture you can see her vampire fang "toofers" pokin' through

Oh Tim Tebow!

As many of you know I had tears in my eyes Saturday evening as I watched the Gators handle the UK Wildcats. These tears were not soley of joy, they in fact were triggered by the sudden and unexpected injury to UF's Superman Tim Tebow. Tebow was blasted by a UK player during the thrid quarter, he never saw it coming... BAM! "Down goes Tebow, Down goes Tebow" to make it worse his own lineman jacked the back of his head on his way down from the initial collision. Tebow suffered a concussion, he was later carted off vomitting into a bag (key sign of a concussion) and kept at the UK medical center overnight as a precaution.

Tebow is now attending team meetings, but is still out of contact practices. Reports lead us to believe he will fully recover and be back for the LSU game on the 10th, next Saturday. Dont get me wrong John Brantley, the back up for Florida is a class act, a great quarterback, just at this point it would be awesome to see the full impact of a healthy Tebow on UF's season and college football in general.

Gatorzone.com for details.

Let the good times roll

Who ME? Caught red handed dragging out cd's, video game controllers and who knows what else out of one of the entertainment centers. Camden has a new found fascination with cabinets, I dont even mess with toys, I just open the tupperware cabinet and let the good times roll, literally there are lids rolling everywhere -- haha! (yes, I am laughing at my own pun). Moving on...

Who loves Grandma and Grandpa Stopka in Florida.... WE DO! Camden and I took another trip to see my family about 2 weeks ago, we had a blast, my sister even took me out to relive the old college days -- I lasted till about 11pm. My mom bought Camden this awesome toy, its a car, a walker and everything in between, Cam loved it

A Savant (spelling?) At least a child prodigy, Camden is making beautiful music at her great- grandmas house. After the initial surprise of the sound, she loved the piano -- hey whatever gets her a scholarship to college - haha!

More FL pics to come, the sis was the photographer for the trip, and since she and her camera are in FL...