The Smokey Mountains and Tennesse Volunteers

A much delayed post to the family blog...We spent the weekend in Tennessee visiting Josh's Grandpareents -- Max's first trip since he was 3 months old. What a difference! Grandma and Grandpa Schuckert (GiGi and PopPop to Max) couldn't believe how much he had changed. He made himself at home quickly and was soon walking from room to room, trying to climb the stairs, throwing food on GiGi's clean floor and banging on her pots and pans. Grandma Schuckert cooked quite the feast for us when we arrived and basically we just ate for the rest of the weekend...

Max showing off his teeth for GiGi and PopPop

Max and PopPop

Saturday morning we went into Knoxville to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Aunt Margi and Uncle Simon where we discovered that Max LOVES oranges (the rest of the delicious country breakfast ended up on the floor much to the waitress' delight).

Max trying to figure out how to eat his first orange

Finding a way...

Taking a break before eating his fifth orange

Afterwards we dropped Max at the Mowrers' to hang with Lottie Sue while the parents tailgated and watched the Volunteers try very hard to lose to Vanderbilt (fortunately, Vanderbilt missed a final field goal to keep UT's home winning streak alive).

Max and Lottie Sue...the closest pic I have of them looking at each other

An Adorable Jen at the famous Mowrer Tailgate

Josh with Margi and Simon

Halftime at Neyland Stadium

Megan vamping it up after the game

On Sunday, Max charmed the staff and patrons of the local breakfast spot in Wears Valley and then we set out on a drive to see the beautiful fall colors of the Smokey Mountains. Grandma and Grandpa Schuckert say they were the brightest they had seen in their 17 years in the Valley.

Max is not so happy about this hat

Max cannot wait to get into the leaves

Josh was excited to take Max to one of his favorite haunts, Metcalf Bottoms. Apparently, many Schuckert descendants have passed time here 'throwing rocks'...that's right, not skipping or hopping rocks, (although I am sure that came into play as the kids grew older), but just plain old throwing rocks and getting a big splash. This sounded a bit dangerous to me, and when I asked I did learn that almost everyone -- chaperoning adults as well as the little ones -- had been hit in the head with a rock at one time or another. Apparently this was just part of the fun. Anyway, with Josh's help, Max dipped his fingers in the water and climbed some of the mini-boulders. We'll save rock throwing (and hitting!) until he is a bit older. His favorite activity was crawling around on the dried leaves because it made a lot of noise!

Max's first dip in Metcalf Bottoms stream

Max gazing at the water (imagining all of those future rocks...)

Grandma and Grandpa Schuckert at Metcalf Bottoms

We said good-bye to GiGi and Pop and hit the road for the long drive home. Fortunately the mountain air (and lack of pack-n-play sleep) had Max all tuckered out and he slept almost the whole way home!

Trying this Blogging-Thing Out

As most of you know, I am well-intentioned but painfully slow in getting out pictures and correspondence to our loved ones...in many cases I am just plain delinquent. So this blog is an effort to get timely updates out for the interested parties as well as a way to document the ever-changing life and times or our little buddy, Max. I have been inspired by our good friend Jen Mowrer and her entertaining tales of Lottie Sue on their family blog. I cannot promise to be nearly as creative and amusing but I will try to be detailed for those of you who are not able to witness first hand the daily changes.

This weekend, I finally sent out a shutterfly link to 3 months worth of pictures of Max, so I am starting out "all caught up". However, since sending out that very brief update, Max has truly started becoming a man on the move. He has progressed from taking about 10 tenuous steps to walking from one room to the other...rounding corners and everything. When he is walking to Josh or me, he gets excited and breaks into what can only be called a run. Of course, he quickly loses his footing and dives into our laps. Every time he attempts to walk, we have to make a big deal out of it...."Yea, Max!", loud claps and cheers. I wonder at what point we will transition into this being like every other milestone...eventually no big deal. Right now though it is a HUGE deal in our house and we think our guy is the first kid to ever learn to walk. It is slightly disconcerting though when all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see this little guy walking upright. It can't be only six months ago that he was content to sit in a bouncy chair. This kid has to be on the move constantly.

One other "first" today...we were rocking in his nursery and he leaned far over one of the arms of the chair....nothing new there...I just hold on to his legs. This time though, he wiggled one leg loose, threw it over the arm of the chair and slid his way to standing on the floor. I saw a future of a kid who is going to be climbing out of his crib in no time. Lord, help us.