West Virginia- Sunday- Henry.

On Sunday, mama and I woke up early (6:30 am!). Because we were in a small cabin, we had no choice but to head outdoors. Mama wishes she had brought a camera to document how cute I looked wearing tight pajama pants and a big winter coat. Everyone finally woke up at 9 am and we got to head back inside and warm up.

Later we headed to Carnifex Ferry Battlefield State Park to take in the majestic views.

Papa crashed a nice shot of Mister Anthony and Aunt Girl.

Aunt Girl tried to get a picture with Guggy, but it was too cold.

We had to stop her from climbing around this fence and falling down the side of the mountain.

What a puffy, well-layered family.

Grams and her kids.

Sadie hams it up with her mama and papa.
We hiked into the woods.
We saw people white-water rafting and felt cold for them.

When we got back to the cabin, the grown-ups cleaned up while we ate the chocolate suckers Aunt Girl brought for us.

June liked her chocolate millipede.

I had a creepy eyeball.

Thanks Aunt Girl.

Tasty.

Uncle Adam told us to keep Juner inside, because he didn't want her to see the horror of what happened outside. It looks like one of her Little People was smashed by a car tire. At least he went with a smile on his face.

We put on a video and Junie tried hard to stay awake.

These are some tired kids after a long, fun weekend.

West Virginia- Saturday-Henry.

On Saturday morning, we got up early...

...mooched a healthy breakfast off Aunt Katie...

...and headed to Bridge Day. The New River Gorge Bridge is the longest single arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. And besides being the longest, it is 876 feet high. Once a year, it is closed to cars so people can walk across and the very brave ones jump off.

The weather was cold and drizzly, so June's best defense was to fall asleep in the backpack.

Mister Anthony and Aunt Jill took the risk of standing close to the edge.

Sadie got a look over the edge.

Mama even scooted up to the edge. Check out the death grip she has on my arm. And papa's holding on to her too. She spent most of Bridge Day hyperventilating about the 4 foot barrier between us and the 876 foot down to the river.

The Turners put on their best "Monkey Faces."

Here's the view from up top. This was the best weather we had all weekend. On Thursday and Friday, it was so foggy that you couldn't even see the bottom.

The grown-ups were happy for the cold because it meant that Sadie and I didn't want to get out of our strollers.

I did get out when I heard a train whistle. Mama held me up to the edge and we got to watch a passenger train below. If you look close on the right side of the river, you can see a small circle. That's where the BASE jumpers aim to land. It's about 30 feet across.

Here's where they jump. Another benefit to the bad weather was the reduced crowds. Last year, it took us 40 minutes to get past the platform. This year, it wasn't even crowded.

Here are two guys jumping together. We don't think we could even stand on each other's shoulders, let alone jump off a bridge.

Mister Anthony really exceeded expectations this weekend. Mama jokes that he is the best errand boy our family could ask for. But it is great having him around. He lifted me up when mama got too scared to look over. He carried June around Taste of Bridge Day for an hour. And he was always there to hold mama's mittens and water bottle.

It's been along time, but we got our shot of papa and a giant turkey leg for this year.

Here's the whole Cooper family (minus PawPaw). We missed you this year, Pawps.

After we got home, mama carved pumpkins for us. I had many demands and both of our pumpkins have designs on all sides. Here's our name that she carved out. I'll take pictures of our pumpkins tomorrow.

The girls go themselves good and giggly with a rowdy game of peek-a-boo.

Then Junie spun around around until she got dizzy. Believe it or not, we did go to sleep that night.

West Virginia- Thursday and Friday- June.- NOW UPDATED WITH VIDEOS!

You do it once, it's new. Do it twice, it's a tradition. And thus, the 2nd annual Cooper vacation to West Virginia took place this weekend.

Mama told me to pack my things, and don't forget where I put them.

I just hope this will be enough hair barrettes to hold my hair in place.

Henry sang a song to keep us in the packing mood. If you don't understand all the words, it is about the floor and the walls changing colors and ends in our favorite way- on pancake night.

We got to the cabin first on Thursday night. So while we waited, we had a dance party. Those are some moves.

We hung out on Friday. We went to visit GG Grandpa's sister, Aunt Margie and Uncle Dean, who live in an awesome log house on the New River Gorge just a few miles from the bridge. It literally sits on the the side of the mountain and has a deck that overlooks the gorge. I wish we had taken a picture of it, but the weather didn't really cooperate and we were all too busy enjoying brownies, hot buttered rums, and chasing their poor cat all over the house.

Mama decided to go running at the Civil War battlefield. It was a wet, cold day, but it was only drizzling, so mama thought it would be a good idea. She made it about 3 miles around the trails before she hit a wet patch of leaves and fell down a hill and twisted her ankle. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as the last time she twisted an ankle on vacation. She hobbled back out on to the road and walked home, only to scare some visitors who saw her come out bleeding profusely from a scraped knee. Papa says she's not allowed to exercise on vacation anymore. Mama's bummed because trail running is the only kind of running she even enjoys and she doesn't even have the coordination for that. Henry some how got it into his head that mama was hit by a bear who was running through the woods. Mama didn't correct him.

Sadie and I had matching jammies. I wasn't very happy because she was trying to put my shoe on.

We also didn't get pictures of our Friday night supper. We went to Taste of Bridge Day, where local fancy restaurants set up booths and sell tiny portions of their best stuff for a couple bucks a pop. We tried seafood gumbo, pork tacos, and some really great smoky chipotle shrimp with bacon cheddar mashed potatoes. Someone must have felt bad for the family standing outside with the three crazy kids because they gave Uncle Adam $20 worth of food tickets. So we all ran back inside to get coffee and toffee bread pudding for desert. It was the best. While the grownups stuffed their faces, we kids ran around the deck, which was fairly empty because of the crummy weather. Henry caught a click spot and wiped out. She started screaming that he peed his pants (he didn't), so mama took him into the bathroom. While they were in the stall, he decided to have a practical conversation with mama that went like this:

Henry: When are you going to die?
Mama: Not for a very long time.
Henry: But WHEN are you going to die?
Mama: Not until you're very old.
Henry: But WHEN?
Mama: In fifty years.
Henry: But who will live with June and I when you die?
Mama: You'll be old enough to live on your own by then. And you'll probably have your own family.
Henry: Do I get to pick them?
Mama: Pick who?
Henry: All the kids that are going to live with me.

When mama and Henry came out of the stall, the other woman in the bathroom was having a good laugh.

Blog post 1000!

We've been waiting for this post for a long time. This is our one thousandth blog post. We've been posting since Henry was one month old, so it took us 46 months to get this far. That averages out to about 21.7 posts a month (which even impresses us). Our blog has seen two kids, three states, and three houses. We've posted so much that we even filled our old blog and had to get this new improved one.

We decided to celebrate this momentous occasion with a cake. Mama was feeling especially patient and decided to let me help with it.

We took a look at the instructions and found out that you have to stir it for 2 minutes and cook it for 36.

She even let me try my hand at cracking eggs. I tapped the first one very lightly, but then smashed it while trying to pull the halves apart. I did better on my second try and didn't get any yoke in the cup.

The best part and the only reason I bake- eating the batter. Mama says we can't eat our cake tonight because it is for this weekend on our trip to West Virginia. We hope you're ready for a big cake surprise, Cooper family!

Finally, here's another big surprise. I got my school pictures back today and they are really good! Mama is going to have a hard time not buying these- even if the smallest package includes 6 pictures and costs $21! Highway robbery!

Mama likes this picture so much because it captures so much of me right now. Starting from the top- my unmanagable cowlick, mama's mediocre first attempt at a haircut, the Clemson necessity to wear orange whenever possible, my love of bib overalls (and Thomas the Tank Engine), the tattoos I earned by using the potty all by myself with no help at all, and the new Car Movie shoes I picked out all by myself and begged mama to buy me. What a great picture.

And since we mentioned Clemson's love of orange, I'll share a quick story with you. Mama loves theme dressing as much as Aunt Jenni loves theme dinners. Today, she happened to pull out a Wake Forest t-shirt for me, so we all got dressed in Wake Forest gear. First mistake- Wake Forest is on the ACC with Clemson, so it's bad form anyway. Second- Wake Forest is actually playing Clemson this weekend. Mama had to think quick after 4 people stopped her at the gym to give her a hard time. She eventually started telling people that she was such a big Clemson fan that she downgraded her Wake Forest shirt to gym clothes so she could get it all sweaty in her spinning class. Nice recovery, mama.

An engineering feat- Henry.

Today when mama got home from the gym, she got a call from my preschool. The first thing they said was "Henry had an acident when he was climbing on the playground equipment." A broken arm? A broken leg? Concussion? Then they said "He got stung by a yellow jacket." Tramatic for a little boy, but couldn't they have found a better way to say it? They called because I was worked up (it was my first day in my new class and I didn't know the teachers). Mama told them to give me a few minutes to calm down and if I didn't then she'd come get me. Luckily, once we got back to my class, I was fine and mama was able to go grocery shopping like she had planned.

She had another panic attack on the way home from school when suddenly her lips went numb. Aneurysm? Nerve damage? She was on the phone with papa to have him call the hospital when she realized before she got in the car, she kissed my hand. Which had treated with a topical pain cream. Phew. Disaster averted.

When we got home from school, my hand didn't hurt so we put June to bed and started working on the greatest train track ever. We figured out that June's blocks are the perfect size for elevating our train track.

Mama says this kind of train track is called an "El" like the ones we've been on in Chicago and D.C.

I wanted mama to take a picture of this train and its log. They sure are beat up after years of use.

Here's the whole track. Of all my toys, I think this is the one mama likes the most. It must be the latent "knack" coming out in her, because she keeps thinking of ways to make it better.

Today is laundry day, so mama had all the laundry out in the play room. It was no match for my dump truck. Take that, soggy sheets.

Before my nap, I told mama that we sang "Jingle Bells" at school today (I normally refuse to tell her anything that happened at school, so this is big). Then I told her that Santa Claus will come and bring me presents on my birthday. She said he came on Christmas, but my birthday is close to Christmas so I figured he'll come on both. She said not to put too much stock in Santa because he only brings one present to our house. The real loot comes from all our Grandmas and Grandpas. But I said that Santa is the best because he brings presents to "all the girls and boys all over the world." It's going to be a long wait until Christmas.