San Francisco!

This past weekend the three of us headed out to San Francisco, CA to visit Mike Krueger and his girlfriend, Erin. We flew out on Thursday evening and came back on Sunday. This was Lydia's first plane ride, and overall we think she did pretty well. The first leg from Louisville to Atlanta was full of screaming and crying, but the other three flights went very well.

Once out in CA we had our own personal tour guide in Mike. We spent Friday seeing the sights of the city including Alcatraz, Pier 39, the Painted Ladies, Chinatown, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Tony Marchand, another friend from high school, lives about 45 min. from SF with his wife Erin, and they were able to come down on Friday night for dinner.

On Saturday we headed to Muir Woods to see some giant redwood trees. We went on a 6-7 mile hike around the National Park, with Lydia riding in the infant carrier. We then stopped at a local cafe for lunch and then headed to see the University of California (Berkley). We were able to walk around campus for a bit and see some of the amazing views from the top part of campus.

We caught an early flight Sunday morning to come back to TC. We got lucky in the fact that our flight from SF to Cincinnati was not full. Lydia was able to sit in her car seat in an extra seat next to us. Although it wasn't bad having to hold her, it was a lot more comfortable to her and us with her in the carseat.

Below are some pictures from the weekend!

Getting ready to take off to California.

Alcatraz!

The Painted Ladies (Full House House)

First trip to the Pacific Ocean

Muir Woods

On the beach.

Muir Woods

Hanging out.

Hiking

Giant Redwoods

Halloween 2008!

Lydia experienced her first Halloween last night, dressed like a clown. Grandma Sarah made the costume for her. We headed down to the Witches Walk on Thursday evening to have a professional picture made of her in the costume. Danny Bolin had set up a fall outdoor scene and had a specially priced package just for the Witches Walk. I never realized how packed Tell City's Main Street could be with people getting free candy!

For the actual Halloween trick or treating we made a few stops in town. Lydia was exhausted when we got home, as you can see in some of the pictures below.

If you want to see Lydia's 6 month pictures go to http://www.debrasstudio.net/, click on session proofing. The password is snowbunny.

A Cross Country Season, Marathon, and Baby Food!

It has been a while since the last post, but we have been pretty busy here in Tell City. Cross country season is in full swing, with sectional coming up tomorrow. Lydia and I have been to a couple of meets to help cheer on the runners. She enjoys the meets, mostly because she gets to be outside. We have also been busy watching Greg and Andy in their tennis matches. Both advanced to the 2nd part of sectional in Jasper. Lydia has definitely been to her share of athletic events already!

Since my last post, Lydia has been to the doctor for her four month check-up and shots. A week before her appointment she started rice cereal. She has now moved up to a jar of baby food each evening and the cereal in the morning. She has tried all the vegetables and is halfway through the fruits and will start applesauce tonight. She is doing pretty well with the whole spoon and highchair concept.

Most recently (yesterday) Chris competed in the Chicago Marathon. He finished 79th out of 45,000 runners. His time was 2 hours and 37 minutes. Lydia, Tony, Chris, and I all went up to Chicago for the weekend. We got to spend time with Tom and Kristen on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday we met up with Adam Brinksneader and Julie Hotz, who also competed in the marathon. On Sunday, Tony, Lydia and I were able to cheer for Chris at four spots around the course and then find him at the finish. For his fast, and possibly last marathon, he did pretty well! You can check out http://www.chicagomarathon.com/ for more info on the race. There are supposed to be some pictures up sometime as well!

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks!

Hanging out in the bouncy chair!

She can roll!

To keep her occupied in the car, she watched some Baby Einstein.

Resting the night before the race.

Waiting for Daddy.

Lydia was watching the race.

Can you see Chris? He has no shirt, black shorts, and yellow shoes.

The 79th place finisher :)

Back to School & Family Reunion

Lydia is officially four months old today! Along with sleeping all night and being awake more, she has now experienced rice cereal. She is slowly getting the hang of eating out of spoon, although for the moment she is getting more on the bib and her face than in her mouth!

Lydia has started going to daycare at William Tell Elementary. The daycare is located right across from my classroom and is just for teacher's kids. Until today, she was the youngest baby there, and she has really enjoyed going to "school." The first couple weeks of going she was extremely tired whenever we got home from school. She is spending each Wednesday with Grandma Rhonda, which is a good break from daycare for Lydia. She usually uses that day to catch up on her rest.

We have also been attending some tennis matches to watch Andy and Greg. Lydia likes being outside which means she is usually in a good mood at the matches. Lydia also attended her first cross country meet on Saturday. We went to U of E for the first meet of the year where some of my old teammates competed.

On Sunday we traveled to Princeton, Indiana for a Chinn family reunion. With the exception of a few relatives who are out of driving distance of Princeton, all my dad's family was there. We had a shelter house at the community park, but mostly spent the day sitting outside under the nice big trees. My cousin Andrea's daughter, Kathy, played with Lydia for most of the day, and I think that Lydia enjoyed all the attention :)

Here are some pictures of our recent activities!

Family Pictures

We got some family pictures made last Wednesday. For the next month, they are accessible through the following website:

www.debrasstudio.net
Click on "Session Proofing"
Password: hollinden

Schweizer Fest 2008

At the end of July, Lydia had her first slumber party with her Grandma Hollinden. I was attending the Longaberger Bee with my mom and Chris was in Chicago for Lollapolooza with his dad. Aunt Bev came down from Illinois to help Rhonda take care of Lydia and had a surprise extended visit to Tell City whenever her car got a flat tire on her way home.

This past week was Tell City's annual Schweizer Fest. Because it was the town's 150th anniversary, they had some special events going on all week. Lydia took part in some of them, but also spent some time in the pool at the Hollinden's. She got to experience her first "Old Fashioned Bargain Days" and flea market shopping. We spent some time at the park on Saturday watching cousin Morgan ride some rides.

Lydia also participated in the annual Schweizer Fest Road Run on Saturday morning. Chris and I were busy organizing the event so some old cross country runners, Sidney and Marianne, pushed Lydia during the two mile race.

School begins tomorrow and Lydia will begin going to the daycare we have at William Tell. She will be staying with Grandma Rhonda on Wednesdays. We are hoping for a smooth transition!

Baptism and Music in the Park

Lydia was baptized at St. Paul's on July 19th. Her godparents are her Aunt Katie and Uncle Joey. She was very luck to get to be baptized in the gown that her dad, Grandpa Hollinden, and Great-Grandpa Hollinden wore (plus a whole lot of uncles and cousins). As you can see from the pictures the gown was beautiful! Lydia did very well during the baptism, and did not even cry when Father Timothy poured the water on her head. Following the baptism, we had a cook-out at our house to celebrate.

Later that weekend, we attended our second "Music in the Park." Tony's music group from church was going to be playing, so we decided to go and listen. Lydia enjoyed laying on a blanket under the tree and listening to Grandpa Tony's music.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet here, we are all getting ready to go back to school and for Lydia to go to the daycare at William Tell. As you can see from some of the photos, she has been doing a lot of sleeping and now enjoys being in her Snugli!

First 4th of July & Family Wedding!

The first week of July has been a very busy one for all of us. Lydia spent the the week with her friend Will from Virginia. Will was in town for his 1st birthday party. We also went to cousin Ross Melton's birthday party. Ross got a little jealous when his mommy was feeding Lydia. This week also included Uncle Tom & Aunt Kristen's wedding weekend in Bloomington, Indiana. Tom & Kristen got married on Saturday, but the whole Hollinden family was on hand for most of the weekend to celebrate. Lydia slept through her first fireworks show on IU's campus, even though it was awfully loud! She was also excited to see her Gma & Gpa Chinn as well as Aunt Katie and Uncle Andy, who had been gone to Flordia all week. Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks!

Playing in Will's raft

Bath Time!

Will's Birthday Party

Ross was a bit jealous.

She loves Auntie Katie

Family Picture at the Wedding