sometimes, pregnant women just plain rock!

I mean, take for example, my wife Bryna. We went on a weekend camping at Shenandoah National Park this past weekend (for the 4th of July, you know, to celebrate patriotism and all), and she freakin' hiked more than 5 miles in the mountains . . . and being 23+ weeks pregnant. How awesome is that?!?! Sorry to gloat, but I'm very proud of her. Must be all the yoga or something. Hopefully, Mr. Short Stranger will enter this world just rearin' to get to the woods and do some camping (right?).

While on our camping trip, I also was able to play a little back-and-forth game with Short Stranger. I tapped a couple times on Bryna's bump, and he'd punch back . . . and we did this about 5-6 times in a row (he was probably thinking "hey man, cut that out"). Very cool, though.

While I'm thinking about camping and friends, I wanted to share our re-visit to the beloved Rose River Trail in Shenandoah. Such a great trail, lingering along the river with several nice spots to just sit and chill as the stream rushes by. We hiked there in 2006 during our last group trip to Shenandoah, and returned to get another group picture this time. While life's events have changed the group slightly (and will perhaps soon lead to fewer of us being able to make the trek), I thought it was worth making the historical comparison for memory's sake. Here goes:

One final lesson learned from camping that related to quality parenting (due to our friends Jen and Jeremy and their adorable daughter Zoe) -- MUST BUY LARGER TENT WITH MULTIPLE ROOMS!

And a picture in honor of our friend Becca . . . the only person I know who owns fire gloves and brings them camping (maybe because she works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and knows more than we do about what catastrophic events are in store for us in the future -- just kidding : )