Halloween 2008!

Halloween this year was very exciting, because both girls were into it for the first time. Meadow was a bat girl, and Heather was Thomas the Tank Engine (Heather LOVES Thomas). The Sunday before Halloween, daddy took them to the Trick or Treat Train at the Colorado Railroad museum - they loved the train! They also had a Halloween party with their playgroup, and got to go trick or treating at both mommy and daddy's work on Halloween. Halloween night, daddy took the girls trick or treating in the neighborhood for the first time, and they did a good job - they were nervous to knock on the doors at first, but they got the hang of it, as well as saying trick or treat and thank you. Finally, they ended Halloween by playing games and trick or treating (again) at the annual fall festival at church. In the end, they collected about 100 times more candy in those days than they have eaten in both their lifetimes (alas, the candy will be vanishing from the house soon!).

Meadow the Ballerina!

Meadow loves her dance classes - and she's made big strides. She's always good following instructions, but you can really see a difference when she performs now at the end of each class. Here's Meadow in action!

Heather's 2nd Birthday!!!

Here are some photos from 2 of Heather's parties - one with her playgroup, and one at her school. Our little girl is now 2!

Deborah hypnotizes a chicken!

Labor Day Weekend 2008 - Part 2, Steamboat Springs

Part 2 of our Labor Day Weekend trip took place in Steamboat Springs, where we stayed with the Tumblins (Brent, Missey and their daughter Hailey) at their vacation club in the town - very nice room, a presidential suite! They were wonderful to stay with, fun was had by all, and all 3 girls got play with eachother. While at Steamboat Springs, we saw sheep dog trials, the old town, and Fish Creek Falls. The individual pictures and descriptions of the places shown can be seen here.

Labor Day Weekend 2008 - Part 1, Snow Mountain Ranch

It's been awhile since we've updated here, but not for the lack of material! Hopefully we'll catch you up soon. Late last week, we started our labor day weekend holiday early at Snow Mountain Ranch - YMCA of the Rockies, just northwest of Winter Park. We got to swim, ride horses, shoot bows and arrows at apples and dinosaurs, play at the library, hike, and make bracelets and walking sticks. Here's our first batch of pictures from there, more individual descriptions of the places shown can be seen here.

We Love to Hike!

Heather's going to be a Trick Pony Rider!

Welcome Leila!

Father's Day 2008

For Father's Day, we went to one of our favorite spots in the mountains near Denver, Tiny Town. We rode the train, played in the little town and playground, and finished with a picnic lunch.

Here's the pictures:



And Here's a video of Heather walking around the Tiny Town library:

Heather's a Cutie!

This is just a cute age right now - here she is pointing out her owee!

Memorial Day Weekend 2008 - Capulin Volcano National Monument

For Memorial Day Weekend we decided to try a little quasi-camping in New Mexico. We ventured to Capulin Volcano National Monument, about 30 miles east of Raton. Thor joined us on the 4 hour drive on Sunday, the first time he had traveled with us in awhile. Everybody was great in the car, and we arrived in Raton for a VERY windy dinner. We then made our way to the Capulin RV Park in the itty bitty village of Capulin, at the foot of the volcano. We checked in to a little cabin with 2 beds and electricity, but nothing else. Easing the girls into camping as it was.

The next morning we made our way to the volcano, where we drove to the top, then hiked the mile it takes to get around the rim. Not long, but some VERY steep parts on the trail to climb, particularly when carrying a 20-30 pound girl on your back! After that, we journeyed down into the crater of the extinct volcano. It was interesting to learn no one could explain why there was so much vegetation on this volcano. We capped off our nice little trip with a meal at the Capulin General Store (Frito Pie! Volcano Burger! Apple Flauta! Yummy!). Here's some pictures:


And here's a cute video of Heather showing us her new found jumping skills at the cabin!

Happy Mother's Day Gram!!!

Roaming the Rockies Slideshow - April 23-25, 2008

While the girls were away in Virginia, daddy took a little trip into the mountains to see some places he hadn't been before or had not been to in awhile, including Gunnison, Ouray, Crested Butte and Telluride. Here's some of the scenery below, more descriptions of the places shown can be seen here.

The Wildlife Experience and Surviving Jamestown - April 18, 2008

Daddy took this particular Friday off, so we all went south to Parker to see The Wildlife Experience and learn about animals. Nothing alive here though, kind of like a taxidermy zoo. There were a couple of interesting things - we all really enjoyed their current exhibit, Surviving Jamestown, which we did first. We also got to try out Heather's new monkey back pack with a long, long tail attached so she can't roam too far! Because we know Heather LOVES to roam. Good preparation for the airport which would be coming up shortly. There was also 2 play areas that were fun, along with a room full of animatronic animals from Colorado, which was neat in some parts, and scary in others (we didn't like the bear sleeping in the cave!) So here's some of what we did - you can see the rest of the pictures here.



Survivor: Jamestown takes visitors to the year 1607 when 104 colonists arrived in the New World. How was the environment different when settlers first landed on the Virginia shores? Throughout the journey visitors will discover what wildlife the colonists encountered, plants that were found, various water sources that were available and much more!

All these discoveries will be made as visitors take on the role of an actual colonist and wind their way through a maze facing engaging challenges that prompt visitors to make decisions to "survive".

Choosing our water source carefully! Don't pick the sea water!

Time to dress up in the clothes of the time!

Preparing for battle!

Beaten down by the monkey on my back.

It's fun to color!

Mommy thinks so too!

Time to go!

In the end, daddy barely survived, but mommy didn't make it due to failing health; that seemed to be a problem for those poor Jamestown folk. But then we brought mommy back to the present and everything was ok!

Rewind: 4th of July 2007

Here's the last blast of the past I will bring back. Hope to be more current from now on! With us beginning to hike again as Spring arrives in the Rockies, this one seems appropriate.



I feel like I'm moving at about a turtle's pace today. I am soooooo sore from hiking. The above picture is from a hike last Saturday, but we went yesterday as well for Family 4th of July! Same result yesterday as Saturday, two girls asleep in their packs. Meadow did a little hiking herself yesterday as opposed to Saturday, when she just wanted to ride. Back to being sore, hiking with a 25lb girl on my back is kicking my butt. Granted, I think it might be a little better with a higher quality back pack, but I obviously need to get tougher. My feet, shoulders, hips, legs, wrists, etc. are all sore. I can't even remember the last time I was this sore on so many areas.

It was a nice lazy holiday for us yesterday, and we took the girls to see fireworks at a water tower near our house that overlooks pretty much the entire city of Denver from all sides. About the only cool thing in our neighborhood in fact :). Heather's too young to care, but she wasn't bothered by any of it, and Meadow was especially excited about seeing them (though once she got there, she was more concerned with what Heather was doing with the water bottle, but that's her world right now!). So it was interesting to see all of the various areas in Denver and the burbs doing their shows. Deborah has a philosophy of not doing the same thing every year for holidays (unlike what I grew up with - same thing every year). I am definitely opening up to that, I like that we're doing something different every year.

Well, with the 4th being in the middle of the week, this week at work feels like Christmas week or something - one of those, what's the point, there's nothing going on and no one is here, so why bother.

Finally, we seem to have gone through the week gaining 2 transformed girls. Meadow has the potty thing down pretty well now in a matter of days, and Heather is now a crawling fiend! Life completely changes in a matter of moments!

Rewind: Marco Island Vacation Highlights, May 2007

Another entry from the past, wanted to include it here about our vacation to Marco Island. last May. You can see the entire collection of photos from this trip here.


Just recently got back from a much needed vacation to Marco Island. First try at a mass-family vacation (meaning Deborah, Meadow & Heather + my sister-in-law and my parents-in-law). I'd say all in all it was a resounding success. The girls were great on the airplane to and from, and nobody hated anyone at the end of the trip :).

We flew into Miami, got our Caravan (first time with a minivan, not too bad). Proceeded on our first tour down the stretch of US-41 known as the Tamiami Trail. If I never see that stretch of road again, that will be just fine with me. In all, we traversed parts of that 60-70 mile stretch 6 times, and it would have been 4 more if we had stuck to original plans. But Tamiami fatigue set in and plans were changed.

We arrived at our rental house late Saturday night. Nice place! Very roomy - we had been upgraded due to some repairwork that needed to be done on our original selection. We loved the pool, but especially came to lve the large screened in porch. Though I wouldn't really call it a porch, just an extension of the house. Many hours were spent lounging, sleeping and eating in the screen room. Just like being outside without the bugs. Meadow ate pretty much every meal but a couple that I can recall out there, she absolutely loved it.



Some highlights included Deborah and I snorkeling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Based in Key Largo, they took us 5 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean to the Coral Reef by boat, where we dived in and saw many colorful fish, a barracuda, a bull shark, a large spiny lobster, a hugh Conch and a moray eel. The shark and barracude were both pretty freak ooh aah moments! Afterwards we had some good carribbean food in Key Largo, and had an exqusite piece of Key Lime Pie (we were in the Keys after all, how could you not try and find a piece?) in Islamorada at the spectacular Cheeca Lodge. If you ever have $500 to spend to stay at a night at a place, I'm sure they don't disappoint here. We had our pie close to one of the more spectacular beach fronts I have seen. I also have to give props to Robert Is Here, a fruit stand in Homestead that serves a mean Key Lime Milkshake, it helped the ride home on that Tamiami Trail. Also have to give it up to Fernandez De Bull, a great little Cuban restsurant we found in Naples.

Deborah & I also had an awesome walk on the Tiger Tail Beach at sunset one night. It takes a good walk to get to the gulf beach thanks to the large lagoon in the middle, but when we got there, great view of the sun setting and a plethora of sea shells to look at - and our first time seeing "live" shells, small scallops, conchs and the like. Very interesting, and smelly! But great fun.

I think Meadow & Heather had fun, though poor Meadow was sick much of the week. They loved the pool (to an extent, as long as they didn't have to stray far from the steps). And as mentioned, Meadow loved the screened-in room. One of the moments I will NEVER forget is where Meadow in one of her not-feeling-good moments wanted to lay her head on my legs and just stay there and fall asleep. One of those wonderful parent feelings!

Denver Children's Museum - January 20, 2008

Let's kick off the blog with something a little dated, but still from this year, our visit to the Denver Children's Museum! Meadow and Heather liked this pretty well, though it was a bit crowded. I have pride about Denver, but I have to say Chicago's Children's Museum trounces this one. Even Lynchburg's Amazement Square (Virginia) holds up well compared to Denver. Nonetheless we had a good time.

Hi!

Hard at play.

I've got birds on my hands!

I love spelling my name!

I don't want to spell my name, I want to go home NOW!

I love this picture, this was at the dance area with streamers.