January 2013

Here’s our supermodel playing with Playdoh!  She loves rolling it out with her new rolling pin and cutting it with scissors.  So much fun!

I know I mentioned before that Eliz is very sensitive.  She saw some movies recently that have stuck in her head and have possibly been giving her nightmares.  Usually there are certain scenes that she’ll talk about over and over.  Dumbo’s tail was pulled.  The monkey holds the baby (Lion King).  "Sharks! Go home fishies” (Little Mermaid).  She saw Bambi, and although she doesn’t talk about specific scenes, I know it scared her.  She loved the whale at the end of Ice Age Continental Drift because he saves everyone.  “That’s ok Mommy, the whale will help.” and so on and so on.  Unfortunately she loves movies and TV in general, and it does become a good babysitter, and when we’re all sick it is nice for us to just sit down for awhile, too.  I’m just disappointed that so many Disney movies end up being scarier when seeing it through the eyes of a 2-year old than we remembered watching it before she was born!

Elizabeth and I finally got over to Standley Lake for a walk.  Just a few short blocks away so it is amazing that this was the first time her and I walked over from the new house.  It can get pretty windy here at the big lake, so we were all bundled up.

I’m loving my crabapple tree in the back yard.  It has been attracting lots of squirrels and birds of all kinds.  But I was really excited to put another checkmark in my book for this Cedar Waxwing.  (Then in February I had a tree full of these beautiful birds!)  We see lots of sparrows, chickadees, robins, blue jays, doves, northern flickers and just one woodpecker so far.  I’m actually surprised there are any crabapples left at all…but hopefully they’ll have enough to keep them full thru the rest of the winter.

Elizabeth has been gifted so many items that we have found in our Florida boxes.  Mostly stuffed animals from my childhood or little chotchkies that we collected, but she loves “Daddy’s Car”.  That’s the Orange Element matchbox we got years ago that, well, looks just like Daddy’s car.  So at Christmas time when I walked into a store and saw an endcap filled with matchboxes (or Hot Wheels, whatever they’re called) and saw right away this Motorhome I just had to buy it for her.  Her Motorhome has cool flames down the side and inside there are seats and a bed.  So, I’d tell her stories about Daddy and I traveling in Spirit, our motorhome, with Ele towing behind. 

Then one day as she is in the changing table holding onto her Motorhome and Daddy’s Car she started to tell me a story, and a beautiful story it was.  It starts out with Elizabeth driving and we are all going to the farm to see animals.  Daddy is sitting next to her and Mommy is in the back (sounded good to me!).  Then after that we started talking about all of the different places we were going to travel to and what types of animals we would see when we got there…the ocean, the mountains, the desert, the lake, and so forth.  Oh, it was so fun to see how excited she was, even if she didn’t quite know what the desert was, she still enjoyed our story and our game.  I enjoyed the dream of this story one day becoming a reality and taking our little girl all around this beautiful country to see the things we were talking about…in a motorhome, with our car towing behind.

We went back to the zoo again this month.  One of Elizabeth’s favorite animals is the Hippo.  Last time with Daddy, the hippo was in the water.  Slowly rising and sinking and disappearing, then minutes later to slowly rise again.  This time the hippo was napping on land so she got to see his (or her?) whole body.  She could’ve stayed there at that fence all day just watching that sleeping behemoth.

So, when we went to the carousel, she of course had to ride the…rhinoceros?  Close enough, I don’t think they had a hippo that I saw.

Something every Denverite has to do at least once…go to the Western Stock Show.  So that’s what we’ve been told.  It is an annual three-week long event where they do actually show and sell livestock.  We thought Elizabeth would like to see the animals and in the kid area there is a petting zoo.

Our first attempt to go was aborted due to the backup of traffic that sat on the interstate to get to the show.  That’s how we ended up at the zoo the day before.  Hey, when you promise a 2-year old that she’s going to see animals, you better show them animals!  We thought the petting zoo was very nice – the animals seemed happy and non-stressed.  Elizabeth wasn’t so excited anymore to see the animals.  She was quite scared.  But when even the “little” ones are bigger than you, how can you blame her?

Good thing Andy is taking allergy shots, though.  This place would’ve definitely have hurt him otherwise.  But he fell in love with this little goat who had fallen in love with his shirt.

Elizabeth got to ride on the Choo Choo, too.  It was her first time doing a ride without one of us with her.  Nice to see she enjoyed the train, and I think she even flirted with the other passenger a little bit!  This girl really does like playing with the boys.

She is good at sharing, and had no problems when a little girl wanted to join her on a tire swing at the playground.

Elizabeth is still our lounge queen.  Feet up on her stroller tray, showing off her cowgirl books and reclined back in her stroller.  She enjoyed the long walks from area to area in style.

As expected, she enjoyed the equestrian section.  We watched horses jump in the arena and then she got to sit in a few saddles herself.

The super-large rocking horse wasn’t something she was too excited about, though.

But I thought she looked good on her ribbon-winning jumper.

The stock show was interesting.  We saw cows getting groomed before being showed, we saw sheep being sheared, and so on.  We missed some of the fun kids stuff liked Mutton racing and Stick Horse rodeo, though.  Maybe we’ll go back in a couple of years and do it again.

Elizabeth and I went on another Girls’ Hike.  This time we went to Flat Irons Vista.  It’s close to home, relatively flat with pretty views.  There’s a nice 2-mile loop hike that I thought Elizabeth would enjoy walking.

Funny how whenever I think she wants to “hike” or “walk” I end up carrying her.  One-third of the time she walked, one-third of the time she was in the backpack carrier, and one-third of the time carried in my arms.  Needless to say I was tired and sore the next day…and she still had energy to burn.

On a semi-embarrassing side-note: After our hike Elizabeth started to squat to “pretend pee” (yes, while we were in public) and Andy asked what was going on…I had to admit that she learned that from me after we had to take a potty-stop on the trail during our hike!  Did I tell you that she is mimicking everything we do??

In December Andy and I signed up for the Napa Valley 1/2 Marathon.  We’re joining several friends from Florida (some racing, some not) and then my sister will meet us and watch Eliz as we race.  Perhaps some other California friends will come play, too?  We were pumped up about running and getting fit again…but then Christmas paused our running schedule and then most of this month was a blow-out as we were all sick almost the entire month.  Andy got the flu, Eliz had a cold, I was on Tamiflu, then succumbed to Elizabeth’s, then Eliz started up a cough, and the cycle continued through each of us.  We are sick of being sick…it is now late February and we’re still sharing various colds and illnesses.  I’ve gotten a handful of runs in over the last two months.  My 1/2 marathon training is not going the way I had hoped.

Sometime in early January I started an art project with Elizabeth to make Valentine’s Day cards for Mom Mom and Nana.  We cut out hearts and she painted on them with brushes and finger-painting.  Here’s a video of the artist at work (notice how serious she is?! Ha!)

Anyway, when I mentioned to my sister the day we started she was surprised how early I was doing it.  I gently reminded her that things never went as I scheduled and I knew it would be a project done over a couple of sit-downs.  Eliz doesn’t always want to do crafts when I do…needless to say, I barely got the cards mailed before Valentine’s Day!!  So I’m glad that I started four or five weeks early!

I’m going to try to do the blog a little differently.  I am going to try to write more frequently, in smaller posts.  I had been writing some throughout February.  I’m hoping that if I do it this way I won’t fall so far behind.  We’ll see…  But for now you’ll probably find some February posts intermixed with the bigger Nov, Dec, and this January post.  So you may want to scroll down and see if there’s new ones you want to read.

More pictures on January WebAlbums

September – Fall Colors

One day in September Andy and I got out for a fall hike.  How?  We played hooky – took off from work, left Michelle in charge, and didn’t look back.  Sometimes you just have to make a “date” happen and our best dates are when we get out for a hike.

We drove to the Hessie Trailhead which is just west of Nederland.  The drive alone was giving us the Aspen colors we were looking for.

Much of the hike was on an old road bed.  Eventhough this part of the road was still accessible for 4wd vehicles to another Trailhead further down the road, it was under water.

I want to say that the hike we did was Lost Lake (but considering I’m months behind my postings, I’m not 100% certain!).

The old townsite still had a couple of houses or buildings.

Andy chose to hop rocks to cross the stream instead of using this perfectly fine bridge.

The aspens were stunning along most of the trail.

But the part I think we enjoyed most was the cascading waterfalls.  The sloped stream bed was pure rock with cut-outs allowing the water to flow in different channels creating a multitude of waterfalls as it descended down the mountain.  Very pretty, and peaceful, and neat just to walk around checking out the different flows.

This was our turn-around point…again, I want to say Lost Lake.

On the way back we ran into two backpackers who were using their llamas as pack animals.  I’m sure this couple gets tired of everyone stopping them to pepper them with questions and ask to pet the llamas!  They probably stay out for several days just because of people like us slowing down their hike!

On the drive home we detoured to this spot on the Peak-to-Peak Highway remembering it for it’s fall colors.  It was worth the detour.

We got to celebrate Elizabeth’s friend, Finley’s 5th birthday at the Simms St Center which has a gymnasium filled with gymnastics equipment including in-floor trampoline, foam block pit, padded floor, balance beams, parallel bars, and all the equipment gymnasts use.  By the end of the party, we voted that the Dads probably had even more fun then the kids!  What a great time!

Olde Town Arvada does a lot of festivals throughout the year and we usually keep the store open.  One of us watches Elizabeth as the other watches the store.  During the Harvest Festival, my friend Carrie and her son Liam came to town and we took the little ones to the Merry Go Round.

We finally got to the Denver Botanic Gardens.  Who knew it was so pretty?  Ha!  An artist had a special display of these bamboo pieces scattered throughout the garden that made it very intriguing.  I really enjoyed the shapes and patterns it created.  It reminded me of seeing Chihuly’s exhibit when I was in Florida.

The Gardens had a wonderful Children’s Garden with lots of active play areas – waterfall, stream, climbing rocks, a pretend camp site, and more.

Elizabeth enjoyed herself, too!

I had one more BIG event that happened in September, which I’ll put in another post:  I had a Girls Getaway Weekend!!  Somehow these rare reunions seemed even more delicious after having a child!  ha!

More pictures:  September WebAlbum

August – A Quieter Month

Stephanie stayed in town after everyone else left.  She is always such a big help for us – watching Elizabeth, helping around the house, and even helping at the store.  Whatever we’ve asked her to help us with, she does.  And with a smile on her face!

So when Steph expressed an interest in doing a painting class at Spellbound Art I happily joined her.  I don’t remember a day when I was able to dabble in some painting for myself, either.  It was fun!  Here is mine…I know I took a picture of ours side-by-side, but I’m not sure what happened to it.  Let’s just say I’ve been a little disorganized lately.

It was interesting how everyone painted the “same” picture and we all looked totally different.

On our monthly “Kids Night Out” at the YMCA, Elizabeth got to go play with the kids (from 5-10pm) and we got to go for a hike.  We took Steph to Walker Ranch for a hike to Boulder Creek.

We got to our car just in time for sunset.

Our neighbors gave us free tickets for a Rockies game, so it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to see how Elizabeth would handle being at a professional game.  She loves baseball.  We’ve been to small baseball games and even the Arvada Colts, but she spends much of the time running around in the grass.  Our seats were great – near the home plate and close to the wall.  But, unfortunately, they were also baking us in the sun.

So, instead of running in the grass and playing on the hills, she played on the steps.  I got into a little trouble with the usher for walking the steps during the game…but I wasn’t about to let her run concrete steps without me.

We finally bailed on our seats and just walked around the stadium looking for shade or at least some relief.

She enjoyed playing on the playground that’s available inside the stadium.  Whoever thought of that idea is a genius.

Elizabeth started to shun the hook-on chair we have been using at our dining room table.

I was just a little nervous since our table is a pub-style bar height table.  She’s becoming such a big girl so quickly.  I don’t even think she’d want a booster – that might contain her too much!

Our little one is still a milk-aholic.  But now sippy cups and plastic kids cups aren’t the only way she demands her milk.  Here she is with one of “Daddy’s glasses”.

Good to the last drop!

On August 23rd (a day to remember) Elizabeth said “I Love You” to me as she was leaving for school.  Wow!  Can that take your breath away?!  I think my heart skipped a beat to.  I think it was her first complete sentence, as well!

Elizabeth has become addicted to watching videos of horses.  We would use You Tube videos on our computer or our phones to keep her entertained…but she began to demand to see horses daily.  She is our little cowgirl.  One day I had to tell her that she couldn’t watch horse videos because we had to go to school.  Add “no”, “no horses” to a cowgirl, and the mental state of a toddler and it all rolled into one explosive tantrum.  Oh boy did I want to git on my lil horsey and ride off into the sunset!

More pictures…August WebAlbums.

Just Hanging Around Town

We’re both eager to start exercising again, but the best I’ve been able to do is a few walks on some local trails.  One of my favorites is the Ralston Creek Trail…

One day we went downtown and walked along the Cherry Creek trail.  We came across the “crocheted garden fence” when we cut back onto the city streets.  A group of women made all of these beautiful crocheted flowers and planted this “garden” on a construction fence near the train station.  It really is a sight to see.  We loved the fact that no one has vandalized this artwork, either.  Sad to say, but in other cities these flowers would not have lasted.

If you look closely you’ll also find some bugs and ants along the fence.

Another day we tried to take Elizabeth out for a nice hike in Centennial Cone Park.  There’s one trail in the park that is closed seasonally for elk calving.  I had hoped that we would show Elizabeth some elk while the trail was still open.  It was a beautiful day when we left the house.  When we arrived at the parking lot there were some nasty clouds coming over the horizon.  We hung out to see what they would bring.  They brought rain, sleet, and even some snow flakes.  We were warmly hunkered down in the car at the time.  When it didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon, we aborted the hike.

Later that day we tried another hike (can you tell we were in a desperate need to get out into nature?) – the weather had cleared up so we headed to Flatirons Vista trail right off of Hwy 93.  There’s a pretty little loop trail we’ve done before that we thought we could finish before sunset.  Wrong.  We arrived as the sun kissed the mountains, the winds picked up, and the temps dropped about 20 degrees.  We got about 50 feet down the trail when Elizabeth gave us the “are you two freakin’ crazy?” look and we felt too guilty (and cold) to continue.

We had another great visitor come to Denver this month – my girlfriend Laura.  Here we are at the end of our walk around Wash Park and after a nice lunch on the “Main Street” in that neighborhood.  Unfortunately Andy couldn’t join us, but it allowed me some girl-time which is always a blessing to catch up with long-time friends.

Elizabeth is now 7 weeks old and we’ve noticed lots of changes as the days go by.  She is more alert and engaging, and we felt she needed something to play with so we bought this Fisher Price Rainforest Play Mat for her.  Boy did she take to this immediately.  It was so much fun just watching her kick and touch all the toys.  The only drawback is that now she is high-kicking on the changing table, too!

We have more pictures on our November WebAlbums, including a short video of her on her play mat.