March and Rolling Sands and Sand

March was another busy month.  Work, visitors and a vacation!

It all started, however, with something mundane.  I ordered a stepstool for Elizabeth’s bath so she could reach the sink.  Not unexpectedly, the project took a little longer than it would have without my helper!

Elizabeth is now brushing her teeth at the sink and washing her hands, too.  She likes having her stepstool so she can reach the sink.  Such a big girl!

On March 10th we had our Grand Opening Party and the Ribbon Cutting ceremony on the 12th for our company Rolling Sands.  Andy’s sister, Carol, and niece, Stephanie, came out to help us with Elizabeth for the long weekend.  I don’t know how we could’ve done it without their help.

I was surprised to see that Elizabeth could even wear down an energetic 20-something year old!

In addition to being the best babysitters ever for days on end, Carol and Steph gave us our first night away in 17 1/2 months.  We stole away on Sunday night (the night between our Grand Opening Party and our Ribbon Cutting) and went a short distance into the mountains to Idaho Springs so we could soak in the hot springs.  Idaho Springs is an old-west town and I enjoyed just strolling the small main street and shopping.

After soaking in the springs pool on Sunday we took a drive towards Mt Evans at sunset.  The road wasn’t open to the top of this fourteener, but we enjoyed the scenic drive.  The cloud formation this evening was awesome. 

Steph shared her pictures from their visit.  I love seeing the self-portraits of Steph and Elizabeth.  These two have become fast buddies on the couple of visits they’ve had together.  “Stephy” is one of the first names Eliz has begun saying.

Here Carol has Elizabeth all dressed up for the Grand Opening Party.  She’s wearing a new dress – a gift from Mom Mom Thomas.  She looked so beautiful.

Steph and Carol gave Elizabeth a wonderful tour of the local area.  They took her for a walk in Golden and they enjoyed time at the playground and on the swings.

On Friday while we were working, they even took a drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I should’ve given them her NP Passport to have them stamp it (again!).

We were very happy with the Grand Opening Party and the Ribbon Cutting.  We estimated over 75 came for the Party on Saturday.  It was an Open House type of event with people coming and going all day long.  We had lots of raffle prizes to give away and Gift Bags for the first 40 guests.  We were so grateful for so many friends and fellow teachers who helped make our Grand Opening a success.

Elizabeth welcomed the younger crowd to the store.  (Ok, these are her good buddies – Allison and Finley with Mom Stacey, her babysitter)

Here’s a family photo outside the store on our “Main” Street.

The Ribbon Cutting on Monday was very nice as well with lots of Ambassadors from the Chamber of Commerce who came to offer their support and well-wishes.

Even the fire department arrived in the fire truck.

Again, I can’t say how grateful we were for Carol and Steph.  Not only did they entertain Elizabeth and give her a wonderful opportunity to get to know family, but they cooked dinners for us, and helped get Eliz to bed at night, and everything. 

A little over a week after Carol and Steph left, we flew down to Florida for a vacation.  It’s been years since we took a true vacation with the intention of solely relaxing.  We were so looking forward to 6 days of picking up seashells and pedaling around on our rental cruiser bikes.

We knew something just wasn’t right the first day on the beach.  Elizabeth wasn’t herself and actually seemed disturbed by the water.

Each visit to the beach was short-lived and even her time in the swimming pool wasn’t received with the excitement she usually had for the water.

On Thursday we had plans to drive to Tarpon Springs to visit a friend Pat that we had met thru the Internet Merchants Association.  A one-hour drive became a two-hour ordeal (thanks for the directions Google!!).  At least Elizabeth slept most of the way.

We enjoyed our visit, and for awhile I thought Elizabeth was feeling better.  In hindsight, I think it was because she was distracted by Pat’s 3 dogs.

On the way back home, she snacked on Oreos and pretzel sticks.  Thankfully she likes to eat more pretzels (Dad) than cookies (Mom).

Much later that night Elizabeth developed a fever and she became so sick that we truly thought we’d end up in the emergency room.  I sat with her through the night with a cool washcloth and Andy began the research and phone calls to find a doctor’s office at sunrise the next morning.  She had a double ear infection.  That would explain the balance problem and the fact that she didn’t want to look at waves.

It continued to be a low-key vacation after that.  The meds helped with the fever, but she wasn’t herself until the day before we left.

I had so looked forward to walking the beach and sitting sifting through sand looking for shells with Elizabeth.  She finally was able to “help” me find shells on that Monday, so at least I had that day with the real her. 

We did get to ride our rental bikes, too, and she enjoyed sitting on the seat behind me.  We talked a lot about the birds and squirrels and flowers as we rode down the island.  She liked being able to “grab” me as we played and rode.  It was different for her, I’m sure, then riding along behind us in the trailer that we use at home.  Our rides were short, but at least we got out on the bikes and toured the area.

The hotel we stayed at was on the Bay and across the street from the Gulf.  On the bayside we had a dock we could go sit on.  For the first several days Eliz refused to walk on the dock (probably because she could see the water through the boards), but she was fascinated by the two laughing gulls who resided on this dock.  We loved imitating the gulls with a loud “ha-ha-ha”.  She has since recognized the different sounds birds make - “ha-ha-ha” “caw-caw” “tweet-tweet” and so on.  She is good at imitating them all.  I just might have a little birder on my hands!

Our vacation wasn’t the vacation we had dreamed of, but we were lucky to have had a beautiful cottage to stay in with the dock and swimming pool, friendly neighbors, easy access to the gulf, beautiful weather with no humidity, and overall just a nice place to be.  We thought it was interesting that even though Anna Maria Island is nowhere near our ‘home’ in Fort Lauderdale, we both felt comfortably at home during our visit.

Elizabeth has always enjoyed helping me “unpack” after our trips.  No wonder it takes me days (or longer) to get the suitcases emptied and put away.

The weekend before Easter, the Apex Fieldhouse held an Easter Egg Hunt.  I got Eliz dressed up and ready to go for her very first hunt.

Here we are in front of the city’s Fieldhouse (which houses two large indoor fields for lacrosse and soccer).

Elizabeth was a pro at the hunt.  She could’ve scored a lot more eggs, but I really didn’t need the extra candy in the house for ME to eat. 

She did enjoy playing with the plastic eggs back at home so I’m glad she picked up a couple of handfuls for herself.

On a Saturday after Andy closed the store, we went for a late-day hike with the intention of letting Elizabeth “hike”.  We went to the west side of White Ranch to let her enjoy several different trails and historical farming equipment close to the parking lot.  Our main concern was finding trails without drop-offs or steep climbs (aka “toddler-friendly”).

We never got too far from the parking lot, but she had a great time hiking on her own.  Some of the time was spent just sitting in the middle of the trail picking up and dropping stones.  We’ve got to adjust our thinking of what hiking with a toddler really means.

She explored the equipment, and even found out what splinters are.  Oops!

Here’s a video of her hiking style…(hiking in circles).

This hike was exactly what I had hoped for – an opportunity for Elizabeth to explore nature on her own terms and to expend a little energy.  For me?  It was an opportunity to be outside with a nice view and a lot of chuckles.

More pictures and videos from the March Webalbum.

Spectacular September

We spent the first six days of September in sunny Florida (ok, it rained but we still loved it).  We stayed in a little hotel that was walking distance to the beach.  We’re finding that it works best if we can find a suite with the bedroom separate from the living area for Elizabeth’s nap time and early bedtime.  We also love having a kitchen available.  The smaller hotels have also been wonderful about providing cribs and high chairs, too.  Makes traveling with a baby so much nicer.

Here’s Elizabeth enjoying her breakfast one morning.  Granted, she’s holding her spoon…but if you look closely you’ll see she’s not holding the handle.  But she was having fun!

We got to see many of our friends during our trip and we even had some family come from Orlando and Miami to see us.  We ended up having a party at the clubhouse of our condo building and it was the perfect set up to mingle and nosh and Elizabeth could crawl around as much as she wanted.  She was still overwhelmed with the crowd and had a little stranger anxiety.  The last time she saw most of these friends and family was in February (when she was only four months old).  Things had changed a lot in those seven months!

Last visit we did lots of group lunches and dinners, but this visit we wanted to relax more and have more beach time.  This was Elizabeth’s first “real” time on the beach…time to explore and time to get into the ocean.  Boy did she love it.  We bought her her first bucket, shovel, and rake (should I share that she still plays with those toys in CO?).

Our friends Dick and Geri met us on the beach and we were so happy to see their 8-yr old granddaughter Samantha, too.  Eliz and Sam took to each other very easily.  (I forgot how the humidity & temp changes can fog up a camera lens so we lost lots of shots that day unfortunately.)

We had a lot to learn about getting sand out of a baby’s creases and folds…and we learned that she had even more creases and folds than we could imagine!  Boy oh boy.  And eventhough we had Eliz in and out of the water, we soon learned the importance of changing her out of her swim diaper and putting her into her normal ones while playing on the beach.  A couple of wet laps teaches you that quickly enough.  (For those of you who don’t know – and I didn’t pre-baby – but swim diapers don’t hold in pee, just the pooh!)

Unfortunately it was a little windy (with periodic rain) and Elizabeth refused to keep her new sun hat on, so any pictures of her that weren’t steamed up weren’t very good because she was squinty-eyed.  So no real great shots of her on the beach as I had hoped.

Elizabeth had her very first dental appointment on Sept 7th.  I was informed that we should start taking her after she started getting some of her teeth and before 1 year.  I was very proud of her – she handled it wonderfully!  Of course, it was mostly Q&A between the dentist and myself, but he did take a peek inside her mouth and they did a little brush-cleaning too.  To do the exam, they lay her on her back on a thick pad that is resting on our knees.  The dentist and I sat knees to knees with her head near him and I’m holding her down.  Now, those of you who know Elizabeth well know that she hates to be held down.  But she was very good…and her teeth are in great shape.  Yea!

The real excitement started on Sept 8th when Eliz stood up unsupported at Stacey’s (our babysitter).  Usually she would use something to pull herself up, so this was a huge feat to stand up without props.  She showed us her new skill at home on the 12th.   (There does seem to be a reoccurring theme here – this isn’t the first, or the last I’m sure, major event that happens at Stacey’s house first.)  After standing up, she would “surf” for a little while as she finds her balance in the middle of the room with nothing to grab on to.

Liam turned 1 this month.  Liam is one of Elizabeth’s buddies.  His Mom, Carrie, and I try to get together once a week for a walk/run and the two babes tend to chatter to each other along the way.  It’s very cute. 

It was nice to get to spend social time together with the moms I do see, and the dads that I never get to talk with.  It was also nice for Andy to get to meet them and for us to watch the kids play together.  Usually I don’t get to see Elizabeth interact with other kids because I’m “dropping her off” somewhere for her play time.

We started taking a Sign Language class on Sept 14th.  Apparently it allows a way for children to start communicating even before they can start talking.  What I witnessed this month was that her vocabulary took off after beginning these Signing Smart classes and I think it was partly because we would practice words more.

She was saying some of these words before, but here is a list of some of her words this month:  

• “hi” “bye” “mamama” “daddee” “baby” “all done” “ball”
• “light” while practicing sign language (the day after class began 9/15)
• “dog” while at a coffee shop in Estes Park and she saw a huge mountain dog inside the coffee shop…then three more just outside…and others on the path
• “duck” “uh-oh” “teddy” “bear” (but not “teddy bear”)
• While at Apex ChildWatch she said “neigh” “moo” “quack quack” while playing a game about farm animals
• She waves hello and yells “hhhiiiii” to everyone in shops and grocery stores or restaurants (she does seem to get hurt when people don’t respond to her – so keep that in mind the next time a baby says “hi!” to you!)

There’s not much food that she refuses…or refuses over and over I should say.  She loves fruit – with fresh strawberries and raspberries being some new fruits for her.  She has tried table food from a Mexican restaurant; she likes pita with hummus; and pizza & ice cream (especially when she was not feeling well because of teething – who doesn’t want comfort food then?).

She is now sharing her food.  She’ll pick up any type of finger food and offer it to us, even putting it in our mouth herself.  Sometimes I wonder if she wants to make sure it’s safe…by having us taste it first?  She must’ve heard rumors about my cooking.

We found a fun Halloween costume for her.  But since it’s so dramatic on the back side, I thought it would be best for her to get used to seeing the costume before Halloween so she doesn’t run around in circles like a dog chasing their tail trying to see what’s behind her, so I put her costume on Teddy.  Teddy is our guinea pig for any baby-substitute needs we have.  We used him when we were testing out the car seat before she was born.  (Here’s your preview of her costume!)

We had read an article about the risks of putting an infant in a bike trailer (or any bike carrier) before their first birthday.  It scared us enough to hold off…until we found a Chariot on Craig’s List.  Once we got it home, we were dying to get her out.  We broke down on the 17th and got her out on her first bike ride.

I won’t mention that it felt like MY first bike ride as well.  I hadn’t been on my bike since I was, what?, seven months pregnant? 

We hooked her trailer onto Andy’s bike (since he had been riding – he didn’t trust me!) and off we went.  We just jumped on a local trail near our house.  As you can tell from the photos, we had no problems with her enjoying her new ride.  She even kept her pretty new helmet on with no complaints.

We couldn’t believe that the Yoga Journal Conference was going on again this month up in Estes Park.  One year ago I attended the conference after winning a free pass to John Friend’s Anusara Yoga.  It was a blast.  This year, we just drove up for the day to meet with a couple of vendors and walk around the marketplace for new ideas.  Last year Eliz was still in my tummy (but only for a couple of weeks after) and now here she was in my arms.  She wooed everyone in the marketplace with her great smile, her big blue eyes, and her sweet-sounding “hi” to everyone we passed.

Afterward, we walked around the town of Estes.  Andy had to get HIS cup of coffee at his favorite coffee shop…the place where Elizabeth began saying “dog”.

Andy put Eliz on his shoulders for the first time.  She loved being high up with the great view, but we’re hoping she learns to sit up straighter.  She tends to lean back a little, but she is called the “lounge queen” for a reason.

 

The drive home was the lazy, scenic drive down the Peak to Peak Hwy.  The fall colors were astonishing and made the entire trip worthwhile.

September 27th was another huge day.  Elizabeth took two steps for Andy.  Her big One Year visit to the Pediatrician is scheduled for October 3rd.  We’re hoping she is walking by then so she can thumb her nose at the doctor as if to say, “Look at me!  And you didn’t think I could do this yet!”.  (She didn’t quite make that deadline, but the doctor thought she was superb anyhow.)

For how much Elizabeth loves being around people and other kids, I still enjoy the fact that she can also play so well by herself.  She seems so well rounded – sociable, yet comfortable with herself (could the shy girl in me be jealous?  perhaps).  In addition to playing with other kids at the sitters, I take her to the YMCA child watch (while I work – not workout) so she gets an opportunity to play and meet other kids.  I hope all of this is helping her blossom into this wonderful social butterfly.

Here are just some of the things Eliz enjoys doing or just funny things about her play:

• she loves “reading” books – which usually is taking each and every book off of the bookshelf and flipping thru the pages';
• she still loves dumping the stack of magazines from the end table (one-by-one usually).  Recycling one page at a time as she rips pages out of the magazines…good thing we don’t have the time to read them anyway so they are now her toys;
• she tries to push down on toys to activate sounds, but her little finger can’t push hard enough;
• She now bangs on the bathtub while I’m filling it for bathtime and throws stuff in the tub…I’m starting to worry that she’ll try to climb in soon;
• She’s getting fast and comfortable pushing her walk-behind-car around the house – sometimes I don’t know if she is walking or half-falling;
• She uses her car seat as a toy, too.  She loves crawling in and out, or even trying to crawl over the back side of it;

  

• She’s getting into the cabinets.  We’ve given her “permission” to go into one cabinet – the one with harmless Tupperware, teabags, and the such.  Now we find things strewn all over the house.  But she is learning to not only take things out but to also put things back.  She could spend 30 minutes just playing with the diaper bag alone.  Zip/unzip, take out, walk around the house dancing with her new item, put it back, zip/unzip, and repeat.

We’re struggling with her not listening to certain requests, though.  Such as not touching the glass doors on the fireplace.  I’m stubborn and thought that I could ‘train’ a one-year old to listen to me.  But these doors are a hazard – not only does she touch them, but she has learned to open them, and the one has always fallen off when not careful.  I did finally cry “Uncle” in October and we bought an ottoman to block off the fireplace…just in time for winter, too.

We joke that she has gotten our bad traits – she is stubborn like me and quick to throw a fit.  She experiences a change in personality when hungry…just like her dad.  I could go down a laundry list of traits, but I probably shouldn’t reveal that much about our dark sides, should I?  Who am I joking?  You all already know them!

Several days before her birthday the presents began to arrive.  At first I thought of holding them until her big day, but then I realized that she wasn’t going to understand it anyway.  She was also having some teething pains, so I thought it would be a nice distraction.  Here she is with her new Legos from my sister Karen.  (I’m going to make you go to the WebAlbums to see what happened AFTER construction was completed.)

But we did have to chuckle as to what else she played with.  The stiff, crinkly, shiny wrapping paper laid on our floor for days allowing her to crawl on it, step on it, crinkle it in her hands, and so on.  The box for the Legos is still in the house (as of Oct 28th) albeit a little beaten up.  She loves sitting on the box and sliding it all around the house.

I continue to find that my home yoga practice changes as Elizabeth gets older.  Now all I have to do is roll out my mat and she will come from anywhere in the house just to sit on it.  She also likes it when I break out my props…

I may never get a full practice in again…but when I see this expression on her face it somehow makes it all ok.

As always – lots more pictures on the September WebAlbums.  And hopefully it won’t take me a month before I can post October’s happenings.  Honestly, I used to think 2 weeks late was bad and now I’m a month behind on my post!  I love writing the blog, and I know many of you look forward to updates on Eliz, and I also hope to keep a record of life for Elizabeth to read years from now, but time just seems to disappear on me anymore.  We’re still trying to figure out how to bring balance back into our lives.  It’ll happen, I know it.  We’re not the only ones with a business, a kid, a side job, a desire to exercise, and a love of travel.  We’ll get there.  I still dream of showing Elizabeth the world – whether by RV, car, or plane, I don’t care.  To see that look of awe on her face every day (the same look I imagine I had as we were traveling the country) as she sees new and wondrous things.  Won’t that be grand?!  May life be filled with beauty and wonder for all of us.  Hugs.

Florida Trip

We took a quick trip back to Florida to take care of several things.  A detour to Tampa to take care of some things for my dad’s estate before going to Ft Lauderdale to do some work packing and shipping more stuff from storage out to Colorado since we’ll be staying in Colorado for another year now.

But the highlight of our trip, of course, was seeing friends.  We joined our old Running Club for their weekly run, met with friends for some swimming and biking fun, and had several lunches and dinners with people trying to see as many friends as we could.

I was thrilled to get into the warm, warm ocean for a couple of swims and to bike up and down A1A on our comfy cruisers, and do some of our other favorite activities.  We also were lucky enough to have a hotel room with a view of the New River and, off in the distance, the ocean.  I looked forward to even just sitting on our balcony and taking in “my” view…the one similar to our view from our roof-top pool deck.  Here’s one of the gorgeous sunrises we saw…

Thanks to everyone for carving out some time to visit with us!  We loved seeing everyone…and wished we could’ve seen those we missed.  Hopefully next time!

The Flipside of Humidity

…would be the lack of humidity.  We’re finding that running in 9% humidity can be just as  difficult as running in 90% humidity.  Just different.  Nose, throats and lungs burn from the dryness.  Allergies and asthma can kick in.  Apparently the optimum humidity for outdoor exercise is between 30% and 65%.   Who knew?

So will this make us stronger?  Running at the extremes in humidity levels?  How ‘bout the elevation differences – 5’ and 5,000’?  If we were training for an Ironman or Half-Ironman like several of our friends, this would be a great training practice!

It's Official

It's official - we are "fulltiming".

We rented out our condo and our new tenant moved in Friday night.

We had taken a quick trip back to Florida this past week to clean the condo, prepare for his move-in, see friends, and take care of some other business. 

As we floated in the pool, looking out over the city and the ocean, doubts crept in.  "Why do we want to leave THIS?"  But the decision is made, and for the next year we are Nomads with a capital "N". 

"Where should we spend the winter?" is the current question floating around us....we're open to ideas....Someplace warm is our primary criteria.  :)

Finding Great Runs

Sometimes the hardest thing about traveling in the RV is keeping up with any type of a fitness routine.  You don't know an area, you don't know if a running route would be safe or even pleasant, you don't know mile markers to know how far you are running, and so forth.  Let alone not having a routine schedule that makes it easy to get into a habit of running on these days, bike on this day, swim on that day, etc.  So we have just been tickled to death in having a couple of great runs on this trip so far.

First - in Titusville, FL:  We thought running over a causeway bridge would be nice scenery.  Our first choice was nixed when we realized it would drop us off in a "badging area" of Kennedy Space Center.  Our second choice led us to a wonderful dirt trail through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Post-run bonus?  A gorgeous sunset standing on a swing bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway.

Second - Brunswick, GA:  The easy choice was to go to Blythe Island Regional Park.  But the wooded, dirt trails were unexpectedly peaceful and perfect - even on a cold day - the bitter winds were blocked by the trees.

Like Andy's cold-weather running outfit?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post-run bonus?  Wild white bunnies, another gorgeous sunset over water and watching the Coast Guard launch from the marina where we parked.

Third - St George, SC:  Andy found a dirt road near the campground that allowed him to get a good five-mile run in.

During-run bonus?  Andy didn't get attacked by vultures on his run - that dirt road was nicknamed "Buzzard Alley".

Most recently - Columbia, SC:  The Three Rivers Greenway is a paved trail following the Congaree River.  With it's undulating hills and weaving path it was a treat to run.

During-run bonus?  The sweet smells of spring in bloom.  Wow!

Driving to Brunswick

Andy did not want to drive over the Dames Point Bridge today.  But there aren't too many choices when driving through Jacksonville.  The Dames Point Bridge is a stunning suspension bridge, but it's height and it's low guard rails can make it a little nerve racking on a good day.

 

Today the road was slick and the winds were gusting...and the bridge was under construction.  And, NOAA's Weather Band had warnings for small craft and high profile vehicles (that's us!).  So, when we realized that we were just minutes behind this accident, it made us even more uncomfortable.   (We're not sure what happened here, but we're assuming a wind gust might've pushed this truck towing a boat into the construction barrier.  The boat was off the trailer and on top of the concrete barrier, and the truck is obviously facing the wrong way.)

Our plan was to just drive 100 miles today because the winds were only expected to get worse.  We normally don't choose to drive on days like this, but wanted to make some distance.  Planning on spending two nights in Brunswick.