School's back in session

Today was Aidan's and Kellen's first day of school. It's a big milestone for Kellen because he started kindergarten today! Now I have two kids at the same school. Yippee! Although kindergarten is half-day so that means if I didn't carpool with my friend I'd be heading to school 3 times a day. Not fun! Because of budget cuts they now charge to ride the bus. I'm boycotting the bus...but I may back down and utilize the bus when the weather turns bad. We'll see.

(Perfect picture of Aidan on the first day. Not overly excited. And when he asked why I was taking picture of him I said, "because it's the first day of school." "No it's not, mom. I am a third grader now.")

(Lining up to go inside. Aidan's teacher is the woman in the white sweater holding the sign.)

(Kellen, a kindergartener now)

(With his teacher, Mrs. Hamilton-Jones who happens to be LDS too.)

(Kellen with his neighborhood, church and now school buddy - Tanner)

Summer re-cap

Yikes! I guess I've been too busy this summer because I haven't kept up with what we've been doing over the summer. So here it is in a nutshell:



Girls' weekend in San Diego. I had a blast! It was so great to see my Cali girlfriends. We're planning to do this every year, but in different locations. Can't wait til next year.





Aidan's 9th birthday! Wow! It's hard to believe he's already nine years old. Where does the time go? I still remember heading to the hospital to deliver my little Aidan.





For his birthday, he invited a couple of friend's over for some pizza, cake and ice cream. Then we opened presents and headed outside to play a little basketball. For any of you reading this who don't know. Our families and us (his parents) all chipped in and purchased a permanent basketball backboard. Best investment ever. The kids are always playing a little hoop and most of the neighborhood kids head over to play some hoop too. Anyway, after playing outside for a bit I took the boys over to the theaters to see Despicable Me. What a cute movie. I wasn't really looking forward to seeing it because the previews didn't look that interesting, but I was pleasantly surprised. And that evening we topped Aidan's birthday off by heading to Red Lobster for a family dinner. My mom and Jerry told me on each child's birthday they'd like to take the family out to dinner. The birthday child gets to choose the restaurant.









(Our neighbor and cake decorator extradonnaire made Aidan's cake. As you can see he wanted a Broncos themed cake.)

4 days later we celebrated Curren's 2nd birthday. Now talk about time flying by! No more babies in this household. Curren didn't really know or care it was his birthday, but I still think he had a good day. We went to church and then the fam came over for dinner, opening presents and cake. He was very excited after opening up each toy. I think we could've just bought him one toy and he would've been fine with that. He now has a water table for playing outside which has kept him pretty happy and wet over the last few weeks.



(Curren's cake - store bought. He kept trying to grab the cake, hence the reason it's so far away from him in this picture.)



The last weekend in July we headed up to Steamboat Springs. We've never been there before and I'm glad we went. It's such a great town. And lots to do during the summer. Most ski destinations are also great destination points in the summer too. We rented a condo for the weekend with another family and had a great time with them.



(Fish Creek Falls)



The first full day Rick and the two older boys rode the alpine slide. Always a huge hit. Then the second day we went to The Old Town Hot Springs pool. Once again the kids had a blast. And Kellen passed the swim test so he was able to ride the big waterslides. That was pretty much all he wanted to do. Either Rick or I would ride the other slide and meet him at the bottom to give him a little help exiting the pool. Aidan also passed a swim test and was able to jump off the diving board without a parent standing by to watch. The boys are really turning into such great swimmers. Definitely a life skill I insisted they learn. I never want my kids to be afraid of water.






(What's could be more fun for boys than throwing/skipping rocks in a river)


The rest of the summer has been spent going to our neighborhood pool, playing at the park, playing with friends or hanging out in the cul-de-sac.



Oh ya, almost forgot. Yesterday the boys (along with their neighborhood friends) found two small frogs in our backyard. They must burrow in the rocks where water accumulates. We put them in a bucket and wandered around the rest of the 'hood to show off their frogs. Thankfully, before heading inside they put the frong back where they belong.



Overall, we had a wonderful summer break. Now on to the busy, hectic life of the school year. Aidan is taking martial arts classes once again and loves it. Kellen will be starting soccer and both boys are still in swim lessons...at least for now.

South Dakota

Last weekend we drove to South Dakota via Wyoming. That's one cool thing about living a little more central is the proximity to a number of amazing locales such as Mt. Rushmore and The Black Hills. (If we can't have the beach we might as well be close to lots of other things, right?)

The drive took about 7 hours which included a lunch break. Not too bad of a drive and quite pretty although very remote. As a side note, did you know that Wyoming is the least populated state with a little over 500,000 people? Definitely by far not one of the smallest states. I think it's one of the top 10 largest states. Having driven through parts of Wyoming I can see that not too many people live there. Like I said, it's very pretty, but a TON of open space.

South Dakota was pretty similar too. We stayed in Rapid City which has about 67,000 people. It's the largest city on the western side of the state. Hmm, wow! Coming from Cali and CO that's on the small side.

The main purpose of our trip was to see Mt. Rushmore, but there is a whole lot more to do there than see 4 former Presidents immortalized in stone. Pretty amazing in and of itself, but didn't completely impress the boys. Mainly because they can't appreciate what Mt. Rushmore symbolizes nor can they appreciate how difficult it was to carve such large faces in stone....which happens to be on the side of a mountain.

Friday, the day we visited Mt. Rushmore (which is located in Keystone, pop. 311) the boys and Rick enjoyed the alpine slides and a helicopter tour. The helicopter tour only lasts about 7 minutes, but according to Rick it was worth it. They flew over The Black Hills and got to see Mt. Rushmore from a distance. The older boys had such a blast, the pilot had to turn down the volume on their headsets.

We also went to a place called Bear Country USA. You drive through this "open wildlife park" to see elk, wolves, mt. goats, mt. lions, bison and as the name suggests bears. And lots of them. All the animals except the mt. lions have the ability to wander freely through their area. Each section is cordoned off by those rails on the road. You know those kind that keep the cows from crossing the road. Don't know the technical term. The wolves and bears roam together and it was pretty cool to see them wander by our cars. If I didn't know any better I would've thought we came across them in a national park.

After the car tour you can walk through babyland. As the name implies you get to see lots of young animals....and grizzly bears. (Go figure.) I guess Grizzlies are too aggressive to wander "freely" near cars. Glad they figured that out before we arrived.

Saturday we drove to Reptile Gardens. Another great place, albeit a tourist trap to rack in the dough from from visitors like us. They also have a lot of great animals to see. We saw the alligator/crocodile show. Pretty funny and it was cool to see a Steve Irwin "The Crocodile Hunter" like character "wrestling" alligators. Rick and the older boys watched a snake show while I watched some of a bird show with Curren. They also have giant tortoises - they were HUGE! the boys could touch and pet. Plus a large dome enclosure which housed a large variety of snakes. Aidan really liked seeing the most venomous snake in the world - Inland Taipan snake or the Fierce snake found in Australia. Wouldn't want to come across that thing, even if it's pretty docile. Not a huge fan of snakes in general.

Afterwards, we drove to Deadwood. It's a town just north of Rapid City and steeped in history. Actually the whole town is on the National History Registry. It's claim to fame is "Wild Bill" Hickock and Calamity Jane. Look them up if you're curious who they are.

(Saloon where "Wild Bill" Hickock was shot)

The town is situated in beautiful area of The Black Hills. Pine trees surround the whole town and most, if not all the buildings in the main downtown area are historic, gorgeous looking and well-kept. The weekend we were there the town was celebrating "Wild Bill Days". They had a lot of events going on including a dog agility competition called Dockdogs. One dog, named Jet from Colorado had just moved on to the pro round because he jumped 24 feet! Amazing. The owner throws a ball or toy into a pool of water and the dog jumps to fetch it. It was amazing seeing how far they jump and how well trained they are.

Sunday, before leaving for home we took a little detour and stopped off at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth AFB. They had some pretty cool jets and bombers. I'm not an airplane buff so I couldn't really tell all we saw except they were dated from WWII to present. A nice little Father's Day gift for Rick especially since he had to drive us home.

We had a great time, but it's always nice to come back home. I told Rick as we rounded a turn and saw the Denver skyline that I love the best of both worlds. City life and open space. We live in such a beautiful country.

Devil's Head - Memorial Day Weekend

This past Memorial Day weekend was spent with Rick's family visiting from California. We took them to downtown Denver and stopped off at Wash Park and then headed over to 16th Street Mall.

Washington Park (better known by the locals as Wash Park) is a HUGE park with a lake, playground, small botanic garden and a couple of trails that run the perimeter of the park itself. Rick's sister and her husband (known as Aunt Susie and Uncle Muscles or Uncle Ryan) took the two older boys on the paddle boats. The first trip lasted about 5 minutes when Kellen said he was down and wanted to head back to shore. So Ryan and Aidan went out and enjoyed themselves on the lake.

While they were enjoying the paddle boats, Rick's mom (Elva or Abue to the boys, short for Abuela or Abuelita - grandmother in Spanish), Rick, Curren and I walked the perimeter of the park.

After spending some time at Wash Park we decided to take our Cali relatives to the 16th Street Mall. This is a pedestrian friendly outdoor mall in heart of downtown Denver. It's a great area to do some shopping and some serious people watching. Never a dull moment on the 16th Street Mall.

On Monday we decided a good hike was in order so we packed ourselves into the Sequoia (love having a big SUV) and headed over to Devil's Head. It's about a 45 minute drive up into the foothills. And the majority of the drive is on a windy dirt road. Devil's Head is located in Pike National Forest which takes in a good portion of the area just west and south of us. Devil's Head is a US Forest fire lookout tower built back in 1912. The views extend 100 miles in every direction. It was AMAZING!

The hike to the base of the lookout tower is about 2 miles of switchbacks. Not too bad of a climb, however, for sea level dwellers it was a bit more challenging, but everyone made it! Yay! The last section is a set of steep stairs that lead you to the lookout tower where a forest ranger greets you with a card stating,

"This certifies that on 5/31/10, (insert name) climbed Devil's Head Lookout Station guarding the Pike National Forest against fire, and is therefore recognized as a member of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Squirrels. Signed by the lookout person.

Then you get to sign a book proving you were at the lookout tower. The elevation is 9748 ft. Not too shabby.

(At the lookout tower)

(view of Pike's Peak - a 14er from the lookout tower)

Curren did pretty good on the way up...on Rick's back, but he was ready to get down and do some of his own hiking. Thankfully there's a large flat resting area before you climb the stairs so he got to explore. However, when it was time to head back down the mountain Curren decided he wasn't quite ready to go and threw and absolute tantrum and refused to go back in the Ergo baby carrier. The only thing he wanted at that point was being in mom's arms. Ugh! I walked a few steps with him and realized this was NOT going to work. The kid weighs 33lbs. So I told Rick to force him on my back and off we went. He screamed for a few minutes more, but then calmed down and relaxed. Poor kid was tired and just wanted his two feet on the ground.

(one the way up - Devil's Head)

(coming down the mountain)

We ended the Memorial Day by having a BBQ with our Cali relatives along with my mom and Jerry. What a great day to honor those who have and are serving our country!

Tuesday could've been a pretty uneventful day of swim lessons and a little bit of swimming at our local neighborhood pool. However, our little Curren, who's almost 2 mind you (think terrible two's here) decided he already knows how to swim and needs no help from anyone while heading off to the deep end. He didn't want me holding him or touching him in the pool. Everytime his chin went under the water I grabbed him and brought him back to the shallow end. And everytime he screamed and screamed. I think I handled the defiance for quite a while (about an hour) and decided I couldn't take it anymore. And I'm sure most everyone else at the pool had about enough of this screaming child. So I got him changed and off Elva and I went to head home and put Curren down for a nap. (Aunt Susie and Uncle Ryan stayed a little longer with Aidan and Kellen.)

Curren fell asleep before we even left the parking lot. So once home I carried him into the house. I hadn't even got that far when all of sudden he throws up all over my back. I start walking him toward the kitchen sink because he's still making noises like he's going to throw up again and instead of making it into the sink he vomits all over the front of me and then one more time for good measure. He'd swallowed so much pool water from refusing to let me help him in the pool that his poor tummy couldn't handle it. ICK! So as quickly as I could I wiped him down (most of the junk was on me) undressed him and headed upstairs. Thankfully Elva was kind enough to clean up the mess.

Can you say YUCK!?! Oh well, that's life and now it's documented so I can show this to Curren one day when he's older.

Overall, besides the vomit episode we had a wonderful time with Elva, Susie and Ryan. We can't wait until they come back again!

Cabo 2010

As most of you know already, Rick and I just returned from a great week down in Cabo san Lucas, Mexico. Our vacay was just what we both needed. Time away from the kids and time spent together. Last time we took a trip like this, Aidan was 2 1/2! It was a week of doing a lot of relaxing by the pool and eating a lot of great food. Didn't bother to weigh myself when I returned. I seriously don't want to know how much weight I probably gained. Brought my workout clothes, but didn't workout either. How pathetic huh?

(pretty much what I did all week)

(Cabo Bello beach - where our friend Brett lives. His daughter, Leah, latched on to Rick. I guess she's the daughter he never had.)

We originally stayed at a resort called Casa Dorada on Medano beach along the Sea of Cortez. It's one of the few beaches where you can swim and participate in water sports. Elsewhere along the coast (either the Pacific side or Sea of Cortez side there are massive shore breaks or undertides which prevent swimming). Surfing is a yes. We actually saw some friends from Cali who came down to Cabo for a surfing trip.

(Casa Dorada - view from our room)

Anyway, Casa Dorada is nice although it's right behind two beachfront restaurants so it's pretty loud. The pool water was ice cold so I never got further than getting my feet wet...kind've a bummer. Awesome views of Land's End and super close to town.

(Land's End - southern most tip in Baja - view from our room)

Besides lounging by the pool and eating at some great restaurants we also went snorkeling a couple of times at Chilenos Beach. The first time, on Monday was PERFECT! Tons and tons of fish, water temp just right (actually warmer than at our resort pool) and perfect sunny weather. We also tried snorkeling on Thursday, but there was too much of a surge so not as good. I actually never went in that time since we both kind've figured it wouldn't be great because of the surf report we received from our buddy Brett. Great day for surfing, not so for snorkeling. Oh well. One great day is better than none!

(Chileno's beach - great place for snorkeling)

Since Rick and I never go to movies anymore we also saw two while there! Clash of the Titans and Ironman 2. (We had a date night with Brett and Sherri and saw Ironman 2 with them.)

On Wednesday we headed up to San Jose del Cabo (about a 20 minute drive north of Cabo san Lucas) to visit Brett at the new resort he works at. It's called Cabo Azul. It was a FABULOUS resort, CA owned and finally a perfect place for Rick and I to decide to purchase a place there. Well, truly it's like a timeshare, but works on a point system. We were also able to stay there one night and loved it. Once again, happy with our purchase. It'll be great when we bring the kids down too because it has a full kitchen and the rooms are large and spacious.

(Cabo Azul - view of the pools to the beach. They are all really warm and not chlorinated - saline instead.)

(architect rendering of Cabo Azul)

(kitchen - Cabo Azul)

(living area - Cabo Azul)

(bedroom - Cabo Azul)

Wednesday afternoon on our way back to Cabo we stopped off near Zippers (a surf spot) and found our Cali friends. 13 guys all met in Cabo for a long weekend of surfing. It was great seeing them and it looked like they were having a great time too.

(Our buddy Shaun - friend from Cali)

Oh and did I mention I got the most relaxing 80 minute massage? It was heavenly! Just what the doctor ordered. Wish I could get a massage once a week!

Any of you considering a nice getaway, go to Cabo. It's close, convenient, and not crazy crowded like Cancun. The only bummer, the locals have finally realized what a great destination they have and it's reflected in their food prices. Yikes! Eating there used to be such a good bargain, not anymore! Oh well, it was only a matter of time.