Belated Birthday

Construction underfoot all summer has disrupted things for us!
Better late than never, year 8

And Finally Some Snow

The first two weeks of February brought the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships to Beaver Creek. It's a bit like a mini-Olympics for skiers, and all the big names in skiing are there. We watched the races a bit but ended up reveling in the totally empty mountain and had a great day of skiing. We're lucky in that several of the big name skiers train at Vail and Beaver Creek and it's not uncommon to share a lift or a run with someone such as Mikaela Shiffrin. Here's a view of all the race courses in the background of our very colorful skier.

 For Travis' big birthday he requested a ski trip here in Colorado to a ski area we don't normally go to. We narrowed it down to Crested Butte and Monarch and the timing of when we could go landed us at Monarch. We stayed at a hot springs resort nearby and enjoyed soaking in the warm river and pools after a day of better than expected skiing. We also stumbled onto a monthly art walk in Salida and spent most of a day in and out of galleries chatting with artists. All in all a pretty great long weekend.

We also got a decent sized storm here in Denver. Totals across the city varied widely, we ended up with a little less than 8" all of which landed over the weekend. Weekend snow means great sledding opportunities and when F and Emma discovered that their "secret" sledding hill was full of most of the neighborhood kids they were thrilled for the giant play date. Getting to each other was a bit tricky, Emma's gate was frozen shut (see the purple coated youngster in the background working the gate) and our gate was stuck shut by the weight of the snow on the opening side. The two intrepid pals were getting to each other one way or the other... Luckily Dad stepped in and manhandled our gate open and Emma bravely clambered over her fence (which is a little shorter than ours) and the two met in the middle for a day of snow play.

 Unrelated to snow, FFM presented several weeks worth of research and writing in the annual 2nd grade country night. He picked Ireland (yes, Australia was a close second) and filled an entire book with facts and details about the land of his birth. It was a great night seeing all the different books from all the countries and tasting foods from all over the world. F's other bestie, also named Emma, dressed in her native Ethiopian garb and made a lovely pancake similar to a French crepe.

Almost Weekly Science and Crafts

Before the holiday weekend the kiddos opted to do some crafts and activities instead of a new science project. First up, Sharpie Tie Dye.

We used several patriotic colors and the kiddos drew "fireworks" on the front of their shirts. We stuck a piece of cardboard inside so the colors wouldn't run through. We quickly learned that lots of small dots work better than large colors splotches. I sprayed/dropped rubbing alcohol on them to make them bleed, and then ironed over with a cloth to help set the colors. F had so much blue on his that it did bleed a little, but not enough to blur the designs. I washed them once in warm water with vinegar to make sure they wouldn't bleed too much and the kids wore them almost immediately.

One of the things I loved as a kid was building forts out of blankets, sheets, and couch cushions. My mother frowned upon this practice, I think because we tore apart beds and couches to make the forts. FFM hasn't really gotten into the whole fort thing yet, so to spur his creative juices T and I put together a fort kit and gave it to him for his birthday. I made a medium sized drawstring fabric bag and put: 2 full + sheets, small clamps, clothespins, rope, stretchy rope, flashlights, and a string of LED lights. It took about 7.2 seconds for the kids to figure out what I was doing before they took over and I was relegated to reaching things too high for them.

View from outside, the light blue thing on the lower right is tunnel fort access.

 FFM hauled floor pillows from his bedroom and they read by flashlight and twinkly star light.

Birthday Week 2014

FFM and I have birthdays just a few days apart. They coincide with a big national holiday so at our house we have declared an entire week off of work, etc and have cleverly dubbed it "Birthday Week."

This year marked an, ahem, significant birthday for me. Travis and I talked about what sounded good and quickly landed on a plan to retreat to a famous resort here in Colorado as a special treat. FFM, however, had plans for a huge bash with every single person he knows. We did throw a big (not birthday) bash, nearly 70 people in our backyard and greenbelt, and had a great time. Took ZERO pictures, but we played in the water, ate and drank well, and enjoyed the company.

Right after cleaning up the party we headed south to Colorado Springs. We stayed through the holiday weekend and enjoyed relaxation and pampering and amazing food. The boys had never been to Cave of the Winds, so we spent half a day exploring the cave and riding the new rides that have appeared. FFM surprised us all by being an expert on the ropes course, he even ventured out onto the top most level that juts out over the canyon. The ropes are far enough apart there that it's not really meant for someone his size, even Travis had to stretch a few times, but by being creative and swinging his little body around (my mom senses tingled mightily and I mumbled over and over that the safety equipment really was safe) he tackled every single run on the course. I enjoyed the lowest section, managed the upper section, and quit when it got time to go over the canyon.  FFM loved the cave AND ropes and we're already making plans to see some bigger and better caves in the west and hit the ropes course in Vail.

Ready for spelunking!

View from the ground of the ropes course. F in center, waving

The section over the canyon. F reached by swinging to the next rope loop.

STRECTCHING to reach the platform.
It took 4 tries but he made it on his own.

I do believe this is where his aspiration to become a tight rope walker comes from.

The section that sticks out over the canyon.
It's further down than it looks! 

The resort figured out it was my birthday and I had little treats left for me in the room and a lovely Baked Alaska birthday cake with dinner.

We stuck around the resort on the 4th and partook of the various resort activities that were available (it's a bit like a cruise, you can hop from one thing to the next all day if you like). The pool was packed so after a short swim in the morning we played all afternoon and enjoyed the family carnival. We finally got to eat at the traditional (not quite) English pub and enjoyed a rowdy lunch. While the menu wasn't anything like any English/Scottish/Irish pub I've ever been in, the decor came straight from an old English pub that had been dismantled and shipped over.

4th of July family carnival. All you can eat cotton candy and sno-cones!

Finally getting to have some Irish lager at the Golden Bee

We discussed where to watch the fireworks from, and after deciding we were one of a few rooms that would have a good view we stayed upstairs and watched out our window. We could also see fireworks in nearby Colorado Springs, we think maybe from Fort Carson.

Fireworks from our window, a lucky treat!
 They opened so we got all the noise, too.

Our hands down favorite activity (tied with the cave) was the new bowling alley. T and I loved the adult beverage milkshakes (s'mores milkshake with Frangelico and whiskey anyone?) and FFM enjoyed the "bar" foods (waffle batter dipped buffalo corn dog)  and his kid friendly black and white milkshake. We ate, drank, bowled, boogied and had an all around fabulous time.

 After a leisurely Sunday brunch buffet this morning we headed back well rested, well fed, and happy to be headed home.

SEVEN

Our little guy is all the way to SEVEN! The world is getting bigger, he had a hard time deciding between Mt. Rushmore and France for his favorite places to go. We scurried out of town for birthday week, so our birthday conversation is a bit belated this year.
Happy 7th birthday bud!

Click here for 5
and here for 6

2nd Annual Birthday Train

Grannie Annie is on a mission to take FFM on all the trains in the state of Colorado. Turns out there are A LOT of trains. Last year they went for a ride on the Georgetown Loop, this year we all rode the Royal Gorge Railway near Cañon City.

We had reserved seats, and were free to move about all cars of the train. It was a really nice day and we all spent a lot of time in the open air car watching the rafters on the Arkansas River. Three even fell out in a series of rapids and we watched them scramble back to their rafts!

 Before getting to the actual gorge we rode through some rolling hills.

 Our waitress brought FFM special birthday cake!

 Another year of a fun tradition.

Cool Gadget from Library + Snow = Super Fun Sunday

Reading all the posters at the library is tedious, but waiting for FFM one day I noticed that we can now check out various electronics like tablets, e-readers, and video cameras. Most notably, the GoPro camera system. I signed us up on the wait list and a couple of weeks later I had a GoPro waiting for me on the hold shelf.

We were hoping to get out for a ski day with it, but things didn't work out as expected so the boys took it sledding instead. I think they had a good time.

After the test run Travis decided his own GoPro was in order so the following week I figured out which set up would work well and got him early birthday present. He's filmed something pretty much every day since he got it and now we have various time lapse and wide angle movies of all kinds of amazing things such as the walk to the mailbox and the drive to school.

Birthday Blowout

Given that our birthdays are only a few days apart, F and I usually take at least a whole week or two or four to celebrate.

F's 6th birthday party was a small affair. We talked about options and he choose Build-A-Bear. 6th birthday = six guests this year, and it was a really good time (a bigger hit than I expected).

Doing something funny with their hearts.
Everyone got two, one to keep and one to give special birthday wishes to FFM

spider-bear, police bear, cammo-bear, swimming kitty, ironman bear, police dog, and pink princess 

 We crashed the  Noodles restaurant next door for a bite to eat and for the serving of the cake (which came from Coldstone around the corner, easiest birthday party ever!). The Noodles staff were super helpful, even though we made a huge mess!

 F received a couple "experiences" gifts this year. The day after his birthday his Granny Annie had arranged to take him on a train trip and mine tour in the mountains about an hour west of us. F still has a freaky obsession with trains and was thrilled to get to spend the day riding one with Granny Annie and Eric.

 Blurry mine tour photo op

Another fun gift was the giant inflatable ball. There was much discussion and rock-paper-scissoring about whose turn it was to roll the ball.

endless giggles 

teamwork to get it back "uphill"

 F got his first giftcard this year, and it was for Barnes and Noble. It was a perfect gift for him, while we were choosing books he asked several times if these were his to keep. He's got a huge library of his own, but this is the first time he's been interested in picking out his own books. We've been doing it at the library for a while now, but of course those have to eventually be returned.

at the hairdresser enjoying his new book

 My birthday was as low key as it's been every year since F was born. A bunch of my aunties were in town so we had a fun family GNO. Dinner out with friends on my actual birthday left me feeling well celebrated!

SIX

Guess who is a stupendous SIX today?
Happy Birthday little man, you're awesome and I love you heaps and heaps!
Want to compare to last year's Q&A, click here.  The biggest change? He's given up on Qantas and now wants to fly for Southwest (it's a cool purple plane you know).