South Beach Baby

Sorry for no blog post last week, but we were busy in sunny Florida.  Stan flew to Denver Friday night, we stayed in a hotel by the airport, then we all flew to Miami on Sat morning to visit Stan's sister and her fam.  The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there, except the last day, when it was rainy and chilly...obviously Florida was sad to see us go.

Sunday, we went to the Miami Sea Aquarium and watched a sea lion show, killer whale and dolphin show and another flipper the dolphin show.  We got to see manatees, eels & sharks.  It was fun.  The highlight was sitting in the front row for the killer whale show.  We made it through the whole show without getting wet...until the very end of the show, the whale jumped right in front of us and soaked us all (well except me, since Casey was sitting on my lap).  It freaked Max and Casey out, so we had to make a quick exit to get as far away as possible from that gigantic black and white monster.

Monday, the girls went to school, while we headed to the zoo with Max and Casey.  Casey and Stan got to ride a camel, Max and Casey both petted the pig, Max went crazy in the fountains...Casey felt more comfortable watching. Afterwards, we met up with Uncle Dave, Ashlynne and Morganne at the Marina on Miami Beach for dinner and boat watching.  We walked down to South Point and watched all the cruise ships head out to sea.

Tuesday, we went to the beach.  Casey was great in the sand, but wasn't too sure about the water.  But neither were we...it was a bit chilly!! We walked to the girls school to pick them up on the way back home.  That night we had BBQ in South Beach, then Gelato at the Lincoln Street Mall. 

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Dave live right in South Beach.  Definitely lots to do!  Casey slept in the kids room all week, while we got to head to a hotel...thanks Lisa and Dave!!  She did pretty well, however, we learned the first night, that she had to go to bed 30 minutes after the other 3.  She likes to talk...a lot. For the most part, Casey got along great with her cousins.  She LOVED all their toys.  She definitely has a bit of brat in her though...she really liked to egg Max on.  They were in the car one day and Max had his foot near her carseat, so she moved her foot there then kept saying, "mine, mine, mine."  She was doing it also with her hand, since their carseats were right next to each other.  They were kind of egging each other on, but she was definitely pushing it more than her cousin.

She had a really fun time playing with her cousins all week.  We flew back home Wednesday, including Stan.  He had the whole week off, so we went snowboarding at Vail on Thursday.  Snow is not so good right now.  We're having beautiful, sunny Spring days and no snow. 

Friday Casey started feeling sick.  She had a fever all day Saturday.  Was better Sunday, but still not her self.  Monday morning she woke up again not herself, so we took her to the Doctor...she has strep throat.  She's on antibiotics, so we're hoping she'll improve as the week goes on.  Aunt Kel came up from Boulder on Sunday night for a couple nights, since it's Spring Break for the grad student. Hopefully she won't be leaving here with strep...

Enjoy all the pix!

they not only showed each other their bellies...but, right after I took this picture, they bumped bellies

Cousin Ashlynne reading to Casey and blankey

having a whale of a good time at the sea aquarium...

riding on the camel at the zoo, a first for both father and daughter

petting the pig.  max could've stayed there all day petting it...casey was finished after a quick touch

Tracy and Stan people watching

Casey, Max, Ashlynne and Morganne down at South Point watching the boats

enjoying her huge sandbox

sharing her sandbox with Max

having a ball with Max

mmmmm...cheese...pizza

Me Do It

This weekend we celebrated Stan's birthday. We had a bunch of people in town from Denver and Harriett was in town from Chicago. We got to snowboard a few hours on Saturday, then we chowed down on steak and shrimp, then dove into chocolate birthday cake. Good times! Casey had fun singing "Happy Birthday to Daddy" all week, except when it was actually time to sing to Daddy on the phone.

Casey's big thing nowadays is, "Me Do It!" Sometimes she'll try to do it herself, and then she'll say, "Help you," meaning she needs help. She also thinks everything is hers, "Sasey's book, Sasey's milk water (this is what she calls her drinks), Sasey's bankey..." She is getting to be more comfortable with people. She now walks into daycare on her own, puts her lunch bag in the fridge, then runs over to Delhia, her teacher. She still acknowledges that I'm leaving, which is nice, but now she'll just wave and say "Bye." She does the same in the gym daycare, except instead of running to a teacher, she walks over to the play kitchen immediately. She is also starting to recognize people. When people came up this weekend, she recognized a bunch of them. And last night at Mark's house, Stacia walked in the house and Casey pointed at her, got excited and said, "Stacia." She had just seen her this weekend. She knows who goes together too. When I say Mark, she'll say Amy, his wife. She'll ask about Marcy, then Stuart, then Lily, then Jack. She'll then move onto the next group. When I say Ashlynne, she'll say Morganne. It's pretty funny. She is starting to count too, "one, two, seven."

Mostly she is a pretty good kid. She definitely has her whiney moments, and definitely some bratty moments, and she has definitely had more and more "timeouts." She is very into testing us. We'll tell her not to do something, and she'll look at us and do it again waiting for a reaction. When we say, "Do you want a timeout?" She'll usually say, "No" and move onto the next activity, but every now and then, she'll say "No" but continue to do it anyway. Other than those times...she's pretty much a cutie!!

We're off to Miami to visit Lisa, Dave, Ashlynne, Morganne and Max, so probably no blog next week, but I'll make sure to do it the following Monday!

Enjoy Pix!

"what?"

hi belly

taking a walk at the lake, with the famous buffalo mountain in the background

bubble bath

brushing teeth

Aunts, Uncle and Cousins

Sorry for no post last week. We were very busy skiing with Aunt Kel, Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart and cousins Lily and Jack. They arrived Thursday. Friday & Monday, Lily went to Keystone Ski School, Jack and Casey went to Casey's daycare, and the rest of us went skiing, all day long. Saturday, Stan, Kel and I went to Keystone to hike the Erickson Bowl. After an hour hike, we were able to find a fresh powder run. It was a great ride. Stuart, Marcy and Kel took Lily to Arapahoe Basin for a couple runs in the afternoon. Sunday we went to Breckenridge . Monday, we got Stuart and Marcy to hike at Keystone...a black diamond. Tuesday we went to tubing at Copper. Lily LOVED the middle lane with the jump, so funny. Beforehand, Jack and Casey got to ski. Jack was really good...especially for his first time. After naps, we headed to The Motherloaded, Stuart's request. Wednesday we had to say farewell!!

Casey had so much fun playing with her cousins. It was a fun week!

This past weekend was pretty uneventful.

Casey wishes her Aunt Lisa a Happy Birthday this Wednesday and her Daddy a Happy Birthday on Thursday.

cousins sitting on the counter.  casey LOVED lily's leapster.

hour hike at keystone

which bowl should we ride?

ready to shrow

lily reading to jack and casey

lily, kelly and stuart at abay

chosing down at keystone

hiking the outback at keystone

about to ride down a black diamond

playing in the snow at copper, while we're all tubing.

jack and casey tubing

enjoying lunch after tubing

All Talk

Casey has been very funny lately. She is starting to speak in mini sentences. The other day while we were in the car she said, "Mommy, I watch movie now." She is constantly saying "No, Don't want to." or "Me do it." or "Help you?" (meaning Help me). This past week she has started saying, "What doing?" and then waits for a response. The other morning she hurt her finger and I saw her kiss it and then go on playing. She is very social. She loves saying "Hi" to everyone who passes her in the grocery store, post office, rec center. What's funny is that people automatically say "Hi" back, then when they notice they're responding to a 1 1/2 year old, they laugh.

She LOVES books. She brings a book over to me on the couch, wants, "Uppie...Up," we read the book, then she goes and gets another one. We usually go through all 10 Mickey Mouse books, her GoldBug book (thanks Blair and Chad) and then her Animal Book before she gets tired of books and moves onto the next toy. This isn't just once a day...it's in the morning, after nap, then sometimes upstairs in her room. Amazing.

She plays on her computer a lot, and lately she acts like she's on OOVOO (video calling) when she's playing with it. She'll say hi to everyone she can think of.

Tomorrow we pick Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart and cousins Lily and Jack up from the airport. They're in town for a week of skiing. Should be a fun and busy week!

decorating VDay cookies

a taste of icing

enjoying her creation

skiing from a couple weeks ago


trying to sing "Happy Birthday" as good as her cousin Jack

Week with Grandparents

Sorry for no post last week. We were busy entertaining Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom who were out for the week from VA. They arrived Sunday night and left this past Sunday, after a cancelled flight Saturday because of "Snowmaggeden" in DC.

We skied Keystone 3 times, Breckenridge once and Vail once, 5 full days! GG and GT are definitey pros now. Aunt Kel came up on Wednesday night and skiied Keystone and Vail with us. The whole group got to see Casey at tumbling Friday morning. She was showing off all her moves...her somersault, hanging from the bar, her log roll, walking across the beam, climbing all over everything, bouncing on the bouncy ball...everything, high energy. It was a fun week!

Casey has a couple new phrases...
"Don't want to." Which she uses ALOT lately.
"Come 'ere" with a hand wave.

Casey wants to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Kelly, Tracy and Grandma Gail at Vail

enjoying a good read with Grandma


watching a show with Aunt Kel and Frisco


coming through the tunnel at tumbling


Bouncing


Casey became a pro at stair climbing this week

riding the lift up at keystone

Grandpa T and Grandma G at Keystone

Casey enjoying a cookie with Grandpa

Watch Me

This week Casey got to spend some time at the gym.  She played in daycare, went swimming, and started up tumbling again.  She is very comfortable in the baby pool nowadays.  she walks all over and as it gets deeper, she goes on her tip toes, but keeps walking.  She likes sitting on the edge of the pool and "jumping" in...basically I put my hands under her arms and pull her in.  She loves the kitchen in the gym daycare. The highlight of tumbling was the stamp she gets at the end of the class was put on her foot. 

Saturday, Casey hung with Daddy all day, while Mommy went snowboarding.  We had friends over later and Casey had a blast reading to everyone and showing them all her toys.

Other than that, it was a quiet week.
 

getting ready for bathtime

removed all the bath toys, so she and baby could sit in it

Cheesing it up

listen to her say..."watch me"

Taos

We were in Taos this weekend. Casey spent Saturday and Sunday at the Taos Ski Valley Daycare, while we got to ride all weekend. They need snow, just like Summit County does, but we had fun. On the way back to Denver, we stopped off at the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs.

Earlier this week, Stacy, Ken and Isaac came to visit for a couple days. Casey had fun sharing her toys with Isaac...sort of. Thursday, we headed down to Denver for a girls night in book club. Casey had fun entertaining everyone. Friday, we got to hang out with Aunt Kelly all day. We went to the mall and hung out with all the other moms and kids. Then we headed to the playground so Casey could play and Frisco could run around...Casey slept through the whole trip, but Frisco had a great time. We hung out at Kel's the rest of the afternoon, took a short walk to Boulder Creek, then had dinner in Boulder. We left Kel and headed to the airport to pick up Stan, then we drove down to Taos, NM. The sign in Denver that says 4 1/2 hours to Taos...is a bit of a lie...it took us 5 1/2 hours.

on to the pix

Isaac and Casey playing

Casey enjoying Garden of the Gods

Tracy & Frisco enjoying Garden of the Gods

Casey & Stan watching people climbing these rocks...

there is actually someone up on the top of those in the background

Casey thought doing this was SO funny

To Pee or Not to Pee

Tonight, Casey went running towards her potty saying, "poopy" over and over again. I went with her, took her diaper off and sat her on the potty...she had already pooped in her diaper, however when I put her on the potty she kept trying to go more...and after a few toots and a little pee, she wiped, poured it all in the toilet and flushed the toilet. We have not officially started potty training, but that was pretty exciting! This event took place the day after she pooped in the tub while Daddy was giving her a bath...then, while Mommy was cleaning out the bathtub, she peed all over Daddy before he could get her to the changing table. hehe...

Stan was here all week, working from home. We got to get some riding in on our new snowboards (xmas presents to ourselves). We played lots of Wii. And we got Casey on skis. She wasn't too sure about the skis, but figured out how to scoot herself around...with our help.

Casey got to play with her Aunt Kelly this weekend. She had so much fun, when Kel would leave the room, Casey would immediately say, "Where Kelly?"

Casey's new thing this week is, "Why?" I did not know it starts this early. But all week..."Why? Why? Why?"

drinking juice from a big girl cup

cheese

our little hippie daughter

notice her moving her legs. we'll get better video as the winter moves along.