Beach Week

After a rough travel weekend with United and Continental, we made it to the beach and enjoyed a week of great weather and good company. We were in Emerald Isle, NC last week with Stan's family.... Gramma Lois; Aunt Lisa and her kids, Ashlynne, Morganne and Max; Great Uncle Marvin and Great Aunt Linda; Auntie Cousin Blair and her little boy, Grayson. The weather was perfect.

The first day, Casey was a little unsure about the hot sand and crashing waves, but the next day and the rest of the week, she loved the beach. She would wake up in the morning and say, "I wanna go swimming." She had a great time playing with her cousins, Ashlynne, Morgie, Max and Grayson. She was very independent the whole week, going up and down the stairs finding things to do. "Where are my friends?" she would ask when she woke from her nap. She and Max were crazy together. One minute they were best friends, laying on Max's bed watching TV with their blankeys, the next minute they were fighting, taking things away from each other, crying, hitting (Casey's new thing), then the next minute they would be following each other around the whole house.

Our days were rough...we were on the beach from 9:00 to 11:30 every day. Casey swam in the ocean with a life jacket and swimmies. She would swim back and forth from Daddy, to Mommy, to Aunt Lisa. "I swim by myself." After swimming she and Max would snack under the shade tent, then play in the sand. Up to the house for lunch, then nap. She took the longest naps!! One day she took a 3 1/2 hour nap!!

There were no waves this year, so we rented an ocean kayak for a day. Even Ashlynne got to go out in it and paddle around. It was a fun week!

We got back to CO, Aunt Kel babysat Casey while I went to "book" club Monday night. Aunt Kel hung out most of the week, then went to Boulder for the weekend. This past weekend was mainly packing up the house. We leave tomorrow for VA for the month of July!

Casey wants to wish Gramma Lois a belated birthday! We got to celebrate with her at the beach!!

Here are pix.

Gramma Lois and Casey watching the others build sandcastles

Casey hanging with her cousins, Ashlynne and Max

Swimming in the Ocean

playing in the sand with Max

photo op with her cousins

ready for the beach

snack time with Max (and his yogurt mustache) and Grayson

the crew

Roanoke, Charlotte, Dillon

Memorial weekend was spent in Roanoke and Charlotte.  Casey and I flew to Roanoke Thursday.  Casey was an angel on the plane and I was the envy of many mom's, with my car seat wheelie attachment.  Casey got to watch a movie and then took a long nap. She was very excited to see her Gramma Lois and her Daddy at the airport.  Casey spent the weekend entertaining Gramma, Aunt Donnie, Aunt Linda and Uncle Marvin, while Stan and I drove down to Charlotte for our annual Coca Cola 600 Nascar weekend.  We all had great weather and a very fun weekend.

Last week, Casey got her first haircut.  She was perfect in the chair.  She held still and smiled the whole time. 

This weekend Geoff and Sarah visited from Denver, with their kids, Kaelin and Graham.  Casey had so much fun playing with them.  They played with the sand and water table, always in their "birthday suits," we took a couple walks, and had breakfast at ACafe.  We also went for a hike, and Casey experienced her first peeing in the woods.  Very exciting!!

naked sand and water table play

getting cleaned up after being all sandy

hiking Lily Pad Lake trail

Aunt Kel came up Sunday.  We celebrated her birthday with yummy cake and lots of "Happy Birthday" singing. Monday we took the canoe to Green Mountain Reservoir.  Casey liked riding in the boat and stopping off at different spots along shore and at an island, which we named, "Casey's Island."  She got her first fishing pole and Daddy showed her how to cast it and reel it in.  She can reel it in, but we have to cast it out for her.

figuring out her fishing pole

paddle! nice lips kel

enjoying the ride...and a fruit snack

Aunt Kel teaching Casey how to skip rocks

Daddy and Casey fishing...no one caught any fish this trip:(

in mid cast...even though it's already casted

fishing

Casey is still talking non-stop.  This week, every time I go to get her up from her crib she says, "I wanna go to beach."  She likes to say, "Wha happen?" "You Okay?"  She says, "No thank you" when she doesn't want something you offer her.  "Your Welcome" when you say thank you.  She has become quite a parrot too.  This morning Kel said, "oopsiedaisy" so now Casey has been say this all day.  She likes washing her hands a lot! and has now learned how to get the soap out of the pump by herself.  This weekend, she learned, from Kaelin, about putting lotion on after washing and drying her hands, so now that is part of her hand washing ritual.  She is starting to play a little make believe with her dolls.  She changes their diapers and gives them drinks of her sippy cup and asks them questions and then answers for them.

changing her dolls diaper

bear and doll diapers are changed

"here is how you put on the lotion"

Conversation

Casey: "I'm goin on airpane with mommy, daddy. go see gamma. watch a moovie."


This past week Casey has started to have conversations. Today at lunch, she proceeded to tell Sarah the above quote, then move on to a few other random topics, I couldn't keep up. She talked for a good minute non-stop. And was very serious about it. We fly to Roanoke on Thursday to visit with Gramma Lois and to drive down to Charlotte for the Coca Cola 600 Nascar race. Casey is definitely looking forward to it. She has been telling everyone she sees about how she is going to go on an airplane to see Gramma.

Thursday night, we drove down to Denver for my monthly book club. Mark babysat Casey, and from what he says, she was very good. She did talk him into giving her a snack at bedtime, but other than that she was very well behaved.

Friday, Rowan slept over...this time in separate bedrooms, because we all had stuff to do on Saturday. The girls had so much fun. They like to repeat each other over and over and over again. "All done?" "All done." "All done?" "All done." They played great together all night, taking turns with toys. They were both so exhausted for bed, they both asked to go to bed...Rowan even ran to the pack n play and whined to get in.

Saturday, after some sandbox time with Rowan, we drove down to Denver for Colin's 40th bday party. Colin has twin 3 year old girls who love Casey and who have lots of toys, so Casey had a blast! She dug right into all kitchen stuff, makeup (she had lip gloss over her face at one point), and had fun climbing up the swing set ladder/climbing wall and sliding down the slide. She also crossed the monkey bars numerous times, with a little help. We stayed at Steve and Stacia's house, who have a couple cats. Casey is fascinated with these cats and Stacia. We get up in the morning and she walks out of our room, "Where Stacia?" as loud as possible. Once she finds Stacia, she turns her attention to the cats.

Casey thinks everything is hers, "That mine." "That my cat. Ok?" She helps me put clothes in the dryer and each piece of clothing I give her...as she puts it in the dryer, "That Casey shirt." "That Casey towel."

The rest of the weekend consisted of chores. The exciting part of chores...Stan fixed the lawn mower! He had to completely disassemble it, replace a part, and was able to put it back together correctly and it works! Very exciting. You might be asking why the lawn mower was broken. That would be because stumps keep jumping out at me. This was the 2nd time I hit the same stump (it definitely moved locations) and Stan had to change the blade. I will try and be more careful...but I can't promise.

Will try and get a post in after we get back from Charlotte/Roanoke.
Happy Memorial Day...Be safe!

sleep over dinner

playing in the sand

chillin'

"helping" daddy make brownies

Out of the Crib

Friday, Sarah and Rowan came over for dinner and spent the night.  We put Rowan and Casey in the same room.  We figured they would talk a little and then finally go to sleep.  So basically Casey talked and talked and talked and jumped up and down, while Rowan laid in her pack n play saying, "No Casey."  About an hour after we put them down to sleep, Sarah looked at the monitor and noticed there was no kid in the crib.  I went upstairs and Casey had crawled out of her crib and was running around the room, throwing stuffed animals into Rowan's crib. The next morning, at 6 a.m., I hear footsteps upstairs...Casey was out of the crib, throwing more stuffed animals and books into Rowan's crib.  Trouble maker.

The weekend was spent outside.  Casey got to play with her sand/water table, her sandbox, her bike and learned that the hammock is really fun to lay in. When Casey plays with her sand/water table, she feels the need to strip down to her diaper. Really, for Casey, anytime is a good time to strip down to her diaper or her birthday suit. We do make her wear her shoes, because last week she got a really big splinter in her pinky toe.  Daddy got most of the splinter out, then a few days later Sarah got the rest out.  "Daddy fix it."

We did a few chores over the weekend.  We are trying to finish up the baseboard and trim upstairs and sanding and staining the doors upstairs. A little time consuming, especially because we don't get a lot of free time these days...Casey is very busy!!
Tuesday, we went to the Denver Zoo today with Rowan and Sarah. The girls had a blast seeing all the animals. We would see an animal and Casey would immediately ask for, "more animals, mommy." At lunch a peacock strolled onto the path and opened his feathers and twirled around for a good 10 minutes.  It was pretty amazing.  We also got stuck in a rain/hail storm and had to hang out in a cave near some prairie dogs or something for 10 minutes. Pretty funny.

Enjoy the pix.

Rowan and Casey watching a movie

Frisco and Aspen hanging

a bit of a messy eater

 

Rowan and Casey chilling in the wagon at the Denver Zoo

waiting out the rain/hail storm in a cave at the zoo

quotes

here are a couple quotes from Casey the past couple days. she talks non-stop.

"mommy, i go potty."
"no, don't want to go potty, i want diaper"
"silly daddy, silly"
"watch dora boots, okay?!"

Casey turns 2

We have had a crazy 2 weeks.

Casey turned 2 on May 1st. Her 2 year appointment was 2 Friday's ago. She weighed 25.8 lbs and is 2' 8.75" tall. She is in the 25-30% in both. So kind of a shorty. She got one shot and was very brave during it. She gets really excited about the bandaid and stickers, so if she does cry during the shot...it doesn't last long.

We had a joint party with her BFF, Rowan, at Arapahoe Basin Ski resort. It snowed and it was cold, but the girls had a blast. Casey rode the magic carpet ride up the bunny slope and skied down. They played in the snow, ate cupcakes, and had fun being pulled around in sleds. Casey got lots of fun gifts from family and friends, including a sandbox from her parents. We finally set it up this weekend. The snow put a damper on our plans to set it up earlier.

Stan stayed in town this week. Tuesday, Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom came into town for Kel's graduation from CU with her MBA. Wednesday, we all skied at ABasin all day. The snow was great and Grandma and Grandpa made it to the top and the back bowl of ABasin. So brave. Thursday morning, Daddy, Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom all got to see Casey at tumbling, then we were off to Boulder to meet up with Kel and Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack who flew in on Wed. We had a delicious dinner at The Rio, then the sisters hit the town to celebrate. Friday was graduation day and Grandma Gail's Birthday. We spent the morning swimming at the hotel, then met Kel for lunch in Boulder. Kel made a delicious orange juice bundt birthday cake. The afternoon was spent at Kel's graduation. Congratulations Kel!!

Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom left us Friday to head home, while Marcy, Stuart, Lily and Jack headed up the mountain for the weekend. We went to the playground, soaked in the hot tub, and celebrated Marcy's birthday. Casey had a blast with her cousins. She loved giving Lily big, long lasting hugs. Our guest all left us Sunday morning. Tonight while giving Casey a bath...
Casey: "Where's Marcy?"
Mom: "I don't know where is she?"
Casey: "Maryland too."
She proceeded to do this with Stuart, Lily and Jack. She says Maryland too, because she did this last week and I answered Maryland for the first person, then "he/she's in Maryland too."

Casey is becoming more and more articulate. She also is becoming a bit of a copycat. Her new phrase...taken from Mommy..."Okay?"
Casey: "I'm gonna wash hands...okay?" (usually with tilt of the head)
Speaking of washing hands...it's her favorite thing to do right now. She will say she needs to go potty, then run in the bathroom and climb the stool to wash her hands. She has finally figured out how to get the soap out of the dispenser. She'll rinse the soap off, then cup her hands together and drink the water.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Stan and Casey came downstairs bearing gifts. I was in the kitchen. I hear Casey running into the living room yelling, "Happy Birthday Mommy!" She then proceeded to trip and break the stem of the rose she was carrying, but didn't miss a beat...got right back up and ran over to me with the rose and the card, "here mommy."

That's all for this week.
Happy Belated Birthday's to Grandma Gail and Aunt Marcy. And, Happy Graduation to Aunt Kel.

The Birthday Girls

Skiing Abasin

Birthday girl opening presents

The grad with her nieces and nephew

Casey with her cousin Lily

cousins hugging

the grad

enjoing the pool

cousins at Lake Dillon

weeeeee...

Casey is a very neat eater

having fun in her new sandbox

Keystone is closed, Breckenridge and Copper closed last weekend. Abasin is still open.  Last weekend all 3 of us went to Breckenridge for closing day.  We took turns riding, while Casey played in the snow and watched all the skiers and snowboarders.  That afternoon, we headed to Copper Mountain for their end of the season free concerts.

We started a new session of tumbling on Thursday.  Casey is definitely becoming more independent.  She can hang from the bar and lift her feet all the way to the bar by herself.  In the last tumbling session, Casey was not a big fan of the parachute.  This time, she was the first one to run onto the parachute and had a blast dancing under it. Looking forward to her learning to do a somersault all by herself.

Friday, Sarah and I took the girls to Abasin to go skiing.  It was a little snowy, but warm enough.  They lasted a good 20 minutes and seemed to enjoy themselves.  This was our trial for the girls' birthday party coming up this weekend at Abasin.  Hoping for a beautiful day.

Saturday, Aunt Kel came up for a quick visit. We got tons of snow so me and Kel went to Abasin to snowboard in the Pow. Good Times. That night, Stan took me out to an early birthday dinner, while Casey got to play over at Rowan's. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet weekend.

Enjoy the pix.
 

riding the bus from the parking lot to Peak 9 Breckenridge

posing with Frisco

Casey is much better with Frisco nowadays...she always asks Frisco if she wants to watch Dora with her, she lets her in the rooms now, instead of slamming the door on her, she feeds her most mornings after saying, "mornin frisco."

Oh, and she's very into being naked lately.  She gets so excited when we go upstairs after her bath, she wiggles out of my arms and out of her towel when we get into her room and starts running around crazy.  When she does have clothes on, she tries to pull them off.  Thanks goodness she can't really do it just yet.

skiing at Abasin

Rowan and Casey at Abasin

Strep 2

Casey just wasn't herself this weekend, so we took her to the Doc on Monday and found out that she has strep again.  She had it 3 weeks ago for the first time.  They put her on a relative of Amoxicilan (not as good), so hopefully she'll be back to herself in no time.  At the moment, it's 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday and she has been talking and singing in her bed for the last 45 minutes.  Not sure what that's all about!

She hasn't been eating that great lately.  Especially dinners.  So she wakes up in the morning starving. 

Every week she has something new for Daddy when he gets home.  Mostly new words or phrases.  Her latest is "Look at me!"  Usually said when she is doing something funny...or at least funny in her eyes.  She has started to say "bye bye" to everything when we leave a room, or leave the house..."bye bye song, bye bye diapers, bye bye books." 

We got out Casey's sand and water table this week and she has had so much fun playing with the sand...too cold for water right now.  She runs over to the sliding door and points to it, "i want play with sand." 

Saturday night we went to Keystone to celebrate their closing weekend (yes we are sad snowboard season is coming to an end).  Casey and her friend Isaac had a blast dancing to the band, Seven Mary Three. 

Casey would like to wish her Grandpa a very Happy Birthday on Wednesday!!  We're hoping a bird will be living in the birdhouse we got you by the time we come visit the Lake in July!

Playing in the Sand

"Too Cool"

Giving Isaac foosball tips

In the beginning...

was this body paint??