We've Been Busy

We've been very busy the past couple weeks.  Stan had a week off between projects, so we drove to Montrose, Telluride and Black Canyon, all in CO about 5 hours from us.  We've been snowboarding quite a bit for early season, heading to Vail opening day tomorrow.  Stan started officially working from home, and has a nice "man cave" in our basement, where he can work, play guitar and watch sports all day long.

Casey has been growing like a weed.  She needs 1 more inch to be 3' tall.  She still weighs around 27/28 lbs.  She had her first dentist visit.  No teeth cleaning, but she got to watch Daddy get his teeth cleaned, got to ride the chair up and down and then dental hygenist checked her teeth with the mirror.  Casey had a great time.  Then her preschool had a free teeth cleaning, where they actually cleaned her teeth and gave her flouride.  So hopefully we will keep cavities away from her little teeth. 

She is still in tumbling and is learning to spin around the bar.  However, she tends to let go completely in mid spin and flies down on the mat on her back.  She doesn't seem to mind, but the coach is trying to teach her the right way to do it. 

We are still working on potty training, but she did finally go poop in the potty today.  We've been trying to get her to do this for a couple weeks now, bribing her with a twizzler.  We'll see if she continues.

The past two days, Casey has been talking with a country accent.  Bath, That, Bag, Back all now have 2 syllables, Bayth.  Even Daddy is Dayddy.  Not sure where she learned this and I think she now thinks it's so funny.

Casey: "Daddy, Be quiet, Baby is sleeping."
Daddy: "OK"
Casey: "Hey Daddy?"
Daddy: "What?"
Casey: "Shhhhhhh"

On the Colorado scene, we have squirrels again.  We finally had to get animal control involved.  This time they are in the top of our A frame, so there is no safe way we could get up there.  There are at least 3 of them.  They tend to sit out on the beam and look down into our window at us...I swear they are pointing and laughing at us.  But we have the last laugh now.  Animal control shut out all their ways in, so hopefully this is the end of the squirrels!!  Not keeping my hopes up.

As for the slopes, this weekend Vail opens, which means all of the resorts are open.  We had tons of snow the past week, including a blizzard on Wed, which Kel and I drove home from Keystone in.  It was quite a blind drive!  Speaking of Kel, we had to bid her farewell, she came back into town to pack her stuff into a uhaul and is in the midst of driving it back to VA.  She starts her new job in Rosslyn, VA on Nov 29th.  Congrats Kel, we'll miss you!

Congrats also go out to our friends Jessica and Craig for baby #3, Madelyn.  Can't wait to meet her.  And a belated Happy Birthday to Tracy's Great Grandmother Katie who turned 90 this past Monday!  We'll see you next week!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and Safe Travels.


Bridal Veil Falls in Telluride.  We drove halfway up a one lane rode that basically dropped on one side.  It was scary, especially because we had to stop because of ice on the road and because the Yukon does not a good turning radius!



Casey skipping on the one lane road

 a yummy chocolate flower in Telluride

 under the lift in Mountain Village, Telluride Ski Resort

 Casey hugging Frisco

 our kids at Telluride

 Black Canyon, that is Gunnison River down below

 letting baby walk on the trail

 a great view of the west side of the Black Canyon, we had the park to ourselves

 Casey and Rowan off to the playground

 Dillon, Connor and Casey cheesing it up.  I'm sure immediately after the picture they all went after the phone in Connor's hand.

"take my picture.  lemme see"

The First Big Snow

It snowed in the mountains. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we got snow. Abasin Ski Resort opened on Monday, so Stan, Kel and I dropped Casey off at Kathy's house then hit the slopes on Monday. Only 1 run is open and it was a little icy, but it was exciting to finally get back on our boards! Stan and Kel went again on Tuesday and then Stan and I went on Wednesday.


Stan finished the project he has been on for the last 5 years and is now home. We're still in transition, but it's been real nice having help and company.

Last Sunday, the town of Silverthorne had a "Pumpkin Patch" and Trick or Treating at the Outlets. Casey was excited to get dressed up in her witch costume. She wasn't very into trick or treating, until she realized she got candy. She wanted to open everything she got immediately. Her favorite, pink tootsie rolls. Friday, she got to dress up again for her daycare's Halloween party. Saturday, again the witch costume was worn to her friend Connor's birthday party. And then tonight, we ended October with trick or treating on Main St. in Frisco. Casey was very into saying trick or treat and getting her candy. The witch costume was a hit.

On Friday, we started a new tumbling session and at the beginning of the class, the kids were running around crazy and Casey and a little boy ran into each other...which happens quite often. Unfortunately, his head ended up hitting her right below the eye and her eye turned black and blue and a bump formed immediately. So, Casey has her first black eye.

Casey is doing great in school. She now walks into class on her own, turns to me to give her a kiss and hug, then goes off to play. "I go to school today...I don't cry." We've been working on her colors and her numbers for a while now and she is pretty good at them. She can count up to 10 on her own. She knows her numbers up to 20, just gets them mixed up a bit, but if I say a number, she can usually pick the next number. Her coloring has gotten better too. She'll actually color the pictures on the paper instead of just scribbling all over the paper. The other day she was coloring on a blank piece of paper and when I asked what she was drawing, she told me "a sailboat, a baby sailboat and a bird." She is saying days of the week and using yesterday, today and tomorrow. She uses yesterday a lot, even if she is talking about something that happened a few minutes ago.

Another quote:

Mommy: "You are going to Rowan's to play, while Daddy, Aunt Kel and Mommy go to the gym."
Casey (almost about to cry): "I can't drive your car mommy!"

Happy Halloween to everyone!!
Casey also wants to send out a belated Happy Birthday to Uncle Stuart! And a farewell for now and good luck to Aunt Kel, who flies back to Virginia for the month of November. Thanks for playing with us.

 Dillon, Connor and Casey

 Snuggling with Buffalo Daddy

 "I'm a scary witch, look at my beautiful dress."

 witch, elephant and eyore

 sleeping in her big girl bed

the black eyed witch

School Pictures

Vegas Baby

No post for 2 weeks again. Maybe I'm more of an every other week kind of poster. Sorry!

Casey is still sleeping in her big girl bed and is very good at it. She doesn't get out of it, just waits until we come to get her. She even asked if she could get out of bed before getting out this morning when I walked in her room. What a good kid! Tuesday, she asked to go pee pee in the potty and then later looked at me with a weird expression. I asked if she had to go potty and she said yes, and after a few minutes of sitting there, she went #2 on the potty.  Let's hope she's potty trained by her birthday!

Last week, we kicked off October by coloring pumpkins.  Casey was very into it and colored 3 of them. Aunt Kel came back to town Wednesday, after a trip to Virginia. Thursday, I met Stan at the airport and we flew to Vegas with our friends, Steve and Stacia, for a long weekend. While we became familiar with "The Strip," Casey hung out with Aunt Kel or as Casey calls her, "My Kelly." They kept very busy, going to tumbling, to the pool, to the playground, to dinner with our neighbors, Sean, Kathy, Dillon & Connor. Monday, they ventured to a Pumpkin Patch and playground in Boulder before picking me up at the airport. Supposedly, Casey and Frisco were very well behaved. Thanks Aunt Kel!!

*Aunt Kel (with Frisco breathing her sticky breath in Kelly's face, Kel looks at Casey with a grossed out look on her face): "What's that smell, it smells like fish?"
*Casey (kind of offended): "It's not me Kelly!"

Casey went to school this Wednesday and for the second week in a row, she walked into class without clinging to me and after a kiss and big hug, she walked into the play area a little timid, but without any sort of crying.

Enjoy the pix!

picking a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch with aunt kel

wonder who won?

children of the corn



Cheese



Aren't I Cute

Coloring her pumpkin



Happy Halloween!



Big Girl Bed

Last week flew by.  I got strep throat, so it wasn't a great week for me.  Casey went to tumbling with Daddy on Friday.  Sunday, we went to Breckenridge for Oktoberfest.  Casey rode the alpine slide down the lower slope on Peak 8, jumped in the moon bounce and later danced to the Oktoberfest band.

This past week, I am feeling much better.  Thursday, we went to Denver for book club.  Mark and Andy took Casey to the playground while I got to hang with the ladies.  Thanks guys!  Friday was tumbling, more like run crazy for 45 minutes.  Sunday we went hiking along Rock Creek to Boss Mine.  Casey was great.  She rode in the backpack most of the time, but was also able to hike a little on her own.

The big news...Casey is now sleeping in a big girl bed.  Last weekend we put the child safety bar and a new comforter on the double bed in her room.  She started taking naps in it over the weekend.  By Monday, she was asking to sleep in the big girl bed, so we tried letting her sleep overnight in the big girl bed all last week and she's been great.  She sleeps well and stays in her bed until we come to get her.  Next step, potty training.  Yikes!

Picture day at her school is tomorrow.  Let's hope we get a good one!

 Go Hokies!

 The aspens are amazing right now

 Casey hiking with her new camelback backpack

 Frisco and Casey cheesing it up

 hiking with mommy

Showing off her new pink heart glasses

Labor Day Week and More

What a busy couple of weeks.  Casey and I flew to Virginia on the 1st of September.  We dropped Casey off at Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's house and they headed to the lakehouse for the weekend with Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Jack and Lily.  Casey had a blast running crazy with her cousins. 

Stan and I headed to Glacier National Park in Montana for Kirsi and Konlee's wedding.  The views flying in are amazing.  We rented a boat on Flathead Lake, did a quick hike up to Avalanche Lake inside the park, and of course enjoyed the wedding at Apgar Ampitheater and the reception at Green Valley Ranch.  The park is beautiful, we look forward to going back again soon.

We all spent the following week in VA.  Monday was the VT/Boise St game at FedEx Field.  Grandma & Grandpa kept Casey while we went to the exciting but disappointing game.  Tuesday, Casey and I got to picked Lily up at the bus stop.  She is now in Kindergarten and seems to love it!  We visited Jessica and her youngest, Jake on Wednesday.  Thursday, we met up with Aunt Marcy, Lily and Jack to go Apple Picking in MD.  Unfortunately, Casey was in a bit of a mood that day, so there was a lot of whining and crying and disciplining going on, but we made it and did enjoy some moments.  Casey ate a few apples and assisted Lily in feeding the goats some grass/weeds.  Friday, Grandpa Tom took gave me some flying lessons.  Though I was a bit rusty at first (made the plane take a short cut down a small grassy hill to get to the runway), I got better as the morning went on and I am now an expert at turns, 360's and take offs (at least in my eyes).  Next lesson, landings.

Friday we drove down to Roanoke to visit Gramma Lois.  We all went to the VT/JMU game in Blacksburg.  It poured down rain the whole game.  Casey was great!  She watched the whole 1st quarter, slept through the 2nd quarter and half time, woke for the 3rd quarter.  We left early because of the rain and got to listen to the loss on the radio.  Nuff said.

We're back in Dillon now.  Casey was a good little traveler, but was definitely ready to get back home.  She is quite the talker.  She loves trying to join in on conversation and she'll come out with words and sayings that are definitely influenced by Mom.  She's starting to be interested in playing with other kids.  At the playground on Tuesday, she found a little girl who was younger than her and went and sat by her and "petted" her (Casey's words, "Mom, I'm petting the little girl.") and kept saying, "awwww" and giving her awkward hugs.  She would go play on something, then say, "I need to go see the little baby girl."  She can do a somersault all by herself now.  She perfected them at Gramma Lois' house.  Looking forward to tumbling on Friday!

A belated Happy Birthday to cousin Lily who turned 6 on Sept 10th!!

Enjoy the pix.

Me and Kristi on Flathead Lake in Montana

Doing the bear "Roar" at Avalanche Lake inside Glacier National Park

The wedding was at the Apgar Ampitheater inside the park on Lake McDonald.

Our camera does not do the views justice.

Apple picking with Lily and Jack

Tasting the goods

Tantrum. 

After about 30 minutes of apple picking,

she decided she didn't want to walk on the ground with the smooshed apples.

Hanging with her cousins, eating apples

I'm a sucker for these cutouts

At the Hokies game in Blacksburg in her rain poncho.  She yells, "Go Hokies, Go Hokie Bird."

Two Weeks in August

It's been two weeks since our last blog. We've been busy at home! Casey has been back at school and having fun with all her friends and teachers. On the 20th we went to WaterWorld in Denver with Sarah, Rowan and Kristi. Everyone had a blast! And there were plenty of slides that the girls were allowed to go on. There was also a great toddler area with a shallow pool, fountains, slides, splash area and more. Unfortunately, the camera I brought did not have a memory card, so no pix:(

That following Saturday, Stan ran in the first annual Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain. A 3.27 mile run/obstacle course. He had to jump over cars, climp a haystack, run through tires, run up the mountain and down the mountain, crawl through a mud pit, climp over a wall and jump over fire. He got muddy and a little beat up, but he had a good time doing it! Thank goodness he survived, because he was in charge of kids that night, while I had "book club" at the house.

This weekend we went hiking around Cataract Lake in Heeney, which is about 30 minutes from us, near Green Mountain Reservoir. The hike was amazing!!

Aunt Kel is still living with us. So we've been trying to keep her entertained. We have all been playing some tennis lately. We have all improved our games a whole lot since the first day.

Casey quote:
Mommy putting bananas around her breakfast instead of in the syrup: "How's that?"
Casey: "it's perfect!"

Casey is still VERY two! She is testing me and aunt kel and stan constantly. Tonight as we were walking she kept saying, "Mommy, no talking. Mommy, stop talking!" She is spending more and more time in "time-out" or her crib, which she seems to prefer sometimes, instead of apologizing or agreeing to obey Mommy. Hoping this phase will end quickly:)

Enjoy the pix and video.

Eating breakfast with bear

Stan at the start line of the Warrior Dash

Stan, the one in the white shirt, running the tires at the Warrior Dash

Finished the Warrior Dash...a bit muddy

Casey...ready for fishing or biking...whatever comes first

hiking Cataract Lake...there is a waterfall in the background

Casey got to get out of the backpack and hike with Mommy and Stacia