We went on our first camping trip of the year. Friday, we drove to Fruita and found a camping spot off 18 Road, a well known mountain biking/camping area. The main campground was full, but there was a bunch of dispersed camping, where we had plenty of room to set up the pop up camper and for our friends, Kathy, Sean, Dillon and Connor to set up their monster 8 person tent. However, no bathrooms, which lead to a few messy accidents and gave Casey lots of practice "copping a squat." The weather was sunny and in the upper 80's, low 90's. We all left looking much healthier and much dirtier than when we arrived.
The mountain bike trails were right off our campsite. Stan, Sean and I got a 45 minute mountain bike ride in Sat morning and then Sean and Stan went for another, longer and tougher ride, Chutes and Ladders, later that afternoon.
The kids had so much fun, playing/digging/rolling in the dirt, riding bikes, playing t-ball and just plain camping. Dillon & Casey learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. Casey can go about 30 yards on her own and then she stops pedaling and looses her steam, but a little more practice she'll get it.
Sunday, Kathy and I got up bright and early to run a 5.6 mile race through a canyon that started at the Mack Trailhead. It was amazing. We ran across the upper rim of the canyon up steep, rocky trails, down single track trails, all the while looking at great views of the Colorado River.
Sean and Kathy headed home Sunday afternoon, and we headed off to Moab, UT. After one night in a ghetto RV park in town, we moved to Archview RV resort that overlooked Arches National Park.
Monday, we drove through Arches National Park. We were able to to a few really short hikes to see some amazing arches. Unfortunately, it was in the 90's and we had to keep the car running with Frisco in the AC, so we couldn't do anything too long. But it was plenty with a 5 month old and 3 year old.
Tuesday, we took a detour down a 4x4 Gemini Bridges Road through Bull Canyon to get to Canyonlands National Park. Amazing views...
Wednesday, we packed up early then headed over to Dead Horse State Park, had lunch in Moab, then took scenic road 128 which followed the Colorado River out of Moab.
Casey had so much fun camping. She loved sleeping in the camper and was a great little camper. She was very independent and found plenty to do on her own. Garrett was a great camper too. He is very chill and happy. He slept great, though he did wake up at least once a night to talk and coo to himself.
This weekend, our friends Geoff and Sarah came into town on Friday for Book Club on Saturday night. This morning, Sarah made a birthday breakfast for me. Later we went to Dos Locos for a birthday dinner. Yes, today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me:)
Enjoy the pix.
hanging with mom
i can do it all by myself
skater
Garrett slept in his tent in the pop up camper
Connor, Casey and Dillon playing with water guns
playing in the sand
what are you looking at?
smores
Stan, stuffed Frisco and Casey going on a bike ride.
brother and sister
short hike in Canyonlands
view of the Colorado River from Canyonlands National Park
Garrett can now roll from his back to his belly and does it almost immediately every time we put him down on his activity mat. Unfortunately, he has not figured out how to roll back onto his back, so he tends to get frustrated after being on his belly for too long. So he has been spending more and more time in his exersaucer, which he loves, especially in the morning.
Garrett is on a 3 hour schedule, having a bottle at 7:30, 10:30, 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30. This week we are trying to get rid of the 10:30 p.m. for good. We have been trying to feed him rice cereal/oatmeal the past couple of weeks, but he really doesn't seem that interested in it. So we have not moved on to any other foods yet.
The rest of us are recovering from a week and half of visitors. My whole family came out to ski and play. Marcy, Stuart, Lily and Jack flew in March 29th. After a few lessons for Jack, everyone was able to ski by the time the rest of the crew got to town. Grandma Gail and Grampa Tom drove out with dog, Ivan and arrived April Fools Sunday morning. Aunt Kelly and her new puppy, Bodie also drove out and arrived way late Sunday night/Monday morning. We all skied Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Everyone did very well and there were no injuries!! Casey had a blast skiing with everyone. Wednesday, Casey and Garrett went to school/daycare, Lily and Jack went to ski school, while the adults got a day to ski with no kids. Casey's school ended up going to Abasin for skiing! She's great at going on the lift and skiing down green runs. She can also do some easy blue runs. She is much better at the shorter runs, because she does not have the focus right now, but she is definitely a good little skier.
Thursday after a morning of skiing and shopping at the outlets, we went tubing at Copper Mountain. The kids had no fear, even riding in their own tubes! Friday, Grandma Gail, Grampa Tom and Aunt Kel left and the rest of us headed to Hot Sulphur Springs to relax in the hot springs. The resort was a bit "aged" but the kids seemed to have fun.
Saturday we went on a scenic hike then played in the sandbox and sand and water table. Sunday after an Easter egg hunt at home, breakfast at Arapahoe Cafe and a quick trip to the playground, it was time for Marcy, Stuart, Lily and Jack to head to the airport.
We had a blast with all of our visitors and the past couple of days it has been eerily quite! The weather has been warm and sunny and we have been spending a lot of time out back playing in the sandbox, playing cornhole, drawing with sidewalk chalk and riding bikes. We are still skiing a bit too. Keystone closed this past weekend, Breckenridge will close this weekend, but Abasin will stay open at least for another month!
Happy Spring!
Casey reading to her little brother
Lily and Garrett hanging out
Jack and Casey eating chocolate cake
Mom and Casey on the gondola
Uncle Stan leading Casey and Lily down Schoolmarm at Keystone
Lily, Casey and Jack hanging with Aunt Marcy and Aunt Kel at Keystone
Grandma Gail, Casey, Lily, Jack and Grampa Tom at Keystone
cousins hot tubbing
Grandma Gail and Grampa Tom posing with their Grandkids at Lake Dillon Park
Happy Easter!
sliding
Casey following Lily and Grandma Gail
Casey, Lily and Jack following Aunt Kel down
Casey is at school today and Garrett is napping at the moment. Last night we ditched Garrett's late night (10:00 p.m.) feeding. He didn't seem to notice. I went up to get him at 7:30 this morning and he was still snoozing! He escapes from his swaddle in the middle of the night and about 1/2 the time he talks to himself and then falls back asleep, the other 1/2, he starts wailing until one of us goes in and reswaddles him. We are trying to wean him off the swaddle during nap time, but it's hard because he sleeps so well when he's swaddled!!
We started feeding Garrett oatmeal with his morning bottle. Well maybe not exactly feeding him, more like shoving it in his mouth so he can push it back out with his tongue. It's a game to him and he smiles and laughs and talks throughout the "feeding." Today, he seemed to have swallowed more than he pushed out of his mouth, so I'm taking that as a win for me today!!
We had Garrett's 4 month doctor appointment on March 14. He is 26.5 inches tall and 15 lbs 2 oz. He is in the 90% in height and 40-50% in weight. He had to have 3 shots, which he was NOT at all happy about. He was a little fussy the next day and a half because of them. He has been working on rolling over. At the doctor, I put him on his belly and he flipped over onto his back immediately for the first time. He has done this a couple times with Stan too, but never when we ask him to. Stubborn.
Casey has been enjoying her brother more and more. The other day she went and sat next to him in his exersaucer and made funny noises to him. She still likes playing the music on the exersaucer and then dancing ballet to it. She is a ball of energy and says the funniest things. I wish I could remember everything or at least remember to write them down. She knows what she wants and how she wants it done and is not afraid to voice her opinions.
We take Casey skiing every weekend and she has gotten pretty good, though her focus is still not all there. She can talk or sing the entire way down. And it's a long way down. This past Saturday at Breckenridge, after a meltdown on the mountain, she decided to "meow" the rest of the way down. Fine by me...much better than crying!! It's has been Spring weather out here, so we've been enjoying outside a lot. Casey has been riding her Strider bike, playing at the playgrounds, sidewalk chalk on the driveway, driving Daddy's remote control car, playing with the sand and water table and the sandbox. She keeps busy!!
Mom and Dad have even had some fun this month. We went to see the Green Day Broadway Show, American Idiot in Denver on the 11th, with our friends, Mark and Amy. Amy's sister babysat the kids!! We went to Copper Kids Night Out with Brian and Sarah. And this past Saturday we went and listened to some reggae music at Breckenridge after taking a few runs with the kids.
My family starts arriving tomorrow night for the week. So we should have a lot of pictures for the next post!!
Congratulations to Uncle Dave who will be in Miami for 1 more year and then off to UAB in Alabama for Radiology Residency!!
finger painting...casey likes playing with her shirt off a lot, so she is either in a dress or shirtless
"i love my exersaucer"
i think he looks like mommy in this pic
little brother and big sister hanging out
riding up the lift at breckenridge with mommy and daddy
"Mommy, can you make vegetables every night, because I really love them."
This was Casey on Tuesday night. She kept asking for more broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. After a few extra servings we had to threaten, "no more until you eat your fish and rice." Seriously!
Casey has been helping Daddy raise dragons on the ipad. She has been getting back to going upstairs and playing by herself, though she still tries to coerce us up to play too..."Mommy, the birthday cake is almost ready." At night, she has decided to be afraid of the dark, and doesn't like her room as much as Garrett's room, the green room. I think it's just a way to prolong bedtime. The past couple of weeks at bedtime she keeps asking if we will sleep with her because she doesn't want to sleep by herself.
Garrett is Mr. Smiley and he is now laughing a little. He is doing great with his schedule. He now goes down for nap very well, barely cries and when we go in to get him up to eat, a lot of times he is awake and looking around. When he sees us, he gets a big smile on his face. He still loves his bouncy chair, especially in the morning and tries his hardest to grab at the animals hanging out of reach. He also loves his activity mat and his exersaucer a lot. We are ready for him to start rolling over, so his flat head can start rounding out.
We still swaddle Garrett when he sleeps and he sleeps through the night, except, when he gets out of his swaddle he is awake and grunting and crying until we go up and reswaddle him.
Our weeks are pretty routine, with Casey going to school Monday morning, TGLS Tuesday morning, school all day Wednesday, ballet Thursday and school again Friday morning. This past weekend we had our friends Geoff and Sarah and their kids, Kaelin and Graham, visiting. We went sledding on Saturday at the rec center. Kathy, Dillon and Connor met us there too. Luckily we had gotten snow on Friday, so the sledding hill was in great shape and the kids had a blast. Sunday was Daddy's bday. We enjoyed Dairy Queen ice cream cake, then the kids went over to Sarah, Brian and Rowan's for dinner while Mommy and Daddy went out for a 4 course meal at Ski Tip Lodge in Keystone.
Casey and Garrett want to send a belated happy birthday to Aunt Lisa (March 3) and Daddy (March 4).
Grampa came to visit. He arrived Monday afternoon, just in time to pick Casey up from her half day of school.
Tuesday, Grampa, Casey and I went to Keystone to ski. After a few runs on the beginner hill, Ranger, we took a nice long Schoolmarm/Silver Spoon run. Only one big crash. I was down the hill taking movies and instead of turning, Casey decided the easiest and fastest way to get to me was to point her skis straight at me. She took out a big yellow "SLOW" sign before finally falling to a stop.
Wednesday, while Casey went to school, Gramps and I went to Breckenridge for the morning. We skied all of Peak 7 and a run on Peak 8.
Thursday, Gramps went to Keystone all day and got to explore the other 2 mountains, North Peak and the Outback. Casey had her last ballet class. The parents were allowed in to watch and take movies.
Friday, Gramps, Stan and Casey went skiing at Keystone. She is great at snowplow, can turn, especially when she is following someone. She still loses focus, so it is much better when she is following and every so often we have to remind her to turn towards the trees. Her favorite part of skiing is going through the tunnel off of the beginner hill and skiing through Grampa's legs. Oh, and all the treats she gets throughout the day.
Casey and Garrett had fun playing with Gramps for the week. Casey got in loads of Ipad time, putting puzzles together, playing memory and listening to "The Monster at the End of the Book" with Grover and Elmo. Garrett entertained Gramps with his talking, standing and smiling.
Garrett is still working on his naps. He sleeps for the first 40 minutes, then cries on and off for the next 45 minutes. He slept in our room while Grampa was here and woke up at 4:30 the first couple nights talking for about 5-15 minutes, then slept until 5:30/6:00, then woke again talking, grunting and then finally crying. We are trying to get his wake time to be 7:00 a.m. The last couple nights he didn't wake at 4:30 and slept until about 6/6:30, so he is getting there.
Casey is still warming up to her little brother. Every once in a while she will pay attention to him and notice that he is smiling at her. He LOVES to watch his sister. And smiles at her constantly! For the most part, however, she is into her own thing and doesn't want him to get in her way. You can tell that she notices when the attention is on him. She feels the need to make as much noise as possible to make sure we know she is there. She is asking us to play with her more often and has been a bit more whiny and feisty with us. She has been into "cleaning" lately. She will wet a washcloth and go around the house and wipe things down: her toys, the baseboards, doors, pretty much anything. Sometimes she will say that one of her stuffed animals drooled somewhere so she has to wipe it up. Another activity she likes to do is pack up ALL of her toys in bags and boxes and say she and her stuffed animals and baby dolls are going to a hotel. Great imagination!
Safe travels to Grampa who should be back home tomorrow. We all had fun playing!!
Best wishes to Blair & Chad who are expecting a baby boy any day now.
The past couple of weeks we were getting back into the swing of things. Casey had 1/2 day school on Monday and Fridays, TGLS (Toddler Gym, Library and Swim) on Tuesday, Ski School at Abasin on Wednesday and Ballet on Thursday.
She loves school. She really loves her teacher, Ms. Cheri and seems to be quite a helper. I walked in one day and she was sweeping up a mess on the floor into a dust pan. She didn't stop when I came in, just kept sweeping, until finally Ms. Cheri told her she did a great job, but it was now time to go. She started full day of school on Wednesdays today and she was very excited about it!
Tuesdays is TGLS. I drop her off at the library, where they have storytime and a craft or activity. They then walk across the street to the Rec Center for a snack, songs and gym time. Then they swim until we pick them up at Noon.
For the past 3 weeks, Casey spent Wednesday mornings 9 - 1 at ski school at Abasin. She basically had a private lesson with her teacher, Colleen, who was outstanding! Casey knows how to snowplow, turn and stop. A couple Saturdays ago we went to a birthday party at Abasin Beach all day and Casey was tearing down the bunny hill all by herself. This past Sunday, we took her to Breckenridge. We each got to take her on 1 run down a green run. It was a long run, and she did great following us down, turning when we turned, slowing down when we did. Oh, and she talked the entire way down. "Mommy, where are the bears." "They're sleeping." "Are they sleeping in caves? Where are the caves?" and on and on... We will try and get video next time.
Thursday is ballet. Casey LOVES ballet. She especially loves getting to wear pink tights, a pink leotard, a pink skirt and pink shoes. The teacher says she is a bit shy during class. Casey does not like to be center of attention in social situations (completely opposite when she is at home!!). She has learned a few moves and shows us her moves randomly throughout the week.
While Casey is keeping very busy playing and learning, Garrett has been busy growing. He is on a good schedule now eating at 7:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. 11:00 p.m. and then still waking at 4:00 a.m. most nights to suck down a bottle. He did sleep from 11:30 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. 2 nights in a row last week. He is eating 2-4 ounces at each feeding. He's been staying awake for about an hour/hour and a half to eat and play, then naps. He has been smiling a lot, especially when you smile at him. He is also cooing and "talking." He likes to stand and can hold his head up really well now. For the most part, he's a pretty chill and happy baby. Casey is warming up to him, but definitely notices he gets a lot of attention from us, so she does her best to get the attention back on her by talking non-stop or just simply moving herself into our line of vision.
smile
more smiles
he loves the bath, he looks around, loves the water, doesn't mind when it runs over his face. once i take him out and put him on the towel, he cries...so sad to be out of the tub.
posing in front of a merry go round carved from a block of snow at the breckenridge ice sculptures
After Casey's Abasin ski lesson last Wednesday, we drove to Denver to pick Marcy and Jack up from the airport. Thursday we went to the pool in the morning where the kids took turns riding down the water slide with Aunt Marcy. We then headed to Ullr Fest in Breckenridge for a silly parade. Though the temperature was REAL COLD, the kids had fun watching interesting floats especially once the candy started being thrown. Jack really enjoyed the guys running down the street with only their underwear on. Casey agreed, saying they were chilly. After pizza at Fatty's, the kids crashed when we got home after a long day.
Friday, we took Casey and Jack to Abasin for a full day ski lesson. We got a few runs in too, my first time snowboarding this season! Casey had the same teacher she has on Wednesdays, Colleen, and after a not so productive morning, she finally learned how to turn in the afternoon. Jack seemed to really enjoy his lesson and asked to go again!
Saturday, we took Jack and Casey skiing at Keystone. We rode the Gondola to the top and did a few runs at the covered magic carpet learning area to get them warmed up. We then moved onto Ranger, the beginner lift. Casey is able to go down the whole run by herself in snowplow (pizza) position. She knows to open her snowplow wider to slow down and that if she is going too slow she needs to make her snowplow smaller or even to straighten her skis (french fries) in order to go faster. She doesn't have the strength to get herself up yet, but she knows to get her skis together to make it easier to be pulled up. The last run of the day was SchoolMarm, a 3 mile green run. Casey made it down half way by herself, but started to get tired (falling a lot more, but laughing every time she fell). I put her in between my legs the rest of the way down. WOW, I am NOT in shape for that! But we made it and the kids were mostly happy. We all enjoyed the hot tub that night.
Sunday we took it easy. We walked up to the lake and playground. Marcy, Frisco and the kids walked out onto the frozen and snow covered lake to make sure it was solid and to watch the kite boarders.
Monday, we went over to Breckenridge to ride the Gold Run Alpine Coaster. Pretty fun!
Marcy and Jack left yesterday. Jack and Casey for the most part, had fun playing together. Though they both definitely know how to push each others buttons. Garrett enjoyed being spoiled by his Aunt Marcy and cousin Jack. To show his appreciation, Marcy got to witness first hand (literally) free poop...while changing his diaper, he let 'er rip all over Marcy's hand. Isn't he cute?!
So all in all we had a really fun weekend! Looking forward to more visitors!
Casey had TGLS yesterday (Toddler Gym, Library and Swim). She seems to really enjoy this class. She gets to check out a new library book each week. Today she had another Abasin ski lesson with Colleen. She was in a good mood the entire day and got to ride the lift. They worked on turns more today by going around cones. She is working on knowing when to point her skis across the mountain (for turns) and down the mountain (for speed).
