Casey is 5 (May 1). She is 42 1/4" tall (47%) and weighs 37 lbs (34%). No shots at her 5 year old appt, though she was ready to be brave for them this time. She had her annual bday party at Abasin with her friend Rowan who shares her May 1st bday. There was plenty of snow this year and the girls learned how to get on and ride the bunny hill lift up all by themselves. A little scary for us parents watching, but they had a blast.
Casey graduated from Ms. Lauren's preschool class, though her last day is actually tomorrow. What did she learn in preschool? She can write her name legibly. She knows all her letters and numbers up to 100 (though sometimes needs help). She is writing 3 letter words on her own and constantly asking how to spell other words. She is adding small numbers.
Casey started TBall this month. Dad is the head coach. They have had 2 practices so far and the teams seems to work well together. Basically working on how to throw, catch and hit...the basics. First game is this Saturday. Casey is also riding her 2 wheel bike. She is starting to get the hang of starting on her own. Getting ready for the Frisco bike park!
Garrett is a bundle of energy. He is now 18 months and wants to be one of the big kids. He loves watching Casey and her friends and tries so hard to do what they are doing. Though he is also completely fine playing by himself. It's like DisneyWorld when he plays upstairs with all the toys while Casey is gone at school. He has started making noises for animals...ERRRR...and he gets them to walk and tackle other animals. He is still very snugly. He leans his head in for hugs, he blows kisses and he loves to crawl all over us.
Garrett is 33" tall (75%) and weighs 23lb 8oz (45%). He had a shot and was not happy about it, though he recovered quickly. He is still mostly on 2 naps, still trying to get him down to 1. Some days he can fight through the morning if we are busy and take one 2 1/2 - 3 hour nap. But most of the time, he is ready for nap at 10:00. He wakes in the morning around 7:30, goes to bed around 7:30, so he is a good sleeper like his sister. He goes to school every Wednesday and seems to enjoy it, even though he cries when I drop him off. He immediately stops when I leave the room. His words are "ball, cookie, mommy, mommy, mommy, daddy, bubble, gurt (yogurt), mowha (more), hi, bye." He is trying to say Casey (Cay-he) and Marcy (Mar-ee) and other words or names that we repeat over and over to him.
He is very different than Casey. He is a climber. He likes to hit and throw things. We have been working on the hitting and he has definitely gotten better, but when he doesn't get his way, his arms start swinging. Casey learned "No" quickly. We believe Garrett understands "No" but really enjoys testing us. He will keep going for something over and over, even if we are right there telling him "No" or when we try and remove him from the situation. He thinks it's a game.
So what has been going on since our last blog...Aunt Kel was Casey's roommate for a month and a half and is now back in DC buying a house; I had a bday; Casey's bday party at Abasin; Casey had her last ski days at Abasin with her preschool class; went back East to MD for Marcy's 40th bday bash, then celebrated Casey's bday at Chuck E Cheese, then celebrated Grandma Gail's bday, then headed down to Roanoke to visit Gramma Lois before heading back home.
Enjoy pix and hopefully we will get back on schedule with this blog!
skiing at Casey's bday party
the birthday girls
taking time out of building snow castles to "cheese" with Connor and Dillon
hurry up...gotta play
cute
riding the Roanoke Zoo train with Gramma Lois
"where did she go?"
hehe
playing with Grandma Gail and Grampa Tom's new puppy, Rimsky
this has been our morning ritual...playing on the deck with sand and water table and bubbles
Stan turned 40 on March 4th. To celebrate, we went to Silverton, CO March 16th for a guided ski tour with 12 of our friends. Aunt Kel came out to join the party. Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom drove out to take care of the kids for the weekend. Saturday we arrived at Silverton at 8:30 a.m., broke up into 2 groups (total of 80 people are allowed on the mountain each day). We got 4 runs in. There is a lift you ride up halfway up the mountain...you have to hike the rest of the way. The snow was variable, but we were able to find some powder here and there. It was an experience!
The kids had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa. They went to family night at the church, which was filled with moon bounces, obstacle course blow ups and a big slide blow up. The kids also got to go swimming and bowling while we were gone too.
Grandma and Grandpa left Wednesday, March 20th. Marcy, Stuart, Lily and Jack arrived Sunday, March 23rd for Spring Break. Kel is staying with us, though in and out of town with work and social activities. She was able to be around the week Lily and Jack were in town. We went to the pool 1 day, tubing another day, the rest of the time was spent skiing. It's fun that the kids can now ski with us!
Casey's preschool goes skiing at ABasin Ski Resort every Wednesday for a month in March/April. She is loving it. Her group...basically Casey and Lydia, though sometimes Greta goes with them too, got to go to the very top of ABasin.
While Casey was at ABasin and Garrett was at school, we went to Vail. We got a bit of snow the night before so the back bowls were nice. Though def more than what Marcy and Stuart were used too, they were awesome on the steeps and loved it.
We dyed Easter eggs Saturday and had a great Egg Hunt on Easter Sunday. After a morning of jump rope races and sidewalk chalk, Marcy, Stuart, Lily and Jack bid us farewell.
Thursday we went to Kindergarten Round Up at Summit Cove Elementary School. Casey got to see the Kindergarten classroom and meet both teachers. She seems pretty excited about starting school.
Casey had her last soccer class today. The first half of the session was a lot of whining and not much participating. The second half was increased participation every week and today she wants to do the next session. She is actually a pretty good player, but she is very shy and really afraid of losing her ball to another kid (even though all the balls look exactly the same and there are more than enough balls to go around).
This weekend was Keystone Ski Resort's closing weekend. Saturday, Kristi watched Garrett so Stan and I could take Casey on her last Keystone runs of the season. We then watched Robert Randolph & the Family Band play before dinner at Luigi's. Sunday, we went back to Keystone in the morning to watch the annual "Slush Cup." People skiing/snowboarding across a pool of water. Pretty amusing.
Happy Spring!!
hanging with the Grandparents
Erica, Amy, Kelly, Sarah, Tracy, Stan at Silverton
Tracy Hiking on Top of the World
Tracy Living on the Edge with Sarah and Amy
Tracy, Stan and Kel after our 4th and final run
cousins getting ready to tube...Lily, Garrett, Peaceful Jack and Casey...
ready to ride
Garrett had so much fun...sleeping
Kelly, Jack, Marcy, Casey and Lily skiing Keystone
let's shred
Lily the babysitter
in jail at Keystone
Aunt Marcy showing Garrett the ropes of Easter egg dying
Garrett had his 15 month well baby appointment last Tuesday. He weighed in at 19 lbs 10.7 ounces. Unfortunately, that is almost 2 lbs less than his last weigh in 3 months ago, so we will check him again at 18 months. He is 32 3/4" tall, 85-95 percentile. Tall and skinny, like his daddy.
He got 2 shots, one in each arm, had a quick cry, but was very good.
We went to San Diego the week of February 15-22. Casey, "It's really sandy here...is that why they call it San Diego?"
We drove to Las Vegas on Friday. It was a bit of an eventful trip...and not the good kind. Casey threw up in the car while driving to Las Vegas.
Saturday, Stan woke up with the flu...fever, chills, sore throat. We drove through the Mojave National Preserve and then through Joshua Tree National Park. We stayed in Palm Springs Saturday night.
Sunday, every one seemed to wake up feeling better. We walked down Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, ate lunch at Tommy Bahamas Restaurant in Palm Desert, drove South to Salton Sea, then headed West through Anza-Borrego State Park towards San Diego, where there were hundreds of RV's and wheelers camped out. We stopped in the tiny town of Julian for their famous apple pie and apple donuts holes. Right before we made it to our hotel in San Diego, Garrett threw up in the car. We ended up taking him to Children's Hospital Sunday night after checking into The Bahia Hotel in Mission Bay. They told us he just had a virus. He had a temp in the 100's since Friday, an upset tummy out both ends and was a little lethargic.
Monday we visited the San Diego Zoo. We took a double decker bus ride around the park, sitting on the top level of the bus. We got to see a polar bear swimming, the panda bear eating bamboo and a flock of flamingos running in a big circle.
Tuesday, we drove down to Point Loma to see the view of Downtown, Coronado and tried to find whales swimming south. Unfortunately, it started to rain so our whale watching was cut short. We went to Sea Port Village for lunch and a cookie, then drove the bridge to Coronado, then down to Imperial Beach and back to the hotel. By the time we got home, Garrett looked exhausted again and his temp was up to 103. He was having trouble walking, wasn't eating much and was very sleepy, so we decided to take another trip to Children's Hospital. This time they actually looked closely into his ear and realized he had an ear infection. We were sent home with antibiotics and he started feeling better 2 days later.
Wednesday was another overcast and cool day, so we decided to do another driving tour up the coast through Pacific Beach, with a stop in La Jolla Shores to see the Sea Lions sleeping at Children's Beach. The kids played at the playground in La Jolla, then we grabbed sandwiches and headed up Mt. Soledad for a great view of San Diego. We then drove through Torrey Pines and then over to Penasquitos, my old stomping ground from 3rd through 5th grades. We drove past my old house and Sunset Hills Elementary School. After we got back to the hotel, Casey and Stan headed to the Bay Beach to play in the sand. We then took a walk down to the Mission Beach Boardwalk to see the sunset.
Thursday, on our way out of San Diego, we stopped at LegoLand. It was finally sunny and in the 60's. The park was perfect for Casey. She rode all 3 roller coasters and loved them.
The drive back to Colorado was uneventful, thank goodness. We stopped in Monroe, Utah for lunch at the Sage Brush Restaurant and drove past Mystics Hot Springs, run by a guy who used to work with the Grateful Dead.
Garrett is much better! Stan is much better! Casey is much better! I never got sick.
Casey and Garrett wish everyone a belated Happy Valentine's Day. And a Big Happy Birthday to Aunt Lisa (March 3) and Daddy/Stan (March 4).
Enjoy the videos and pix!
wii time
baby Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree
hanging with Marilyn in Palm Springs...we did get to wear shorts 1 day of our week long trip
Garrett is talking a little bit. He has been saying "Bah" (ball) forever, but recently he has added a few more words. "Dank you" "Yea" "Bah" (banana, luckily he points too so we know if it's banana or ball he is talking about). He is also getting more teeth. All 4 molars are in and now the canine teeth are popping in. Garrett has a new dance move this week. He rocks back and forth on his feet and puts his hands in the air. He has a very serious look on his face. The music stops and he'll start playing, then when it comes back on, he starts the dance again. Another trick to add to his repertoire is waving. He waves hi and bye all the time. When he hears a "hi" or "bye" anywhere near him he waves.
Sat, Jan 26, the Denver VT Alumni Association had a party at Abasin. We got there bright and early with both kids a few friends who rolled into town from Denver and Aspen. Stan's calf is finally better, so Casey got to go skiing with him. She went 2 more times before the day was over. The rest of the time she spent playing in the snow and sledding with the rest of the kids. Garrett acted like he was an expert at beach parties. He took 2 naps, no fussing, wandered around the party, smiling and waving at everyone, whether they paid attention to him or not. He was quite a hit! We ended up staying from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., closed the party down! Needless to say, we were exhausted the rest of the weekend.
Sunday we went to Breckenridge to see the annual snow sculptures and have lunch at Motherloaded. Monday we went swimming. Casey rocked the big waterslide by herself...I still catch her at the bottom, but she doesn't mind if she goes under a little bit. Garrett loves floating around and tries to drink the water. Casey went to school Tuesday morning, Wednesday (Garrett too) and Friday morning. She had to say goodbye to one of her favorite teachers, Shannon, last week. Not sure she 100% understands that Shannon won't be coming back. Thursday, Casey had tumbling.
This past weekend, I took Casey skiing at Keystone with Sean, Dillon and Connor, Sarah and Rowan. We took a run through a tunnel on the beginner lift, then another long run down schoolmarm. On the way down, we hit up Freda's Mini Terrain Park, and went over 2 rollers then 4 jumps. They went over everything with zero hesitation. Kind of funny, Connor and Casey couldn't quite make it over the last jump...not enough weight and speed. Maybe next time. We also went through Riperoo's Forest which has a tunnel. Took the gondola back to the top and the kids got to play in the Snow Castle before our last run down schoolmarm.
Casey had a birthday party on Sunday, where they got to sled down man made sledding runs and jumps. She was shy in the beginning, but warmed up pretty quick and ended up having a great time sledding, eating cake, making ice cream sundaes and even got into the present opening...she was the only girl!
We watched the Superbowl at Kathy and Sean's. Unfortunate the Niners could not pull out a win!
Phillip & Garrett at the VT party at Abasin.
Kristi and Casey at the VT Abasin party.
Casey in the lift line with Stan, Phillip and Krisi.
A little Sunday morning mom time.
Snow Henge...
Standing on a frozen, snow covered river in Breckenridge
