Yep, you read that right... I am on "vacation" again. Nick was called to work in Denver. When he left, they said he would be out here for a week. Last Thursday, they asked him to stay for another. This was a little irksome since our anniversary is tomorrow. He convinced me (which wasn't easy) to drive and meet him somewhere in the middle and he would drive us back. He really wanted to see us and I think it is easier to come home to a hotel room, if you're wife and kid are in it.
Saturday, we explored downtown Denver and walked around the 16th Street Mall. We had a delightful breakfast at a little Cafe down there. They had the best pastry and fresh fruit bar. Yummy! I also had from scratch pancakes. I am not sure that I ever had from scratch before. They definitely taste different than a mix!
Sunday, we decided that we would hike the mountains around Denver. We looked up a place on the web called Maxwell falls. The sites said that it was 2 mile walk that was easy to moderate. It must have been 2 miles the way the crow flew not the way you climb. It must have also been a mountain climbers version of "easy". The trail ended up being around 4 miles long, one way. My calves are killing me from the steep hills that you had to take in most places. The worst thing about it all is that we weren't truly prepared for such a long hike and had to ration out our water. Luckily, the day was fairly cool and so we didn't have to fight the heat in addition to climb. When we got to the top, the falls were such a let down. For all that trouble, I'd hope to see something a little more awesome. We played in cold water from the Rockies and then headed down. It wasn't but 10 minutes into the walk that Jack conked out hard on Nick. Nick was a trooper and carried him down the entire way. We then went into the quaint town of Evergreen got some delightful fudge and some nastily overpriced "mexican" food in a Bistro. I think they sold more on location than on quality!
This morning was rough for me. Denver and I did not get along. I was trying to get batteries for my camera before we went to the zoo. So I had it in my head how I would get the store we had passed the day before. But, I turned the wrong way down a one-way. You can imagine how freaked I was. This was made much worse by being pulled over and issued $100 ticket and being told that I was forced to show up in court in September because I didn't have my most current insurance card with me! So we go the zoo and Jack falls asleep before we make it half way through. Since there was no waking him, I decided to leave. Well, I got the courthouse on the phone and they made it sound like I could get everything taken care of quickly if I went in. So I decided to go in. Well parking downtown is a bear. I find one spot that looks good, I pay the meter extra so I know that I won't get another ticket, and trek back to get it taken care of. The trip in there takes around 40 minutes. Just as I am walking back with a hot, cranky, and hungry kid--I see the meter maid putting a ticket on my car. Apparently, I was parked incorrectly (even though I had no other option when I parked there!) So there was another 25 ticket! I start freaking out, and the cop tells me I can go back a couple a blocks and they should waive it for me since I am a tourist and all. Jack is screaming his head off, but I really don't want to shell out another 25 dollars. The guy tells me that it is a valid ticket and that I should have driven to another spot. However, he was willing to waive it down to 5 if I paid it today. The paying was the worst part. I think that the city has something against central air as their buildings were extremely hot.
I was glad to return to the hotel in one piece. Jack had a huge lunch and late nap. I had two cans of coke and some strawberry shortcake and felt much better. We picked up Nick after work and the traffic was awful again. Too many people it too much of a hurry. However, we had a great dinner and a wonderful evening. Nick is over working from home and I had some time to blog. Who knows, I might even get pictures up too!
Tomorrow is 8 years for us. My goodness, how the time does fly. We are unsure of what we are doing with Jack in tow and Nick needing to work a full day. At least we are all together.
Monday, 20 July 2009
Monday, 29 June 2009
Where did a month go?
I can't believe that it has been a month since I've blogged.
We have all been busy. I am preparing to teach my second full day camp. It is amazing how much harder it is to prepare a classroom with a toddler in tow. Jack really loves to explore the classroom and get into every toy that I have set out for my kiddos. I have to really leave him at home to get anything done.
Jack is having a blast enjoying the summer. We spend so much time outside playing around. He is really a bleached blond now. He is growing like a weed and is tan to boot. He is developing his own funny personality. He is a total daddy's boy and an all-boy kinda kid too! He loves to be thrown on the bed, get rolled around, sword fight, dig in the dirt, throw rocks in the water, splash in anything resembling a puddle or a waterfall. He also loves to go fishing. Thank goodness Aunt Rachel picked out a fishing pole for a gift for his first birhdhay. It is the only way we can keep him away from Nick's poles.
Nick is doing well. We all had a great time on our vacation. He hated driving the truck with a camper attached through Texas! Those drivers are crazy. I have no idea how our friends, the Norman's, live there. We spent two wonderful days with them playing games, seeing kids, and debating philosophies. It was nice to be around friends who we enjoy bantering with. We also borrowed Nick's dad boat and went out on the lake. Nick had a great time fishing and we had fun playing in the water and on the rocks. I must admit that I am not a fan of those crazy Lake Travis fish. I have never been attacked so many times while I was in the water. I got used to the minnows, but the big fish, ugh! This week he is in Salina working on Pioneer Crossing, Segment 2. One of their subs from Segment 1 has begged their help for the 2nd part. I think it is supposed to be short lived. We can only hope so.
I am posting new pics and video after this. I am actually using Jack's nap time wisely. :) Hope you are all having a wonderful summer.
We have all been busy. I am preparing to teach my second full day camp. It is amazing how much harder it is to prepare a classroom with a toddler in tow. Jack really loves to explore the classroom and get into every toy that I have set out for my kiddos. I have to really leave him at home to get anything done.
Jack is having a blast enjoying the summer. We spend so much time outside playing around. He is really a bleached blond now. He is growing like a weed and is tan to boot. He is developing his own funny personality. He is a total daddy's boy and an all-boy kinda kid too! He loves to be thrown on the bed, get rolled around, sword fight, dig in the dirt, throw rocks in the water, splash in anything resembling a puddle or a waterfall. He also loves to go fishing. Thank goodness Aunt Rachel picked out a fishing pole for a gift for his first birhdhay. It is the only way we can keep him away from Nick's poles.
Nick is doing well. We all had a great time on our vacation. He hated driving the truck with a camper attached through Texas! Those drivers are crazy. I have no idea how our friends, the Norman's, live there. We spent two wonderful days with them playing games, seeing kids, and debating philosophies. It was nice to be around friends who we enjoy bantering with. We also borrowed Nick's dad boat and went out on the lake. Nick had a great time fishing and we had fun playing in the water and on the rocks. I must admit that I am not a fan of those crazy Lake Travis fish. I have never been attacked so many times while I was in the water. I got used to the minnows, but the big fish, ugh! This week he is in Salina working on Pioneer Crossing, Segment 2. One of their subs from Segment 1 has begged their help for the 2nd part. I think it is supposed to be short lived. We can only hope so.
I am posting new pics and video after this. I am actually using Jack's nap time wisely. :) Hope you are all having a wonderful summer.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Summer
We love that summer is now here. We enjoyed a great four day weekend with Nick. He was able to work from home on Friday and then only had to put in a couple hours the next 3 days. It would have all been ideal if our air conditioner had not went out on us.
We attended KC Jiggle Jam, an outdoor family concert event. Jack did pretty well. He even had a few moves that I would have love to shown you, but I forgot the camera. He keeps me so busy now that I rarely to think to grab the camera. I wish that I had something that I could just attach to my glasses and I could grab all those "too cute" moments to film. Nick was talking about how those are the moments that Valerie always seems to grab of the kiddos.
Since I last blogged, Jack and I have taken a trip to Western Nebraska. He had a great time seeing everyone. He had a constant playmate which is pure heaven to him. His Gram has a great clock that plays music every hour. Luckily for him, there is a button that you can push to activate it sooner. He was able to scam out a few plays from his Gram and Tio. I think that his Tio really just loved to hear him say clock, which comes out more like cock at this point. He did have a bad experience when he was out at a party. We were looking at a macaw that they warned me would squawk at us. I didn't realize it would be so loud and in our face. It scared the bejeezers out of him. Now he is apparently afraid of birds. We were eating dinner at Mi Ranchito and then he spied a wooden macaw hanging on a perch in the center of the restaurant. It was over after that. Hopefully we will get this kicked before he deals with it while he has long last memories!
He also received a cute swing set from his Grandma Denise. She worked very hard checking ebay and all the area Craigslist until she found him just the one I wanted. He loves it so much. We are going to rock up our backyard so that he has a more even, poo free place to play. I am not sure when we will get around to it, but hopefully this summer. Nick thinks we need like 8 tons of rock to fill in the space! Wowzers!
We have such a bleached blond boy on our hands now. He is growing so much. We play outside for at least 2 hours a day. He really gets a kick of just about anything out there. He is also working on his throwing arm. He can get a ball to go about a good 10 feet. Now, it is just to make sure he remembers which toys are balls and which are not!
He likes to sing along to music with me in the car now. Unfortunately, instead of making sounds sounds he just makes an eeeeeeee noise instead. Cute, but it gets annoying after a while. I am looking forward to the day when he can see along using some wrong lyrics.
Hope all is well in your world. Keep in touch!
We attended KC Jiggle Jam, an outdoor family concert event. Jack did pretty well. He even had a few moves that I would have love to shown you, but I forgot the camera. He keeps me so busy now that I rarely to think to grab the camera. I wish that I had something that I could just attach to my glasses and I could grab all those "too cute" moments to film. Nick was talking about how those are the moments that Valerie always seems to grab of the kiddos.
Since I last blogged, Jack and I have taken a trip to Western Nebraska. He had a great time seeing everyone. He had a constant playmate which is pure heaven to him. His Gram has a great clock that plays music every hour. Luckily for him, there is a button that you can push to activate it sooner. He was able to scam out a few plays from his Gram and Tio. I think that his Tio really just loved to hear him say clock, which comes out more like cock at this point. He did have a bad experience when he was out at a party. We were looking at a macaw that they warned me would squawk at us. I didn't realize it would be so loud and in our face. It scared the bejeezers out of him. Now he is apparently afraid of birds. We were eating dinner at Mi Ranchito and then he spied a wooden macaw hanging on a perch in the center of the restaurant. It was over after that. Hopefully we will get this kicked before he deals with it while he has long last memories!
He also received a cute swing set from his Grandma Denise. She worked very hard checking ebay and all the area Craigslist until she found him just the one I wanted. He loves it so much. We are going to rock up our backyard so that he has a more even, poo free place to play. I am not sure when we will get around to it, but hopefully this summer. Nick thinks we need like 8 tons of rock to fill in the space! Wowzers!
We have such a bleached blond boy on our hands now. He is growing so much. We play outside for at least 2 hours a day. He really gets a kick of just about anything out there. He is also working on his throwing arm. He can get a ball to go about a good 10 feet. Now, it is just to make sure he remembers which toys are balls and which are not!
He likes to sing along to music with me in the car now. Unfortunately, instead of making sounds sounds he just makes an eeeeeeee noise instead. Cute, but it gets annoying after a while. I am looking forward to the day when he can see along using some wrong lyrics.
Hope all is well in your world. Keep in touch!
Thursday, 7 May 2009
The Irresitable Power of Raspberries
I wanted to share my observation of the simple power of raspberries. From the time Jack's belly was big enough to get one, I've loved giving him raspberries and watching his face light up with a grin. Now on our snuggle mornings, he loves to return the favor. His huge body movements as he prepares to blow are hysterical. He is also learning that the more slobber he has, the better the result will be. It is just amazing to me that something so simple can bring us so much joy!
Not much in other news here. We're are just staying busy with our standard schedules. Nick and the neighbor guys built our shed. I must say that I am very thankful he recruited their help. It took the three of them almost 3 1/2 hours of constant work to get it together. That is on top of the time we spent building the frame pieces and the time they spent unloading/hauling rock to level the base! Now once he has the time, he'll be able to hang the doors and we can load it up. It will be nice to have the garage cleaner and more organized!
Not much in other news here. We're are just staying busy with our standard schedules. Nick and the neighbor guys built our shed. I must say that I am very thankful he recruited their help. It took the three of them almost 3 1/2 hours of constant work to get it together. That is on top of the time we spent building the frame pieces and the time they spent unloading/hauling rock to level the base! Now once he has the time, he'll be able to hang the doors and we can load it up. It will be nice to have the garage cleaner and more organized!
Saturday, 2 May 2009
A Perfect Saturday
Sometimes I wish I had a blackberry so I could write a blog about all the cute things Jack does in a day. Then the day gets crazy and I can't remember all that I was going to tell you about. Isn't that they way it goes?
Today was wonderful. Jack and I left the house bright and early to go to garage sales (which were a total bust), so that Nick could sleep in. When we were on our way home, Nick texted to say that he was finally up and moving. He was watching some southern lady cooking steaks with her kid. This apparently inspired him to want to make steaks with his kid.
Since it was in the 60's with little wind, it made for a beautiful day to be outside. The boys went to the store to get the goodies without me. I was able to stay home and lay in the quiet and then enjoy a nice shower by myself. I even had time to make sure that my legs were shaved good and not the hap hazard attempt they usually get as Jack is playing peek-a-boo with the shower curtain!
After our delicious meal, we headed down to the water for some fishing. We didn't catch anything or even get a bite, but Jack did get to work on his rock tossing. His Gram taught him this during our trip in March and he's been a big fan ever since. He's really gotten a bit more of an arm. We also went swinging on the swingset provided by the park. He smiled so big with each high push.
Unfortunatley all this fun made him miss his nap, so he was a bit cranky. I brought him home and Nick went to take back our movie. He actually felt well rested enough to tackle our home improvement project of fixing our deck stairs. While he was at the supply store, our happy little man woke up a grouchy one! All he wanted to was snuggle and be near Mom. Nothing else was cutting it. It was a bit trying of a couple hours, but he finally calmed down and we are able to play farm for a bit before he settled into bed.
Nick got the back stairs done and they even ended up being considerably cheaper than he had estimated for. So now, he is out returning the extra supplies and picking up more supplies for projects tomorrow. Jack is sleeping sweetly upstairs and I am having a chance to blog. Hope all is well in your world.
Today was wonderful. Jack and I left the house bright and early to go to garage sales (which were a total bust), so that Nick could sleep in. When we were on our way home, Nick texted to say that he was finally up and moving. He was watching some southern lady cooking steaks with her kid. This apparently inspired him to want to make steaks with his kid.
Since it was in the 60's with little wind, it made for a beautiful day to be outside. The boys went to the store to get the goodies without me. I was able to stay home and lay in the quiet and then enjoy a nice shower by myself. I even had time to make sure that my legs were shaved good and not the hap hazard attempt they usually get as Jack is playing peek-a-boo with the shower curtain!
After our delicious meal, we headed down to the water for some fishing. We didn't catch anything or even get a bite, but Jack did get to work on his rock tossing. His Gram taught him this during our trip in March and he's been a big fan ever since. He's really gotten a bit more of an arm. We also went swinging on the swingset provided by the park. He smiled so big with each high push.
Unfortunatley all this fun made him miss his nap, so he was a bit cranky. I brought him home and Nick went to take back our movie. He actually felt well rested enough to tackle our home improvement project of fixing our deck stairs. While he was at the supply store, our happy little man woke up a grouchy one! All he wanted to was snuggle and be near Mom. Nothing else was cutting it. It was a bit trying of a couple hours, but he finally calmed down and we are able to play farm for a bit before he settled into bed.
Nick got the back stairs done and they even ended up being considerably cheaper than he had estimated for. So now, he is out returning the extra supplies and picking up more supplies for projects tomorrow. Jack is sleeping sweetly upstairs and I am having a chance to blog. Hope all is well in your world.
Monday, 27 April 2009
Three more weeks until school is out
Where has the year went? It really seems to fly by as I get older. Having Jack has only magnified that. I suppose Nick being gone the majority of the year has added to it to. I can't stress how thankful I will feel when this project is over and we can attempt to return to some sort of a routine in our lives. I never feel like I know what I am going to get.
Last Wednesday, Nick came home in enough time so that we could plant our patio garden. Jack had a good time helping dig in the dirt. He is still into exploring things with his mouth and he decided that dirt didn't taste all that nice although he tried it more than once. With Jack doing so much of the helping with the plants, we are trying to take an organic approach to them this year. We will see how that holds up. I want him to be a part of it, and so we will work to see what works for our family.
The weekend before we went to Wichita so that Jack could go the circus with his Grandma and Papa and two cousins. He came down with a bad cold on the Tuesday before hand, but at his 15 month check the doctor determined it wasn't contagious. I think his Aunt Rachel and cousins would beg to differ. I think the boys had a blast, but I feel awful that we shared his cruddies with them. Jack ended the trip by feeding his Grandma some banana cream pie. I have some wonderful pics that I posted over on flickr.
We had quite the hot spell the last couple of days and so we have been playing outside like crazy and Jack is turning into quite the beach headed blonde. I am surprised how quickly it is changing. It will be amazing to see what color it is after the summer. We didn't get to see it last summer as he hardly had any hair. If anyone makes a trip to visit, we have several fun places that we can show you. We are looking forward to making a trip to Deanna Rose again soon. This week it appears that we will be getting rain so it wouldn't be to enjoyable, but hopefully soon. I am trying to plan us a summer full of busy activities.
Last Wednesday, Nick came home in enough time so that we could plant our patio garden. Jack had a good time helping dig in the dirt. He is still into exploring things with his mouth and he decided that dirt didn't taste all that nice although he tried it more than once. With Jack doing so much of the helping with the plants, we are trying to take an organic approach to them this year. We will see how that holds up. I want him to be a part of it, and so we will work to see what works for our family.
The weekend before we went to Wichita so that Jack could go the circus with his Grandma and Papa and two cousins. He came down with a bad cold on the Tuesday before hand, but at his 15 month check the doctor determined it wasn't contagious. I think his Aunt Rachel and cousins would beg to differ. I think the boys had a blast, but I feel awful that we shared his cruddies with them. Jack ended the trip by feeding his Grandma some banana cream pie. I have some wonderful pics that I posted over on flickr.
We had quite the hot spell the last couple of days and so we have been playing outside like crazy and Jack is turning into quite the beach headed blonde. I am surprised how quickly it is changing. It will be amazing to see what color it is after the summer. We didn't get to see it last summer as he hardly had any hair. If anyone makes a trip to visit, we have several fun places that we can show you. We are looking forward to making a trip to Deanna Rose again soon. This week it appears that we will be getting rain so it wouldn't be to enjoyable, but hopefully soon. I am trying to plan us a summer full of busy activities.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Busy Times
We are staying busy here. I couldn't believe it had been so long since I updated the blog. It didn't feel like very long, but it's probably that old age creeping up on me! As you all know, I turned 30 this past weekend. It was actually a great birthday. I hope that I can take 40 as gracefully. It's hard to believe I am closer to 40 than to 20. But I did have one great student tell me that I was going to be a long time before I was old, so that was quite nice.
My family came down from Alliance and Lincoln to see me. We had a good time playing cards and catching up. My great accomplishment was that I managed to beat Kyle on the Wii Fitness part of Wii Sports two out of three times. Nothing like keeping up with the spring chicken. Jack loved having everyone here. It meant constant attention and entertainment. My mom got him a singing bunny for Easter. It totally freaks him out and yet he has an odd attraction to it. Could it mean that he is going to love horror movies? He was also quite entertained by the box my color laser printer came in. We've decided to keep it around another week or so that he can enjoy it a little longer. After that, I make take it to preschool so that my morning class can have a go at it.
There isn't much new going on in Jack's world. He may be getting a cold or his bottom teeth could be making their surge. I am hoping for teeth as I would love to see these suckers crack through. They've been harassing him for almost 5 months now!!! I really hope it's not a cold as we would like to go Wichita so that Nick can see the circus and Mom and Dad could take a break. I am not sure that I am ready to go a whole weekend, but a day/night could be nice with Nick. We haven't really had time to discuss exactly what our plans are.
Nick dedicated himself to spending all weekend with us. He didn't take a work call or email the entire time I was with him. (I went shopping with my mom for a couple hours on my birthday, and can't be sure of what he did then!) Unfortunately, he is really paying for it today and looks to have to work a 16 hour day. Tuesday's are usually his worst day, so who knows what he has in store. We are looking for a good vacation spot because our original plans fell through. If you know of any good, relatively inexpensive ideas, let us know!
I uploaded some new pics and vids. Enjoy!
Kara
My family came down from Alliance and Lincoln to see me. We had a good time playing cards and catching up. My great accomplishment was that I managed to beat Kyle on the Wii Fitness part of Wii Sports two out of three times. Nothing like keeping up with the spring chicken. Jack loved having everyone here. It meant constant attention and entertainment. My mom got him a singing bunny for Easter. It totally freaks him out and yet he has an odd attraction to it. Could it mean that he is going to love horror movies? He was also quite entertained by the box my color laser printer came in. We've decided to keep it around another week or so that he can enjoy it a little longer. After that, I make take it to preschool so that my morning class can have a go at it.
There isn't much new going on in Jack's world. He may be getting a cold or his bottom teeth could be making their surge. I am hoping for teeth as I would love to see these suckers crack through. They've been harassing him for almost 5 months now!!! I really hope it's not a cold as we would like to go Wichita so that Nick can see the circus and Mom and Dad could take a break. I am not sure that I am ready to go a whole weekend, but a day/night could be nice with Nick. We haven't really had time to discuss exactly what our plans are.
Nick dedicated himself to spending all weekend with us. He didn't take a work call or email the entire time I was with him. (I went shopping with my mom for a couple hours on my birthday, and can't be sure of what he did then!) Unfortunately, he is really paying for it today and looks to have to work a 16 hour day. Tuesday's are usually his worst day, so who knows what he has in store. We are looking for a good vacation spot because our original plans fell through. If you know of any good, relatively inexpensive ideas, let us know!
I uploaded some new pics and vids. Enjoy!
Kara
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