Randomness

It has been awhile since I have done a random post, but I have been very busy. I know that is starting to sound like an old excuse, but seriously folks!

First, some random cuteness. Some photos that I have not posted to any particular blog post.








I am the proud owner of a new Kindle! It just finished its first charge, so I will probably rush through this random blog so that I can go play with my new toy! I finally decided that I really have no need for an iPad (my iPhone and laptop take care of more than enough computing needs for me). I like the simplicity of the Kindle, and the ease on the eyes. I have always been an avid reader, and I've been reading Kindle books on my iPhone since the release of the Kindle and the app.

I have our homeschool lessons planned until the end of next June! This makes me feel very accomplished and it gives us direction each day as we know exactly what we need to accomplish. I lesson planned forward 185 days. We take pretty frequent vacations, so the year round homeschool schedule really works great for us. We are fortunate to live in a city with several homeschool stores, including one particularly big one that we visited last week. I bought everything that we need for the next year, and I've been so excited with all of my great purchases! I feel so fortunate to be able to homeschool. It is not for everyone, but it works so well for my family!

I need to step up my 500 in 2010 miles a notch or two. I will make the 500 this year, but probably by the skin of my teeth!

I love these afternoon thundershowers that we have been having here.

I'm feeling some facebook fatigue. I think facebook is basically a good way to stay in touch with lots of people, but I absolutely do not have time to keep up with it all the time. I'm not on there quite as often, but I will still check in now and then. I'm generally reducing my online time as it is. I can accomplish so much more if I just reduce it.

Kindle is drawing me to it like a big magnet now, so I gotta go.

Sleepovers!

Analese finally got her introduction into the new and wonderful world of sleeping over (and having someone sleep over). First she was able to sleep over at her buddy Tee-ta's house on Saturday night. It all went very well. She had a wonderful time, and when I asked her if she missed me, her response was, "I did NOT miss you, mommy. I was just fine!" AGHHH Dagger in my heart! The very next night, Tee-ta came to OUR house to sleep over. Analese was so excited about having Tee-ta there that she was keeping poor Tee-ta awake until the wee hours of the morning. I decided not to be the strict party pooper mom and I was going to let them talk and play in her room until they finally got sleepy. Well at 12:30 in the a.m., two little four year old girls came marching into our bedroom announcing that they were unable to get the door back on the Barbie carriage. I got up and took them back to her room and gently told them that it was time to get into bed - quiet time, that is. They cooperated, and Tee-ta really looked quite relieved as I was tucking her in next to Analese. I sat there beside their bed for a few moments. It took Tee-ta less than 60 seconds to fall into a deep sleep. Analese followed suit when she realized that her play buddy had trotted off to dreamland. Anyway, both sleepovers were a success, and we will do it again for sure!

18 months old in the Daddy Shirt!

Today we are wishing Mariele a very happy 18 month old birthday! Happy for me too! It is, after all, that much closer to 4.

I have some comparison pics to share today. Analese was photographed in Lee's old baby shirt when she was 16 months old. I took Mariele's photos in the same shirt today on her 18th month birthday.

First off, Mariele was not really in a picture taking mood today. Keep in mind that the poor babe is recovering from a stomach illness (along with me) and it is about 185 degrees and 250% humidity outside. Okay, I exaggerate.....a little. I'm really not that far off, though. I had to set the camera out on the back porch for an hour so that the lens would de-fog before I could even do a photo shoot outside this morning. Now there is something I never had to do in Colorado!

Here are the best shots I was able to get of Mariele this morning.







Here the the pics of Analese when she was 16 months old. You can tell that we lived in entirely different climates just by comparing the hair in these pictures!




And here is Analese today.

More from Heritage Square

There is also an amusement park with lots of kiddie rides at Heritage Square. We spent some time there letting the kids ride some of the attractions.





After going on that ride that went around in circles, Mariele could not walk a straight line! It was pretty funny!

Analese and I enjoyed our bumper boat ride.



The next day we got to attend our favorite church and spend the afternoon and evening with good friends. Analese got to bounce with her buddy.



And Mariele just LOVES their dog!



Our good friend was celebrating her 37th birthday (actually on Sunday) and we took her to dinner with her family on Saturday night. They chose a wonderful Italian restaurant. She has cystic fibrosis and the 37th birthday was extra significant to her because 37 happens to be the median age of survival for CF patients. This pic is a bit on the blurry side (be it known that I was NOT the photographer) but we are just so happy for our dear friend!



This hereby concludes my blogging about Colorado. I will now try to get back to everyday normal life blogs:)

The Alpine Slide

I know we have been home from Colorado an entire week and I am still blogging about it, but what can I say? It has been crazy busy as is the norm for post-trip. On Friday of Colorado week, Lee did not have to go into work until the afternoon. So we took the morning and headed out to Heritage Square in Golden for some rides down the alpine slide. The alpine slide is really awesome. It is a concrete slide that winds down the big foothill, and you ride down in a bobsled. Sort of like the luge, but not nearly as scary:) Lee and I took turns riding down with Analese. She loved it! First you ride the ski lift up to the top of the foothill. She loved the ski lift ride just as much as she liked the ride down! It takes about 5 minutes to ride the lift all the way to the top. I took a picture of her and Lee riding up.



And I also got a couple of shots of her and Lee sliding down at the bottom.




Lee intended to get pics of me and Analese sliding down, but he missed our descent because he was on his cell phone. I suppose I should cut him some slack, though, because I think he was on with work. This was, after all, a working vacation. He did take some pics of us at the bottom. Mariele did not ride, of course. Maybe next time!

Wordless Wednesday

It has been awhile since I did Wordless Wednesday. But I do have to say a few words about these pics. The finger paint was on sale at Kroger for $3, and it was messy beyond my wildest imagination. It did, however, entertain my kids for 20 minutes or so, until Analese said, "Mommy, the finger paint is all gone now!"

More from Colorado

We had much less leisure time on this trip to Colorado than we did back in March. Whereas Lee had the Monday holiday off, he ended up working 16 hour days on Tuesday through Thursday, and he worked from afternoon until late at night on Friday That left me with the job of keeping the kids entertained. Colorado was having quite a lot of rain and cool weather during the week. For a day or two we were relegated to indoor activities. I took the kids to Target and loaded up with coloring books, crayons and zhu zhu pets! The zhu zhu pets were a hit with both girls. They enjoyed letting them run, and Analese spent a very long time with the legos that the lady who owns the rental unit provided. She was busy building a house for the pets. I was totally amazed at Mariele's attention span while coloring. I was expecting a couple of minutes, but she sat there for a good 10 minutes perfectly happy and coloring!

Summer Slushies

Those of you who are melting in the heat......Make this today! You will thank me!



You need one small seedless watermelon, a bag of frozen strawberries and the juice of one lemon. You also need a good heavy duty blender (I use a Vita-mix). Blend it all together. You may need to add the watermelon a few chunks at a time until it blends down. Now pour it into a baking pan. The mixture filled an 8 inch square baking pan for me. Pop it in the freezer for a few hours. Check on it periodically and break up the ice crystals with a fork as they form. It is ready to eat when it is the consistency of a snow cone or a slushy. This was SO very refreshing on this hot 102 degree afternoon! And it is just blended fruit. It is a very healthy alternative to a snow cone that is laden with high fructose syrup! And much more delicious, I might add!

Mount Evans, CO

Thank the Good Lord that Lee did not have to work on Monday, July 5th after our horrific experience flying into Denver on the 4th. We were able to take the day and drive up Mount Evans, which is a 14er (14,000 plus feet), and it is also the highest paved mountain. It was quite beautiful, but I did feel the altitude. I've lost my altitude acclimation after living almost at sea level for the past two years.





Of course, the beautiful scenery was everywhere. I love the alpine wildflowers.



And we got to see quite a few of these goats. Notice the deep blue shade of the sky at altitude.



It was enough to give Mariele a Rocky Mountain High.



Here are a couple more "people pics."

The worst ever

Words cannot describe the nightmare that was our plane ride from Houston to Denver. It was hands down, no competition my WORST travel experience ever. Things were going fairly smoothly until it was almost time to land in Denver. The captain announced that there was a thunderstorm at DIA and they would have to circle a few turns before being cleared for landing. OK. It is better than landing in a storm. He said it would be about an hour delay. That is not so cool, but still better than landing in a storm. After much longer than an hour, the captain announced that we would need to land in Colorado Springs to refuel. I guess he circled a few too many times and the gas light came on. So we landed in the Springs. At this point we were told that nobody could get off the plane, including people who actually live in Colorado Springs. We were not actually pulled up to a gate, so they had no way to let us off the plane, other than using emergency exits. I was fine with sitting tight until the Denver storm passed. However - fast forward 3 hours and we are still in the exact same spot! At this point the captain announces that he has exceeded the three hour ramp time and due to federal regulations he would have to let everybody off the plane. So we were all instructed to fasten our seat belts and prepare to taxi in to a gate. After a few moments of taxiing, the captain said that we were actually going to take off for Denver, but we would be 26th in line to land. Colorado Springs to Denver SHOULD have been a 15 minute flight. After half an hour or so, I realize that this plane is showing no signs of landing in Denver. The captain announced that we were having to circle some more due to the storm. Fast forward an hour and a half and we are being tossed around the plane like cats being kicked downstairs in a cage. All of a sudden, with no warning, the captain is flying down through the storm to land in Denver. The turbulence was worse than any I have ever experienced. Lee was holding tightly to Mariele, who was miraculously sleeping. I was holding tightly to Analese, who was buckled into the seat next to me with her CARES restraint. I had explained to Analese about cloud bumps (turbulence). After a few minutes of me thinking the plane was going to surely drop out of the sky, Analese told me, "Mommy, the cloud bumps are making my tummy hurt." For the record, Analese had NEVER vomited in her life. I was not quite prepared with the one undersized little, tiny barf bag that was in our row. Poor Analese tossed her cookies (and peanut M&Ms and various plane snack junk that she had been eating since we had long since missed dinner). It was a massive amount of vomit, and it was all over both of us. I used every wet wipe in my purse, as well as a travel pack of Kleenex that the nice lady in front of us gave me. My efforts to clean up this mess did not even begin to touch it. Thankfully and miraculously the plane did land about 7 minutes later. I asked the snippy flight attendant, who was growing snippier by the minute if she had anything to help with the clean-up. She only had a bag of melting ice. I mean, get real 50 year old childless lady! You really expect me to clean up my four year old with ice water??? Luckily we got our luggage right away and I took Analese into the bathroom and cleaned her up with warm water and soap and changed both of our clothes. Total plane time was 8 hours, and we did not originate from Hawaii. The rental car company that held our reservation was CLOSED. Luckily we did find a shuttle to a rental car company that was open and had cars. It was 1 a.m. when we finally arrived at our rental house. It felt like 2 a.m. to us. I still had to bathe the kids and myself. The only way that trip could have been worse is if the plane had actually crashed. I am still recovering from the worst 4th of July ever. The 5th of July was nice, though. We made a day trip up Mount Evans, so hopefully I will be able to share some photos of that later.

Visit from Grandma Linda

We enjoyed a visit from Grandma Linda for a few days. My kids are so beyond spoiled. They may very well revolt if somebody comes to visit without a huge sacks of presents. Analese's favorite present was the ring pop.