Breckenridge 2016

Breckenridge was a bit of a blur this year.  We went up the first part of the week this year, instead of the last half of the week like we usually do.  Our plan was to head up Sunday after Emily's nap.  Unfortunately, Emily decided that she wasn't going to take a nap, so at 3, we just packed everyone in the car and headed up.  We hoped that maybe she would sleep in the car (she didn't) or at least that she'd be tired and sleep when we got there (that didn't happen either).  After we got there and got unpacked, we grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant and then tried to get the girls to wind down for bed.  After a quick bath, we tried to put the girls down together in the same room (gotta give it a try).  Kara was actually pretty good and tried to go to sleep.  Emily, however, kept popping out of bed to check on Kara and everyone else in the other room.  Around 9, we gave up on the experiment and moved Emily to the other room.  Emily just didn't sleep well at all that night, tossing and turning, and waking up hysterical in the middle of the night.  So, our trip didn't get off to the best start...

Sleeping, in general, was a bit of a struggle the whole time we were up there.  Mom swears that the people in the unit above us were doing construction with power tools and work boots every night until 11 pm.  Luckily, Kara and Emily generally slept pretty well after the first night.  Mom and Dad, however, had trouble sleeping every night.

We didn't get a lot of hiking in this year.  We went on a short hike near the lodge the first morning, but that was about it.  Kara was really enthusiastic about hiking, and Emily was a trooper.  We hiked until Emily said she wanted us to carry her, and then we just headed back.  We did get a lot of pool time in.  We went just about every morning.  Kara had a great time practicing her swimming skills.  Emily mostly enjoyed just being in the water and occasionally jumping in to Dad.

We also made our annual trip up to the top of Peak 8 to check out the Breckenridge Summer Fun Park, which was a bit of a bust.  We bought the pass for Kara this year, so she could do just about anything.  She did the bungee bounce and the alpine slide (with Dad).  We also bought a limited pass for Emily.  She got up on the trampoline for the bungee bounce, but decided she just wasn't into it and backed out once they tried to put on the harness.  Unfortunately, the roller coaster they have up there and the zipline were both down, so all the kids funneled into the kids ropes course.  After waiting in line for over an hour, Kara got to go down the kids zipline (which was about a 15 second ride).  By that time, it was almost noon, and Emily was done.  We just headed back to the hotel and took it easy for the afternoon.

We ended up cutting the trip a little short.  We had planned on staying Wednesday night and heading back Thursday morning, but since Mom and Dad were sleeping so poorly, we just headed back home Wednesday afternoon.  The drive back was uneventful.

Link to pictures

Goodbye to Great Grandma S and Great Grandpa H

It has been a pretty rough month for Mom and Dad's grandparents.  Dad lost his grandmother, Great Grandma S, who died on June 18th.  She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years, and couldn't put two words together towards the end.  While she was still mentally with us, she adored Kara.  We had given her pictures of Kara as a baby that consistently got lost (which was one of our first clues her mental facilities were degrading), though she used to tell us that someone was stealing the pictures because Kara was just so cute!

Mom lost her Grandpa, Great Grandpa H, who was also suffering the effects of Alzheimer's.  He broke his hip in June and never quite recovered.  He suffered a stroke on the morning of July 10th and died later that day.  He only met Kara and Emily a couple of times, but he thought they were both pretty awesome.

Link to pictures of Grandma S



Link to pictures of Grandpa H

Rough Start to Summer

We've had a pretty rough start to summer.  Kara had a make up T-ball game the first week of June.  About halfway through the game, she started complaining to Dad that she was feeling hot.  He thought she was just a little warm because it was hot outside and told her to drink more water.  When we got home, she still said she was hot.  Come to find out, she had a fever of 103°F!  She was supposed to have another game that Saturday, but her fever was just not going down and she developed a pretty rough cough.  We took her to the doctor's office after about 5 days of 100+°F fever where she was finally diagnosed with pneumonia.  Once we got Kara on some medication, her fever went down after a couple of days, and she started feeling much better.  She was supposed to go to music camp the second week of June.  Camp Oonie Koonie Cha is a music-centric camp for kids.  The theme this year was the Old West, and Kara really didn't want to miss it!  Fortunately, they had some openings the next week, and Kara was able to change weeks when she felt better.  Kara had a great time at the camp and intends to do it again next year (the camp next year will be jungle-themed).  She also attended a rock-themed birthday later in the month where the kids could get on stage and sing Karaoke.  Kara had a blast getting up and singing songs (there were a lot of Taylor Swift songs and other singers Dad has never heard of).

Emily's also had a rough start to summer.  Early in June, Dad took Mom out for a nice dinner for her birthday and left the girls with Grandma and Grandpa S for the evening.  Soon after Grandma had put her down, Emily got her foot stuck in one of the slats on her toddler bed.  Apparently, she got it really stuck, and it took quite the effort for Grandpa to get her foot out.  After that, she refused to get back into her toddler bed, so Dad had to take the bed apart that evening, and Emily just slept on the mattress.  Compounding Emily's issues with her bed, she simply hasn't been sleeping very well recently (even before the bed incident).  At least twice a week, she'll wake up crying hysterically in the middle of the night, and no matter what Mom and Dad do, she won't calm down.  We're thinking this is just a phase, but we'll see...

The weather, in general, was quite warm for the month of June, but not too hot.  We got out the sprinklers a couple of times.  By the end of the month, things were looking up, so let's hope we continue to have a fun summer into July!

Link to pictures

School's Out for Summer!

The fundraiser for Kara's t-ball team was selling tickets to a Rockies game and letting teams walk around the field before the game.  Kara had never been to a real baseball game, but she was excited!  It was Dad's first time down on field level at Coors Field (and Kara's, obviously).  It was a fun experience, and the Rockies even won (beating the NY Mets 4-3)!

Kara wrapped up her first year of real school at the end of the month.  She's excited to be a first grader next year!  She's got a busy summer planned with several camps lined up.

Emily is a pretty mild-mannered 3-year old.  She has the occasional melt-down, but her worst days are nothing compared to Kara when she was about the same age.  Emily is continuing to develop her voice and is getting better at communicating what she wants, which isn't always easy with a big sister like Kara who is very opinionated herself.  One of her favorite things to do is to sing the alphabet song to us.  She still has a little trouble with the middle (L-M-N-O come out ellam minnow), but she's getting better.  She can pretty easily count to 20 and can identify all the numbers up to 10 (though she sometimes gets 6's and 9's confused).  All in all, she's a pretty awesome kid.

Early May, we got out and started up our garden for the summer.  We planted a couple different kind of tomatoes, zucchini, beans, and pumpkins.  We'll see what comes up!

Link to pictures

Kara's Comic

Kara (completely unprompted by Mom and Dad) decided to start writing her own comic.  The first three issues of Jack Skeleton are below (with translations for those who have trouble reading the writing of a kindergartner):

Comic 1

Jack Skeleton

Jack’s New Friend

Jack’s New Friend

One day when Jack was at school… “Hi”

He saw a new monster! “Awoooo!”

And the new monster was scared!

When it was recess time…

The new monster just watched!

Then when Jack was playing… “wee”

He saw the swings…

And when he was on he saw…

The new monster!

Then he said, “Would you like to be my friend?”

And the new monster said, “Yes!” And so they did!

Comic 2

Jack Skeleton

Jack’s Problems

Jack’s Problems

One day at school… “Hi, hi.”

Jack fell! “Whoa!”

Then he got up… “Oof!”

And told his friend

And she said… “Watch where you are going.”

So he did…

But bonked his head! “Ow!”

Then he rubbed his head…

And told the teacher

He said…

You must be clumsy, Jack.

Jack said… I guess I am and he went to play!

Comic 3

Jack Skeleton

Jack Gets Angry!

Jack Gets A-N-G-R-Y-!

One day at school… “Hi!”

Jack said something mean to ghost. “I hate you!”

And ghost said…

“Hate is not a nice word!”

But Jack wasn’t listening!

So ghost told!

And the teacher had a chat with Jack!

And Jack said he was sorry to ghost. And so they went to play!