Breckenridge 2015

At the end of July, we spent a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa S. in Breckenridge.  For the most part, we kept it pretty low key. The girls played at the pool almost every afternoon and we did outdoor activities every morning (hiking or going to the adventure park).

The sleeping arrangements were a little interesting.  We had hoped that Emily and Kara could share a room, but it didn't quite work out.  All day, Mom and Dad kept telling Kara that she was going to share a room with Emily, but she was going to have to be quiet and let Emily sleep.  Well, Kara started off all excited and we could hear her whispering things to Emily through the baby monitor.  After about an hour, however, Kara was done and just wanted to go to sleep.  Emily, on the other hand, was just getting going.  She kept asking Kara, "What's that?" To which Kara would reply, "Emily, go to sleep."  That went on for about 30 minutes before Mom and Dad saved Kara and moved Emily's crib to another room.  After the move, everyone slept very well.  Oh well, we'll try again next year. :-)

Kara has started showing quite an interest in hiking.  There's a decent hike path that runs right next to the hotel.  Thursday afternoon Kara just started walking (with Grandpa in tow) and ended up going probably a mile up the trail before getting tired (and then hiked all the way back).  The next day, Dad packed Emily in the backpack and went with Grandpa and Kara on the same hike.  Kara, of course, led the way, and hiked right up the mountain.  Emily, on the other hand, got tired of hiking and was ready to turn back after about 30 minutes of hiking.  Kara and Grandpa were going to keep going up the hill, but Kara decided she was a little tired too and headed back.  A storm moved in Friday afternoon and rained the rest of the day.

On Saturday morning, we got up early and rode the gondola up to Peak 8 to check out the Breck Summer Fun Park.  Emily is still a little too young to do most of the activities, but Kara is getting into the target audience range.  Kara started off by trying out the bouncing trampoline while Emily checked out Ripperoo's Bounce Corral.  Kara had a great time bouncing, but she didn't get to bounce for as long as she did last year (there was quite a long line this year).  After that, Kara headed over to the rock climbing wall, but she was just a little too short to really reach most of the hand-holds, so she didn't get to climb too high.  On the way out, we did a little panning for gemstones, which both girls really enjoyed.

Another successful Breckenridge visit.  Can't wait until next year!

Link to pictures

Christmas 2013

Christmas was a ton of fun this year. I have a feeling Christmas is going to get a little more fun every year as the girls get older!

Kara learned the words to many a Christmas carol, including: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Joy to the World, and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.  It's all very cute.  Kara really got into the Christmas spirit this year. Multiple times she exclaimed, "It's exactly what I've always wanted!" after opening a gift. In particular she seems to really enjoy her sleeping bag (she crammed all her stuffed animals in there and dragged it around for the next several days), her camera (it took her about 5 minutes to figure out it had video games), and a large book of Garfield comics she looks through every day.

Emily also enjoyed her gifts. She really likes to cruise around with her new walker. For the most part, however, she likes to play with Kara's toys!

The weekend before Christmas was also very exciting. Kara and Emily went to meet Santa. This was the first year Kara sat still long enough to tell Santa exactly what she wanted (Despicable Me). Emily did great as well. She sat there for about 30 seconds (long enough to get a decent picture) before deciding Santa was a little scary. Also that weekend, Kara went to her first movie at a theater. She and Mommy went to go see Frozen. Kara seemed to really enjoy it and is excited to go see another movie! If that wasn't enough, Kara and Dad went to the rock gym to try out rock climbing. Kara did great! She climbed up and down the wall for almost an hour until she figured out that it was a lot of fun to "fall" and let the auto-belay rope lower her back down. We'll have to try that again sometime.

Link to pictures