Breckenridge 2017

We didn't get much hiking in, but the girls had a good time none the less.  Kara spotted a fox on the lodge play structure and captured it on camera.  The girls thought that was awesome! 



Link to pictures

July 2016

The summer is just flying by.  It seems like every weekend is jammed packed with activities, and we still aren't getting everything done that we want to.

The first weekend of July, we headed down to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to check it out.  While we were there, we got an annual membership to the museum. If anyone wants to meet up there, let us know!  Both girls had fun, though Emily was ready to go back home well before Kara had seen everything she wanted to see.

Kara stayed up for the first time this year to see the fireworks on the 4th (they start around 9 pm).  Emily went down at her usual bedtime (and thankfully stayed asleep through the fireworks), but Kara stayed up and watched Zootopia with Mom and Dad.  There's a local fireworks show that we can see from our backyard.  After the movie, we got ourselves set up in the backyard and enjoyed the fireworks show.  We eventually got Kara down to sleep around 9:30.  We paid for it the next day, though, as Kara was quite grumpy and moody since she didn't get enough sleep.  Maybe someday we'll be able to do exciting things with the kids without worrying too much about sleep.

We went up to Breckenridge for several days later in the month (separate blog post to follow soon).  We attempted to do our annual backyard camp-out the weekend after we got back, even getting as far as getting the tent set up, but Kara had a bit of a melt-down as were getting everything ready.  It was probably too much excitement.  We'll try again in August.

Kid quotes:

- After dinner one night, Emily chose jelly beans as her dessert (the girls get a small dessert if they eat all their dinner). Mom said Emily could have 3 jelly beans since she's 3 years old.  Emily grabbed 4 jelly beans, and Dad pointed out that Emily was only supposed to get 3.  Looking very innocent, she quickly popped one into her mouth and showed dad the 3 left saying, "look there are 3."

- After our 4th of July grill out, Mom said, "Wow, I am stuffed!"  Emily promptly replied, "We don't having stuffing, we have bones inside!"

- We've been having some minor issues with rabbits eating things in our garden.  Emily noted, "Something's eating our plants like bunnies... or sharks..."

Link to pictures

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

September 2015

Kara quickly adjusted to her morning routine and getting ready for school each day. Surprisingly, Kara wasn't late to school once and didn't give Mom too much of a hard time.. Kara has school every morning, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays she stays for a full day and has Kindergarten Enrichment in the afternoon. So far, Kara is really enjoying school. Kara is doing very well with her reading (she recently tested at a 2nd grade reading level) and with her math.  She's also having a lot of fun learning new science information.  She comes home everyday with some new little tidbit that she learned in school.

For Labor Day, Aunt Amy had a little party at her house.  The girls had a great time chasing Briley and Ruby and playing with all the adults.  The girls had a little extra fun once they got a hold of Aunt Amy's phone.  Check out the pictures.

We decided to plant a couple of trees in our backyard.  We planted an Autumn Blaze Maple and a Honeycrisp Apple.  Maybe we'll be getting some tasty apples in a couple of years!

The last weekend in the month, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park outside of Estes Park to check out the elk.  It was fun, but we probably won't attempt it again for a couple of years.  We had planned on having a picnic dinner and then hanging out for a couple of hours and watching the elk.  However, the girls were ready to leave right after we got there (long care ride). Fortunately, there was a bull elk waiting to surprise us in the tall grass!  We got our dinner out, sat down, and there he was!  The girls loved it.  We also saw several other elk and heard a little bugling in the distance before we left.

Kid quotes:
Emily: "This is my only choice" after she sat down on the sidewalk when Dad gave her the choice of either riding her scooter or walking home from the playground (see the picture).

Link to pictures from Labor Day

Link to other pictures from September

Another Summer Comes to an End

We crammed some end-of-summer fun in with Grandma and Grandpa - one morning we met them at the Boulder County Fair and another we met up at the Broomfield Bay water park.

The Fair day was quite hot (you can tell by Emily's picture...), but both girls enjoyed seeing the farm animals, and even saw their first clown show!  Emily was a little apprehensive, but quickly started to enjoy herself.  And Kara was cracking up!  Kara also got to enjoy some carnival rides with Grandma and Grandpa while Emily went home for a nap.

We only got to Broomfield Bay (small local pool/water park) one day this summer (same as last summer) and both girls had a blast!  It was a bit chilly for the adults, but we powered through.  Kara couldn't get enough of the big water slides, and Emily made Dad go down the medium slide over and over and over....

August also brought lots of bounty from our little garden.  We got several rounds of beans, lots and lots....and lots of zucchini, and yummy tomatoes!  Our carrots were very sad and the watermelons were a complete no-show (maybe we should have weeded?!), but we plan to garden again next year.  The girls really enjoyed watching everything grow.

Emily went with Mom and Kara to the hair salon one day and got her first salon experience.  Ms. Rose was very nice and shampooed Emily's hair and gave her a good blow dry.  Emily just thought it was the coolest thing.

Emily is going through an independent phase.  She wants to do everything herself (including getting dressed, getting into the bath, reading books) and gets very irritated if someone tried to do something for her or makes her do something before she's ready. It has been a little tricky to get her to do things sometimes...

Kid quotes:
Emily: "No thank you, I'm playing toys" when we asked her to come to dinner one night.

Link to pictures

Backyard Camp-out 2015

On the evening of August 8th, Daddy and Kara had their 2nd annual camp-out.  The girls helped Dad get the tent set up early in the afternoon and the girls had a great time playing in and around the tent for the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner, we fired up the grill and had hamburgers and hot dogs.  We wrapped up dinner with S'mores (because what is camping out without S'mores?).  Both the girls really enjoy their S'mores, but Emily particularly enjoyed hers (see the video).

After dessert, Mom corralled Emily and headed inside while Dad and Kara got settled in the tent.  After a bit of goofing around with glow sticks, Kara settled down and had a a great night's sleep under the stars.

Emily was still a little young to stay outside for the night this year, but we're sure she will be out there with Kara and Daddy next summer!

Link to pictures

Summer Fun 2015

This summer has just flown by.  Between birthday parties, visitors, Grandma and Grandpa moving, classes, and camps, there was barely any time to relax!

Kara didn't have two consecutive weeks this summer without some sort of class or camp.  She did sports camp, swim lessons, Vacation Bible School, and Space Pirate Camp.  There was always something going on!

Early in June, we had a little party for Grandpa and Mommy's birthdays.  Nothing too big, but Grandpa let Emily blow out the candles on the cake, which Emily really enjoyed, especially after her candle experience for her own birthday cake...

Later in the month, we had Mimi and Papa come out to visit.  For the most part, we kept things pretty low key (except for our visit to the North Pole).

We put the girls in swim lessons during July.  Emily had been doing so well during her last swim lesson in May, so we signed her up for the next level up (without a parent in the water).  That lasted about 10 minutes or so until Emily figured out that Mommy wasn't going to get in the water with her.  She wouldn't get back in for the rest of the session.  Oh well.  Kara, on the other hand, got lucky and had a session with only one other girl (so she got a lot of personal attention).  By the end, Kara was able to jump in and swim the entire length of the pool all by herself!  Check out the video!

Early in July, Grandma and Grandpa finally closed on their new house.  They had us over one night to check out the new place.  The girls had a great time playing with bubbles in the backyard with Grandpa and Mom.

Whew, what an action-packed summer!

Pictures from Grandpa's birthday party:



Pictures from the rest of Mimi and Papa's visit:



Pictures from June:



Pictures from July



Emily playing some T-ball!

From 2015-07_1

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

Is Summer Over Yet?

The Colorado weather, for the most part, was great this summer.  The highs were mostly in the upper 80's, which is a little cooler than normal this time of year.  We took advantage of the nice weather with several fun outings.  We made a family trip to a nearby park that has water fountains.  Kara, of course, jumped right in, but Emily was a little more cautious.  She eventually warmed up to the fountains and had a good time.  The next weekend, we ventured to Broomfield Bay Aquatic Park, which is awesome for little kids.  They have a huge baby pool (deepest part is about 18 inches deep), which Emily had a great time just walking around.  They also had some decent water slides, which Mommy and Kara checked out.  They also had a small water slide in the baby pool.  After Emily's first time down, she couldn't get enough.  As soon as she got to the bottom, she'd climb right back out of the pool and up the ramp (see the video).

Kara's farm camp at Sunflower Farms ended at the beginning of August.  Her swim lessons also ended the first week.  Kara improved a lot during the summer.  She can now swim by herself (doing a form of elementary backstroke) and even jump off the diving board and swim to the side without any help!  Mommy has been spending the last couple of weeks trying to figure out how to occupy Kara's time.  Only two more weeks until Kara's preschool starts...

Emily's language skills are developing very quickly these days.  It feels like she comes up with a new word every day, such as: milk, wall, door, no (and she also wags her finger for emphasis), water, hug, bug, boo-boo (probably her favorite word), go, out, dog (which is usually followed by the sound of a dog panting), hop (which is usually preceded with a bunny or frog sighting).  She also has picked up an assortment of animal noises, which she enjoys sharing.  Emily also seems to really enjoy music (watch the video).  It has become tougher to catch these things on camera, though, since Emily has realized cameras can also play back videos.  Now, as soon as we take a picture, she'll grab for the camera (the dance video was actually 3 minutes long, but the last 2:51 of it was Emily grabbing for he camera).

Link to pictures

First Family Road Trip

Unfortunately, our first ever family road trip was not a success, but it wasn't a complete failure.  The trip got off to a poor start before we even left the house.  The night before we were going to leave (Wednesday night), Emily had a rough night of sleep (we suspect she's cutting another tooth).  She was fairly cranky most of the day Thursday, but Mommy and Daddy thought they'd give the trip a go anyway.

So, Thursday afternoon we drove down to Colorado Springs, checked into the hotel, and went almost straight to the pool for a swim.  Kara had a good time, but Emily wasn't really into it.  We then headed out for dinner, but Emily was pretty done.  Mommy and Daddy figured that Emily would pass out pretty quickly once we all got settled at the hotel.  Well, we were wrong.  The hotel supplied a Pack-n-Play for babies to sleep in, and Emily was not happy about it!  She screamed for about half an hour before Mommy and Daddy thought Emily might sleep better in the bed with them.  She went to sleep within a couple of minutes, which was great.  Unfortunately, Emily decided that it was time to get up at midnight after a few hours sleep.  She kept hitting Mommy and Daddy and saying "Up!"  She eventually passed again, but Emily, Mommy, and Daddy did not get a great night's sleep.  Fortunately, Kara was in the adjoining room and slept!

We got up and going early on Friday and got to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo shortly after they opened.  Kara got to feed the giraffes, a black rhino (see the video), and lots of birds.  She even got to pet a wallaby! There were plenty of animals to check out and even Emily had moments of interest and enjoyment.  She also screamed a bunch and eventually passed out and took a catnap in the stroller.

By this time, we had made up our minds to just head back home and skip our original Saturday plans.  After the zoo, both girls conked out car.  We took this time to swing by Garden of the Gods (which was very close to our hotel).  We walked around a bit and stopped by the trading post.  After that, it was time to pack up and head to Edelwiess German Restaurant for dinner.  Mommy and Daddy remember this restaurant fondly from when Mimi and Papa lived in the Springs.  The food and ambiance were just as they remembered, but of course the girls were tired and antsy by this point, so it was a bit of an ordeal....

Finally, we enjoyed a car ride home that involved a ten minute pit stop at McDonald's for the 4-year old and a screaming 1-year old for about an hour before she passed out. Ugh.  In the future, we will thinking twice about any overnight trips, prepare better, and hope for the best!

Summer Already?

Kara finished with preschool, but has been keeping very busy with classes and camps.  She has a weekly ice skating lesson on Thursdays, Vacation Bible School (going on this week, only been to one, but she had a blast), and weekly farm camp.  She's also starting swim lessons next week. So much fun to be had!

Emily's new favorite game is sticking things in her mouth (like dirt and rocks) and then sticking her tongue out to show Mommy and Daddy and have us wipe it off.  Let's just hope this is a phase.  Emily seems to pick up a new word every day, but she still mostly relies on the old tried and true method of pointing and grunting.  She also shakes her head no.  Sometimes it's actually when she means no. :-)  She's becoming quite confident in her movements.  She can climb and go down the slide by herself.  We've even seen her dribble the soccer ball all over the yard.  Check out the videos!

Emily has long periods of just wanting to be carried around and essentially crying/whining because we're not doing what she wants.  This might have to do with not being able to communicate well with us, and teething.  Still, she's generally a very sweet toddler.  Mommy was putting her down for a nap and they both heard Kara crying (she had bumped her head on a table corner).  So Mommy and Emily went down stairs to check on Kara.  After seeing Kara crying, Emily walked over and gave her a big hug (complete with pats on the back) and kiss (puckered lips and all).  It was about the sweetest thing Mommy had ever seen.

Kid quotes:
Kara - "I'm sure Uncle Trey is the biggest person in the world" (shortly after stating she had the longest hair of any kid in the world)

Mommy - "I love you with all my heart."
Kara - "I love you with the middle of my heart, Mommy.  In the middle, I love our family. On the left side, I love everyone at Mimi and Papa's house.  On the right side, I love Grandma and Grandpa. In the bottom tip of my heart, I love stuffed animals and toys and things."

Kara - "I just want everyone for every second to play with me."  Shortly after complaining about having to help out with chores around the house like brushing her teeth, washing her hands, and pulling the plug after bath.  Ah, kids.

Kara - "I wish I was naked all the time. I could pee better, I could eat better, everything would just be better."

At a birthday party, Kara stopped to help a boy who had dropped his goody bag.  He replied with, "Now I know why they call you Kara.  Because you really do care."  Don't worry, Daddy has his eyes on that smooth talker...





Link to pictures

Summer 2014 Visit from Mimi and Papa

We had a nice visit with Mimi and Papa the last week of May.  Kara really enjoyed the extra attention (of course), and Emily warmed up to them very quickly this time around.  By mid-week Mimi (and sometimes Papa), was getting giggles and big belly laughs out of Emily.

The weather was a little hot, but we still managed to get out to the park a few times and play in the backyard everyday.  This was made extra special with the addition of a jump rocket the grandparents brought (see pics).

We also took the girls to Dinosaur Ridge one morning.  It's an area where you can check out dinosaur tracks on the side of a mountain (and a few fossils).  Kara enjoyed the tour, while Emily loved the plaster dinosaurs in front of the visitors center.

At the end of the week, Papa, Mommy, and Kara went to visit Daddy for family day at work.  There was ice cream, which was a huge hit with Kara!  Daddy also arranged for a simulator tour for Dream Chaser.  Kara's favorite part was one of Daddy's coworkers who has his cubical completely decked out with Hello Kitty! decoration.  Daddy also took Papa on a factory tour, but couldn't check out the Dream Chaser spacecraft since it is currently being overhauled.  Oh, well, next time!

We ended the visit with a trip to the Butterfly Pavilion.  Kara's favorite part was holding Rosie the Tarantula, but she also enjoying looking at all the cool bugs and butterflies. Kara was quite disappointed, however, that she couldn't get a butterfly to land on her.  Meanwhile, Emily treated us with saying her first word, or, at least, the first word that sounded exactly like it was supposed to.  She was watching the bees in the beehive and shouted "Bee!"  Other than the bees, she also enjoyed walking up and down the stairs and watching the butterflies.  We had so much fun that we got season passes, so let us know if anybody wants to hit the Butterfly Pavilion with us!

Link to pictures

September Blur

The month of September just seemed to fly by.  We had a steady stream of visitors while we tried to get the most out of our last days in Florida.  It started the last week of August when Mimi and Uncle Trey came down to visit.  They spent a lot of time hitting the sites of Cape Canaveral with Kara.  The highlights included: a visit to Kennedy Space Center, kayaking in the Indian River with the manatees, checking out the dinosaur museum, a trip to Downtown Disney, and visiting Disney's Animal Kingdom (it was a busy week). Mommy and Daddy took advantage of the babysitters and spent the weekend at Universal Studios, which was a lot of fun (pictures).

On September 12th, Grandma and Grandpa S. came down from Colorado to visit us as well.  They took Kara to Jungle Adventures, Kennedy Space Center (which was pretty much Kara's favorite place to go down in Florida), and back to Downtown Disney.  Emily is still pretty shy around new people, but she warmed up to them after a couple of days.

Shortly after Grandma and Grandpa left, Mimi flew down to help get everybody packed up for the long trip back home.  Trey came down the following weekend with his girlfriend, Mary Beth.  Everyone except Daddy and Emily headed to Disney World for the last excitement of the summer.  Whew, I get tired just thinking about it all!

Mommy and Mimi bravely drove the girls back to Alabama in one day (Tuesday, Sept 24th).  The trip went fairly smoothly other than a couple meltdowns from Kara and frequent diaper changes and feedings for Emily.  Unfortunately, Mommy and Emily came down with colds as soon as they got to Mimi and Papa's house, so they were fairly miserable.  Daddy arrived on Saturday to get everyone ready for the last push home (more on that the next post).

Emily is doing great these days.  She can sit on her own and really seems to enjoy exploring things by herself (she'll just sit there and play with some rubber blocks for 15 minutes or more), which Mommy and Daddy are excited about.  She sleeps from about 6:30-6:30 most nights, though she occasionally will wake up at 4 am, and takes 2-3 naps per day (usually at 9 am, noon, and 3 pm).  Emily is going through a phase of stranger anxiety.  In general, she seems to prefer to just hang out at home and take things easy, so that's what we do with her whenever we can.

Kara has gotten pretty good at entertaining herself, which is really good since Mommy and Daddy have to spend a lot of time taking care of Emily.  Kara has developed quite an affinity for comic books.  In particular, she seems to really enjoy Spider Man.  She'll sit an read comic books to herself for long stretches of time.  Kara has become quite an artist.  I'll post some of her pictures in a blog soon!

Link to pictures
 

Happy Baby!

During July, Mimi and Papa came down for a weekend.  We hit Kennedy Space Center.  Kara enjoyed the space center as much the second time as she did the first.  Now she talks about rockets blasting off and crew capsules all the time.  In addition to the space center, there was an Atlas V launch, which is the rocket Daddy used to work on, while Mimi and Papa were visiting.

Emily is getting very strong these days.  She has figured out how to roll from her back to her front.  This was giving her some trouble at night, but she's now figured out how to sleep on her stomach.  Emily has recently started sitting up by herself.  She was unsteady for the first day, but can now sit up, play and reach for things.  Pretty cool!  She's sleeping very well these days.  Bedtime is around 6:30-7:00 at night, and she stays asleep until almost 7:00 am every day.  She loves it when Mommy and Daddy read her books.  In particular, she seems to enjoy Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Goodnight Moon.  In general, Emily is a very happy, quiet baby.

Kara is enjoying her time down at the beach.  She just wrapped up the fourth (and final) session of Sports Camp.  Kara had a ton of fun playing soccer, tennis, hockey, lacrosse, and just running around!  Mommy will certainly miss it!  Kara's also improving a lot with her swimming.  She can tool all around the pool while wearing her vest (check out the video of her butterfly!).  We're hoping to get her in some swim lessons this fall when we get back home.

On a not-so-good note, Emily is in the middle of her first cold.  Everyone has it, but this is her first time being sick.  So far, she's being a big trooper and trying to sleep it off.  Yay, Emily!

And some Kara quotes that Mommy reminds herself of when Kara is screaming her head off.....

To Mommy: "I love to stay in your hugs!"
                    "I love you.  We are the best of friends.  When I grow up, we'll REALLY be best friends!"

Link to pictures

Mid-Summer Visitors

The last week of June and the first week of July were kept busy with visitors to our condo. On June 28th, Grandma and Grandpa S. flew in from Colorado. They hadn't seen Emily since she was about 6 weeks old, so they were very excited to see how much bigger she'd gotten. While they were here, we went to check out the Brevard Zoo. Kara enjoyed feeding the giraffe and checking out the alligators.  Another day, Grandma and Grandpa took Kara to SeaWorld. She had a blast watching the sea lion and orca whale shows. We also hit the beach (of course) and went swimming in the pool. While they were here, Grandma had her birthday. We took her to port side restaurant called Grills. Kara made sure to tell the waitress that it was Grandma's birthday and that she needed some cake. :-)

On Thursday, July 4th, Patrick, Akila, and Amara (who was born 13 days after Emily) headed down from Atlanta for a visit. While they were here, we all headed to Kennedy Space Center to check out the new Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit.  Daddy thought that was pretty cool, but Kara really enjoyed the movie on the Space Station development. She leaned over to Daddy at least twice and said, "I want to go to space." Maybe someday, Kara. On Saturday, we all headed down to the beach to check it out. Emily seemed to really enjoy putting her feet in the ocean, but Amara seemed to enjoy just hanging on the beach more. Both Emily and Amara are awesome babies (obviously), but it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two. It was great to see our family and friends!

Link to pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's visit

Link to pictures from Patrick, Akila, and Amara's visit

Terrible Two's? More like Trying Three's!

The Terrible Two's were a breeze compared to the Trying Three's (trademark pending).  Kara is constantly testing her boundaries. Whether it's seeing how many times she can get out of her room after we've put her down or waking Daddy up at 2 am to find her stuffed animal, Kara seems to always be pushing Mommy and Daddy to the limits (and occasionally past them).  Of course, she can also be the sweetest little girl sometimes, giving Mommy and Daddy hugs and kisses or cleaning up after herself without being asked.  Ah, the joys of the three-year-old.  Hopefully this is just a phase, and she'll grow out of it tomorrow.  It could happen, right?

Emily is doing great.  Getting bigger and stronger all the time.  She weighed in at 11 lbs, 2 oz at her 3-month check-up (up almost 3 pounds from her 2-month appointment).  She stares at Kara most of the day, entranced in what her big sister is doing.  She doesn't have as much hair as Kara, but she kinda has the same hair style.  Emily is not much of a fan of tummy time, which has resulted in a fairly flat head.

Overall, life is pretty good down in Florida. Lots of beach time and pool time (and sunscreen).  It is getting to be a little hot (low 90's most days), but at least there's a pretty good breeze from the ocean.

Kara Quotes:
Kara - "Daddy, you and I are best friends."

Mommy - "Kara, please clean up your toys."
Kara - "Sure thing, babe."

Link to pictures

More Florida Summer Fun

We have been keeping ourselves very busy down here in Florida.  We made it down to the beach one day as a family (Emily's not a big fan of the sun and heat).  We also made it out to EPCOT one last time before the summer crowds start (which was a surprise visit for Kara).  Here's how the talk went on the drive into the park:

Mommy - Kara, do you see the sign in front of us? [it was the entrance sign for Disney World]
Kara - It's a sign for Disney World!  Are we going to Disney World?
Mommy - You'll have to wait and see.
Kara, talking to herself - I think we're going to Disney World.  We seem to be following the signs.  It would be fun to go to Disney World, and I think we're going.  But Mommy says she doesn't know where we're going.  I hope it's Disney World!
Mommy - Kara, do you see what's in front of us? [it was EPCOT]
Kara - EPCOT! (throwing her hands up in triumph)

Kara is getting adjusted to her new surroundings.  We signed her up for a sports camp, so on Tuesday and Thursday mornings she runs around playing soccer with other kids.  She seems to have a great time with that.  Kara has also taken to putting on productions for Mommy during the day at the condo.  In one show Kara was pretending to be a dinosaur.  When Mommy was pretending to be scared, Kara replied, "It's just make-believe, nothing's going to happen to you."  And then later said, "It's all controlled, don't worry."  Sometimes she will pretend to be the animals and act out their parts.  Other times she will be the ring master - "Introducing Cecil the Dolphin and Cecil the Octopus" (for some reason she seems to like the name Cecil).

Emily is becoming a very talkative and happy baby.  She often times will chat up the caterpillar toy on her bouncy seat.  She's also taken to giggling while playing with Mommy and Daddy.  She is getting stronger all the time.  She rolled over for the first time at 11 weeks old.  She also can stand on her legs (with lots of support from either Mommy or Daddy).  It really is amazing how fast they grow!

Speaking of babies, congratulations to Justin, Heather, and Sean on your newest addition!  We cannot wait to meet Robin.

Link to pictures

Summer Vacation!

Daddy got a new job at the beginning of May.  There was one catch/perk, though.  The job includes a six-month temporary assignment to work for NASA at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and they wanted Daddy there ASAP.  So, we packed up the family and headed down to Florida to spend some time on the beach.  We've been pretty busy since we got down here. We have hit the beach several times, Daddy and Kara got to watch a launch from the beach, Daddy got to visit the space shuttle launch pad and mobile launcher, and we all hit Disney World for a day with Mimi and Uncle Trey. Not a bad start to the summer!

Emily is getting a little bigger and stronger all the time.  She recently started pulling her head up during tummy time. She also can stand up while holding onto someone's hands.  In general, she's a very happy baby, always smiling and cooing at Mommy and Daddy.  She's also sleeping really well.  She'll get in a couple hour-long naps (plus a few other cat naps) every day and will sleep almost 8 hours straight at night.

Anyone want to visit us down in Florida?  We're only an hour away from Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios!

Link to pictures

And Daddy got to see another launch one evening.

Daddy, Let's Go Look for Bugs!

Almost every day when Daddy gets home from work, the first words out of Kara's mouth are: "Daddy, let's go look for bugs!"  Her favorite bugs are roly-polies (which were Daddy's favorites as well when he was a kid).  She also enjoys finding slugs, worms, beetles, ants, and grasshoppers (though those are very hard for her to catch).

Since we got home from our visit to Georgia, Alabama,  and Florida, life has been pretty busy.  Daddy has been working long hours on a recent project (which he successfully completed about a week ago), and Kara and Mommy have been keeping busy with gym classes, art classes, and play dates with the other kids in the neighborhood.  We also broke out the hiking backpack for our first hike of the year during Memorial day weekend.

The first weekend of June was an exceptionally busy weekend.  We kicked it off by visiting Louisville's Touch-A-Truck event.  Kara was very impressed with the helicopter they had there, but she was immediately drawn to the little train they had driving around the parking lot.  After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, Kara finally got her turn, which was very short-lived.  It was probably a little too much for her, and we got her out before the ride was over.  We spent the rest of the time crawling around dump trucks, bulldozers, and school buses.  The next day, we headed over to Aunt Amy's house for a "June Birthday" family party (Mommy's and Grandpa S.' birthdays are both in June).  Kara had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa's new puppy (a Chocolate Lab named Ruby), Aunt Amy's dogs (Belle and Briley) and running around the yard.

Some recent Kara quotes:
"You do it yourself!" - To Daddy after he asked her to help him clean up her puzzle.

"Those are the coolest socks I've ever seen!" - Checking out Daddy's work socks

"Look, a stinky sock!  I am making a mess with Daddy's clothes."

"I am being a goofball!"

"Let's go show this to Mommy" - excited to show off her latest bug find to Mommy (she seems to be particularly proud of her worm and slug finds)

"My rolling pin broke again, oh dear.  I need glue to fix it."

During the closing credits of Beauty and the Beast, Kara jumped up to dance and announced to Mommy, "I am beauty and you are the beast.  Let's dance!"

Link to pictures

Visit from Mimi and Uncle Trey

I don't know where the time went, but August seems to have flown by!  On August 10th, Mimi (aka Grandma H.) and Uncle Trey and  flew in for a visit from Alabama.  Uncle Trey regaled us all with stories of the adventures he had during his year in South Africa, and Mimi had some cool gifts for Kara from her recent trip to Africa.

Mimi and Uncle Trey were hoping to escape the heat of Alabama, but unfortunately they were treated to record August heat in Colorado.  We were able to have some exciting times, though.  One day, we went to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster. Kara had a great time looking at all the bugs and butterflies.  We also got out to the Farmer's Market in Boulder a couple of times.  And Uncle Trey was a big fan of our local Thai restaurant (he went three times during his two week visit).

Unfortunately, Daddy had to go to Denmark on a business trip, so he missed most of their visit.  But Mimi and Uncle Trey kept Mommy company and helped look after Kara while he was gone, so it all worked out!

First half of the month


Second half of the month