Colorado Trip - August 2010

Day 1 – 8/4
· Late to airport (Will’s fault), late to check in, and last to get on flight.
· Kids did well on plane - one man said Eleanor was his favorite baby because she didn’t make a peep.
· Luggage did not make it on flight – spent 4 hours at the airport waiting for it to come on the next flight, which was delayed.
· Ethan loved running around the airport, going up and down elevators/escalators.
· On way to condo, we stopped for a short hike and then for groceries.
· Eleanor went right to bed, though she had a very restless first night, likely from altitude.
· Ethan explored the condo, playing with Derek’s toys, and absolutely loving the bunk bed. He said, “Oh, Mommy, I always wanted a bunk bed!” Ethan went to bed late but slept okay, just up pretty early from the time change.

Day 2 – 8/5
· I went for a short run in the morning, only 16 minutes, getting used to the altitude – surroundings = pretty awesome.
· Did some morning exploring of the back of the place, seeing the Snake River and such. Ethan spent a long time digging in a giant pile of gravel.
· Back to the condo for lunch/naps then off to (Lake) Dillon Reservoir. Put Eleanor in the Ergo and walked (she snoozed), while Will and Ethan stopped to dig at a “beach.” It got pretty cool as a storm rolled in.
· When it rained, we got in the car and found the playground by the marina, and Will and Ethan played in a rain for a bit while I fed Eleanor in the car. Then we joined them since the weather was once again very pleasant. (If you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes – so accurate!)
· After the playground, we went to Los Lobos Mexican Restaurant, which has a large sandbox outside for kids. It was pretty good, but I was freezing by the end of our meal when the sun went behind clouds.
· Bedtime when we got home. Mom and Dad went to sleep right after Ethan!

Day 3 – 8/6
· Ethan up early (again), and we put on some cartoons to get some more sleep. Will had been up since 1am for some reason and went back to sleep around 6am.
· Eleanor slept in until about 8 (she’s so good!) and then I took her to get a cup of coffee at the Haywood Café – for me, not her. Then we met Will and Ethan out behind the condo, where they were digging. Bringing Ethan’s big shovel was an excellent idea.
· After Eleanor’s morning nap, we drove up to Loveland Pass, to the peak of Mount Ellis (?). We brought a picnic and sat on some rocks and ate. It was a pretty chilly. While Ethan finished eating, I hiked up to the very top, which was only a five minute hike from where we were. I was definitely winded, but it was absolutely worth it.
· We drove down (both kids slept) and then went to the outlets in Silverthorne. I bought Eleanor a few warmer outfits from the Carters outlet because I didn’t bring too many warm clothes for her, and she was going through them fast. I was having to be very creative with layering, but now she will have some more options.
· From the outlets, we went to a really cool playground behind the rec center in Silverthorne that a couple we met the day before had told us about. It was a really cool park, and even though Ethan was cranky when we got there, saying he wanted to go back to “Derek’s condo,” he came around quickly and then never wanted to leave.
· A storm forced us to leave, though, and we came back to the condo so Eleanor could take a little nap.
· After the short nap, we drove to River Run, a cute little area at the bottom of some ski slopes in Keystone. We rode the gondola (free on Fridays from 3-7) up the mountain (11,700 ft.) and hung out at the top for a while.
· There was live music at the top, and the first song they two man band sang when we were up there was John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” – so appropriate! The views were amazing, especially looking down toward Lake Dillon, with the sun shining down on the water.
· I had Eleanor in the Ergo, and she eventually took a little nap in there, and Will got Ethan an overpriced hot dog since it was getting late. We listened to the music for a bit, looked at the views some more, and then went back down the gondola and back to the condo.
· Baths for the kids then bedtime for both, after which Will and I ate some pasta with meat sauce and relaxed on the couch.

Day 4 – 8/7
· I did a 30 minute run this morning, running up toward Loveland pass on the trail that is right outside the condo. Felt pretty good but there was a slight incline the whole time, so it was challenging.
· Spent morning/early afternoon in Frisco, where there was an art fair on Main Street.
· Ethan and I toured (sort of) the Historical Park in town that had original buildings like jails and a school house from the 19th century.
· Ethan’s favorite was the old schoolhouse, which had a model of what the town used to look like, complete with a railroad train going around (it took a lot of prodding and a meltdown before he left).
· Got a hotdog for Ethan from a street vendor (lots of hotdogs for him) and then found a playground nearby.
· Eleanor, as she’s had to do so much on this trip, snoozed in her stroller.
· Frisco is a really cute town – some of the homes are incredible – and it’s a bit further away from the ski slopes so not as crowded.
· The kids fell asleep on the way back to the condo, and we made an accidental detour through Breckenridge when Will missed a turn.
· Once, home, we relaxed for a bit, Ethan and Will went to dig in the gravel piles, and Eleanor took another nap.
· We ordered pizza from Catherine’s favorite place out here, Pizza 101, and it definitely was delicious. Best pizza I’ve had in a while!
· When the kids were in bed, Will and I played a rousing game of Scrabble, which I won. J
Day 5 – 8/8
· Eleanor slept in kind of late after another restless night, so I told Will he should go to the Breckenridge Children’s Museum without us and that I would stay back and let Eleanor take naps in her crib on not on the run all day. I did some laundry and cleaned up the place while she slept.
· Ethan had a great time at the BCM, though Will called it a glorified daycare. From the pictures it looks pretty nice.
· Later in the day, we walked to Lakeside Village, where we found that the playground was gone. It was basically a big sand pit, though, so Ethan did some digging there.
· For dinner, we went to The Dam Brewery in Dillon. Both Ethan and Eleanor were very well behaved. I got a buffalo burger and Will got a regular old beef burger.
· In a Scrabble rematch, Will prevailed.

Day 6 – 8/9
· Our last day was pretty low key. I went for my final run, this one for 40 minutes in the other direction, toward Lakeside Village. It was a very pretty run, but I admit I got a little nervous when I passed the Caution sign reading: Coyotes very active in this area. The trail was not very busy at the time, and I was running alone along the river with a drop off on one side and a hill with houses on the other. A bit frightening.
· That morning, Will walked Ethan to the playground in River Run and I joined him later with Eleanor. We walked around for a bit before returning for lunch. At a store in River Run, I got Ethan a hat and t-shirt that say Keystone. The whole time, Ethan had worn Will’s hat when it was sunny because we forgot his.
· Later, after naps/some packing, we went back to the Silverthorne playground because, well, it’s really cool.
· Our last dinner was at the Back Country Brewery. I had printed a coupon there from my dining points. It was okay but really not all that great. The best part was before dinner, when we spotted the most gorgeous rainbow across the sky. Biggest one we’d ever seen. Pretty awesome.

Day 7 – 8/10
· We packed up and were out the door by a little after 9 am this day. Checkout was at 10.
· Since our flight was not until 6 pm that day, we had planned to go to the Denver Children’s Museum. The drive there was about an hour and a half and the kids slept part of the way. It was sad to drive out of the mountains.
· The DCM was pretty good. Smaller than DuPage or Chicago, but still cool. Ethan had a great time with the real fire engine as well as the play cabin in one of the sections. And Eleanor was rolling all over in the baby area.
· For lunch, Will went and got Subway with Ethan while I walked around a path outside the museum, getting Eleanor to go to sleep. We then ate a picnic in the grass next to a park and then headed for the airport.
· We were at the airport with PLENTY of time to spare this time, and Ethan again had fun with the elevators/escalators. By the time we got on our flight, he was pretty tired but holding it together pretty well.
· Eleanor, who was an angel on the way out, FREAKED OUT on the take off this time, which was sad. She stopped nursing and just wailed. She would not nurse and was very gassy. She stopped after the take off but would not fall asleep, despite the fact that it was her bedtime and she had napped only on the run that day. I tried standing in the back with her but was forced to sit down when the seatbelt light came on. Will and I did our best to keep her happy, but with about an hour left, she just lost it and started crying pretty hard. She cried for probably 20 minutes before she passed out on Will. Then she slept the rest of the way – thank God.
· We didn’t get into our house until about 11 that night, and Eleanor didn’t go to bed until 1:30 in the morning. She was definitely a bit out of sorts from the travel.
· Good to be home, nonetheless.
It really was a great trip, and we are so grateful to our wonderful friends Catherine and Mario for the use of the condo!

During our 4 hour wait in the Denver airport...Ethan loved it.

He fell asleep on me in the shuttle on the way to the car rental agency. I just plopped him in the stroller and then we put him in his carseat and he stayed asleep the whole time.

Eleanor, on the other hand, was completely awake.

View of the outside balcony. It's the top one.

This is right outside the condo. There's a bridge going over the Snake River.

Snake River

Waiting while Ethan digs his piles of gravel.

The digger.

Eleanor giving the peace sign.

On the shore of Lake Dillon. It was about to storm and the weather had cooled significantly.

So glad we brought his shovel!

After the short storm, we found the park by the marina and played. Now, it was a lot warmer.

Our most decent family picture.

Up at Loveland Pass. Will was terrified Ethan would fall down the mountain, though there really weren't any big dropoffs where we were.

Loveland Pass

It was definitely cold up here - probably 50 degrees or so.

We had a picnic on a little rock ledge up here.

Love this picture.

This is at the top of North Peak, near our condo. We took the gondola up and walked around for a bit.

This is the view of Lake Dillon from the North Peak. The picture does not do it justice. This was probably my favorite vista.

Not sure what peak this is, but it was taken from North Peak.

Another family picture - we didn't realize we couldn't see Ethan until later. He's on Will's back.

Heavenly.

On the way back down in the gondola.

Snack time.

This is a nice park we found when we went to Frisco for the day.

Ethan holding Eleanor on a big rock.

Breckenridge Children's Museum.

BCM
Swinging at our favorite park we discovered in Silverthorne.

Wheeeeee!

How cool is this?
This is a statue in River Run, the main village in Keystone.

View from our balcony.

Living room.

Kitchen.

Ethan's bunk bed - his favorite thing of the whole trip.

Denver Children's Museum on our last day. We came here before the airport.

Ethan is really great with pretend play. Here he is in a little cabin.

Nice way to end our vacation before what would be a terrible flight for poor Eleanor!

Day in the Life

Ethan:

Ethan is up between 6 and 6:30, at times earlier.  After going potty, he either goes to the basement to play with one of us, or we throw a video on in and lay down on the couch to watch (read: sleep) with him.  He typically only wants juice at this point and will not eat breakfast until later.  If he's not watching cartoons, he's usually building a tower with his wood blocks, using his Spiderman "web" to web things (?), playing rescue with his many Imaginext rescue figures, dumping stuff into his dump truck and racing around, or playing with his "Busytown train."  His favorite videos right now are his Spiderman '69 cartoons, Curious George, Bob the Builder, The Grinch, or Green Eggs and Ham. 

Throughout the day, Ethan plays, demands things of us, gets into moods where he only wants to do the opposite of what we suggest, and is generally quite difficult.  In between very frustrating exchanges, though, he can be ridiculously cute and funny and really has a great imagination.  Yesterday, he read me The Very Lonely Firefly, and I was wishing I could have had it on video.  It was adorable, and he got so many of the lines right, though that's not a book we read to him often anymore.  He is a voracious reader and will sit and read with us ANY time.  His favorite places to go are the zoo (he's very into the aardvark house and the other small inside places that are difficult to go in with our double stroller), the farm park (see post above), and the Children's Museums.  His bff is Derek, who we see often. 

Ethan seems to be phasing out of his nap right now.  Since he's up early, he will usually go down for a nap, but when he naps, he will not go to bed before 9 pm.  This being the case, we allow him to go without a nap often these days, which means he'll go to bed around 7 or 7:30, giving Will and I a much needed break.  He is still up around the same time, though we are confident he may sleep a bit later once he is consistently not napping. 

Ethan's in the "why" phase, which can be funny but also annoying.  He keeps asking why until he gets an acceptable answer it seems.  Also, in an attempt at irony, he seems to absolutely love being in the water, as long as it doesn't involve soap.  He HATES baths now, yet he spent hours in the water at the lake house this summer.  Perhaps he is not enjoying baths lately because they are usually forced on him after pooping accidents.  He is potty trained, but only halfway.  He has yet to show progress with number twos, and we're really out of ideas.  He has taken to telling me things like, "Mommy, you need to tell me when you have to go poop."  Trust me, I do. 

He will start preschool in the fall, which is bound to be disastrous since he's a pretty shy kid and quite attached to me in new situations.  He's a Parent's Day Out drop out, too, so he's really never been away from me.  I'm starting to regret not putting him in the same program as Derek, as I think his transition would be a lot smoother with a friend in class. He will not know anyone in his class.  I'm getting a bit anxious about the whole thing.  I like his school, but I'm wondering if we made the right decision for the right reasons.  Time will tell, I suppose. 

Eleanor:

Up between 7 - 8, she is my amazing sleeper.  She has slept through the night since before six weeks, with a brief break when she was sick with her UTIs.  She naps pretty well at home, but she naps incredibly well at the lake, actually, averaging an hour and a half when we're there.  I try to stick around home when we're in LG to keep her on somewhat of a schedule, but with it being summer and having a second kid, it's not as easy.  Luckily, she's terribly easy going.  Right now, she takes three naps a day, sometimes four if her naps were very short.  She is usually in bed between 7 and 7:30. 

When she's not sleeping, Eleanor is most happy on her back, eating her toys.  She has rolled (both ways), but does not do so on a regular basis.  We're thinking it has something to do with her being such a fatty.  Will calls her butters, short for butterball because she's such a little roly poly.  We love it.  She also sits in her papasan chair a lot and occasionally in her swing.  She really likes to go for walks, too.  Her favorite toys are her monkey and elephant, with whom she makes out daily.  She laughs out loud and smiles a lot, even at strangers (Ethan gave everyone the stink eye).  She loves to watch Ethan play, and Ethan has definitely warmed to her, though he can be a bit rough at times.  We do not leave the two of them alone - ever. 

Oh, and she likes me - a lot.  I'm definitely her favorite, which is adorable most times but can be a bit frustrating, too.  She does not take a bottle - though we keep trying - which limits me a bit.  I'm trying to just roll with it, though, because I know it will not be long  before she's done nursing and I'll be missing our special time.  She has recently started rice cereal, and I'm hoping that as she is exposed to new tastes, she may start accepting a bottle with more ease.  Here's hoping. 

Those are our kids, in a nutshell.

Derek at the Chicago Children's Museum.

Ethan and Derek, excavating dinos at the CCM.

Eating on the front stoop.

Reading before bed.

We're getting back into cloth dipes again!

Ethan is a nutty sleeper.  He's upside down in bed in the goofiest position.

Love this - she scooted herself to be on an angle in her crib and she's all cool and relaxed. 

Flooding last weekend - this is LG road right by our house.  We had water but not anything serious in the finished part, at least that we know of right now. 

Painting with water in the driveway.

One of my favorite pics - he all of a sudden wanted to be in the deep water at the lake this past weekend.  He kicked and paddled everywhere.

Chillin' on the deck.

Don't I look super hot in my bathing suit - from really far way?

Mmmmm...roasted chicken dinner.  Sorry, but I like to take pictures of my food. 

Potty Talk

A story to illustrate how Ethan is faring in the potty training department:

Thursday morning, Will took Ethan to this sports complex near us that sets up bounce houses periodically for kids. I met them there after Eleanor’s nap. There are three big “jumpies,” and Ethan was in the process of running across the Astroturf from one bouncy house to the next when Will noticed something fall from Ethan’s shorts. Suspecting the worse--and being right--he ran over and saw it: a turd in the turf. It seemed Ethan had pooped his pants and was leaving a trail behind him. Sort of like a perverted Hansel and Gretel, I guess. Will grabbed Ethan and went to change him in the bathroom. Afterwards, I kept seeing Will go in and out of one of the obstacle courses, and he kept looking back at me with a funny look on his face. I went over to see what was going on only to find out that Will had found Ethan’s little treasures inside one of the jumpies, as well. He was trying to find them all and clean them up. So, it seems we are the parents whose kid poops on the floor, or, in this case, the bounce house. Even worse. Needless to say, we got out of there pretty quickly.

Yes, like much of the US right now, we are in a regression. Will tells me I have the wrong word, but what does he know? I'm the English teacher, right?

Here are a few recent pics, mostly from our July 4th trip to the lake.

Our favorite park.

We call it the Farm Park, and not just because it's designed like a farm.

It's also adjacent to a little farm where you can look at the animals. I love this picture!

Ethan and Pop Pop on the pier, taken from the deck.

Fishing with real worms!

Pop Pop and Gram bought this adorable pink plane at an auction shortly after the girls were born. Pop Pop said he couldn't resist. It's a little bike.

Jake and Ethan helped decorate the deck.

Eleanor and Emily chatted at (or on) the kitchen table.

The three older girls made a German themed dinner in honor of Bill's retirement dinner. Laura found these goofy aprons to give to her parents, but she and Courtney wanted to try them on first.

This was right after Eleanor was snuggling with Uncle Hammond - it was so cute.

Our German cocktail hour down by the boat house.

Ethan loved the soft pretzels.

On the "fast boat."

Helping drive.

Jake's turn!

That IS fast.

Jakey watering the water.

Super cute! Skinny Emily loves to put her legs straight out while chubbster Eleanor always tries to eat her feet.

Fourth of July brunch on the deck.

Our "parade."

This is Eleanor relaxing with Mr. Monkey on the pontoon boat Bill and Betsy rented for the Fourth so we could all go out on the water at once.

Trying to stay in the shade.

All the fresh air wiped the girls out.

Playing lifeguard (or pervert) from the living room.

Crane-ish bird on the pier after a rain.

Poker anyone? This is shortly before I spilled my glass of red wine all over the LIGHT green carpeting. Thank goodness for club soda, which got it all out. I may be banned from this room for life.

Derek and Ethan "fixing" with tools and measuring tape.

Will and Ethan pose with their giant wooden block tower, complete with zip line to another tower.

This is exactly why Will insists on doing all the toy shopping - he wants to buy what he knows HE will like best.