The Wheels on the Car Go Round and Round

We kicked off our summer with a great road trip that consisted of a night in Evergreen, three days at the cabin, and four days in Moab. We've actually been back for a week now, but I'm just now getting around to posting some pictures. We had such a great time and it definitely went by too fast! Here is an overview of the great fun we had (mostly centered around Isabelle, of course!)

Evergreen
Nana and Papa got tickets to a Disney performance put on by the local Evergreen chorale. We weren't sure what to expect and whether Isabelle would be able to actually sit through the show. We figured it's Disney, so all the kids could stand up and dance to all the songs. Well, turns out it was a sit down show, no place for kids to dance around, and after looking around it was mostly adults, some children, but much older than Isabelle. You are expecting me to say we had to leave after 15 minutes.

NOPE! Isabelle loved every minute of this and sat through the whole 2 hour performance, fascinated by the singing! She smiled, laughed, pointed, clapped, danced (in our lap). I guess our active 16 month old child who we can hardly take to the grocery store anymore, is really not as overly active as we thought. We are proud to admit that she can sit and focus, especially if music and singing is involved. What a star! Here she is with Mickey Mouse. Really, she was not at all scared by Mickey Mouse, unlike Santa. She was basically chasing him down at the end of the show and we had to drag her out of there.

Cabin
We had a very relaxing time at the cabin. Great weather allowed us to play outside every day. We were shocked to watch the amount of hiking Isabelle and Sierra did together. They scouted out the entire property by the end of the three days. (Although, some of it involved a drive in the Mule). You're allowed to let your toddler drive when you're in the mountains with no one around, right? She's a bit of a wild driver. Jamie was slightly frightened.

It only got worse...
She even decided to bail because she was so scared of her own driving.... *Note: for those of you who think we really let her drive, notice that her feet can't reach the gas pedal quite yet :)

Don't worry, we did move on to a more appropriate toddler activity. Finger painting. Yes, finger, not fingers. Belle takes it literally and prefers using only the pointer finger to paint.

And back to an adult activity, happy hour. Nice cold beer for mom and dad. Nice cold water and goldfish for Isabelle. Mmmm.Fruita
To make the six hour road trip more reasonable for Isabelle, we stopped in Fruita for the night where we enjoyed a dip in the pool and some yummy pizza in our extra large hotel room. Sierra was also in heaven with the AC blowing on her all night long.



Moab
This was an extra special trip to Moab because we were celebrating Danelle and BC's marriage! They got married in St. Lucia in December (a great surprise for all of us), so they had a weekend celebration for family and friends. They couldn't have made it any more fun! We had GREAT food from the chef himself, BC! One night we chowed down at their house (with a great slide show of the wedding) and the next night BC grilled up some great food on the bbq at a beautiful campground. And, of course, we had more than a meal or two from Milts, the diner they own and run. Between all the eating, we went on a fun bike ride, had a great hike, a raft trip (cut a bit short, unfortunately), went swimming, and did a mini adventure race put on by Danelle. We also really enjoyed hanging out with all our relatives and meeting Danelle and BC's friends.

It's probably accurate to say that Isabelle and Noah may have had a better time than any of us combined, if that is possible. They had so much fun together and I know Belle very much enjoyed the late night toddler parties she had. The approximate bedtime for her each night was probably between 10-11 pm. (Yes, she slept her life away when she got home, taking 3-4 hour naps. We knew she had a good time!) Here are the two cutest cousins ever.

Yup, definitely cousins. They have very similar features.

The day we arrived, we had to laugh because they were basically wearing the exact same outfit. Here they are in Nana and Papa's trailer where they pulled out everything you could possibly find in the trailer. I'm sure Nana and Papa were thinking a cleaning lady was necessary after these two.

Putting rocks in a bag. Hours of fun.
Belle's "beep" game. Finding your belly button and pushing on it while saying "beep" is totally hilarious to her.
It is now also hilarious to Noah.....
Some Nana love. They are both very affectionate.
New hats from Nana. Dressed and ready for Danelle and BC's party...


Thanks to Nana and Papa for babysitting, we got out for a beautiful bike ride and a raft trip. Here is proof that we rode the mountain bikes. See the rock. Most the ride was on that slick rock. I'm surprised I made it home with only one major bruise....thanks to that big dip where I guess I needed to lift my handlebars!?! Incredible scenery, as always!
Here is our hike up Negro Bill Canyon. Isabelle loved the backpack until about, oh, a 1/2 mile from the top. So, she had a really good time hiking ALL THE WAY back down the trail.
Trudging down the trail. The little trooper wanted little to no help from us -other than over the river crossings which really she didn't have a choice in.
And still smiling at the end. She was an amazing little hiker. She must have got some of that adrenaline from Auntie Nellie, the adventure racer. We had a great trip and can't wait to go visit Danelle, BC, Noah, and new baby "mystery name" very soon! Thanks for all the fun activities, Danelle and BC, and thanks to Nana and Papa for watching the grand kids so much! Here's to some more summer fun in the next month!!

16 Months and Grandpa's B-day!

Isabelle just turned 16 months! Hard to believe! She really is growing up before our eyes! She is becoming a really good communicator and understands most everything we say to her. She has a vocabulary of about 10 words and can sign quite a few words now (more, eat, drink, hurt, book, milk, water, where, hear, see, diaper). She is also super cute when she says, "yeh" and "no" with the head shake. This is our little baby, er, little girl, at 16 months...


It's great that summer is here and she can be outside. She loves every minute of the outdoors! Belle has been able to spend time with Nana and Grandpa lately in Evergreen. She has so much fun exploring when she is at their house and they take her to so many fun places. Recently they went to feed the billy goat and see some other Colorado animals (elk, bison, deer).


We also went to Evergreen on Saturday to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. We spent the night and had two fun, full-filled days. She loved going to the pond down the street where she insisted on walking Sierra. This was the pond that Danelle and I used to go play at everyday growing up, so it was pretty special to see my little girl being able to do the same thing.

Yummy treats from Nana...
Again, walking Sierra the next day...
Looking at the birds around the pond. She loves birds and shouts "caw caw" every time she see's one.
Grandpa has officially become "Papa." She surprised him by saying "Papa" for the first time on his birthday. A great present for him and now she says it all the time. Here she is singing Happy Birthday and helping Papa blow out his candles.
I'm sure we'll be making many more trips to Evergreen this summer!!

Days of Subbing Come to an End!

Yesterday was my last day of subbing. It's bittersweet. I loved being able to walk in with everything ready to go, walk out the second the bell rang, and have no work to bring home! However, there were definitely difficult days where I much prefer to have my own classroom with my own way of running it!

Next year I am doing a job share with a good friend, Anne, who was also my old teammate. I think it will work out great for us! We'll get to work in our own classroom, but also have time to be home with our little ones. No more subbing for either of us. George (Anne's son) and Isabelle got to spend many days together this year while one of us worked. It's been fun to watch them grow together. We had our last full day with George at our house this week. I'm sure we'll see him lots this summer, but I know Isabelle was sad to see him go. She cries pretty much every time he leaves our house. They had a great time in the warm weather, so I thought I'd post some pictures of the day.

Playing with the toys in the morning....

Our walk around the park with Sierra. (This is Isabelle's new facial expression for "1, 2, 3 cheese". Eyes closed, nose crunched)At the playground. George liked the dirt digger.....

Isabelle liked the jungle gym.....Both LOVED the swings.....
The afternoon in the backyard. George's time was spent throwing rocks in the water of the activity center.

And Isabelle's time was spent playing with her baby in the stroller. Hmmm...funny how the gender roles are already appearing.It's been a lot of fun. Luckily Isabelle will still get to see George every Wednesday next year, so she can't be too sad.....

Mother's Day

It was a great Mother's Day weekend! I feel so lucky to be a mother to the most wonderful, sweetest, and loving child ever!! She means everything to me and we are so lucky to have her in our life! Belle gave me lots and lots of love for Mother's Day and of course, daddy got some too! She is blowing all the kisses our way....

We had a lot of fun playing in the morning and doing some yard work, then we met up with Grammy, Pepe, Nana, and Grandpa in the afternoon for a picnic at a really fun park! The second we got to the playground Belle's arms starting swinging back and forth (that means she's really excited) and she started running and laughing. I'm so glad I got to watch Belle having the time of her life on Mother's Day! That is the greatest joy of being a mother!!
Here are some photos of the super fun playground.

The grasshopper....

In and out of the cave. She even did some rock climbing.

Back and forth through the tube
Getting wild and crazy with Pepe on the swings...
Down the slide a few times. Nana included. I think Nana had as much fun on the slides as Belle. Belle seems to prefer to try to climb up them these days.
And we can't forget Sierra. She loved the park too. She just hung out being her quiet little self, taking it all in.
I'm pretty sure this is the only time Belle sat still and if I recall, it was for only about 5 minutes.
If it weren't for these great Momma's, then I couldn't be a momma! So, cheers to the great Momma's!! Thanks for all you do and all the time you spend with Isabelle. I love to see her smile brighten everytime you come around!


Thanks, Jamie and Belle, for a great Mother's Day!! Thanks for all the great days in my life, the WONDERFUL gift, and for just being you! You are the best to me and I love ya!

Cinco de Mayo!

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!

Where Has the Time Gone?

Lately, trying to keep up with our postings is a challenge! I finally decided the disaster of a house, the dirty dishes, and the pile of laundry can wait and I'll post some pictures. My one and only chance to clean is during Belle's nap, but at this point I'm starting to wonder why I even bother cleaning because it seems the mess just reappears in about 2 seconds. Hmmm....I guess that's what happens when you have a 15 month old running around?? Eh, our child is way more important and fun than keeping up with the house.

A couple weeks ago, Belle and I went to the Children's Museum. All I was thinking was, "Could this please be my basement!!" It was the GREATEST place for Belle to play and she loved every second of it. There was so much to do, she wasn't sure which direction to go.

We started at the fire truck which was pretty fascinating for her. She just recently started making the fire truck siren sound which is pretty cute. She was a little uncertain about the hat, though.

After that, we went to the toddler room where I couldn't keep up with her.
Climbing through the logs....

Inside the cabin trying the bunk beds out...Making some lunch in the kitchen.....

Riding the boat and catching the cool magnetic fish with a fishing pole...She and this little boy had so much fun together. This is the pond where they both kept rolling over the animals and laughing....
Puppet show time...
Walking over the bridge (about 80 times)....

There was much, much more, but I gave up on the photos because I couldn't keep her still long enough to get a shot. To say the least, she loved the museum and we will definitely be going back. Just yesterday, Belle went with Nana and Grandpa to the Natural History Museum. From what I hear, she had as much fun there as she did at the Children's Museum. We like that she is getting into the discovery of arts and sciences!

And to end things, here are some photos of the gals being the crazy gals they are. Boy, do they love each other. (I don't know if Belle is trying to act like Sierra, or if Sierra is trying to be like Belle. They were both rolling all over the floor on their backs. It was pretty hilarious).Sierra getting spoiled by her little sister and acting as if she doesn't get enough already.