Last Vacation Pics

Ok, this took me FOREVER but I think these are the last of the Colorado pics. :D

One thing that was cool about our trip is that Brad got to spend the weekend with us. I think I've mentioned that but it's late so forgive me. We ended up celebrating his and Brian's birthdays on Saturday night at this place called Casa Bonita aka HADES. At least my version of it. Ha! Bad diving shows, crowds, suspiciously sticky floors, little ventilation, and an overload of artificial light and sound? Check, check and check!! Here we are:


You can tell I'm trying not to have a heart attack in this photo. I laughed when I saw it because it looks like I've had 12 red bulls or something. Miss Autumn had a pretty good time, though. She loved the magic show. It was fun to watch her while she was totally glued to the magic guy. She would clap after every trick like she knew exactly what was going on. She also enjoyed the piñata that kids took turns trying to hit in one of the hallways. I didn't really see that because I was feeling claustrophopic and stepped to a less crowded area. I know, I'm a dork.


The next day we went to Winter Park which was the only day we all got to ski/snowboard together. We had been going in shifts in order to keep childcare costs to a dull roar. The place was really beautiful. This is the view from the gondolas we rode from the parking area to the main resort.


All of my pictures are from the end of our day. I fell down too much to really carry my camera on the slopes. :) We had taken Autumn and Nate to the resort daycare while Sophia stayed with a friend. Autumn did well...except she would not eat the corn dogs they had for lunch so they fed her waffles--sounds good to me!! But, waffles or not, she was totally ready to go when we came to get her. Like her boots? She borrowed those from Sophia.


Here's Mike as MOUNTAIN DAD. Prepared for anything with his backpack and diaper bag of usefulness.


It was really, really warm that day. For me to say that really means something because I can be cold on an 80 degree day that has a stiff northerly breeze. Mike and Autumn were pretty cute trudging through in their short sleeves with all the snow in the background.


Here we are in front of the slopes. It was funny, there were some teenage boys riding around on their snowboards wearing nothing but board shorts. They had masking taped shapes on their skin so they'd get weird sunburns/tans--my favorite was the kid with a lightning bolt taped onto his chest.


For some reason I like this picture.


This is the view going down the mountain in the pimpmobile. Which, incidentally, had really crappy visibility. Mike likened it to riding around in a tuna can.


Obviously it was really bright so when Mike realized he had left his sunglasses somewhere, he didn't borrow my sunglasses, he decided to just wear his goggles. Of course, I had to take a picture.


And that's it! Well. That's it of the ones that have a cohesive storyline. Here are some miscellaneous ones so I can strike this off my to-do list:

At the end of the trip, I realized I didn't have a photo of all the girls so here we are early Tuesday morning right before Mike, Autumn, and I headed to the airport.


Sophia tried to kiss Autumn goodbye but Autumn wasn't really having any of that. :)


And the last thing is a product plug. This is the Go Go Kidz Travelmate. I highly recommend it for anyone who is going to fly more than once with an infant or toddler. It's kind of like a dolly for the carseat. The handle and wheels strap to the seat and you can wheel it around like a stroller. We were able to take it through inspection and everything without having to take it apart. We didn't do this but will when we fly again in August, but you can also just strap the carseat into the airplane seat without having to take the handle part off--the wheels just snap right off with no trouble. We checked the whole things at the door with no problem. Autumn loved riding in it and wasn't too happy when she had to get out.


The only real con is that the handle isn't quite as high quality as I would like. Although it does feel somewhat flimsy, I don't think it would break. And the button to extend and retract the handle is in a spot that I kept accidentally hitting. The handle also doesn't snap into place as firmly as, say, a telescoping handle on a nice piece of luggage.

But it was totally worth it in lack of hassle at the airport and we paid the same amount for the Travelmate as we would have paid for a week's carseat rental. I believe there are other types of car seat wheels out there but this was my personal favorite and would definitely recommend it to someone who is lazy like me and doesn't want to haul a fat car seat from gate to gate!

A Mother's Tale of Dirt and Woe (and some laughing, too)

This is Miss Autumn. And she is very, very dirty. Possibly dirtier than she has ever been from playing outside in her entire life.


It all started in Boulder...

Autumn traveled to the Hippie City of Boulder one Saturday morning to shop and watch funny people and play with her Uncle Brad who drove from the land of Missouri .


While taking a break to play in a rock park, Autumn and her friend Sophia decided to play "Fill Brad's Hands with Lots of Rocks!" And they had a very good time together.


Now, Sophia was a determined player. She carried rocks and then carried some more...


But Autumn got bored and wandered off to ::ahem:: greener pastures.


She realized that the rocks could be used for so much more than carrying and piling! Rocks made really fun rain! She had never done anything quite like rock rain before.


And so Autumn played and played until her mama stopped laughing, put a stop to all the fun, and wiped her down. Repeatedly. But not before Miss Andi snapped this photo:


The End.

More vacation photos

Last Friday we went into Denver which is one of the few cities Mike actually enjoys. This is what Autumn thought of the whole thing:


Andi has a really great double stroller, probably the most easily functional one I've used. And Autumn and Sophia would argue a little over who got to sit in the back. Guess it was cozy!


I love this picture. This is Nate who totally looks like a doll. His "looking around" expression is a very benevolent looking one.


We went all the way to downtown Denver to play in a Barnes and Noble (partly it was colder than we expected it would be). :) But the girls had fun.


But maybe not as much fun as Mike:


Mike also got to enjoy his yearly reindeer hotdog from a street vendor. For some reason, Autumn absolutely will not eat hot dogs in any way, shape, or form. I'm sure there are other kids like that but I can't remember if I've ever met one.


After naps, we got to have a little fun on the playground in Brian and Andi's neighborhood. They had some fun slides that generated a lot of static electricity.


And a seesaw which Andi calls a teeter-totter. :D What do you call it? Whatever it's called, Autumn looks a bit concerned about the whole idea.


Sophia was funny that afternoon. She had a really hard time staying upright for some reason...this was pretty much her position all day!


I have probably a couple more posts worth of pictures...the next set will totally make you laugh, I promise! I need to get caught up because we've had a busy two weeks. Autumn and I just got back from Nashville visiting with Michelle who came back south to take her last exams for her master's. We had a super fun time! I have a few photos from that trip, too.

An Ode to Winter Park, CO, by Autumn Colley

They see me rollin...

they hatin...

We're in Colorado (arrived Tuesday) and for some reason, every time I see our rental, I think of that white and nerdy song by Weird Al. I can't imagine why:


That's Mike and Autumn in front of the Celestial Seasonings Tea Shop. He has something like 96 gallon-sized black tea bags in those bags there. Sometime you should ask Mike about how he makes his sweet tea. :)

I don't have a ton of photos right now because yesterday Mike and I snowboarded and today Andi and I snowboarded so I haven't had much of a chance to get any. We've had a blast! This was only my second time, I just went once last year. I've made a lot of progress--but my tailbone hurts! We have some more snowboarding ahead of us, though, so it should be even better. Anyway, I do have a couple of photos for you all.

We took Autumn to the doctor Monday because she had a little cold and I wanted to make sure she was fine for the Tuesday plane trip. She definitely had a cold but nothing more so we were cleared for takeoff. Here she is dancing in front of the office.


We're staying with Brian and Andi who have two kids. Nate is just over 10 weeks old and Sophia will be 2 in August. I read Sophia and Autumn a book Tuesday night after we arrived. Aren't they cute?


And this is totally random. This morning I got Autumn ready for the day before Andi and I headed out for our snow day. I was eating a banana and Miss Autumn just walked up, snatched my banana and started chowing down.


I should have some more photos over the weekend! I hope you guys are having as good a week as we are! And now I am sooooo going to bed...

Craftiness

My friend Penny has just taken up knitting and I think she must have had some latent knitting genius or something. These are the very first hats she has ever made. How cool is this? Haha...please excuse the post-workout look. Her husband and I train together in kali and he delivered them to me before class...I HAD to get a pic to Penny as soon as I could so...


Since we're talking about crafts, I think I've mentioned here that I've been sewing. I think the last thing I posted was Autumn's Christmas dress. Most recently, I made some fabric covered cork boards to go in my living room office space. I wanted something wall art-y so I used some gorgeous Echino fabric and cork tiles from Hobby Lobby.


And these are from Christmas because I didn't want to spoil surprises but I made aprons for a few of my friends. This was for Andi. I tend to think of people in "colors" if that makes any sense. Sometimes it's personality and sometimes it's just a color they like a lot or something random like that. Andi is orange and turquoise which is why I chose this combo:


Michelle isn't a color to me so much as a style so she got a damask since I always think of her as wearing cool and classy things. Plus her kitchen is red and black which totally sold me on this Michael Miller fabric. I made Lindsay a similar apron minus the bottom ruffle but forgot to take a picture.


This one was for Christine. She looks really good in a particular shade of pink so I think of her whenever I see it. I think this is my favorite one.


There's another apron that I didn't take a picture of and I'm working on another one now for Penny (realllly late birthday gift, lol). I also want to make Autumn a summer dress. It'll probably be one of the claire dresses (probably petal knot) by Sandi Henderson. I made Autumn's Christmas dress from the Claire pattern. I have some little things on my list, too. So many projects and so little time!!

Oh, yeah, here's one last christmas project. Headbands! These are almost all for babies although I did make a matching set for my friend Angela's two girls.


Here's Autumn wearing one and eating M&M's.

Breakfast Faces with Autumn

It dawned on me this morning that Autumn's breakfast might be a little odd. :) She normally has oatmeal and yogurt. And milk. That part is pretty normal.


No, it's really her post-breakfast breakfast that is a little odd. See that little bowl? That's tea.


Most mornings I have tea and granola for breakfast. And for the longest time, Autumn has had granola, too, but she usually insists on me dipping her piece in my tea. Which is fine but it got a little old having her insistently poking her granola in the air when the level of tea moisture wasn't to her liking.


So, I started putting a little bit of cooled tea in a small bowl for her and she dips her own granola. And everyone's happy!