nancy - 81/365 - Aspen, Colorado USA

The drive up Castle Creek. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.

July 12, 2010

Vacation Day 4

My 36th Birthday! What an awesome day!

• Jeff made an incredible breakfast of biscuits and eggs.
• Spent the morning cuddling with my boys and reading with John.
• Drove up Castle Creek Canyon for lunch at the Pine Creek Cookhouse. A stop everyone should make while in Aspen. It was chilly, but I was surrounded by both an amazing view and my favorite people.
• A stop in Aspen for a walk, a journey to the Explorer Bookstore (found some awesome new reads), and Heron Park. Jeff was incredibly bummed that John had no interest in building a dam in the stream at the park.
• A nice afternoon nap - just enough time to feel refreshed.
• Laid in the hammock for the late afternoon and evening hours - Started a new book, worked on my list - 37 things to do in my 37th year, and cloud-watched with John.
• Received phone calls, texts and emails from some of my favorite people.
• Amazing dinner made by my hubby - steak, saute'd mushrooms and onions, and grilled asparagus. Appetizer was stuffed squash blossoms.
• Jeff had a cake made by a spectacular chef in Aspen. Quite possibly the best carrot cake I've ever tasted.
• Fun gifts received!
• Took an evening walk with Jeff.
• Ended the evening with a few rounds of bananagrams.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

me & my boys at pine creek cookhouse!

my beautiful mom

maybe the iced tea wasn't the greatest idea...it probably kept me a bit chillier.

john burbon. my johnbug. buggy. the burbonator. john boy. my guy. snuggle-bug-in-a-rug.

Owen busily teething in Jeff's lap.

Owen & Grandma Hanniford

Owen. O. Baby O. The O-Man. Owie.

A capture on our stroll through Aspen. The Pitkin County Courthouse.

John patiently awaiting the birthday cake. He's really not drinking any wine. It just looks that way.

nancy - 80/365 - Aspen, Colorado USA

July 11, 2010

Vacation Day 3

• After getting up several times with Owen, who is most certainly in the midst of a sleep regression (though I don't think I can call it that if his sleep has never really progressed), Jeff let me sleep in a bit.
• Jeff woke up with the children and went into Basalt to find me a copy of the New York Times - a pre-birthday gift. Yay!
• This morning we drove into Basalt to the farmers market and purchased a few goodies including squash blossoms. Jeff is going to stuff and bake them for my birthday dinner tomorrow.
• I'm beginning to feel the altitude - shortness of breath, tired.
• We took a walk in the neighborhood. Jeff & John saw a fox.
• John discovered trout in the pond and is now feeding them crumbs. He spent most of his day hanging out in and around the stream. I think he'd be perfectly content if we spent the entire week at the house.

View from the yard:

John is loving the one on one time with his grandparents. He really enjoyed "fishing" and used rocks as bait to catch the fish.

A perfect moment:

nancy - 79/365 - Aspen, Colorado USA

July 10, 2010

Vacation Day 2 -

• Surprise, surprise. We all woke up early. Owen was up FOUR times over night (which meant I was up FOUR times). John got up for the day at 5:30 and Owen at 6:30. Not too shabby considering the time change.
  
• We headed to the Saturday market in Aspen and returned with quite the bounty - fresh cheese, cherries, peaches, apricots, bread and more. Yummy!
  
• Owen spent a lot of time hanging out on the porch playing with his toys. Thankfully he's not crawling yet.
  
• I spent a lovely afternoon lounging, napping and reading.
• Owen tasted non-puree'd food for the first time - Rice Crispies. He was mesmerized.
  
• John played in the stream for hours. HOURS. He was thrilled to be able to spend all day with his Daddy. How awesome.
  

Surveying the pond in the back:
And the pond in the front:
The stream that runs beside the property. The scene of much activity:
my boys:

Owen loving his Rice Crispies:

Nancy - 78/365 - Aspen, Colorado USA

July 9 - Vacation Day 1

The exhaustion of an early flight rewarded us with an early arrival to one of the most beautiful places on earth. The boys were awesome travelers, our flights were smooth and on time, we indulged in a tasty lunch at Schlotzky's in the Denver airport, the weather is spectacular, we got an awesome rental car...so thankful and thrilled to be on vacation.

Such awesomeness:


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Nancy - 77/365 - Orlando, florida

July 8

8:54 pm on the eve of summer vacation.

The children's clothes and toys are laid out and meticulously organized. All laundry is clean. Housesitter's info is complete. Bills paid. Glass of wine poured. I guess it's time for me to start packing.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

nancy - 76/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

July 7

One can't go on vacation without a good haircut. Today I visited Sandy. She always knows exactly what we should do with it and I totally trust her judgment.

She thought my hair was weighing me down and taking too much time from this busy season of my life. She's totally right. I left a ton of hair on the floor of the salon. It was exactly what I needed. Freedom.

Amy - 75/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Interests come and go with kids (heck with adults, too)! Lately, the trains have been abandoned for newer more exciting interests: Barbies, Lego's, engineer building sets, etc. We have invested a lot and have two big train bins: one with the original wooden and another with the Take-Along sets. I was happy when Logan asked me to help him build, "The super biggest track of all in his bedroom."

DATE: Sunday, July 4, 2010

Amy - 74/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Introducing my latest addiction: Words With Friends

I've had the free version of this application loaded on my iPhone for a month or so and have been playing one friend - that's it. When I inherited Chad's iPad and uploaded the HD version, things really hit the ground running. It's sad to say, but I've REALLY been enjoying the mental exercise and socialization :)

DATE: Saturday, July 3, 2010

Amy - 73/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Today was the last day of Term 2 and we are officially half-way through the school year! Lynsie's class hosted an afternoon tea/open class time for parents to come up and look over their work/progress. They sang a lovely little song to welcome us and then we spent the rest of the time together reading journals, seeing artwork, etc. It seems like just yesterday when we arrived in Australia and she wasn't even in school at all. Now she can read, write, add, subtract, and so much more. Where has our biggest baby gone? She has crossed an invisible threshold and is more like a teenager every day.

DATE: Friday, July 2, 2010

Amy - 72/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

12:30 a.m. - FINALLY!!! The movie has started! Could there be any more previews and/or commercials before movies these days? With as many they showed, you'd think we got our tickets for free or heavily discounted. The evening was success and I really enjoyed the movie. Though by the time I feel asleep, around 3:30 a.m., I was wondering if it was worth it?!? What happened to the days in college when I could stay up all night? Wait, I know how I survived those years, without kids waking me up before sunrise - LOL!!!

DATE: Thursday, July, 1, 2010

Amy - 71/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

9:30 p.m. - Normally, I would be in bed relaxing by now, but tonight I went with my Twi-Hard friend to see a double feature of "Twilight" and "New Moon" before the 12:01 a.m. showing of "Eclipse". Here we are between movies and still smiling :) CRAZY!!!

11:55 p.m. - Still smiling! Really, I was delirious at this point and having a great time. I spent the last thirty minutes moving around the theatre to get some feeling back in my butt after sitting through two movies straight...

DATE: Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Amy - 70/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Just call him Mr. Happy with that big smile on his face! Logan got to "be the teacher" and call on his classmates to wash their hands for morning tea, since I was the parent volunteer for the day. I love spending time in class with the kids and today brought a map of America for their classes to follow our journey. In the morning, I had a talk with the Kindy kids, which included some counting and pointing at the map. During the afternoon, I visited with the Year 2's before writing time and we talked about our trip home, before writing about traveling. It was a great day that made me reminiscent of my years teaching...

DATE: Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Amy - 69/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

The iPad Duel on "Monstory" (a memory matching game that has great sound effects) between Daddy & daughter. She's a smart cookie and smoked his local high score, so they decided to have a head-to-head match-up to see who was faster! If I remember correctly, she won more and he doesn't just let the kids win - gooooooo Lynsie!!!

DATE: Monday, June 28, 2010

Amy - 68/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

I just loved the soft look to this picture - almost angelic - if it wasn't for the look of future trouble in her eyes!

Some days are just silly ones :) Leila is fascinated with cameras and always wants to look at her pictures on the display after I take one, "I see, Mommy!" Since I have been playing and experimenting with my pictures when time allows, I thought we'd have a little fun and try some different shots with movement. I only got one decent picture, but that's how we learn, huh?!? Then we threw in a few of my stereo-typical self-portraits ... it was fun!!!

DATE: Sunday, June 27, 2010

Amy - 67/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Say it with me, "I am a robot! I am a robot!" Apparently, it's Halloween in June at our house and my ambitious, craft loving son is ready to celebrate! All day long, he kept telling me that he was ready for Halloween and asking when it was. My answer was on repeat, "Not until we get back from America in several months." He is a obsessed with cutting and wants to practice all the time! The hole he's looking through (crying, since he couldn't get out to the boxes) was supposed to be for his arm; however, I talked him into a modification after he could only poked his hand through :)

DATE: Saturday, June 26, 2010

Amy - 66/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

I often wonder, since I cannot remember b.c. (before children) in my life, how much cleaning I would have to do without the kids around?!? Though I would spend much less time wiping, washing, and watching - my life would be empty. So, even though when I took this picture, it was to show an "Eeeeewwww!" - today I'm going to think of it as an "Aaaaahhh!"

I love my kids, dirty hands and obscene messes included :)

DATE: Friday, June 25, 2010

nancy - 75/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

July 6

Vacation shopping checklist for John:
shoes
sunglasses
hat

Mission accomplished.

AND we got yogurt and discussed favorite cars, what types of cars are no longer manufactured and whether his favorite car should be a pontiac gto or a honda civic.

nancy - 74/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

catalina and john keeping it real on robin road

July 5

I remember the day he called to say that I was going to be an Aunt and he a Dad. I was standing at the hall phone on the first floor of Elsie Newton Dormitory. I sunk to the floor and said 'does mom know?' instead of 'congratulations tim, you are going to be a great dad.' I think about this alot.

Turns out he is a great dad. An amazing dad. Just look at his children.

nancy - 73/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

July 4

What a beautiful 4th of July. A great church service, wonderful lunch, tons of rain, visit with the family, a fabulous dinner...just about perfect. Happy Birthday America!

nancy - keeping it real day #3 - Orlando, Florida USA

July 3

No picture today. I was home for mere minutes between activities. Too busy with:

• Great shopping appointment at Nordstrom's with Martinette. Andrea tagged along and we bought super fun clothes - skinny jeans, a few tops, workout clothes, maxi dress and some clothes for Jeff. So, so nice to get out with a friend for a few hours.
• Lunch with my boys at Dexter's. Haven't been there in eons.
• John off to spend the afternoon with Gavin while Jeff, Owen & I ran pre-vacation errands.
• Colonial Photo & Hobby - met with my pal Frank to discuss new point and shoot. Debating between the Canon Powershot S90 (my choice) and the Leica D-Lux 4 (Jeff's choice). Will decide tomorrow. Looking forward to having a compact camera with me all of the time instead of either the iPhone or my big camera.
• Travel Country Outdoors, Lakeshore Learning & Target stops as well.
• Dinner out with my hubby to Mitchell's Fish House. Thank you Andrea for the gift of babysitting.