Wednesday, April 30, 2008

More Pferdesteller Park

As of this morning a Google search for "Pferdesteller Park" will place the previous blog post about said subject as #2 on the search results. Not bad...

Apparently overnight I've become one of the web's most authoritative sources of information on Mr. or Mrs. Pferdesteller (assuming good old Pferd was a person, of course). I'd like to think Stephen Colbert would be proud but, if anything, this should be a little lesson that you should always be somewhat skeptical of what you read online.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day today and we took LT over to the park for a bit at lunch. He's so laid back on the swing I'm still not sure if he really likes it or not.

Just the other day we went and visited Sofi and her mom (below) while they helped coached soccer at Pferdesteller.

BBQ

A few pictures from an impromptu lunch BBQ we had recently with Kari's dad and brother. Before lunch - Steve watched LT while we went for a little mountain bike ride with no kids and no dogs!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Pferdesteller Park

Our soon to be old house is right next to a cute little public park. It's called Pferdesteller Park but I don't know the history behind the name (leave a comment if you know). I'd always planned on taking LT to the playground and playing catch with him in the park. Now that we're moving we'll have a different nearby park to go to so I figured I'd better take LT over to Pferdesteller at least once before we moved away. He wasn't to excited about the swing (top left) but I managed to capture some truly unique LT expressions while he played in the grass and tried to eat some bark.






























Last playdate with the triplets

We had a lot of kids there today to say goodbye to our little buddies. While it is extremely sad for us, we are really happy for their family!


Landon admiring one of his older girlfriends, Charlie, and her mom, Carolyn (Carolyn used to teach with Renee, Chrissy and I at Centennial.)


Gavin and Landon.


Gavin and Sofi.


Casey showing off his musical talent.


Z, enjoying life as usual, on the rocker!

Monday, April 28, 2008

New way to listen to music


Addendum to "Just another night, part THREE"

For the most part Kari has accurately described my interesting weekend in "Just another night" parts two and three. However, in part three, she said that she was a "terrible wife" for letting me go to the ER alone. This is not true - I insisted that I go alone so that LT could sleep. I was fine getting there and back - it was just a nasty itchy case of hives and not something that would impair my driving*. In fact, when I got to the hospital I parked on the street and walked the extra 1/2 block so I wouldn't have to pay the $2 garage parking fee (this will come as no surprise to those who know me well) - clearly I wasn't in too bad of shape.

Anyway, just wanted to set the record straight. My wife isn't terrible. Period.



* OK so technically the nurse kind of scolded me for driving on a double dose of Benadryl because it can make you very drowsy but, honestly, I was *way* to uncomfortable to fall asleep during the short 2 mile drive. Plus, even after the scolding they let me drive myself home.

Just another night, part THREE

Yikes, I really hope this trend is over. It isn't as funny as the all day daddy daycare series. I am crossing my fingers that no one has ER visits after last night. Bri's reaction came back and he headed back to the hospital late last night. I was a terrible wife and let him go alone. Landon slept through the entire thing again, pretty sure he has no idea anything even happened to his dad. I think with all the strong prescriptions Brian was given last night we should be over this, but I thought that yesterday...

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Team (-1) Hike

A week ago Saturday we went on a family hike near Golden. You may notice that there are two family members missing from the picture above. 1) Me who is taking the picture and 2) Bowen who isn't allowed to go on hikes anymore. Bo loves to be outside and go on walks and hikes but he has some serious anxiety problems around dogs he doesn't know. I feel bad for the big guy - we rescued him when he was approximately 1 year old and I don't think he got properly socialized in his life before us. I think sometimes he gets scared and anxious around other dogs and, because he's such a big guy, he's learned that sometimes he can control that anxiety by being aggressive towards the other dogs. This makes him a huge pain to take on walks and things and hiking is the worst of all because you can't really get far off the trail to avoid other dogs. So he doesn't get to go hiking much anymore and most of the time Hailie has to stay home with him (poor girl - there are lot of things she doesn't get to do anymore because of Bowen). This time we decided that Bo could deal at home alone and Hailie got to come along.

LT loves being outside.

Right about the time we were commenting that the trail we were hiking would make for a pretty challenging mountain bike ride, along comes a unicyclist!

Just another night, part 2


Who would have thought there could be a part 2 to this story? But, yes, we were back at the hospital early this morning, this time for Brian. After more than 24 hours of hives covering his body and after taking over the counter meds (none of which seemed to completely alleviate the discomfort or bumps), we headed to the ER this morning. He is doing well now and we are hopeful that these things will disappear forever!
LT was a trooper, yet again.



He watched the fish in the waiting room....

Had some snacks....

And played with his dad on the hospital bed!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Fun game


LT, as we all know, was a little slower at the eating skills (not very excited about eating anything until about 8 months and even still is not always too excited about eating). He finally learned to feed himself about a week ago. Just yesterday, he figured out that he could not only feed himself, but he could also feed me! Apparently it is one of the funniest things in the world because he laughs hysterically as food enters my mouth. I wish I could take a video of it while he is doing it, maybe Bri can capture it soon.

Just another night


On Wednesday afternoon, I got a call that my dad was in the hospital (he had been complaining earlier in the week about a stomach ache, so it wasn't a total surprise). I was a little shocked honestly that he had actually gone to the hospital after various people (including the doctor) had suggested going there. After many hours of waiting around, doctors finally agreed that removing his appendix was the best course of action. While Landon was not able to help in the traditional sense, he was a trooper through the two days. LT went to bed at 7 on Wednesday evening and then my brother and I headed to the hospital for the late night surgery (my dad had to wait around for an OR and they luckily were able to squeeze him in before a few people who were being Med evac'd in arrived). It pays to know good people! Quinn (Roxanne's husband), was on call that night and I am pretty sure he was the reason my dad had the surgery that night, rather than waiting until morning. Surgery went well and we were able to see him a few hours later. LT slept through the whole thing (I think Bri was grateful since he was on night duty and usually LT wants mom if he wakes up!) After we knew dad was in good hands, Steve and I headed home for a quick nights rest. LT and I went back in the morning. We were able to take him home that day and pick up some prescriptions for him. I am pretty sure in LT's mind it was just another night!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Sabor Latino

On Saturday we walked down to meet my mom for an early dinner (LT style!) at Sabor Latino. Sabor is a great little place just a few blocks away from our house and we've been regulars there since we moved into the 'hood. We even had our wedding rehearsal dinner there.

Being able to walk just a couple blocks to Sabor is something I'll miss when we move to the new place. However, we'll still be less than a mile away - we're not going too far.


LT working on his counting skills with Baba.

They always bring LT a kids cup of water. He doesn't know how to use the straw yet but he loves to play with it all.


Including dunking his whole had into the ice cold water.


Happy kid!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The toothers needed brushing

It all started innocently enough as Kari said, "OK Landon, we're going to brush your four teeth now."

Tooth brushing was going to be a first for all of us so we didn't really know what to expect. Kari bought "silly strawberry" toothpaste so I figured that was good. And the only other experience we've had brushing teeth (other than our own) is with the dogs and they absolutely love it. Based on that history I think we had a false sense of hope and were sort of thinking it would be pretty easy....


And how wrong we were!

This picture is deceiving and I'm pretty impressed with my wife's photography skills that she was able to capture the five or six milliseconds that the toothbrush was actually in his mouth.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Brother's Bar (again!)

Last week we had a little play date at Brother's Bar. LT was the first baby to arrive followed shortly by Maike.


LT got right to flirting with little Maike but she was more interested in a helium balloon above the table.


He tried all his tricks including reaching out and grabbing her (we'll have to have a little discussion about the appropriateness of that when LT learns to talk).


Finally he got her attention and they had a little moment!


But then they both got shy and pretended not to notice each other.


Poor LT is clearly perplexed by this romantic game play and not afraid to show his frustration.


Meanwhile Sofi and Sofia had arrived and Sofi was having some popcorn (her dad's favorite at Brother's).


Of course Z went right for the cheeseburger!


Dylan was fashionably late but showed up to make sure LT and Z didn't get too much time alone with the ladies.

Sad Day

Chrissy and her triplet boys are moving back east where her husband got a new job. We are happy for them that they are able to be together again (her husband has been living there for the past three months and she has been here with the boys), but sad to lose such great friends. We went over there today for lunch and will probably have one last playdate next week before they leave. Here are a few pictures from today.

Gavin

Casey

Liam

In Chrissy's huge playroom, they all managed to huddle around the one piggy bank Shawn brought.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Pulling up

Landon has been pulling himself up in his crib for several weeks (although Brian had never seen it), however he wasn't able to transfer the new skill to any other location until a few days ago. As seen in this picture, the toys apparently motivated him enough that he pulled himself up.