Baby #3

Our family is expanding, baby #3 will be arriving around November 8, 2014! The boys are very excited, each in their own unique way.  Adler asks almost daily how big the baby is (first a pea, then a kumquat, I think its now about the size of a lemon or bigger?)  Landon doesn't say much, but occasionally will ask a very practical question such as, "mom, where's that thing gonna sleep?" Recently one of the parents in Landon's class congratulated us, apparently Landon has told a few friends at school.  Honestly we were quite surprised by this, but very happy that he's processing the big change and excited to tell his friends.  We have decided for this one to be a gender surprise, though we could have found out last week after the big blood draw that tested for chromosomal abnormalities due to my "advanced maternal age" (down syndrome, T-12 ? and T-18?, I honestly can't remember the correct numbers they tested for).  All of the tests came back normal.

A Real Skyscraper

Both of the boys are intrigued by construction and buildings, especially big buildings, and a few weeks ago Adler got onto the topic of skyscrapers. He's been talking about them a lot recently. A lot. A whole lot. We pointed downtown out to him one day while driving on the highway and he was genuinely exited and impressed that little old Denver had its very own skyscrapers (even when I told him that some cities have much much bigger ones). He was even more impressed when I told him I work in one of those big buildings (though far from the biggest among them). So I told the boys I'd take them to see it sometime.  

We were on our way to on our way to the Children's Museum yesterday, a Sunday with free downtown street parking, and decided it would be a good day to go visit daddy's office.  The whole way there Adler talked about wanting to go all the way to the top of the building. I told him that we'd try but that we could probably only go to the 11th floor where I work. He said he understood but really hoped we could go to the top. Miraculously we got onto the elevator with a women, on a Sunday when hardly anyone is ever in the building, who overheard me explaining the situation to Adler for the umpteenth time. It turned out that she worked on the top floor and offered to take us up there. Alder was so happy to go to the "very top of the skyscraper" and, even though I think I'd prepared him, I was very happy not to have to disappoint him. We spent a few minutes looking out the window up there and commenting about how small the cars looked. Then we thanked the nice woman and headed down to my floor. 

LT was happy to see the view from the top too but was much more interested in seeing where I worked. He said that the cars looked pretty small from my window too. I'm not sure if he really thought that or was just trying to make me feel okay about not having the premier office space in the building. He's a thoughtful kid like that. 

Thanks to my mom they both know I have a birthday coming up relatively soon and they each drew me a little birthday wish on my whiteboard. On the left is Adler's picture, which he said was a drawing of me smiling. And on the right is LT's drawing, which maybe doesn't need as much explaining. 

The Real Paddington Station

I was in London last month (taking photos as I usually do when I travel) and happened to be staying and working just a few blocks from Paddington Station. I emailed a photo to Kari to show the boys, especially Adler, because I thought it was kind of cool to connect the school with the real transit station in London for which it was named. Kari wrote back and told me that they just commented, "oh, the real one" and moved on. So apparently they didn't think it was as cool as I did. But a few days later Alder was overheard proudly telling one of his friend's parents that his daddy had been to the real Paddington Station. So maybe it made a bit of an impression after all.

Brothers

Goofing around before a dinner with friends at Oblio's.

Return to Mexico

Our last visit to Mexico was years ago, before we had Adler and when LT wasn't even a year old. We came home early and spent more time in the hospital than we did in the beautiful beach villa we'd rented for the week. It wasn't the best vacation we've ever had and, largely as a result, we've kept our family vacations domestic in the years since. That changed with spring break this year when we decided to head back to Mexico and Baba even went with us this time.

We went to an all inclusive hotel in Puerto Vallarta. It wasn't exactly a cultural experience and, really, we could have been just about anywhere in the world with a beach and a pool and warm weather. But it worked out great for a family vacation (the buffet meals were especially nice to have for the kids).

The boys swam in the pool a lot and spent a lot of time on the beach. Just to keep things interesting though, they never wanted to go to the beach but, of course once we got there, they wouldn't want to leave.

Exploring the hotel was fun for the boys.

And one day we took a boat tour, with a stop to snorkel, to a more remote beach for a BBQ lunch.

The Broadmoor

Earlier this year my employer held a meeting at the historic Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs. I was there for most of the week but Kari and the boys came came down to enjoy the famous old hotel for a night. The boys seemed quite at home with the luxurious lifestyle.