Colorado Gators

 On Saturday morning we headed to the alligator farm outside of Alamosa.  While incredibly strange, it was also impressive in its number of rescued reptiles.  

 B proudly says "cheese" everytime he gets his picture taken.

 The sprawling land with piles of junk was just as fascinating to B.

 This sign made me laugh.

The First Dune

 We went to the sand dunes over memorial day weekend with some friends.  On the first day in the park, these three boys headed off on what we thought was a short jaunt up a small dune to sled down.  However, after nearly an hour of them continuing up and up with no indication of returning, Brian and Brandy chased after them.  They had been on a mission to get to the top of the first dune, quite a bit further than we could see them.  I told them the following day if they still wanted to go up, Brandy and I would go with them.  And we did.  And it was worth the challenge to see this view.  

 

Halfway up, where these kids made it to alone the day before.

A on ice

I went skating with A a couple weeks ago so he could show off some of what he's been learning in his lessons. He's not exactly the next Brian Boitano (and I can just barely stay upright myself) but I was still impressed with how much he's learned in a short time. I admit to laughing to myself a bit when he climbed into the penalty box. We could use one of those at home...

Some randoms

 Sleeping (pretending to snore like his dad) in the playroom of his brother's class.

Science! 

 Rocket ship!

Mom doesn't get a lot of time or space to herself around here. 

When mom and LT are away, where do we go for dinner? Chef Zorba's of course! 

More construction work on the 'boat' in the backyard.

A Mother's Day "Tradition"

Kari tells the story from her childhood of bringing her mom breakfast in bed on Mother's day. Which amounted to her and her brother hauling a bowl of cereal and a gallon of milk up the stairs to their mother long after she had actually woken up. So it was kinda funny when, completely unprompted on Mother's Day morning, little B came cruising in with a jug of milk that he could barely carry. He was quite proud of himself and luckily no major spills occurred.

Breakfast

Me:  B, what would you like for breakfast?
B: Um, frozen cold peas, chips and syrup!

Person of Colorado

LT's class did a project where each student chose a different influential person in Colorado history to study. The project culminated with presentations by all the students on the person they'd selected, many of them in costume. LT studied Barney Ford (a nice choice I thought) and one of the kids in his group did John Denver. Little B participated by trying on the fake mustaches that were part of many of the kids' costumes and also by doing a quiet rendition of John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" for the family later that day (video is below and you might need to turn up the volume).

2008 13.1

Kari ran the Colfax half marathon today, which started and ended in City Park. The boys and I walked, strollered, and scootered over to see her at about mile 12 1/2  and cheer her on towards the finish. I nearly missed her run past because I was  trying to mediate (unsuccessfully) a fight between the older two. Ironically they were fighting over the app that tracks runners on the course to help spectators see their loved ones run. But we did see her despite the little issue and then circled around to find her after the finish where we took what seems to now be an annual photo.

Packet pickup

Kari is doing the Colfax half marathon today (right now as I write this actually) and we took the whole crew to packet pickup yesterday. One of the booths had a make your own sunglasses thing and we took full advantage.

Lilly

We watched my brother's dog last week for a few days while they were out of town and B immediately took to taking care of her.  She's the right size (maybe 10 pounds) and the right age (older at 10 years) for him.  He would walk her outside, often dropping the leash and forgetting what he was doing, but she isn't a runner.  He fed her breakfast and dinner each day and would follow her around outside.  The novelty wore off just about the time my brother came home, but it was fun for a few days. 

"A REAL FIREMAN!"

Last week B and I were walking out of Target and ran into a friend who has a little guy also.  We were talking when a firetruck stopped next to us and "A real fireman!" got out and gave each little one a hat.  B has proudly told everyone he sees about this experience and wears his hat confidently. 

Zoo buds

 Most of my friends were done having babies long ago (with the exception of 2 who have kids within a week of B).  Luckily I have met a few new friends who have young kids.  We spend many Thursday or Friday afternoons at the zoo together and B talks about them often.  LT and A went with us last week and were good sports about hanging with the little ones.  

Ice Skating

A started ice skating lessons a few weeks ago and has really enjoyed them.  Its typically just his buddy and him in the class, but one week his friend didn't make it and he had a private lesson.  

Mother's Day

 I had such a nice mother's day this year (for the first time in several years).  We went for a hike last weekend and then A planned out a whole day.  If he'd had it his way, just the two of us would have spent the day alone, but we included the rest of the family for some also.  Ads and I went for a 2 (!) mile run alone first thing while the other three made us a yummy breakfast.  Then the whole family went bowling and to lunch.  We came home and B took a long nap while my mom, my sister in law and I got pedicures (A was quite disappointed not to be included, but I promised I'd take him soon).  For dinner Brian made reservations at Little India (a favorite of mine!)  We are slowly figuring out the best way to celebrate this bittersweet day. 

Annual Mother's Day Hike

 A few years ago we decided to celebrate "my" mother's day with a hike.  It's what I love more than anything.  Hiking with my little family.  We go on a day near mother's day when the weather is good.  It leaves mother's day open to celebrate our mom's/grandmas and everyone else. We had nothing going on today and the weather was perfect so we headed to Mount Falcon for the morning.

 B has one speed, fast running.  If you put him down, he's like a wind up car that just goes as fast as possible before stopping and going again.  He hiked almost all of the 3 mile hike.  

And it was successful!

Blastoff!

Big brothers can be pretty fun sometimes.

Mickey

Cousin Time

 Life is more fun with cousins.

Cal-Wood

LT and two of his best buds after I dropped them off for the night at Cal-Wood!

More Sleepovers

 I guess we're on a roll with sleepovers.  The boys each had a friend sleepover last weekend and we continued our traditions: homemade pizza, s'mores, cinnamon rolls for breakfast and lots of laughs and tons of energy.  

 Even B has caught onto calling burned marshmallows "poop".