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It's Derby Time!

The Pinewood Derby.  It's a big deal and right of passage for any cub scout and their dad.  Daniel's own grandfather's both look fondly back at making cars for them self or their son.

This is year two of Derby car making for Brian and Daniel.  Last year's car was "fancy", a land speeder from Star Wars that made it to the finals of the race.  It was definitely a labor of love for the two of them.

Star Wars Land Speeder Derby Car

This year, with time shortened (don't ask, long story) they discussed many ideas before settling on a car that was sleeker in design, and therefore simpler to make.  An iPhone!

Daniel's iPhone Derby Car

They had a blast making it.  Again, Brian had Daniel do most of the sanding and labor so it was truly his car.  I helped a little with getting the Angry Birds picture stuck to the top of the car.  An old pair of ear buds completed the look necessary for a sleek black iPhone Pinewood Derby car.  

They did have a little trouble adding the wheels so the boys had an inkling the car wasn't going to be too fast.  It had drag on one wheel.  Daniel really didn't care.  He thought it looked awesome!  Off to the registration they went.  

We all turned out the next day for the race.  1... 2... 3... GO!

Oops, that's the iPhone car in the back of the pack

The car didn't perform well, but our boy was really happy with his cool looking car. We had one dad mention that his iPhone must be an older model, not the newest 4s, because of the lack of speed.  He said he had that problem with his own iPhone.  Daniel thought that was funny!  

Did I mention that this was evidently the year of the Angry Birds car?  Daniel had the only iPhone car, but many had the Angry Birds theme on them.  And of course, Star Wars was still very popular.  Daniel is already dreaming about what to make next year.  

100th Day of School

My baby just finished her 100th day of Kindergarten!  Can you believe it?  Laurie absolutely LOVES school and is just thriving as a kinderGator. She can't wait to do homework every night and tell us ALL that she learned during the day.  We still deal with behavior issues at least once a week, (she ranges between "Warnings" all the way up to "Red Notes,") but I am confident she will eventually settle into the rules of kindergarten. Before the end of the school year would be nice.

Laurie on the 100th Day of School

The KinderGators had a great time Monday, making necklaces, hats and trail mix signifying the 100th day of school.  Laurie was thrilled.  Daniel & Ashley were a little sad it wasn't a big deal for them any more in the 2nd and 4th grades, but they had their turn.  For now, Laurie got the spotlight - and all the fruit loops she could fit on that necklace!

Pinterest Projects

Do you love Pinterest?  It has quickly become the latest fad in social media online.  I visit the site several times a week, but am reluctant to "pin" many items.  To me, it just seems like more crafts/recipes/projects that I love, but will never make the time to complete.  I don't need any more projects, as evidenced by my overflowing bins of fabric and scrapbooking paper taking over my closet. Yet, I still pin away, hopeful that I will return to the crafty world soon.

I found myself eyeing a TuTu table skirt on Pinterest last week.  It would be perfect for Laurie's room!  I suddenly realized I had all the material to make it sitting in my closet.  So, while the kids were gone one day, I sat down and made the TuTu table skirt for Laurie.  It was simpler than I thought it would be. And, although I didn't have as much fabric as the inspiration piece (that's 3 layers in my picture); it turned out really cute in her room.  Woo Hoo!  1 project found and completed in the same week!  

My TuTu table skirt

Taking inspiration from my project completion, I decided to tackle another project I thought was adorable for Valentine's.  It is comparable to an Advent calendar for St Valentine's Day, called a Valentine Countdown Chain.  Each heart link has a scripture verse about Love for the kids to read each day of February ending on Valentine's Day.

Valentine Countdown Chain

This one, I'll admit, was quite easy because the website that created it, Catholic Icing, gives you the verses to download and print.  Luckily, I had corresponding pink papers from another Valentine's Day project I'd never completed a few years ago.

Two pins done on Pinterest and many more to go!  Will I be inspired to complete more crafty projects or will this be it for me?  Who knows, but this was fun!

Daddy's Ties

This week is no bullying week at school. That means that there is a dress theme everyday.  Monday was wear red, Tuesday was Silly Sock day and Wednesday was wear a Tie.  

I am not great at getting into these dress up days, and I barely remembered the wear a tie day just before bed.  We pulled out the bins of Brian's old ties and the kids had a ball going through them.  Each one chose a tie to go with their outfit the next day.  Then we left them on the couch for Daddy to "tie" them, cause I have no idea how to tie a tie.  

They were so proud to wear Daddy's ties to school the next day.  Boy, I was glad we'd kept all his old ties all these years.   We did have a bit of an "oops".  Birdie evidently spent too much time playing with her tie while in class - something about putting it over her eyes to pretend she was blind?  Guess who got another yellow note?  

Thursday (today) was Hat day.  We were lucky that they all had a favorite hat to wear.  Daniel chose Kubota, Ashley wore her beret and Laurie went for a hat that matched her "new" outfit.  (I said it like that because it was Ashley's, then Brenna's and now Laurie's!  Not that she cares one bit.)

Cute, cute cute.  Now don't ask me what tomorrow is, I have no idea.  Guess I worry about that tomorrow.

Santa 2011

Picture with Santa Clause 2011

Happy Halloween 2011!

Cougar Cheerleader

Darth Vader

 Darth Vader

Greek Goddess

Happy Halloween

Jack O Lanterns 2011

My pumpkins!

Laurie with her Cheerleader Pumpkin

Daniel carved Darth Vader

Ashley's Greek Goddess

Adorable!

Master carver!
Look closely - he has pumpkin in his hair!

Fall 2011 School Pictures

It is school picture time again!

 Ashley is now in 4th grade and just shy of 10 years old.  She devours books, is interested in horses and art, and has an affinity for math & science.  She wears a size 7 women's shoe and is almost 5 feet tall!  And she tells everyone she meets, EVERYONE, that she has a hamster - Isabella Fluffball Jones.  She is taking dance again, this time enjoying "funky jazz," a cross between traditional jazz and hip hop.  On any given night, you can bet you'll find Ashley snuggled in her huge bed filled with stuffed animals reading a book late into the night. 

Daniel will be 8 in a couple of weeks and loves the 2nd grade.  Much of his time is spent playing iPad, making movies with his iMac, and playing soccer.  This is his first season playing Academy soccer with the same league and second year as a cub scout, on the track for Wolf.  He enjoys math, Legos, Star Wars and making people laugh. He is quick to smile his infectious smile no matter what he is doing. Daniel is always the first one out of bed, dressed and prepares his own breakfast (and usually Laurie's too.)  He absolutely loves his sisters and will do almost anything for them. A true helper.

Laurie started Kindergarten 2 weeks after her 5th birthday and loves every minute of it.  My "little" girl is not so little anymore and will do whatever she can to keep up with her siblings.  Not only will she talk your ear off, but will impress you with a vocabulary that doesn't belong to a typical 5 year old.  Laurie loves doing homework, reading books and telling jokes.  She joined her first dance class, enjoying ballet and tap once a week while wearing a lavender leotard with a huge tutu!  She is fiercely independent but will agree to anything if it is Daddy asking.   

A New Look

So this week, I went from this....

... to this...

After years of lightening my hair, I finally had the nerve to have it dyed back to it's natural color (with a few highlights still).  And... have begun wearing it straight.  Really straight.  We will see how long straightening it will last, cause it is a real effort every day.  But I have to admit enjoying the fact people do a double take right now and don't recognize me at first.  I'm not really sure which way I like it best, and everyone else definitely has an opinion on it, but for now, a big change is nice.

Ride Em Cowboy!

Stanley Hotel

Monday morning in Colorado we decided to visit the inspiration for the book, The Shining.  The 102 year old Stanley Hotel is very pretty and elegant, but unfortunately, unless you were a guest at the hotel or pay for the haunted tour, there is not much to actually see in the limited public spaces.

So, we headed into Estes Park for lunch. Main street in Estes Park is a cute, quaint, touristy spot with many restaurants and shops.  We found a little family restaurant called, Local's Grill for a quick bite to eat.  Our waitress turned out to be from Rosenberg, just a few suburbs over from where we live.  Small world.

After lunch, we ran into a tourist shop to pick up some t-shirts for each of us to take home. They had t-shirts that said, "My loved one went to Rocky Mountain National Park and all I got was this t-shirt."  We thought about picking one up for Brian, but settled for a nice navy one he'd actually wear.

Ready to Go!!

Our big event of the day was horse back riding.  Nana chose Cowpoke Corral Stables in Estes Park because all 6 of the biggest kids were allowed to ride.  My kids are always excited for the rare opportunity to ride, and this was to be Laurie’s first time on a big horse.  Alex & Laurie seemed a bit nervous about riding the horses until they learned they only walked.  Turns out, they had visions of racing horses across a field at full speed. 

Birdie's Big Smile

When we got there and saw how huge the horses were, I got a little nervous. I couldn’t imagine putting my 4 year old baby on one of those big horses.  The trainers reassured me and Birdie was ready to go.  From the moment they put her up on “Shadow” she started smiling from ear to ear.  I don’t think she stopped smiling until they took her off at the end of the trail ride.  Once again, Mommy was wrong and was nervous for no reason. 

Megan on her pony, Duke

 The little kids did excellent holding on as we rode the horses up the side of the mountain and back down again.  Megan, at 3 years old, was allowed to sit on a pony and walk it around the property with Papa while the rest of us were out riding.  She had a great time.

Alex on Caddy

Daniel on Jaybird

Cameron on Mr. Wilson

Ashley on Socks

Brenna on Doc

Daniel rode an old crotchedy horse name Jaybird.  He would walk backwards and kick my horse, Rascal, if we got to close to him during the trail ride.  Ashley’s horse, Socks, was blind in one eye and she loved him the more for it. Cameron and Brenna rode like the pros they are on Mr. Wilson and Doc.  David rode Rocky, Leah on Cinder and I rode Rascal.

The last time we rode as a group was in Lajitas, just outside of Big Bend National Park.  These two riding experiences didn't even compare.  Lajitas was riding through a dust filled hot desert, this was a beautiful trail ride up a tree filled mountainside with a breeze and nice temperatures.  Really nice. 

Day six of our trip meant that Mom and I needed to do some laundry, so we dropped everyone else back off at the cabin to head over to the laundramat.  First, let me say, I haven’t done laundry at a laundramat since law school and they were never this clean.  Wow.  This was a nice place.  We were able to do 7 loads of laundry and fold them in less than two hours.  Pretty awesome.  I need to do laundry like this at home. Forget doing them one load at a time.  

It stormed really good while we were there, of course.  Have I mentioned that Colorado has the most intense thunderstoms?  The storm clouds roll down over the mountains and create the most incredible lightening shows.  Thankfully, it stopped raining in time for us to put the clean clothes in the car and drive back to the cabin.

We arrived back to find Leah and the boys preparing hamburgers for everyone out on the patio.  It was an enjoyable last night in Estes Park.  Even though it rained every day, it was an incredible stay.

Mountains, Snow and Elk

Our cabin in Estes Park has a family of fox that lives nearby.  Sunday morning I was able to get pretty close to one of them and get some pictures.  He seemed pretty comfortable with me and only ran off when a dog came up and sniffed it back into a hole.

We are staying in McGregor Mountain Lodge, just outside an entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.  The grounds surrounding our cabin are beautiful with lots of trees, birds, flowers and wildlife.  My mom told us that after seeing all the beautiful birds here, she can understand why people get into bird watching. 

After breakfast in the cabin, we rounded everyone up and drove into RMNP.  It was very crowded.  Lots of cars, people and slow moving traffic.  We stopped first at Alluvial Fan, the site of a flood in 1982, with splendid waterfalls.  A truly majestic and beautiful spot. 

The kids all had to touch the water to feel how cold that melted snow was coming off the mountain.  We took so many pictures at this nice spot in the mountains.  

It started to rain, which chased us all back to our cars and off to find a potty stop for the kids. (That is the trouble with consuming large quantities of water to ward off altitude sickness). 

We decided our next drive should be to take Trail Ridge Drive up to the Alpine Visitor's Center over 12,000 feet above sea level.  To get there, we drove up and up, winding around the sides of the mountains on a road with severe drop offs.  It was slow moving due to congestion.  At some point, it started hailing and our drive became a crawl.  All through this time, Dad was busy on the walkie talkie with David’s car behind us.  Mom started to get scared of the heights and the hail slowing us down.  She was determined that we needed to stop and turn around (where, I’m not sure).  Dad passed her the walkie talkie so she could convince David and Leah we needed to turn around.  It was actually just a tactic to distract her.  I think Cameron was on the other end of the walkie talkie, not a grown up.  The hail cleared up and on and up we went. 

As it turns out, David’s car was having a bit of drama of their own.  Ashley decided she HAD to use the restroom during this winding drive.  Unfortunately, all of the pull offs with restrooms were jam packed with cars.  She was crying and offering to go squat in the snow when David managed to get her into a rest stop. 

As we came to the highest point in the drive (12,183 ft) and onto the tundra, Dad was inspired to begin singing The Sound of Music.  Drivers all over the mountain with walkie talkies got to listen to Dad warble, “The hills are alive, with the sound of music, ah –ah –ah-ah…” not once, but twice.  It was a huge hit in our car as the kids were laughing and cackling hysterically.

Elk sitting by the roadside

The tundra was so beautiful and not what I’d expected.  I was expecting the top of the mountain to be rock, covered with parts of snow.  Instead, it had grass, flowers and lots of elk.  We saw several herds of elk at various points in the tundra.  Some were so tame, they just stood and posed for pictures while cars stopped. 

 

When we made it to the top, we realized we’d left all our jackets back at the cabin.  Oops.  It was a little chilly, but the wind was blowing so hard, we didn’t spend much time outside anyway.  There was a nice visitors center with a café where we had lunch.  While up there, several of us started having problems with altitude sickness.  Mine started upon arriving in Denver, but was made worse during our drive.  Lots of dizziness, headaches, fatigue and queasy stomachs.   After buying a few souvenirs, we started the drive back down, hoping our symptoms would subside a little.

Daniel had been so excited to see all the snow on the way up, so we made a point to stop on the way down to play in a big patch of snow.   Brenna didn’t stay out long, her head was still hurting, and Alex and Megan were not thrilled with it.  But the other four kids had a ball throwing snow balls at each other.  It wasn’t quite long enough for them and protested as we went back to the car to continue our descent down the mountain.

At the end of the day it was really nice to have the cabin to come back to and relax.  A good storm rolled in and kept us all inside for a couple of hours before dinner.  Would you believe we built a fire in the fireplace in July?  It was fun and really nice.  

David and Dad grilled steaks after the storm passed so we could all sit outside and eat.

It has been a great vacation so far.  We miss Brian a great deal, but I have gotten to video chat with him via Skype a couple of times.  The kids love the opportunity to see and talk to him while he is in Alaska.

It is really really late, so I must get myself to bed.  It is too easy for me to stay up late with the kids all sleeping in the bedroom.  I've put myself on the sleeper sofa just so I can get some "alone" time on this trip. What that actually means is I stay up late watching tv or reading, then throughout the night, the kids come out and get in bed with me.  Maybe tonight I'll go sleep in the bedroom when they get up and come in here.