More NY and PA pics

Olivia is 5 years old!!!

I can hardly believe that I have a 5 year old daughter. It's such a big age--the age of a kindergartener! I am so proud of Olivia. She is growing up to be such a thoughtful, caring, compassionate, loving girl. I'm glad to have her as a role model for her little brother.

We celebrated at Funtastic Fun, a semi-creepy-after-dark indoor amusement park. It has a ferris wheel, carousel, train--all kinds of stuff. The hit ride of the night was the teacups, where the kids went round and round, over and over, until they couldn't see straight. Olivia and I had spent the day before making cupcake creatures. I love baking with Olivia. We shared cupcakes and pizza. It was a fun day with Grandma, Aunt Sherry, all the Denver cousins, and the Seeling family. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate Olivia's big day!

Autumn in New York

I love being in New York--especially this time of year! The leaves are not at their peak yet, but the air is so nice. On Tuesday we flew in to JFK and settled in at 174 E. 74th Street. We had dinner with Bryce's old college friend Jonathan and his wife, who are so graciously letting us stay at their apartment for the week, and then we went to bed.



On Wednesday, we met our friend, Mark, and went to the Central Park zoo and admired a polar bear. Then we tried our first knish. Olivia didn't love it, but Ian did. Olivia's favorite thing about NY this time is the pigeons. She just "oohs" and "ahhs" over all of them at their "patterins" and colors. She constantly wants Bryce to take pictures of them.



On Thursday, Bryce worked downtown while the rest of us window shopped and walked- for 7 hours. We went on the Central Park Carousel which was surprisingly fast and so much fun. We visited some real horses with their handsome cabs and met a man named Emil, a Russian, I think, who took a picture of the kids and drew it for us over the afternoon. We went up and down and all around the park while he worked--to the turtle pond, the Swedish Cottage, the Dairy, the Belvedere Castle, and the Great Lawn, where Ian enjoyed getting all dirty crawling around. He couldn't stand one more minute in his stroller.


Friday was a fabulous family day. We started out by going to the ponds where we rented a row boat. We bundled up and glided over the water and found neat alcoves and saw beautiful bridges and changing leaves. We spotted some turtles and we let Olivia climb out of the boat onto a rock to touch one. It was the highlight of her day.

We started Saturday out with tea and scones at Alice's Tea Cup. The pumpkin scone with warm caramel was the best thing I've ever tasted! Olivia got to wear fairy wings and was sprinkled with pixie dust. We shared some rose and lemon tea, and then Bryce took my place and I walked with sleeping Ian. It was a fun date. We all went on the subway for the first time on this trip and got off at the Brooklyn Bridge. We had fun walking across the water and seeing the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building from the bridge. It was super windy and started to rain on our way back, so we headed home and rested for the evening.

Sunday was a lot of fun. We were out walking around for 12 hours! We walked to the West side to go to the Natural History Museum. There is an amazing room with a life-size blue whale and all kinds of sea creatures and a ceiling that looks like moving water above you. I love that place! We met up with Mark again and had lunch and I decided that I like the architecture on the West Side better than the East, but the East has nicer shops. We made our way down to the south side of the park and then over to Dylan's Candy Bar where Olivia picked out a dollar's worth of candy which ended up in a dirty mud puddle. Then we walked another 30 blocks to an Ethiopian restaurant where Ian tried his first bread. He had fun being a big boy.

On Monday, we did tons more walking and went back to Dylan's for replacement candy. Tuesday was a great break. We rented a car and left the big city for the countryside of Pennsylvania. On the way there, driving through New Jersey, we hit a big snowstorm! There were cars in ditches all over the place. I couldn't have been happier...to be surrounded by amazingly gorgeous fall colored trees with the snow falling around me. Loved it. Pennsylvania was beautiful. I would love to have a back yard like the ones I saw there, surrounded by thick woods of deciduous trees. Absolutely lovely.

My greatest quest on this trip to NY was to find New York's very best cupcake. We had to try 4 different cupcake bakeries to find the perfect one. It seemed that we'd have to settle for Buttercup Bakery, but then, just hours before we were to head to the airport, we found it....the West Side's Crumbs. Ahh. My mission was complete. It was a good vacation. But I have to say, I am glad I live in Denver.

Our 9th Anniversary

Here's a picture of me and Bryce on our 9th Anniversary (August 21st). We went to The Melting Pot for a wonderful fondue date. The last 9 years have been the best of my life, thanks to my wonderful hubby. I'm so grateful to have found my soul mate. I love you, Bryce!

Ian is 9 months old today!

It's hard to believe that Ian is already 9 months old. He's a strapping young boy, already wearing 12 month clothes. He loves to crawl around and inspect electrical outlets, climb up our huge flight of stairs, and eat leaves, grass, rocks, dirt, and other choke-able objects. He's very proud of his accomplishments! He smiles so big whenever he is praised or is told he's a "big boy." He says "nigh nigh" and "da da da". He has 2 teeth and seems to have more on the way. Fun times!

Olivia's Bullfrog

Isn't Olivia cool? She's not afraid of any creepy crawly croaky thing. She didn't get that from me! She and Bryce found this bullfrog on a walk around our Berkeley Park Lake.

It is FINISHED!

HALLELUJAH!
We just sold the 2nd side of the Winona duplex, our first real estate project, on Friday. What a relief! It took us 21 months to buy a house, get permits, tear it down, rebuild it, and sell it. There were a lot of frustrating times and plenty of hard work (especially when I was pregnant!), but it was all worth it, and I'm ready to start another one!

Cowboy July

We had a cowboy themed July with our trip to Texas, the Buckaroo Stampede,
Cactus Canyon VBS, and Frontier Days. The "Daddy of 'Em All" rodeo was as fun as ever, but I wished I could have watched a little longer. The weekend went by so fast, but it was a great little getaway.

CAMPING WITH THE MCKENZIE'S

After the fun day at the Buckaroo Stampede, we took Harvey the RV to just outside of Breckenridge to one of our favorite spots, Mohawk Lakes. We set up camp with the McKenzie family and hung out around the fire. The girls wandered around and played monster and looked for bugs while we adults tried to kill the bugs buzzing around our babies. It was great to just relax and watch the fire fairies while talking with our old buddies.

BUCKAROO STAMPEDE

We had our first family volunteer experience this weekend at the Buckaroo Stampede. It was an amazing setup in the ranch land of Kremmling, CO. We spent the day in a small pen with kittens, rabbits, ducks, chickens, turkeys, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, and hundreds of animal squeezing kids. It was a crazy in there! Olivia got to ride on a horse, a train, and a stagecoach, and Ian mostly slept in a backpack on Bryce's shoulders. It was a really cool day.

More Texas Trip Pictures

I just couldn't resist adding some more pics of our little cuties. We went to the Little Red House for Clay's famous barbecue--the Thanksgiving of summer. Ian went on his first horseback ride and Olivia managed to fall into the horse trough and was drenched to her waist. The last picture is of her, just before she fell in.

MY VERY FIRST FAMILY BLOG!

We are on our annual family vacation to Belton, Texas, to see Bryce's family. Olivia says she loves Texas, but she hates the bites. In her constant quest to find lizards, spiders, and cicada shells, Olivia managed to get bites all over her arms and legs, and even one on her eyelid. She looks like Rocky after a big fight. Except for the nasty invisible creatures and their venom, this is Olivia's dream come true for a vacation.


Yesterday at the beach, Olivia and I caught about 10 baby toads which she transported back to Grammy's koi pond. Bryce and Olivia were fishing last night when they saw a nose gliding along the top of the water and thought it was a water moccasin. It turned out to be the cutest little 2" baby turtle. I fell in love with the thing with its tiny feet and claws that couldn't scratch yet, and I wished we could keep it. Olivia was so proud of her great find.

Bryce and Olivia did see 2 water moccasins afterall--they had been fishing right over their nest the day before! Creepy! Olivia also caught about 20 sunfish (perch) over the last couple of days. It's too easy. The fish are pulling the bobber under the second the worm hits the water.




I've just come to realize that Ian is at an age where it's about as good as it gets. He's 6 months old and he can sit up, but he can't crawl. So I can set him down and not worry about him getting into anything, yet he can entertain himself for a while. He takes 2-3 hour naps a couple of times a day, and he often sleeps well at night. The best part is, he's still at the age of innocence when everything he does is sweet and cute and people adore him. This is where it's at.