Thanksgiving Craziness

At Thanksgiving, we went to Texas and visited both families. The plane ride was crowded, but the kiddos were relatively good considering the delays. In Dallas, Taylor got to go bowling for the first time with our friends the Millers. He was also very pleased to ride the electric train. He had been wanting to do that since "I have ridden a steam engine and diesel, now I need an electric!" At uncle Jim's, Taylor and Sarah basically disappeared as they truly enjoyed playing make believe and reading stories with each other. Madison spent the Holiday begging anyone standing to hold her and begging them convincingly to take her outside.

Halloween Fun

For Halloween, we had a Butterfly and a Firefighter. We had fun at our MOMS club Halloween Party and Taylor celebrated with his friends Sophia and Sable. On the night of Halloween, Madison was too sick to go out, but Taylor and Daddy had a blast trick or treating with his friend Julia up the street and then they all had a ghoulish Dinner with a Skeleton Veggie tray and everything.

Denver Children's Museum

The kids and I went to the Denver Children's Museum today. It was a little stressful with the crawler/walker girl Madison who would not be held or sit in a stroller, but everyone had a blast. Taylor was impossible to pull away from the actual firetruck where he steered and blew the siren. He also dressed as a squirrel and climbed through a maze of tree trunks and tunnels as Madison happily followed along. She was not phased at all by the tunnels or the zillions of bigger kids trying to get around her. We had fun painting, playing with mirrors, shopping at the grocery store, playing basketball..... etc, etc. Everyone napped hard on the way home. Except for mom!

First Steps and FIrst Strokes

About two hours after Kevin left for a trip, Madison decides to take her first steps. This was on Sunday. This pic is a few weeks later when we could finally get a pic of her doing it. She is getting much more confident and choosing to walk often instead of just crawl.

Taylor has started swim lessons with dramatic improvement in just a few lessons. He now loves his gear and wanted to wear it at home.

Twin Peaks and Imogene Pass Road

The Thursday before Imogene Pass Race Day, Kevin and I decide we need to "clean the pipes" out a bit and get in a little hike without the kiddos on our backs. We choose Twin Peaks Trail just above Ouray. It was a lot steeper than we expected, with a uphill climb, downhill, then uphill again! However, we got some nice views of our Race Route from the trail as shown in the middle pictures above. Hopefully, we won't be too sore for race day... but we survived!


On Saturday we got up early for our 17 mile Mountain "Run" from Ouray to Telluride. I put run in quotes because I don't think I ran more than 12 of the miles since it goes up to 13,100 feet and I obviously didn't train as much uphill as the winners who finished before either Kevin and I summited.

It was the prettiest blue bird day ever with not a cloud in the sky and the most gorgeous scenery I have seen. We met lots of nice people commiserating along the way. I had fun taking people's pics who couldn't get anyone else to stop on the endless climb. I also enjoyed searching for the marmots squeaking in the distance. Kevin even met a guy from Houston who claimed he trained by running the Ship Channel Bridge! Crazy!

Kevin and I both did a lot better than we expected. I had hoped to finish in 5 hours but made it in 4:23 and Kevin made it in 4:07. Yes, it is a little frustrating given he did nothing the 5 weeks prior with a sore back and bad sinus infection, but that is Kevin. The fun is over and we paid dearly for it in soreness. However, it feels great to have an accomplishment like that and I actually can see wanting to do it again. Kevin and I claimed we may not have said the same thing if the weather was bad.

Telluride and Grandparents

Kevin's parents had met us in our rental house in Ridgeway (Between Ouray and Telluride) in order to help us watch the kids prior to the Imogene Pass Run. Here are some pics of them (Madison was asleep in the car) in front of the San Juan's and Ralph Lauren's Ranch. Now this is the most photographed stretch of highway in Colorado (maybe the west), and he owns all the land!!! Barbara like to say she has contributed a fence post to the cause with her Polo purchases.

Black Canyon, Box Springs, and Telluride

After enjoying some family time in Crested Butte, we drove through Gunnison and the Black Canyon and got the kids out a bit. We took pics at this very same spot a couple of years ago. The next day we met up with the Grandparents and took them to the Ouray Box Canyon Falls. Everyone enjoyed it and got very wet. Just glad we didn't go in early summer. Taylor ventured up high and through a cave with Kevin. I stayed back since Madison was in a pack on my back and my legs just were not ready for that.

One other day we drove to Telluride with Kevin's parents and rode the Gondola up to the ski base area. Lo and Behold, they had one of those Bungee trampoline things. I was certain Taylor wouldn't try it, but he did and kept saying "Higher." Well, somewhere before this picture was taken, Grandma walked away because she simply couldn't watch. Once again... We all survived!

Crested Butte and Paradise Divide

We took our long family vacation this year to the Crested Butte Area (Surprise... Surprise...) and Ouray/Telluride. There were many firsts on this trip. We took Taylor and Madison up Cement Creek and ventured to see some caves. Taylor hiked all the way up to the Caves, despite some minor complaining about his legs hurting. He was very excited when we got there and named the caves after all of his little girlfriends at home. Madison as usual was just along for the ride and enjoying every Minute of it.

The next day, we hiked a very short.. but steep route up to Long Lake... which is quite literally a "long" lake. There is a community canoe there and Kevin and Taylor took it for a spin. My mom pointed out to me later what an awful mother I was to let him go without a life vest... Live and Learn. We all survived. After that, we took the Washington Gulch Road up to Paradise Divide which is a very fun, if not precarious drive. We were supposed to do it in July with friends but we all backed out. It was a pretty as we remembered, and according to Kevin not quite as bad as we thought. The trail to Yule Pass shown here we started, but after losing Jake down a drainage (he recovered), we decided not to continue with kiddos. However, Kevin and I plan to go back and do it ourselves if we get a chance.

Finally, Taylor got to play with the Diggers and Fire pole everyday while we simply Let Madison crawl around and get dirty. She seems to be more adventurous than her brother was at this age and proves to like going down the slide!

Madison Turns 1!

Can you believe Madison has turned 1? I cannot fathom where all the time went. She has become terribly silly and did enjoy putting the cake in her hair, more than putting it in her mouth. We went very low key with just one set of neighbors. What was the funniest, was Taylor opening and playing with all her presents while she got herself tangled in the balloons and the torn wrapping paper.

Sandbox Fun

OK, so we broke down and added a sandbox to our swingset since Mom was getting tired of Madison eating Mulch all the time. A few pics we took of the kiddos playing in the sand. I just love the fact that Madison seems to enjoy the trucks and was "fighting" with Taylor over them.

Crested Butte Trip

In July we took a great trip to Crested Butte with the kids and their Grandma Switzer. This was the first trip out this direction, where Taylor could really understand... this is the Taylor River and Taylor Reservoir. We had fun throwing rocks in the Reservoir to Jake while Madison was busy eating them on shore. Grandma took the kiddos on the bus into town for playground time while Mommy and Daddy hiked in the morning. The bus was a BIG hit with Taylor. Grandma and Taylor took the chairlift up Mt. Crested Butte, which was a huge hit, but hopefully also means we can get him on one for skiing this winter. The wildflowers and the weather were just absolutely gorgeous and I think Mom now understands why we go here so often!