Of the Garden Variety

Brooke and I have spent our usual time playing outside:

Brooke loves putting dirt, rocks, leaves, anything inside buckets. When we got the wagon out Brooke was so excited for the possibily of filling it up with dirt!

Then she pulled the wagon around to the other side of the house and opened up a whole other realm of possibilities

Brooke has discovered her love of gardening (which she does not get from me!)

There were so many fun rocks, plants & flowers for her to discover and she made sure to put her treasures in the wagon

Last night we went to the lake for a dipIt was really muddy on the beach. Brooke would get splashing in the water and she would sink so her feet were stuck & she couldn't get out. She still doesn't like sand on her hands, which is kind of the whole point of playing on the beach so we didn't stay too long.

Zzzzaapp!!

On Monday during an afternoon storm Brooke and I were in the solarium at the front of the house watching the rain, lightening and listening to the thunder. All of sudden I heard this loud CRACK and a bright flash of light surrounding the house. After, there were some weird noises for about 30 seconds. I immediately call Blake and tell him "I think the house just got struck by lightening!!" He hurries home and we immediately check the house & yard to make sure nothing caught on fire. The strike didn't even knock out our power, but it did fry some of our electronics like VCR (can you even get a new one of those anymore?) and DVD player. We thought the computer was fried too because it wouldn't turn back on, but luckily seems to work now. There are a few other minor repairs that need to made, but thankfully everything in the house seems to be running fine. We are so thankful that things didn't turn out worse. A few gadgets here and there are easy to replace considering what could have happened. We are truly blessed and it's definitely never a dull moment around here!

The road less traveled

I am not one to be spontaneous, but when I looked at the calendar and realized (YIKES) only one more week of summer vacation before I go back to school, I felt Blake and I needed a last "hurrah" to end the summer. But where to go? Every time we need a change of scenery we usually hop in the car drive 3 hours west and end up here:
which is fine, but we do that all the time. So instead, we hopped in the car and drove 3 hours east on the road less traveled and ended up here:
Steamboat Springs, CO. It's a typical touristy ski town kind of like Park City complete with a natural hot springs, lots of funky shops on main street, trails to hike and parks to play in. Our first stop was to hike the Fish Creek waterfall trail

It was kind of windy if you couldn't tell :)

After the hike we were feeling hot & Brooke was sick of riding in the car & being carried on the trail , so we went back to the hotel & went for a swim. Traveling mid-week was so nice, there weren't any crowds anywhere we went and we had the pool area to ourselves all afternoon. We ate at this restaurant called "The Oar House". It is a 100 year old barn now converted restaurant--it had a cool atmosphere and even yummier food.

We decided to go for a walk along the Yampa River trail to work off the big portions we had just eaten. The trail backs up to this gorgeous 6 acre botanical garden
Then it was time for Brooke to get her wiggles out at a nearby park
She was perfectly content with the little slide until daddy showed her something better:

She looks so small in that big slide! She had the biggest grin and was giggling the whole way down. Of course Blake and I spend the rest of the evening going up those stairs with her.

The next day we rode this:
To the top of the mountain. At first I think Brooke was just amazed that we were moving and she wasn't buckled in
Then she realized we were high up and was glued to the windowThe views from the top were incredible!We went on another hike at the top and just as we were getting to ready to leave I was attacked by a ferocious caterpillar! It all started when I put my jacket down on the grass so we could take this picture:
When I picked it back up I draped it over my arm and could feel something stinging me. I thought maybe it was an ant or something so I lifted my jacket to see. Inside was the biggest, fattest, furriest caterpillar I had ever seen! I don't know what it did to me, but my skin reacted the same way it does to stinging nettle: burns like crazy then blisters. I had to go ask the restaurant for some ice to put on my caterpillar wound (I'm sure they thought I was crazy).

We had tons of fun doing familiar things in a different city. It was the perfect mid-week getaway.

Rainy Days & Sunshine

Thanks for the advice on getting Brooke to eat. I know it's a common problem with kids, but it's still so frustrating! But you are all right: all I can do is offer the food--I can't make her eat it.

Our weather lately has been crazy! It goes from being scorching hot, to breezy & overcast and rainy in about 5 seconds. But it's been producing some beautiful sunsets
With all this crazy weather, we've still been finding ways to have fun & enjoy the last few weeks of summer. It's also been a while since I've done a detailed "what brooke's been up to" post, so here we go:
I was going through some clothes I have for Brooke for this fall and came across this little jean skirt and shirt outfit that I bought for her last year to wear this summer. Somehow it got stashed in the wrong bin and I just barely found it! I had to make sure I got some pictures of her in it before summer is over and she can't wear it anymore! Please don't look too closely at the fingerprinted, food splattered, and yes even licked window.
Then Brooke's interest in the camera was piqued. She kept wanting me to take pictures and show them to her:
Brooke has been in a Kinder-music class for the past 5 weeks. The theme is "Animal Train" and last week they did some activities with polar bears where they learned a little song with white socks (aka polar bear paws) on their hands. Brooke loved it so much she didn't want to take her polar bear paws off after we got home. She wore them practically the whole day.
Brooke is fearless when it come to the playground. She tries to play on/climb on things that she is really still too little for, but that doesn't stop her from trying!We went to the lake again last weekend with cousins and had a blastBrooke found Papa John's hat in the office and insisted that she had to wear itThese videos are the cutest things ever! I am amazed how fast Brooke learns and picks things up. In the first video she is singing (in her own way) "Twinkle, Twinkle" and in the second "I'm Bringing home a baby bumble bee..." You'll have to excuse my nasaly singing, I've had a cold all week.



Here are some other things Brooke's been up to:
*can say "thank you" & "here you go" ( it sounds like "ear go")
*I went to get her up yesterday morning and found her almost naked in her crib. She'd taken her PJs off and was in just her diaper!
*has learned how to push chairs up next to the counter so she can climb on top
*can run to nursery without me really leading the way--she knows right where to go & loves it!
*is being a better listener. I can usually ask her to throw something away, close something, or give me something and she'll usually do it.
*pretty much knows and can say: eye, nose, ear, mouth, tummy, toes
*when you tell her it's time to brush her teeth she automatically opens her mouth and says "ahhhhhhh"
*brushing teeth has led to a love for toothpaste. We have to hide it otherwise she finds a way to get the tube and will suck on it.

I have found that the saying “I never said it would be easy, only that it would be worth it” can be applied to many different periods in my life. This time however, I am finding it true when it comes to being a mom and this especially challenging phase Brooke is in. We’ve been so busy this summer I’ve gotten into the habit of packing little baggies of snack food to take with us in the car and while we are out. Now I feel like that has come back to bite me in a big way. At her 15-month appointment, my doctor warned me that babies can start to become pickier eaters. I never knew how true that was. What happened to my good little eater? Brooke, who used to eat anything and everything we put in front of her, now barely touches anything at all. She wants milk and snacks and that’s it. Her longtime favorites she just throws on the floor or barely takes two bites of and she refuses to touch any veggies altogether. Last night she happily ate up some BBQ chicken we were feeding her and I was so excited. I saved some leftovers for her to eat today and when I tried to get her to eat it, she stuck her nose up at it. She no longer wants water in her sippie cup, just milk or juice. What’s the deal?! I am going crazy trying to figure out what she will eat. Here’s a typical menu:

Breakfast: sippie cup of milk, small handful of dry cereal (maybe) and half a waffle (maybe)

Lunch: ??? Totally depends on the day. Maybe a thing of string cheese or yogurt, some grapes, and a few bites of Vienna sausage if I’m lucky

Dinner: ??? Maybe some pasta or a tiny bit of whatever we’re eating

but some days I feel like she literally eats nothing. Oh, but she’s always up for eating snacks or some dessert. I’ve been trying to be better about not having as many snacky foods during the day so she’ll eat better at meals, but I don’t feel like that is helping. It also doesn’t help when Brooke will come up and sign to me that she is hungry so I’ll put her in the highchair, give her something to eat, and then she won’t want it. So I get her out and she’ll come up to me a few minutes later signing again that she is hungry! I think when she does this, she is expecting snack foods like goldfish or a juicebox and doesn’t want any real food I try to give her. I’m fine with snacks, just not all day long!

It’s so frustrating trying to guess at each meal what Brooke will actually want to eat and having most of it end up on the floor anyway. I’m also going crazy stressing over her getting a balanced diet. What can I do?

In Good Company

We had some good company last week. It was the second annual "Slocombe Family Visit". We don't get to see our friends from up north too often, and look forward to the times when we actually do get to be together. Having company also gives Blake and I an excuse to play hard, and this was no exception. We stayed up late, ate yummy food, drank lots of Dr. Pepper, let the kids play, and just enjoyed being able to hang out and talk. The boys went on a few mountain bike rides, and Ryanne and I snuck away to see "Eclipse" (again for both of us.) We also spent some time on the lake wake-boarding, wake-skating, swimming, and tubing.

Since having shoulder surgery in March, Blake has had to take it pretty easy this summer. He is on the wakeskate, since it's a little safer (no jumping or fancy tricks).

Here he is "spreading the butter"

"Hanging Ten" on the wakeskateI am happy to say that I too can wakeskate now, but I still prefer the wakeboard since I'm still trying to get the hang of things like doing small jumps and keeping my balance. I had to post this video 1) because it's the best I've ever done and 2) when I watched it I was thinking "what?! I know I went way higher than that!" Why does everything seem much more extreme and cooler than it actually is in real life? Oh well.

Ryanne, Jocelyn, Brooke and me
This has become one of my all time favorite photos of Brooke and Blake. There was no coaxing to get that smile--just so happy to be in the water!

Just floatin'...

We spent one morning hiking up to Moonshine Arch. The kids had fun exploring the area. To get to the trail head, we accidentally drove onto private land through some open gates. When it was time to go home, we realized that we (and the truck) were now locked in behind the gates with no way out and no one to call for help. Thank goodness Blake and Reggie are handy guys. They could give McGuyver a run for his money!What's the saying? When the wives are away the husbands will come out and play! While Ryanne and I were seeing "Eclipse", the boys decided to build a bike jump in our empty garden plot. I'll probably be posting more on this later, hopefully not in relation to a hospital visit, though.and finally, we spent the afternoon visiting our dinosaur museum. Brooke and Jocelyn were anxious to get out of their strollers & as soon as they did they were off! So busy running around and looking (touching) everything. At that point it was impossible to get a picture of the two of them playing together--they were just too fast!Brooke digging for dinosaur bones