Christmas is such as special time, and there is nothing else as wonderful as Christmas morning with a two year old!!!
We set out milk, cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer last night and it was the first thing that Jadeyn wanted to check on this morning (even before running to his whole GeoTracks that were set up beside them!) GeoTracks were a hit!!! Within about 90 seconds of figuring the remote control out, he had race cars, a dinosaur egg and a few other random items laid out on the track ready to be run over by his new train! These will certainly grow with him as he get more and more creative with them!! A few months ago, Jadeyn really wanted a "baby bumblebee" from Transformers. I told him that maybe Grandma and Grandpa would get it for him and he has reminded me of it every couple of days. Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa J came through with flying colors! He loved it! And again, within minutes of opening it, he was using Bumblebee to shoot his GeoTrains off their tracks, and Ironman off a table, and race cars in the air!!
The Outdoor Life—We spent as much time as possible in the beautiful outdoors this summer.Many camping trips for a total of 29 nights under the stars, too many brookies and rainbow trout caught to count, tons of worms squished by little fingers, and quite a few trails hiked and so many beautiful places.
National Parks-Highlights of our outdoor wanderings were an incredible trip to Banff, Yoho & Kootenay National Parks in Canada and Glacier, Teton and Yellowstone.Glacier has quickly jumped into our top favorites NP list!Bears, big horn sheep, mountain goats wildflowers, aqua-blue water!!!
Hobby Time!Kevin’s rose garden was amazing this year!! We have a total of 21 in our yard & they bloomed all summer long! Such a treat to have a fresh bouquet every day! Rebecca went a little nuts with crafts this year: miter saw, sanders, paint & vinyl filled almost every one of Jadeyn’s nap time, but she had a blast, did well at the craft show & made lots of gifts! Jadeyn was our constant little helper in both hobbies: usually covered in mud and searching for worms near the roses, or covered with tiny pieces of paper from Rebecca's paper cutter!
Always Coasters—We couldn’t let the year pass without a coaster trip.Carowinds, NC gave us the perfect excuse to spend some time with Kevin’s sister Stephanie and family as well as Kevin’s college roommate and family.Good times!!! We can't resist a great thrill ride!
A New Toy?We fell in love with a new toy: a Polaris RZR4! We rented one of these machines along with a 4-wheeler and had an amazing time in Taylor Park, CO. Needless to say, Kevin thinks he needs one to explore all the Colorado mountains next year!!!
Family—We were lucky enough to have so many visits with both sides of our families. Rebecca’s parents visited us twice and Jadeyn fell in love with his Grandpa and Grandma all over again. The Cottrell family reunion took place in Telluride Colorado where 32 of us romped through the mountains in chaotic bliss!
Random Happiness! All in all, this has been a wonderful year! Jadeyn keeps us moving and laughing at all the creative comments that come out of his brain! He is a non-stop boy in motion and we love him to pieces!!
Jadeyn was such a joy this Halloween! Besides being absolutely adorable, he was the funniest little guy and cracked us up every few minutes. On Saturday we joined the Longmont City Parade and enjoyed watching all the crazy people, kids, dogs and goats in their costumes. Yup, I said goats! It was the funniest thing seeing goats dressed as pumpkins! We saw some great costumes and Jadeyn loved it all. He was so excited to see a Ghostbuster kid and latched onto him and kept shouting "Ghostbusters!!" Luckily the kid was a good sport.
We had a pot luck dinner with all the neighbors on our alley before the trick or treating began and it was such fun to get everyone together again! We have such wonderful neighbors!!
He loved his costume since he loves cooking with both of us. We even watched Ratatouille a few nights ago to get him in the mood and to see the other chefs wearing their big hats! When it came to Trick or Treating, he had a few really funny things to say. Reaching into a bowl at a few houses and dropping the candy in his bag, he promptly announced, "I need more!" Oh dear! Then, at one house the man dropped the candy in his bag, Jadeyn set his bag down and started digging through it. He found some Smarties and tried to give them to the man! We figure he was either tried to make a trade, or he was showing the man what he would rather have! Clever. Then another time, Kevin was distracted and Jadeyn was ready to move on. So Jadeyn looked around, saw Pierre, one of our neighbors, grabbed Pierre's hand and hollered, "Next house!" It didn't matter who it was, he was ready to go!!
It was such a special holiday having our little Chef around!
My parents came to visit us for a few days this month and we enjoyed every second of them! They were on their way home from a month long vacation to Cape Cod, Nantucket, Florida, and I'm not sure where all else, but they still had the energy to party with us! Jadeyn loved having Grandma and Grandpa to play with him every day. He ran to them right off with great big hugs and squeals of delight. Every morning we would have to hold him back to keep him from jumping on their bed and hollering "wake up grandpa!" Tinker Toys and the giant creatures Grandpa could build were a hit. Grandma's IPad was a source of wonderment for Jadeyn. He was fascinated by it. Throughout the days we watched the progression of his artwork change and improve as he went from straight lines, to circles, connecting dots, etc. It was such fun to watch. Jadeyn and Grandma enjoying a happy moment together snuggling on the sofa. We spent an afternoon at Rocky Mountain National Park to see the beautiful aspens changing color and to watch the elk in the rut. Those magnificent animals are so fascinating as you see them vying for rank and control of the females. We watched a few stand offs and challenges between the males and wayward female requiring a reminder of who is their boss! We watched until sunset and listened to the eerie bugling echo through the meadows. Amazing! The elk at Rocky Mountain National Park were putting on a marvelous show in the dimming light.
Each morning Jadeyn got to partake in Grandpa's mighty pill challenge! It consists of Grandpa holding our a handful of about 12 pills, Jadeyn choosing one for him, one...two...three! Grandpa tosses the pill in the air and catches it on his tongue!!! What a showman! Jadeyn loved it!
We spend a day at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder people watching, meandering through shops and enjoying a beautiful fall day. Here is Jadeyn being introduced to Bruiser, a sweet and playful street performer with all the behavior and actions of a real dog: its pretty impressive. We watched a fire street performer who wowed us and Jadeyn got a balloon fishing pole and fish to play with. Lunch was at the Cheesecake Factory! YUM!! It ended with Jadeyn cutting his upper eyelid again on a sharp corner, he only cried for a few minutes and was ready to go again. Tough kid!
Here is all of us on Pearl Street!
By the river in Estes Park. Not a bad picture if we could only keep Jadeyn's eye from trying to see a fish! Great times!
Carowinds, North and South Carolina How much can you pack into one weekend?!?! We did our best. On Friday morning we flew off to Charlotte, NC for our annual "roller coaster fix!" Our goal was to have a blast on the coasters, as well as spend some time with Kevin's sister Stephanie and her family, and Austin & Elizabeth. It has been a good six years since we have seen Kevin's old roommate from college and it was wonderful to see them again. Its awesome when you can hook up with people after so many years and it just feels natural, just like you haven't' really been apart (with the exception of a few additional kids of course!!) They welcomed Jadeyn in as part of their family instantly! Katherine, Adison and Ashton romped around with Jadeyn and us and loved showing us their playground: they live just about two minutes from Carowinds!
Stephanie and family were so happy that we were able to see them as well. Jadeyn was ecstatic to see his cousins again!!! This is our third long distance coaster park that we have been able to to with them!: Kings Dominion in Virginia, Hershey Park in Pennsylvania and now Carowinds in North Carolina! We love having them as our vacation buddies!
We were on our own for the second day in the park and crammed in as many coasters as we could, but still managed to spend a few hours in Snoopyville for Jadeyn!
Jadeyn loved the Swings!! He was a little unintentional rebel however. He would rock the swing, stretch to kick the swing in front of him, grab onto the swing in front of him and rattle his chains! Not because he was misbehaving, he just couldn't contain his excitement!
Jadeyn's first "big kid roller coaster" was a complete success the first time around. He went with Kevin and even held his hands up on the first hill. Once the car started to plunge however, he held on so tight! Then he demanded to stay on and go two more times! When I took him the next day though: no hands up and he practically hid under the bar for safety, but still wanted to go two more times! I think we were nearing nap time at this point!
The Intimidator The Intimidator is the parks newest and biggest coaster opening up just this year. It was a thing of beauty! 211 foot drop at 75 mph. It was a smooooth ride and very thrilling. We went on it about 12 times each between the two days. It was similar in style to Apollo's Chariot in Busche Gardens, VA. So much air time that you don't even notice that you never go upside down!
Other favorites were Afterburn a nice coaster where your legs dangle down. I tried the Carolina Cobra, a coaster where they pull you up the track backwards, then drop you down, ride through the tracks to the other end, where they hoist you up again and you do it all again, but backwards!
We enjoyed all of Saturday with friends and family at the park and wore everyone out!! Dinner was in the lovely home of Austin and Elizabeth with some awesome Chinese food!
Sunday morning at breakfast all Jadeyn could talk about was "ride the park! ride the park!" We can see the park from our hotel, and it was almost more than he could handle. A nice leidsurly day followed treating Jadeyn to all the kiddie rides and then taking turns on the big ones! I'd play with Jadeyn at a fountain while Kevin would go on Intimidator a few times and then we would switch. We were amazed at how short the lines were today!!! If we didn't have Jadeyn to force us to take a break, we probably would have made ourselves sick!
We treated Jadeyn to a giant "fill up your own" pixie stick! He loved it until he got to one of the extra sour flavors, and boy did he dance! I got it on video, but it was his second taste so it wasn't quite as dramatic as the original.
Sunday night, Austin & Elizabeth had us over to their house again, and once more they amazed us by a gourmet spread! Homemade lasagna, homemade focaccia bread, angel food cake and fresh fruits! We stuffed ourselves and once again enjoyed their company while the kids played.
Over all, we had a spectacular trip! We usually reserve our coaster trips for the middle of winter, but we couldn't resist visiting and taking advantage of seeing everyone.
Oh, the plane ride. Jadeyn did very good. It was wonderful to have him be in his own seat with a seatbelt. He slept for one leg of the trip each way and the rest of the time we entertained him. I had to change a poopy diaper on the plane in the tiny bathroom and this one didn't even have a pull out table! Balancing his head and shoulders on the toilet seat (trying not to wonder if it was clean or not) I held is legs and bum in the air while doing my best not to ... you get the idea. Luckily, on the return flight, he at least waited until the flight was already boarding before I had to race to the bathroom and change him. Oh the adventures!
Rip roaring through the dirt, rocks, hills, trails, dust, dust and more dust! We rented a 4-wheeler and a Polaris Razor for the weekend and tore it up in Taylor Park, CO: ATV Heaven! What fun! We hit the trails from 9am to 7pm on the first day and 10am to 5pm on the second with only about a 30 min break each day. (Kevin thought we should get our money's worth on the rentals!) Hopping onto the 4-wheeler felt just like the good 'ol days riding the snow mobiles except I was higher up and there wasn't the promise of a soft snow landing if I crashed! Kevin spun out to his heart's content and enjoyed watching me hang on with a vice grip whenever we spun a big farther than I was ready to go! Jadeyn on the other hand hooted and hollered, clapped his hands and begged to "Go Faster!" Each of the trails we took had their own individual personality which gave us unique experiences on each. Texas Creek took us on a narrow jeep trail alternating between rough rocky trail and smooth dirt undulating in wave after wave. We followed along Texas Creek going in and out through the pines and beaver ponds. We finally ended up at the end of the trail and decided to cross the river to find the lake. That's where the interesting part began. We tried the loop around back to the main trail and apparently took the trial intended for ATVs or bikes, cause the Razor, well didn't want to fit between a few trees in one spot. When the machine goes at an angle, the roll bar of course tips too and would allow him and Jadeyn through! Oh dear. So with a lot of maneuvering, moving a few downed and decaying tree stumps and logs, Kevin managed to wiggle his way out and was free! (Oh, we did take Jadeyn out for this technical maneuvering!)
Piebald Trail was a wide soft road up to an abandoned mine site that had been turned into a bakery years ago. On this one, I got to drive Jadeyn in the Razor and Kevin tore it up on the ATV. Well, despite the bumps, and jarring motion (or perhaps because of) Jadeyn fell deep asleep bouncing around in his car seat! We climbed the narrow trail to the base of one of the old buildings and were promptly surrounded by at least 15 bikes, and 4 ATVs! Talk about intimidating! Here we were with our little boy asleep and all these strangers surrounding us. A few words and all these guys started teasing us and telling us how sweet our little boy was. Then the one guys starts telling all the other, "hey give her some room to turn around guys! where are your manners!"
Italian Trail was beautiful and scary! We started out on a lovely soft trail through meadows and aspens, then we got to a gate that said 4x4 only. That was our hint that tough roads were coming. Instantly the trail got really steep and rocky! We couldn't believe so many 4 wheel drive trucks were on it bouncing around. It was amazingly beautiful though. We went for miles and miles because on the map, it showed that this trail hooked up with a campground again at the main road and we would take the road back. We started to get nervous. Kevin was under 1/4 tank and the sun was setting! Suddenly, the trail wasn't as beautiful 'cause I was getting scared! It got below freezing on our first night, and all I could imagine was tips from "Survivorman" on how to make it through the night in high country. Finally we hit a place that said, "Private Road, If You Continue, You Better Be A Friend!" We stopped and asked a man for directions who was working on a rundown cabin. Nope, only way out was back the way we came. If we continued on, we could only make it by bike! Back we went, and I was still nervous. Then Kevin stops his vehicle, turns back at me with a big ol' happy grin and shouts, "Having fun?!?!" I love my husband. He know what I needed to hear to enjoy the ride again, and old stress when it was necessary. Well, we made it back to camp, in one piece, and still having gas left over!
Kevin & Jadeyn enjoying Jelly Filled Powder Donuts for lunch!!! Yummy!
On our second day we decided to surmount the big challenge: Tin Cup Pass to St Elmo! Wow!! Earlier in the summer we had come from the other side: Pitkin to Tin Cup and had lunch at Frenchy's! This was incredible! It was quite technical especially for us rookies. Parts of it were quite scary, and all of it was beautiful. Up at the top of the pass we took a quick look at the beauty, zipped up our fleeces and continued on. It was quite an accomplishment, I have to say. Kevin drove like a pro with Jadeyn and I both buckled into the passenger seat of the Razor. Halfway back down, Jadeyn again fell sound asleep in my arms bouncing all around! At St Elmo, Jadeyn fed the famous chipmunks and then we headed back down. Funny thing, back in '04 when we first met our friend Jonathan and Brigitte Barnes while camping at Chalk Lake, we had come to St Elmo from the other side! Small world!)
It was kinda sad to have to turn our machines back in, but we had a blast, were COVERED IN DIRT, were a bit sore and loved every minute!!
Camp life was as usual, lots of fun. We camped at Dinner Station next to the river. We couldn't believe how many people filled the Taylor Park valley this weekend. Well over a few thousand, but once you were deep on the trails, you would have no idea there were that many people. We got to know our neighbors, three retired men who offered their heater to us for the last two nights (Oh, that will spoil us!!). We ran into my co-worker Wanda's husband Ray on the trail as well! Small world! We fished a few of the lakes, caught two very nice trout at Pothole Reservoir Number 2 (nice name!). Then headed back home on I-70 (a 2 1/2 hour drive that took over 5 hours!
