St Patrick's Day!

A fun filled weekend all for the kids, oh, and a ton of fun for us adults too!




We decided to treat the kids to the movies and take them to The Lorax. Excellent flick, but the best part was being entertained by the kids! Jadeyn, Austin and Chloe were so excited simply to get together and we filled the whole day for them.



















Before the movie began, they got some energy out on a small playground and proved to us that each and every one of them is a ham as they showed off and made it very difficult to get a perfect picture of all three of them at once. But hey, we have proof of all their antics now!!

In the theater, Jadeyn and Austin had to sit in the same chair and were adorable!














Off to miniature golf. So we've been having unseasonably beautiful weather for March, but today, I think we somehow ended up in Wyoming. The winds came and bow did they ever make their presence known with a vengeance!! But it didn't spoil the fun of golfing. I must brag that I got two hole in ones but I didn't come close to winning!!

We finished off the evening by celebrating St Patrick's day a day late with delicious corned beef and cabbage!!

Old MacDonald Darth Vader Style

SO, one of the toughest things about teaching my sweet boy is he will almost always improvise or negotiate what I am trying to teach him. For example, if I tell him to pick up his toys, he will think about it, maybe challenge it a bit, but then will say, "okay I'll pick up my toys but I will use my feet!"

So on that note, when we ask him to sing a song, he makes up his own words.
Here it is; Old MacDonald Darth Vader Style:

Old MacDonald had Darth Vader…and Anakin…fighting Darth Vader.

With a wong wong wong. With a wong wong wong

With a other wong wong. With a other wong wong. With two wong wongs.

(Is that the light saber making that sound? Whoa.)

That how it goes dad. That how it goes dad. Now you try it dad!

Royal Gorge Bridge and Park

Royal Gorge Bridge and Park
Wow! Spectacular hidden gem in the middle of Colorado. We had never visited before and thought we'd make a day of it. With the amazing weather that we have been having we were so tempted to get out and camp, so this helped satisfy the outdoor craving just a bit. The Royal Gorge is about 3 hours from our home and was well worth the trip.

The suspension bridge is the highest in the county at almost 1000 feet above the river below. Its 1,260 feet long and was constructed in 1929. We walked across it and marveled at the green river way below. Jadeyn got a kick out of laying on the bridge and peeking through the wooden slats. We also chuckled when we saw a huge sign announcing; No Fishing from the Bridge!

We took the tram from one end of the gorge to the other. Basically it was a train car suspended on a cable and felt a little rickety, but hey, its been working for almost 90 years!




















Since it is technically still winter, all the attractions weren't open yet, but we did get to see part of the zoo which proudly boasts of a few rare white buffalo! I'd never seen that before!
The coolest experience was the vertical train ride to the base of the gorge. Somehow, they constructed a vertical rail line that drops at a 45 degree angle! The train car had compartments that were staggered to allow each guest to have a perfect view of the canyon during the decent. It was a pretty sweet ride!



















Jadeyn of course love the carousel and insisted on riding the cat "horse!"

Adventure at Uncle Wayne's

A day at Uncle Wayne's Farm

It's always an adventure to visit Kevin's uncle Wayne. Not only can we experience a wide array of animals, but we can experience a life right out of the old west: leather working (beautiful saddles), curing his own meat, slaughtering his own animals, beautiful log cabin, etc, etc. Its an adventure and a wealth of education!

This last visit was spurred by new baby goats! We just had to go see them but never realized that we would be laughing so hard that tears would start rolling!!!! I never counted exactly how any adults and how many babies there were, but the barn was FULL of goats.
Wearing their personalities on their sleeves, they would stare straight at us with big eyes with the cool shaped pupil as if to ask, uh, what are you guys staring at?? Their floppy ears gave each of them a somewhat startled and curious look, while the little ones were just plain adorable and fuzzy!

Jadeyn immediately took to Pete, a sweet black and white goat who became his instant playmate. Jadeyn and Pete played King of the Castle for a long time vying for whoever could get to and stay on the top of the platform. Jadeyn would climb to the top and Pete would lower his head and "help" Jadeyn up with a nice head-butt! Then they would wrestle around at the top to see who could push the other off!

Whenever Jadeyn would lower his on head, Pete would happily oblige and the duel would be on!
In this video, Pete does the cutest thing, he turns his back to Jadeyn, wagging his tail pretending to not notice Jadeyn behind him. Then he whips around as fast as he can to challenge his competitor!

Uncle Wayne decided to "educate" Jadeyn on how the baby goats drink. Calling Jadeyn over, he reached under one of the mamas and SQUIRT!" Milk all up Jadeyn's jacket and up to his face!! We were all laughing so hard that we barely heard Jadeyn's comment, "Thanks for tasting me some milk!" So after we got cleaned up, we headed inside to enjoy some delicious goats milk and chocolate goats milk! Yum!!

Wyoming Wintertime Grandma Pete's birthday

Grandma Pete and Jadeyn! They sure are both fun to watch. At times neither of them like to have their picture taken so these photos are especially appropriate. I'm still not sure if it is Grandma Pete or Jadeyn who is holding their hand up!!!

We went to Wyoming to celebrate Grandma Pete's birthday and it was so good to see her. She is quite a special lady and we love to be with her. We took her out to dinner to a Chinese buffet and then spent time together at her sweet little home catching up and being entertained by Jadeyn!





















The following day, despite the blistering wind, we decided that we just had to go sledding. As soon as it got above freezing we all piled in the cars to head to the foothills. I'm quite familiar with Wyoming winters, but it still amazes me when the snow can be a fraction of an inch deep on one side of the road and 7 feet deep on the other side of the road simply because of the wind!! A clear road will spontaneously be an ice rink for 30 feet or so due to the blowing snow . Its crazy!

So a few miles into the foothills there was a mighty drift (okay it wasn't that mighty, but I have to say that to help my father-in-law feel better!) and well, the RAV got stuck!!! Nice thing for us is we had the new Jeep all ready to go with a tow strap and got it pulled out in a jiffy! Needless to saw however, no sledding, so we headed to Pizza Hut and ate way too much!!!

Oh yeah, another crazy thing: in the new vehicle, we got 5 miles per hour better gas mileage on the way home to Colorado than our way there simply because of the headwinds and tailwinds!!

Another highlight of the weekend was Darlene and I got to go to Buzy Bee, the Lyman craft store that all my sister in laws rave about, and I finally learned why the place is so awesome!! Wow! I could easily spend a fortune in there!!