Rocky Mountain High, Colorado!

I've heard this song from PJ so many times during our Colorado vacation I had to ask him to stop! I think it was every time he looked at the mountains that reminded him of that song, and the mountains were surrounding us EVERYWHERE. It was the most beautiful thing, for someone who lives in the hill country. 

We decided to drive overnight this time... We did have some peaceful moments and things that worked well, but for the most part in was a torture! On the way there, for the first two hours of our trip, while the kids were awake, we were confident that we're glad we weren't driving during the day. The bag of travel toys that I prepared for them did not keep their attention for longer than 1 minute per toy, and then each one wanted the other one's toy the whole time. It was a mess! Our only saving grace was the DVD player. At least it kept Ophelia very occupied. Emerson seemed uncomfortable in his carseat the whole trip. He woke up about every 45 minutes to an hour and would wake up Ophelia at times. We made lots of stops, in the middle of the night, both kids awake, full of energy, at 1 am, at 2:30 am, at 5 am. I'm sure the people at gas stations were wondering why in the world we were keeping our kids awake this hour of the night...while I was wondering what in the world is keeping our kids awake? If it was me in the backseat, I'd sleep the whole night and not even care that my head was bobbing all over the place. PJ and I stayed awake the whole night, trying to keep each other awake. And towards the end I was not sure if it was a good idea to drive through the night any more. By morning time though, we did make it to Colorado. When the sun started to rise, we started to see the amazing mountains surrounding us.

Later on our vacation, we made a four hour trip during the day when it was supposed to be nap time. We were all miserable...each child slept for a total of 20 minutes, and at different times of the trip, not together... There was a lot of whining, drama, crying, screaming... So, I would say, the trip was the hardest part of our vacation, and the part that I didn't like the most. I don't know if our kids are high maintenance or what, but they do not travel well, at least Emerson. On the way back, Ophelia slept really well, only woke up once, but Emerson was up and down the whole night again!

Here is the sunrise over Colorado mountains:

Yay, we made it!

We stayed at a place called the Chinook Lodge in South Fork, in a cabin. Mark and Camille and Winstie stayed in another cabin, and Grandma and Grandpa were in their camper. Emerson has started calling Winstie "Tee-tee", so Winston decided to call Emerson "Tee-tee" as well. It was so funny every morning when they saw each other from afar, they'd start running toward each other and both scream "Tee-tee!!", and give big hugs.

Both boys were super early risers the whole time in Colorado. As in 5 am early risers... I think part of it has to do with a little cold, stuffy noses, and drainage they had. Part of it was the one hour time difference with Texas. Part of it was not being at home, in their rooms and cribs. Emerson napped great though! Most days for three hours straight!

The weather was wonderful there! In the 50s at night, sometimes colder, 60s and 70s during the day. It was a nice break from Texas heat!

One of the first days, we went up to Creede, a small mountain touristy town. Mark and PJ are carrying the boys on their backs:

With Grandpa, resting on rocks. Ophelia has a bag of Cheetos in hand, a special treat that Grandma sent along.

This was the kids very first time in Colorado. I think their little bodies adjusted to the altitude pretty quickly, because I did not notice them ever getting out of breath. Emerson wanted to explore everything on foot all the time, but he does not walk or hike in a straight line - he wants to stop, pick up rocks, put rocks in his mouth, putz in the dirt, touch/smell flowers, climb rocks. We did not get far with him on foot, so we would put him on PJ's and my back, for the majority of time.

Here's our first little hike:

I could go on forever talking about the breathtaking scenery of Colorado. It's just amazing! And indescribably beautiful!

 In between hikes and exploratory trips, we snacked a lot. Ophelia spent a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa in the camper. It was the smallest dwelling out of all three of our camps, but ultimately we'd all hang out in the camper. It's just cozy in there, plus lots of yummy food :) Ophelia would usually fall asleep in our cabin, and then we'd transfer her to the camper. She loved waking up her Grandparents and spending the early morning in there. She also would wake up around 6 am.

Here's us with our campground behind us. PJ and I got to go on a little date one afternoon, while Mark and Camille took the kids. It was a nice break for sure!

This was a little morning hike that we did, but without Ophelia:

The road was winding up and up pretty steep right to the top of the mountain. We never reached the top, but we got high! Rocky Mountain High :)

The nice pictures with blurry background were taken by Camille. They turned out really cute! Look at my handsome boys :)

The kids had lots of fun playing together, as they always do! They explored the campground all over the place. I can only image that it will be more fun each year the kids grow older!

Just the four of us took a little hike to the river:

Ophelia picked all sorts of flowers for Grandma anywhere we went:

This waterfall is located by the Million Reservoir. It was a lake in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, with green forest surrounding it. We ended up going there twice, once with everyone, once just us four. So pretty!

The kids are checking out an earthworm that popped up after a rain. It did rain pretty much every day while we were there, but usually around the time that we weren't hiking anyway, so it didn't spoil our plans at all.

My favorite family shot:

All the walking around the lake made Emerson super sleepy:

We hiked to the Treasure Falls one morning. We have rented two kid packs, which made the hike heavier, but more enjoyable, because we didn't have to worry about the kids tripping, falling, running away, or touching what they weren't supposed to.

A beautiful smile from Ophelia on this one...

Since the name of this place was "treasure falls", Ophelia kept waiting for a time when we'd see or find some treasures...she was a bit disappointed until we took out a bag of popped corn for a snack, then everyone was happy!

The second hike around the reservoir. The first time we never made it all the way, but this time we did. It took us about 2 hours, but we did stop for a snack, and also to pick wild strawberries, raspberries, and mushrooms! Reminded me of Latvia!!! We also saw lots of chipmunks, Emerson called them "ma-mak".

Ophelia took a picture of us three. It's funny to think that that is her viewpoint from where she is :)

We saw some elk crossing the street on one of our trips:

You always see those signs along the road "Elk crossing", but this was the first time that we actually saw them do it! Gorgeous!

After our stay in South Fork, and on the way to Denver, we stopped for a dip in the Sand Dune Hot springs. It felt like a mini water park/pool, but without the chlorine. The water was so nice and warm. There was one pool with 108 F temp, it was hot, but I did boil myself it there for a while. Auntie Cami got some cute shots of the kids there:

After our loooooongest four hour car trip to Denver, we finally made it to our friends' the Mojicas home. So good to stay and catch up with wonderful old friends. We had a great time with them! Emerson had a blast chasing or dodging the dog around the house, and playing with so many new for him toys.

Ophelia loved playing with the girls. She also slept in their room at night, so it was like a huge two night sleep over, which she enjoyed a lot!

Emerson had the worst fall of all our vacation at the Mojicas new house. He fell off the concrete front steps, face first and scratched up his whole face:

But he quickly got over it! We also took the kids to see the beautiful Denver temple. This is the first time in their lives that our kids have seen a live temple!

The youngest of the Mojica's is a thumb sucker too! Precious!

Two families portrait! It was right before we took off on our trip back, around 8 pm, that's why our kids are wearing pajamas.

Love these guys!

We left around 8 pm and after another all night drive, we finally made it home by noon the next day. Wheew! We all crashed for a nap right away and it was soooo nice! That's when you really learn to appreciate your bed, pillow, and own room!

I'm hoping that we had so many hard times with our kids on this trip because they are still so small. Mainly, it's the sleeping...or NOT sleeping that was hard: both kids having a hard time falling asleep and waking up early. This was the fun part of our trip, singing songs together. Even Emerson learned when to chime in:

We thought it was super funny that he would say "duck" at the appropriate place! But no other animals :) Emerson also loved "Popcorn popping!" church song, we sure sang it a lot on our trip!

The Colorado vacation is in the plans for next summer too. Let's hope the kids will be mature enough to handle a road trip then!

Our Sweet Joys

As I was rushing to finish last night's post, I realized that I forgot to mention a bunch of little things that I wanted to mention here. Even though PJ does not blog, he contributes by reminding me constantly: "You need to put that on the blog!" after something particularly funny or important happens in our family. So I have a running list of the things that if PJ were to blog, he would mention.

First important thing is mentioning the day when Emerson finally first said the word "Papa" - 18th of May 2013. For the longest time, Emerson called every family member "Mama". Each time Emerson called PJ Mama, PJ would respond "I'm Papa!". Finally, in May, Emerson's tongue turned in such a way as to be able to make the P sound and say "papa" for the very first time in his life! It was very memorable, especially for PJ! Since then he's been able to say Grandma - Mawmaw, Grandpa - Bawpaw, Babushka - Baba, and Dedushka - also Baba. We're getting there, people! Be patient and happy that you are not at least called Mama!

Back in May Emerson also had his 15th month checkup. He checked out to be in the 5% for height and 20% for weight. So in reference to other boys his age, he is a tiny guy. BUT he is in the 75% for head circumference, so that tiny body has one big head on top of it! During that well-child visit, the doctor commented on what a great personality Emerson has. That despite the poking, prodding, and looking, Emerson stayed calm and happy, and relaxed. The doctor said that 15-mo appointment are the worst in terms of behavior. Toddlers at that age do not want to be messed with, but not out sweet little guy. He did get two shots in each leg at the very end, so that did not go so well, he was not happy about that.

Both Emerson and Ophelia had ear infections in the beginning of June and were on antibiotics. So we saw the doctor a couple more extra times after that and every time Emerson sits still and calm while being examined. All the doctors and nurses have asked me: "Is he always this calm during doctor visits?" And he is! Maybe he is taking mental notes on how to be a doctor in the future!

This month we have been taking Emerson to nursery at church and he has loved it! He loves the various activities and having other kids around, singing time and snack time. So far I have been staying with him for half of it and then sneaking out and we had no issues at all. I think all those times of me taking him to the babysitting room at the rec center helped. He loves his rec center babysitters and knows them by name. He gets excited to go there every time! The babysitters have told me once that they want to adopt him! Of course! He snuggled and hugs on them, who wouldn't want to have a sweet boy like that? They have no idea that he wakes up at 5:30 am every morning...

Ophelia is our little creative bug. She loves to do any kind of crafts. She loves coloring and drawing. She can pretty much write all of the letters of the alphabet. When she colors, she does so using all of the colors possible, using each crayon or marker or pencil. She loves to come up with games for us to play for FHE. The other week, we played who can crawl under a string tied to a chair, while it was being lowered each time. Kind of like limbo. Good times!

She is also such a curious little girl. I love the questions that she comes up with and we are getting to the point where I don't know all of the answers and have to google them. How do ants kiss? What is inside of our bones?

The other Sunday, while I was getting ready for church and putting on my mascara, she asked: "What are you doing, mama?" I said: "Putting on mascara." She goes: "To scare everyone?" ....Logically! Never thought that "scare" and "mascara" are so similar sounding and in the mind of a 3-year old mean the same thing! Love that girl!

Also, she told me the other day: "Mama, I LOVE sugar!". Great! Just great! What kind of a mommy dietitian am I now? She does love her veggies too though, which has been a good influence on Emerson as well, so I guess not all is lost :)

Awa!

"Awa! Awa! Awa!" is all I hear these days, because that's what Emerson calls Ophelia and he wants to play and be around her all the time! Sister and Brother love is so special and so neat to see. Here is Ophelia reading Emerson's favorite book to him:

I love that Emerson barely fits into Ophelia's tiny lap and she has trouble seeing the book around his big head! He has absolutely no reservations backing up into her lap when they're watching TV, reading books, or at story time at the library. Absolutely melts my heart to see them being kind and loving to each other. This must be what our Father in Heaven feels for us looking down on how we treat our earthly brothers and sisters.

Another month and then some passed before I am sitting down and catching up on our summer life. But here is what we've been up to lately...

Until the mosquitoes got really bad and the temperatures unbearable, we played in our backyard. Slip'n'slide!

Father's Day 2013. We had Grandpa and Grandma over here and had a nice dinner. Emerson has been all about Grandpa lately. He runs to him when Grandpa first come in and snuggles up to him whenever he gets a chance. So sweet :)

This is one of our new kid-friendly dinner ideas - octopus pasta. Angel hair pasta poked through a turkey dog and boiled. Fun and easy to make, and most importantly the kids eat it! The kids have not been very good eaters lately, so this saved the day.

The only thing that the kids DO eat any time of day is fruit! Emerson loves it all. Here he is working on an apple:

Also, there are two little mice living in my tupperware cupboard lately:

We have been having some lovely family get-togethers. The kids love playing together. They giggle, laugh, run around, and get so excited being around each other. Love it!

Ophelia has not been going to dance classes in the summer, but she still loves dancing. Here is a little impromptu freestyle dance from her:

We have been going to lots of splash parks and pools this summer and that has allowed us to be outside and not be scorched by the hot Texas sun. Since PJ has been on vacation, he has been joining us, so I have an extra hand to snap a picture or two:

Emerson has been getting so brave and fearless...of anything. It's not a good thing when we're talking about him running around a pool or running in the pool. I've caught him dozens of times just taking a step into the pool with no regard as to whether there will be a step or shallow water in the pool or NOT!!! Also I've pulled him out of the water a dozen of times, when he was completely submerged under and freaked out...The trouble is that the little stinker will not wear any sort of floaties or vests either. Is that normal for boys not to learn from their past experiences??? I'm learning that with this guy, it is :)

I have signed up Ophelia for her first ever swim class this summer. She has mainly learned how to go down into the water all the way and hold her breath. Also they've been working on their kicks. She has loved her class! Her confidence in the water has definitely increased and she loves showing off how she can go under water. At least with her, I have no trouble having her wearing her floaties when swimming in the deep waters.

Here they are doing their class "cheer" at the end of a lesson:

One of the splash parks that we went to has a little "dinosaur dig" area. The kids had a good time exploring it:

I did have 3 relaxing days this summer :) Grandma and Grandma came to stay for two night at our home while PJ and I escaped to San Antonio. Oh, it was sooooo nice! So nice to talk to each other uninterrupted, to eat a meal at a restaurant without being rushed out by some fussy kids, to truly enjoy being with your eternal companion, focusing only on each other. Ahhh! This is what we have to look forward to in...16 or 17 years :)

We got into some crazy downpoor on our way there, but that didn't stop us from having fun. We stayed at a Bed and breakfast in the King William district, ate out all we wanted, went to the temple, shopped at the mercado, watched a movie in a movie theatre, took a boat ride on the riverwalk. It was a blast! Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa! When we came back home the house was spotless, kids still alive, and Grandma and Grandma all packed and ready leave :) They were ready for their break, that's for sure!

The Butterfly Garden Experience

I just can't say enough good things about Ophelia's preschool. I am dedicating this whole post to them and the amazing job that they do. Ms. Carol and Ms. Janine are the two teachers, who dedicate all their time to creating a wonderful nature-centered learning environment for the kids. The school is based on the Waldorf method, which is all about creativity, imagination, nature, a daily rhythm, and art. The school is also called the Forest Kindergarten, because the children spend the whole time outside. They do projects, play in the mud-kitchen, eat snacks/lunch, paint on the huge white paper board, play games, swing in hammocks, explore the forest, do story time - all outside. Here is Ophelia with Ms. Carol:

Ophelia was always curious about nature and the outdoors, but after attending this school, she has become a totally outdoorsee person. Nowadays, she asks me all the time to go play out in the backyard, and she'd rather do that than watch TV! She has become into collecting rocks and has a her rock collection/treasure box. She recognized different kinds of birds. She picks up rolly-pollies without a wince (Yuk!). She loves picnics. Here they are painting with dirt:

Cold, hot, rain, or sunshine, they are always outside. Except for thunderstorms, when the house has some craft stations for them to do. Here are some heart rocks that they did back in February. Ophelia has her two rocks on the bookshelf in her room.

Something cool that the teachers have noticed is that Ophelia is very sensitive to others' feelings. She is very compassionate. This boy in the picture was new and kind of shy. Ophelia was there for him on his first day of school to show him around, tell him what things he could do, and made sure he was not feeling sad. So sweet!

Today after school, she told me that there was a new girl at school that she was protecting from being pushed by a boy. She said: "I said to the boy, Don't touch her!" She may be small, but does not allow to be messed with :) Here they are mixing the batter for muffins for their morning snack.

Some more art exploration, paper plate lady bugs:

This was their thumb-print ants. Ophelia kept saying: "This is path!" and I did not understand what she meant at first, but then I realized she probably means Math!

This is another boy, Lois, who never had a buddy at school until Ophelia came. They became "best buddies" as Ophelia says. They hang out together all the time at school. He always sits next to her at snack and lunch and they play games together, games involving bad and good guys, sometimes chasing and/or protecting, as I gather... It seems that she mainly hangs out with boys at school. She may be becoming a tomboy!

I also love that the school has so many animals for the kids to observe and play with: dogs, cats, chickens, guinea pig, rabbit, a tarantula, a frog, and tadpoles. They let the kids feed the chickens and the other animals, pet them, and also learn about them. The chickens were brought in as baby chicks, so the kids have the chance to watch them grow actually! Here is Ophelia swinging on a swing:

Everything is done outside as I said. Here is another art project in the yard:

She comes home with dirt and sand in her lunchbox, shoes full of mud and dirt, paint on her clothes and face. But most important, she comes happy to have spent her day at school!

Last Friday they had a reptile show and all kids and their parents were invited. So me and Emerson came too. Emerson did not need to go the this school to become outdoorsee. I think he was born loving to eat dirt and rocks, playing in the mud and poking at bugs. Must be a boy thing. Anyway, Emerson was not into sitting still and listening/watching the show about reptiles, so he roamed the school yard. Everything was fine until he was chasing a chicken and tripped and fell on a CACTUS!!! Not good! The cactus had no big spines, but mostly those pesky tiny ones that are so hard to see and get out of your skin. I spent 2 hours getting the spikes off Emerson, his clothes, and me! What a disaster! A little Ibuprofen, a good nap, and he was good as new, but for a while there I was panicking trying to get cactus spikes out of a squirmy, freaking out 15 month old.

I do want Emerson to go to the Butterfly Garden eventually. Unfortunately, they start at 3 years of age...or maybe fortunately, because by then they hopefully learn not to run into cacti...