Getting Settled

We've had our stuff for a few weeks now and are getting settled. I finished the front room first, and am slowly working my way through the rest of the house. It feels great to have all our stuff again,  and to be getting organized! This house is so much bigger than our last house- the extra space is so nice!

And we're loving this cool Summer weather in Colorado.  Here's Lena chilling on the lawn with Daddy. And we're not getting eaten alive by mosquitos!

Colorado is a fun place, and we love our new house. We like it here!

6 months old

It's hard to believe that our little Lena is 6 months old! Half a year. She is growing up too fast!
She gets cuter and cuter every day.

She is getting more mobile, rolling from one side of the room to the other, and sometimes even scooting on her belly. Yikes! We better start baby proofing again. We're going to have a crawler pretty soon...

And the HAIR!  It's getting longer. People stop to comment wherever we go. "Look at all that hair!" They always think she's older than she is, based on her full head of hair.

Lena's newest trick is to blow raspberries.  Very loud, very wet raspberries!

Seriously, could she be any cuter?

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us! We've had 11 wonderful years together.

Jack surprised me with planning a trip to the museum to see the Chihuly exhibit, and then dinner at a French restaurant. We had a great time!

I love Dale Chihuly's work. The glass is even more spectacular in person. We saw some of his pieces in Venice a few years ago- they were suspended over the canals, and absolutely glowing in the sunlight. It was incredibly beautiful. I've always loved his work.

The French restaurant "Couture", was in downtown Colorado Springs, in a cute pedestrian area full of restaurants and shops.  It was fun to walk around there.

Jack also got me a new beach cruiser for our anniversary. Actually, we went to the bike store to look- but haven't picked one out yet. I'm liking the Electras....   If only I had a beach nearby to ride on.

Happy Anniversary honey! I love you.

Leo's 1st day of Pre-K

We had Leo registered for the pre-k through the local school district, but I had some concerns about it only being 3 hours a day. He's already done two years of 3-hour preschool, and we think he needs a full day. So we shopped around, talked to some neighbors, and decided on a Montessori school. It's a totally different philosophy on education, and from what we've seen so far- we love it!

Here's Leo on his first day. (with his favorite Transformers)

Doesn't he look so grown up?  I can't believe he's almost 5 years old. *sigh*

It's fun to see how animated he is when I pick him up from school. Yesterday he told me: "Today we used a giant MAGNET,  just like El Macho!"  

I sure love this big-hearted, crazy, active, never-stop-moving boy! I miss him like crazy when he's at school. But it's so fun to see him learning and growing.

Camping at Royal Gorge

Most of the un-packing is complete, but we still have a lot of organizing to do. It's been an exhausting few weeks. We decided to take the weekend off and find somewhere to camp.

Most of the places we checked were booked, but we finally found a campground near Royal Gorge that had some spots. They had some "Rustic Cabins" available, so we packed up the car and headed out for the weekend.

The "Cabin" was really just a SHED with a BED.

We laughed when we saw it. But it was fine. It was clean, and it kept us dry during the rain on the first night. It was so great to be outdoors, and to be exploring a brand new area.

Jack bought Leo his first fishing pole, and Leo could not wait to go fishing! He wanted to go as soon as we got there, even though it was dark and raining.

Saturday was a beautiful day- warm and sunny! We took Leo fishing on the Alabama river (which looked exactly like Chocolate Milk) at a spot that was right next to the park. They were even having a festival at the park that day- so they had some inflatable bounce houses and water slides- it was perfect! Leo fished a little, played on the playground, and then got wet on the water slide- while we relaxed on a blanket in the shade. We spent almost the whole day there- it was so great. Leo could go back and forth between all the different activities, as his attention span wained. 

Lena and I watching the boys fishing.

In the late afternoon we ventured out to see the Royal Gorge. It was stunning.  We hope to go back soon, and try out some river rafting down the Gorge. 

We then headed back to camp, and cooked dinner over the fire. We had Roast Chicken. Leo had a hotdog. Lena had a bottle.

And we had s'mores for dessert, of course! Camping is awesome.