Been Blog-Lazy...

We've been blog lazy lately, but I'm going to try to catch up!

So a lot has happened since he last post in June...

It was a long, HOT summer. We had 65 days over 100 degrees, and broke a lot of records in Austin, including some all-time lows for rainfall. It was pretty dry and crusty around here. Lake Travis is as low as I've ever seen it - about 40' below "full". Most of the boat ramps are closed, leaving little access to that lake. Luckily, Lake Austin continues to flow downstream, and we have been able to enjoy its cool, 70 degree waters on our new (to us) boat throughout the summer heat.

John and Christi came down for a weekend visit with Will and Brock. Unfortunately, Jake had other plans that weekend, so we didn't get to see him. We had a great time with J&C&W&B though! I'm not sure what happened to our pictures from that weekend. I will keep looking and post them when I find them.

Paul and I also went down to New Braunfels in July for the Annual All-Girls Float at the Toob-Shack (a friend's summer house in NB, dedicated to weekend toobing of the cold spring-fed rivers). Guys are invited to the Shack to watch the kids, cook the food, and cater to the girls' needs throughout the day. They are also invited to join on the float on the Guadalupe under the stipulation that they are along to assist the girls in any way to make the girl-trip most enjoyable (such as applying sunscreen, serving beverages, holding palm fans, etc). Paul stayed at the shack to watch the kids while Christy floated with the rest of the girls. It was a hot, sweaty day, but we had a lot of fun regardless. Here's a pic of Paul performing his duties:

Christy returned to work at the beginning of the school year. She is working at two elementary schools this year in Leander ISD. Returning to work, of course, also meant that the girls started "school" also. Both Kaylee and Chloe attend the Children's Center of Austin. It was hard to leave Chloe in someone else's care, but a little easier than the first time I had to leave Kaylee. I think a little knowledge goes a long way... knowing that Kaylee really enjoys "school", even when she was a baby, really made it easier to leave Chloe. As expected, Chloe seems to really love interacting with the other babies in her classroom. She particularly enjoys the interactions of a little boy named Ian, who is only a few weeks older than her. Chloe and Ian make lots of googly-eyes at each other, and have had to have their cribs separated at naptime.

Kaylee has wonderful teachers this year, Mrs. Amanda and Mrs. Lanette. Her teachers report that she is one of their favorite little kids, and it shows in their actions! They always are so excited to see her, and hug and love on her. They say that she is always a good kid, often helps the teachers with cleaning up in the classroom or other "chores", and always pays close attention during different activities. She is still the only kiddo in her classroom that has not ever had to go for a time-out at school.

Another BIG step for Kaylee is that she is such a big girl now that she no longer needs diapers during the day! We are so proud of her - and it is such a nice change not to have to be changing her all day long. One down, one to go...

One night in August, we somehow ended up with both girls in our bed in the middle of the night. Needless to say, a 2 year old and a 6 month old are not too much fun to sleep with. So, this is how it ended up -- Kaylee and Chloe took over our bed, and we ended up in Kaylee's bed... too much kicking and wiggling to stay there!! We had to take a pic the next morning:

Christy's parents came to visit, and were there to witness Chloe's first cereal feeding at 6 months. Chloe was fairly eager to try it out, and didn't make too many grimaces! Kaylee, of course, wanted to be right in the middle of it, and help in any way possible. She loves to teach her little sister new things, and is always helpful with sticking a bottle in her mouth, or wiping off baby food dribble. This was Chloe's first try at food!

Kaylee and my dad had a great time playing together.

Christy's parents with the girls:

It's hard to get good pictures of Kaylee and Chloe together -- Here is an attempt of capturing 2 wiggle-worms:

The psychologist in me (and the mama in me) love to see Kaylee's pretend play emerging. One day, I opened up the bathroom door, and found the lights off with this scene on the floor. Kaylee had put her favorite stuffed animal (a horse named "Big Brown") on this yellow stool, with a pillow, and a "blanket" (her shorts) for Night-Night. She was very upset with me that I opened the door and turned on the light. After I took the picture, we turned the lights back off and let him finish his Night-Night nap. She also loves to put all her baby-dolls down for "night night". Sometimes I will go upstairs and find them all laying (face down) on the couch, each with a little blanket. Soooo cute.

Chloe is such a happy baby these days. Unlike her first 3 months of life, she now really seems to love this world! She is always smiling and laughing. One of her favorite things these days is a bath and playing in the water. She will sit in the sink forever and play with the faucet...

Now, Chloe and Kaylee take baths together... this was one of their first times in the water together... Kaylee is singing "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star" to Chloe!

OK - that's all for now... more to come soon. Stay tuned -- in our next post, there will be crawling, standing, teeth, ABCs, Boomer Sooner, and more!

Father's Day '09

We met my parents at Nutty Brown Cafe on Father's Day. Unfortunately, I guess we didn't get a pic of Paul and the girls while there, but here are some of the girls with Mimi and Pa.

Mimi and Kaylee.
"Cuca!"

Dad and Chloe

DON'T try this at home... We wish we hadn't.

We had a little excitement around the ol' grill tonight at supper. It all started with our good intentions to eat more healthy. (Paul successfully redirected me, while he was standing in HEB looking at meat and I said "get hamburgers!!", and he said "no, let's grill tuna steaks instead"). Well, regardless of meat choice, I'm afraid the result would have been the same. After grilling the tuna, a small grease fire in the grill turned into a full flame, sirens and lights, adrenaline pumping evening. As Paul drained our fire extinguisher with little effect on the fire, I called 911. Luckily, our neighbor Mike is a fireman as well, and was home when he smelled suspicious smoke and came outside. Mike kept a garden hose on the house as the propane tank continued to fuel the fire. Bey the time the local FD arrived, the propane tank had emptied and the flames were finally dying down. Mike let them know that they didn't need to pull out their hoses. The FD did check everything out to make sure we were safe before heading back to the station. While I was too frantic to get pics during the flames, I did grab the camera and took a few pics towards the end:

Here comes the firetruck!

The firemen used this cool "gun" to check for any hotspots on our house. Take note of the ceiling fan!

Our grill. Costco will take anything back if you have a receipt - think we should try it?? lol

Kaylee got to tour the firetruck, and the men deputized her and gave her a hat and sticker.

A few more pics from Colorado!

Our friends Matt and Amy gave us a copy of their pics, so here are a few more to share!!

We had a fox outside our condo door. He visited everyday, morning and night. Kaylee and Kasey named him "Sox" (maybe because they couldn't say "fox"??). Sox-the-fox was just another highlight of a great trip!

Kaylee and Kasey spent a lot of time just like this - looking for Sox.

Isn't Sox beautiful??

Looking for his daily treat... "is anyone home??"

Sox on the back patio.

Christy, Kaylee and Chloe at the river in downtown Breck.


Another hike, another pic of the fam.


Kaylee and Kasey in the dandelions. Dandelions in Colorado are HUGE - about twice as big as in Texas!! Unfortunately, these are about the only wildflowers we saw at this time of year.

More of Colorado

(Remember, you can click on any of these pics to see a bigger, more detailed view!!)

On Tuesday, we drove up Boreas Pass with our friends, Matt and Amy, and their 2 little girls, Kasey (almost 3) and Korey (8 mo). There is a log cabin at the top of the pass that can be rented by cross country skiers, but is locked up through the summer. The girls enjoyed exploring around the little settlement, and we (of course) took a few pics...

Kaylee has learned how to say "cheese" every time she sees the camera...

The whole group at the top of Boreas
(Matt & Amy, Kasey and Korey, Paul & Christy, Kaylee and Chloe).

Christy and the girls finding something (flowers??) in the terrain.

Paul and Kaylee on Boreas.


Kasey and Kaylee discuss what they are going to order at the Quandry Grill.


Kasey, Kaylee and Christy look for fish in the Maggie Pond
while waiting for lunch to arrive at the Quandry Grill.



Some cute pics of Chloe, wrapped up in the blanket
"made with love" from Baba (Paul's mother).

On Wednesday, the sun was out and skies were blue. Paul and I rented ATVs and went on a guided tour around the Leadville mining district, and along the Continental Divide. Matt and Amy were kind enough to watch Kaylee and Chloe for the morning.

Paul and Christy in the Leadville Mining District on their ATV ride.

More ATV pics...

Paul in an Aspen Grove.

Wednesday afternoon we hiked along a trail right outside of our condo. Kaylee picked several flowers, and we put them in her hair. I know that we are not supposed to pick flowers in Colorado, but I'm finding that hard to explain that to a 2 year old. Several times she picked them before I could stop her.

The fam.

Christy "practicing" riding the chairlift (this lift was not operational at the time)
with Kasey (on the left), Chloe (in the Bjorn), and Kaylee.


Kaylee describing how big the mountains are...
(or possibly wanting someone to pick her up!)

Thursday was a little bit of a rest day for Kaylee. She was pretty worn out. We took our time in the morning, and then bummed around town a little bit. At noon, we made a point of getting Kaylee back for lunch and a nap (Paul needed a nap too). While they were napping, Chloe and I drove to the top of Hosier Pass (elevation around 11,500) and took a hiking trail from there. We weren't able to complete the full loop due to some big snowfields covering the trail that I was not comfortable crossing with Chloe on board in the Bjorn, so we just hiked in and out. Our top elevation was around 12,500, and we felt like we were on top of the world. It was windy and a little chilly, but we were prepared with our jackets and hiking gear.

The trail loop was covered with snow on this section,
so we ended up just going out-and-back.

Christy with Chloe in the Bjorn, all snugged up in the wind and chill,
on top of the top of Hoosier Pass.

I LOVE these little, tiny mountain flowers - the grass around them is only slightly bigger than bermuda blades, to put their size into perspective. I zoomed in to get some of the detail... it is amazing how tiny and how perfect they are. The yellow flowers at the top of the picture are about as big as the flowers get at this elevation. The conditions are not condusive to anything larger.

I was hoping to get Paul to hike a 14er (14,000+ feet) with me. Mt. Quandry is located close to Breck, and is one of the "easier" 14ers to conquer - so originally I had that on our schedule for Friday. Unfortunately, Quandry presented with a quandry - it was still capped with snow, and the trail was not really accessible for flatlanders like ourselves. I think Paul was relieved...

Mt. Quandry, covered in snow... no hiking it on this trip!!



For supper, we decided to go to Burke & Riley's Irish Pub. Coloradians have either no tolerance for disabilities, or a good sense of humor. This was the beginning of the "wheelchair route" to the 3rd floor - no jokin'. I really don't know how a wheelchair would get up all the stairs.


Outside the pub, listening to some music, sitting by the fire.
Kaylee was dancing with some
granola-lookin' dread-lockin' mountain man college kids -
wish I had that on video!!

So, instead of hiking up Quandry, we decided to spend Friday morning on the Alpine Slide with Matt and Amy and their girls. We were all curious whether Kaylee and Kasey would be "up" for the chairlift ride up the mountain, and were pleasantly surprised to find that both girls really enjoyed the ride up, as well as the slide down. We traded off watching the babies at the bottom, and taking the "big girls" up on the slide. It was another gorgeous day - 65-70 degrees, and sunshine with blue skies and white snow-capped mountains. The contrast in colors in the mountains is really remarkable. I wish our camera could capture the fantastic feeling up here...

Kaylee and Kasey waiting for their jackets to dry so they can go ride the slide!!

Kaylee's first-ever chairlift ride. She did awesome!! I held her the whole way, an she watched all the sliders below us... and kept saying "slide!!" and pointing to the sliders.

Looking for daddy.

Coming in to the bottom after her first slide run!!
(We are the ones on the right-hand track).


Second run with Daddy...



And the third run with Daddy...


Sadly, we have to leave this beautiful place tomorrow. It has been a great trip!
We plan to see Anne (my great aunt) tomorrow in Denver for lunch...
then on to the airport to return to Austin
(also a beautiful place, even if it is 105 degrees!!)