iPhotos

Clare LOVES to play with an iPhone when riding in the car.  We're not even to the end of the road before she asks to play with it.  I don't know what we'd do if it weren't for the iPhone and iPad, they certainly make rides to and from Karen's MUCH more tolerable.

Both of our phones have a number of self portraits, most of them of her feet or the back of the passenger seat.  She must have hit the flip button, because the pictures are now of her sweet face and not her stinky toes.

Two Mama Tails, Cows and Time Out

This morning Clare treated us to sleeping in, when I walked in her room at 8am she was still asleep, we are truly blessed with an exceptional sleeper.  Jeff had to hit the road for a 9am meeting so we were on our own.   I love mornings where we aren’t rushed and we can take our time. 

When she opened the closet I suggested she wear her new Hanna dress, she was beyond excited at the idea.  I then suggested that we do TWO mama tails!  I anticipated her not sitting still long enough for me to get two decent mama tails in her hair, but she surprised me by eating her blackberries and sitting still long enough for me to be successful on the first try. 

I think this will be our new look; it seemed to keep the hair out of her face all day!

Thankfully this afternoon was much cooler than the past few days, but that didn’t stop us from hanging out in the basement when we got home.  Clare announced she wanted to play trains before she even got out of the car.  Dada was happy to play; he likes to build big ramps and silly tracks. 

After playing trains it was time to play ‘match’ or Wii as it’s commonly knows as.  Clare LOVES to play match, especially the ‘cow one’ and baseball.  It only took me twice to figure out that Jeff gives Clare a controller with no batteries while he plays, ha!  She likes to play baseball, ‘ding dong’ and the ‘cow one’.  Jeff tried to convince her that when she ran around pretending to ride a cow she would do better at the game, sadly I didn’t have my phone handy to capture it on video. 

Time Out is something new in our house, and when I say new I mean tonight was the first time.  Clare is definitely two and has the attitude to go along with it.  90% of the time she is a sweet little girl, but the other 10% of the time she can be a crabby, bossy, sassy two year old.  Generally she tests the limits more with me than she does Jeff; she has tried out hitting and saying a firm ‘no’ and pushing any button of mine she can find.  Tonight she was tickling me and began to ‘tickle’ my face, I asked her to stop 5 or 6 times getting firmer with each one, finally I asked if she needed to go to time out, to which she replied yes and stomped off to the steps.  Jeff and I were both a little surprised.  She sat there for a minute, maybe two, and then announced she was done, when we asked her if she was going to hit again she said no.  I was pleased.   I know that Karen uses time outs at her house, and that Clare has been in time out a handful of times (although if you ask Clare she’ll say she goes everyday) but never at home.  So, I guess we’ve entered the stage of putting Clare in time out.  Hopefully future time outs won’t include rolling around on a dog hair covered rug. 

107!!

It’s no secret that I strongly dislike the summer heat, I mention it at least once an hour to anyone that’s listening.  I’m probably one of the only people that counts down the days until Labor Day when summer is over and the cool crisp air is just around the corner, 70 for those of you wondering.   Today was a wonderful day, even if it did read 107 on the meat thermometer when it was sitting on the table.

I decided before Clare woke up that we would hit the park first thing, it was the only way I was going to be able to bear the park on a day like today.  So, after getting dressed and having breakfast in the car we headed to the park, Clare was thrilled!  We arrived to find that we were the only people there, perfect!  Clare of course insisted that Bitty come with her, Bitty sure does enjoy the slides. 

Bitty also enjoyed a ride in the swings.

Before too long we both decided that it was too hot and the air conditioning of Target sounded much better.  Unfortunately our cookie snack had melted, so the only rational thing to do was stop at Starbucks for some coffee and a cookie.  

We made a few quick stops at the mall before hitting Target.  Of course any good trip to the mall wouldn’t be complete without a ride on the carousel.  Clare remembered the last time she rode the carousel and said that this time she wanted to ride on a bunny.  We found a bunny and climbed on.  It wasn’t until the ride began that we realized that this bunny had an owie, he only had one ear!  Clare kept asking about his ear and if he needed a band-aid.  I assured her that his Mama would help him feel better and that we could come back another time to see if he was feeling better.  It broke my heart to hear her keep asking about the bunny, she wondered if he was ok and if his ear hurt. 

Target was rather uneventful, I did my best to shop quickly since lunchtime was looming and I knew she would be ready for a nap by the time we got home.  Sure enough she fell asleep in the car before we got on the highway. 

After naptime I suggested we play outside with water, Clare thought it was a wonderful idea and wanted to wear her swim suit with her new Crocs.  So, swim suits and water it was.  Jeff got home right at the end of nap time so he was able to enjoy the deck with us. 

Don't worry Grammy, we were wearing 'sun-skeen'

Nobody ran from the 'skeet' bottle today, it felt pretty good.

Kai looked like she needed a drink of water.

We all enjoyed popsicles, even Dada.

While sitting under the under-brella I kept an eye on the meat thermometer, it reached 107 degrees at one point.  Jeff kindly pointed out that a more accurate temperature reading would be if we hung the probe down off the table, whatever Mr. Wizard.  I’m still saying it was 107 today.

Mr. Wizard's version.

Sometimes it's just too hot to wear clothes to eat dinner.

All in all the day was nice, I enjoyed hanging out with Clare and finding ways to beat the heat.  She had fun at the park and we enjoyed our shopping trip together.  I think she really enjoyed playing in her swimsuit, eating dinner in her swimsuit and playing with the water.  Maybe we’ll invest in a swimming pool for her, I know a good Lifeguard that will be happy to keep an eye on her.  

Happy Fathers Day!!!

Today was a typical Sunday for us, with a 'Happy Fathers Day Dada!' thrown in throughout the day.  Jeff slept in while Clare and I played and then I took a nap while Jeff got up and played with Clare, we both got to sleep in a bit which is a nice treat. 

The temperature today was the warmest it’s been since we moved up here; it was almost 90 in the late afternoon.  Thankfully the ‘under-brella’ provided some shade on the deck and the water Clare was playing with was cool and refreshing.  Initially her water play started out pretty mild, but once she started getting us wet it was game on.

Kai loved the water, I think she was the only one hoping to get wet. 

Water for you Mama!

Water for....

Dada!!

Jeff decided to arm himself, just in case.

Clare didn't like that Dada had the squirt bottle and wouldn't give it back.

In addition to playing with her Dada Clare did get a chance to talk to both Pawpaw and Grampy to wish them a Happy Fathers Day.  

Woodley's

After 6 months of living in the Tree House we finally have some proper furniture.  We, or I,  hemmed and hawed about furniture for a while and finally bit the bullet when a sale flyer arrived in the mail, in March.  Today, after 15 weeks of waiting, we finally received our furniture.  We are the proud new owners of a real bed frame, two nightstands and an entertainment consul.

I am absolutely in love with our new bed and am beyond excited to finally have a night table for my glasses, water and TV remote, the days of putting things on the floor are gone.  This is the first time I’ve had an actual bed frame since living on Edgemont nearly 12 years ago. 

Clare happily took the first jump on the bed, fortunately she didn’t fall off and bump her head, meaning we didn’t have to call Dr. Dan and have him say ‘No More Clare’s Jumping On The Bed!!’ 

Pillow Fight!!!!

Here’s the finished look, and yes this is finished.  Yes, we know it’s not centered, and yes this is our bed ‘made’.  We think it’s perfect J

The entertainment consul is a smaller version of their big wall unit.  Maybe the only drawback of having all these amazing views and big windows is we don’t have a lot of wall space for big pieces of furniture. 

Maybe the Rockies will start winning again now that the Tv is on a proper piece of furniture. 

Clare seemed to approve, she even pointed out that the doors didn’t open.  Perfect, exactly what we were going for, doors that she can’t open!

Sitting here looking at our new furniture makes me feel like a grown up, we have real, nice, handmade to order furniture.  I love it!!!

Mt. Evans

Two weeks ago we headed out on an adventure.  We can see Mt Evans from all but two rooms in the house, it’s possibly the most beautiful view and I’m grateful that it’s my view.  I’ve never been to the top of a 14’er and neither had Clare, so what better 14’er to be our first than the one outside our window.

We set out in the late morning in hopes that Clare would take a nap on the way over.  The road was fairly busy with cyclists, the weather was beautiful and the drive was enjoyable.  Jeff and I talked about this and that, I enjoyed just being, it was a welcome break after such a busy few weeks.  Watching the weather on the drive was pretty neat, it was clearly raining to the east. 

Our first stop was the Echo Lake Lodge where we had lunch at a table with a million dollar view and picked up a few shirts and stickers (I’ll never get tired of seeing my name on a t-shirt).  While eating lunch we watched some hummingbird feeders with a number of hummingbirds, Clare thought they were pretty neat.

After lunch and stops in the restroom we paid our $10 and headed up the highest paved road in North America to the summit of Mt. Evans.  The drive was an experience, one I was glad to have from the passenger seat.  Jeff did a great job twisting and turning along the narrow road.  As we traveled up the road I took a few pictures, looked for our house and cringed as we passed a cyclists or two. 

I think we were all pretty relieved when we reached the top.   Clare was anxious to get out and walk, I was ready for some fresh air and Jeff was ready to release his grip on the wheel.  The weather at the top was pretty cool and windy, but we were prepared with our coats.  One change from living on Riviera is we still haven’t, and probably won’t, put away our coats and jackets, you just never know when you’ll want it.  We had fun walking around the Crest House and taking in the view.  We didn’t attempt to climb to the top; we didn’t think Clare would enjoy that climb so we’ll leave that for a future visit (maybe GG would like to go to the top?).  There was no shortage of photo ops up there, it’s not everyday you drive to the top of a mountain.

Looking for her house.

After walking around and taking it all in we loaded up and headed down.  I’m not sure which direction was more fun for Jeff, I personally enjoyed the up since I was on the mountainside of the road, there are some pretty serious drop offs along that road.  Jeff decided we should take the long way home, again hoping Clare would take a nap, it was fun to take a different way home and see what there was to see.

It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon; we were able to spend time together exploring and experiencing something new.  I can now say I’ve been to the top of Mt Evans and have a memory to go along with the view from my home.  I look forward to going back, and actually going to the top, how many people have their picture at the summit of a 14’er named after them??

Play Trains

One of Clare's favorite toys is her train set from her Pawpaw and GG.  She likes to go downstairs and play trains, often asking us to come with her.  She likes to crash the trains and run them into the animals on the tracks.