Our Labor Day Weekend Part 1

Some of the things I am enjoying about being in the Air Force--besides free health insurance, getting paid to move around the country and seeing Evan in his blues on Mondays--is that Evan gets all federal holidays off and usually an extra day for fun! He got to walk with us to school on Friday and then came with me to my Mom's Walking Club. It was nice to have him participate in our week day.

To celebrate this fine Labor Day Weekend, we left Saturday morning for Estes Park. I'd been there before with Elisabeth in August of 2006 when we were visiting Terra while she lived in Ft. Collins. The girls did very well in the car.

Julia slept for part of the way. She is super fat!!!
Once we got to the part of the highway that actually curves and twists into the mountain, Evan became the happiest person alive. Here he is thoroughly enjoying his driving experience.
Estes Lake.
Holy crap, it took us half an hour to find a freaking parking spot once we got to Estes. We were STARVING and Elisabeth made sure to tell us about every 5 minutes about how we hadn't parked yet. Apparently, we were not the only ones who decided to get away for the weekend. They also were having a Labor Day art fair in the middle of town to add to all the parking fiasco.

We finally parked and started walking the main street looking for food.


Elisabeth posed here 3 years ago and remembered how she'd posed. :)
We ate a pizza place Terra had taken us last time. It is delicious and the ingredients are all fresh and it's just heavenly. You also get to sign your name on the wall.

Julia demanding Evan share his ice cream.
Super mad when the ice cream was declared all gone.
While driving to our hotel, we happened upon a herd of elk. They were grazing in someone's yard. And not obeying common traffic laws.


When we got to the hotel, both girls went absolutely crazy. Julia kept playing in the ginormous closet and walking circles around the room like a caged zoo animal.
Ebeth immediately started jumping on the beds.

We went miniature golfing after dinner. Julia enjoyed the game from her backpack seat.


Then Ebeth and Evan rode the go-karts and Julia was sat down to watch.


More of our Labor Day fun to come later....

Julia's Room!!! (finally)

Although the Californian fires are devastating, they are leaving us some lovely sunsets with their smoke that has been hanging out over Pike's Peak. I went to go for a walk the other night and was rewarded with that sunset.

We are quite excited because it's Labor Day weekend coming up and we're going on a little trip to Estes Park! We're only staying one night, but it's so nice to get away. We're going to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park, shop the shops, dine at the fine restaurants, swim in the heated swimming pool and jump on the hotel beds. :)

Here's Julia reading to Figaro. This is a daily occurrence.
And here is Julia trying to bother Elisabeth. Also a daily occurrence.




Last weekend, I got to escape the land of Stay At Home Mom, and go out with my mom's group. We took a cup cake decorating class. It wasn't anything I hadn't already learned in the Kitchen of Jana, but it was fun nonetheless. My favorites were the sunflower cupcakes. They were well received and quickly eaten when I brought them home.


Here's a random picture of the cats. They decided to nap on my gym bag as soon as I got home.


And here's Julia in her belly shirt. Mind you, it was not supposed to be a belly shirt, but when you've got it, flaunt it!!!


Last weekend we finally got around to painting Julia's room. Stinking thing needed two coats though, so instead of a one day project, it turned into two. I was quite grumpy about this. But, it's done!!!!!
Here's what you see when you walk in.
I bought the glider off of Craig's List for $35! I am so proud of that bargain! We still haven't found a dresser, so we've converted her changing table into one for the time being by using baskets. Most of the pictures are from Elisabeth's nursery. They work perfectly with the room!!
The growth chart Aunt Kyle bought her!
The growth chart came with stickers for the wall. Julia watched me put them up and LOVED them. Maybe she'll quietly stare at them in the mornings and let us sleep longer...

She loves the room. She likes to point to the things on the wall and actually can play in there now. Roosevelt likes it too, of course (as you can see).

Feeling Bloggy

Not too much has been happening since the last time that I blogged, but I just downloaded around 100 pictures, and really wanted to share some of them. Hope you all don't mind. ;)

Next week Elisabeth starts her acting class and soccer. She is completely psyched about both of them. She got a jersey for her soccer team, and she insists on wearing it every time she wants to practice. Swim lessons start the week after, so we're going to be super busy until the end of October!

I've lost 10.8 pounds as of this past Monday. I am rather excited about this. I can really tell a difference in my clothes. I'm hoping to need to buy some new, smaller clothes around my birthday. We'll see, though. I've started taking a spin class at the Y and it is totally kicking my butt! I've only gone 2 weeks, but I love it. It's so challenging and I hate knowing I can't do all the exercises for as long as the instructor tells us. I'm sure in a couple of months I'll be up to par, but it's going to be a slow process. I did get a bike seat pad to put on the bike when I go, however. My bottom really hurts after an hour! I'm still walking 2-4 miles a day and am looking for a good time to add in a pilates class. Julia's doing well when I drop her off at the day care part, which is reassuring. And, Evan said Saturdays can be our family exercise at the Y day, so it's nice that he's being supportive.

Evan had his first trial this week. I think I will not like trial weeks because Evan comes home so LATE! He was a bit nervous, but ended up doing just fine with his speaking and whatnot. And, now that he knows how the whole process is done from start to finish, he's not as nervous about having more trials.

Okay, picture time!!!

This is how Ebeth was watching TV over the weekend! Ha!
This is how Julia chose to eat lunch.
Elisabeth took this picture of the cats. :)



Elisabeth had 2 days off this week so that teachers could give the students literacy tests. They'll do this at the beginning, middle and end of the year. Ebeth went into school on Monday for half an hour and read with her teacher. When she was done, Mrs. B came out and told me that Elisabeth is reading at a 1st grade, 5-7 month level, which is what the teachers are hoping all first graders will achieve by the end of the school year. She said that Elisabeth is definitely one of her strongest readers and thinks that Elisabeth could easily be reading at a 3rd grade, 2-3 month level by the end of first grade. Elisabeth was beaming when Mrs. B told me all of this.

Since she had a couple of days off, we went to the park to play one afternoon. Here's Julia enjoying her swing.

Look at how excited Julia is that Elisabeth is pushing her!!



Julia is a big girl and can walk the playground solo now.
She also climbs the equipment on her own.



But, I have to stop her from walking down the slide itself, because I don't think it will end well.

Elisabeth is still the monkey bar queen!
Practicing her soccer before her first official practice next Monday.


Julia falling in love with this dog. The girl loves dogs.