Classical Stretch Weekend

A few weeks back Angela and I drove to Estes Park to participate in a Classical Stretch weekend, we had a ball! Fun exercise, great company and we traveled so well together! Here we are with the shows creator and host, Miranda! It was like meeting a celebrity!

Summer Moments

Pool at Grandmommy’s and Grandaddy’s.

Sleepy Tate napping at Grandmommy’s.

22 Hour Tour

6:18 AM and my boys are off to go get Chloe the Cub, our new trailer. We found Chloe on craigslist, the only hybrid trailer that had all our desired features. The only bad thing is that the family who is selling the gently used trailer lives on the very very southeast tip of Kansas, so far so that they are actually in Missouri. But we decided it was worth the effort, so Tyler and Tate are off for a 22 hour tour. They will make it to Kansas City tonight, sleep in a hotel and then pick up the trailer bright and early Saturday AM. I would be lying if I said Tyler wasn’t a wee bit nervous about the drive. Tate is not one to sit still for too long, but he wanted to go, he actually woke up at “4 something” because he is just beside himself with excitement about this special trip with his out-of-this-world Daddy. I think (hope?) that the bonding and fun will outweigh any unpleasantness of boredom! Here are the boys at this early hour and as you can see, Chase’s attachment to his “Patty Hat” is still going strong. We said our goodbyes and then the boys got into the truck, one psyching himself up for the long long drive and the other who will soon learn what it actually means to drive 11 hour straight.

Texas visit activities

Temperatures out here in Borne are hovering around 100 most days, so it has been hot! Thankfully Grandmommy saved all of Tyler’s toys from when he was a little tyke, so there is plenty to do inside during the hottest parts of the day. Other than that, we have been doing some fun things; swimming at least once a day, bowling on Grandmommy’s Wii (which is surprisingly fun!) and getting in some games of Go Fish.

Here is Chase in his swim diapers ready to head out.

Grandmmommy has worked long and hard to teach Tate how to go out on the noodles and float around on his own.

Chase and I played with some sidewalk chalk out front while Tate skidded around on his big wheel. Both boys looked especially cool with their classes.

Today, Tate got an extra special treat. Grandmommy took him to a 3-D movie, Ice Age 3. Apparently they charge you extra and “give” you these cool 3-D classes now, but Tate had a ball and it was a special time for him and Grandmommy.

First things first…

We’ve arrived! And the airplane trip was quite uneventful, happily so. Some of you may remember the trip back from CA…ug. On that flight Chase needed to sleep, but insisted on moving and playing in our little 5 X8 space and fussed until he got to do exactly what he wanted to do. After that trip, I was less than excited to fly again! :) Emotional reaction, I know. Still, the thought of the same situation WITHOUT my hubby wasn’t high up on my list of things to do. Alas, plans change, memories of the last flight experience began to fade and my MIL realllllllllly wanted us to come out.

After talking with my friend Steph about my flight owes, she gave me some pointers. The best advice she offered was to buy a seat for Chase (even though I didn’t need to because he is still under 2) and lock him in his car seat. Well I am hear to tell you, it made a world of difference! Chase resolved himself to the fact he had to stay put. Although I had to lug the car seat, the reserved seat was worth every penny. Tate was such a big boy, and really did such a nice job, all without a nap. He watched movies on his Zune most of the way, ate his special travel cookies and fruit leathers from Vitamin Cottage and helped with the baby a few times.

We hit Whole Foods right away to load up on our needed supplies and then headed home. Chase held on until about 25 minutes from home and he just couldn’t fight sleep any longer. By the time we arrived at Grandmommy, we were all tired. We unpacked, jumped in the pool for just a few minutes and then tucked the kids in for the night. awwww…everyone slept the whole night through happily.

This morning (Sunday), the first order of business (after breakfast of course) was to procure our raw milk. I spoke with a farmer about an hour away from Susan’s home and he welcomed our visit and had milk to spare. The drive was nice, although the kids would have rather not been on the road again. Seeing and driving next to a train for about 10 minutes on the way back though made the trip worth the effort, for Tate anyway.

Now the kids are napping, I am blogging and thinking about pulling out my crochet project (another market bag) and reading some books I brought along. I miss my hubby, but he and Granddaddy are getting lots of great things done on the house and I am excited for our extra living space!

Long lost video clips

The computer saga has ended. We waited and waited for my new computer to be put together. Dell had run out of some special piece  and kept pushing out the ship date. Finally, they called Tyler and said “would you like to cancel the order?” He said no, yet a week later the computer was canceled anyway. It all worked out for the best. We have other places to put that money right now with the new remodeling job and the up-and-coming adoption. Regardless to say, I have my “new” computer, which is Tyler’s “old” computer, and now I can download and do everything like normal – including get video from the flip. So the other night I downloaded 60 clips to the computer and loaded several of them up onto YouTube. I will put my 3 favorite below, and you can check out the others on YouTube.

Here is Chase playing at the beach in CA, he just loved every second of it! This little boy is a total fish, he loves water!

Here is another of Tate driving the tractor all by himself!

Here is that doggie ride I have mentioned before, totally hilarious!

OK – one more!

Tate had a ball helping Daddy build sand castles in CA, he looks especially adorable in this clip with his little hat all crooked.

Some final vaca pics

First I want to send a special blog thank you to my Dad and Kathleen! They generously gave us one of their time-share slots for this wonderful family vacation. The location was ideal, the kiddy amenities were perfect and the room was so comfy and surprisingly large!

 

THANK YOU

 

Grandpee &

 

Grandma 

 

We had a wonderful time visiting with you and much needed relaxation!

We just downloaded the rest of the photos, so here is a preview of the final days of our trip.

The boys dug a big hole the next visit to the beach..

And kept digging….

Chase just sat and watched.

Then on Friday, Tyler and Tate went to the much-anticipated LegoLand. They had a blast!

Seashells

In search of seashells to commemorate our trip, we visited the La Jolla beach today. Tate enjoyed walking the beach. We finally got a family photo, everyone is smiling!

I carried Chase in the Ergo for a while, but he kept pointing to the ocean and crying, so Tyler took him to the water to get his feet wet.

CA Vaca – Pool fun!

Tuesday morning we spent some time at the pool. Tyler and Tate played for a good hour in the slide kiddy area, then Tate needed to warm up and came over by me and I got these great pictures!

Then it was Chase’s turn to get in the pool (I have to admit, I unsuspectingly went out the first cloudy day in the pool without sunscreen and scorched my shoulders, so I am sitting out of the sun for the next few days or I would have taken him in, it is the cutest thing to see Chase giggle and kick his little legs in the water).

We went to the beach again after nap (pictures later, we took the small camera so the big one wouldn’t get scratched). Then Grandpa and Grandma purchased us some yummy steaks to grill for dinner out on the resort grounds. But first we played on the fun play-set right downstairs from our room.

Tate and Tyler played some pretty creative games of hide-n-seek. Tate’s best spot was in the bushes, Tyler reallllly couldn’t find him. You know your little boy is getting bigger when he starts to find smart, secret places to hide instead of trying to disappear behind a table let or something!

Chase is using this handy little tray on his stroller as his highchair for our stay…multi-purpose!

Then we were hangin’ in our condo after nap and we heard Chase fussing and when we found him he was all tangled in his floaty…he really likes his floaty.

CA Vaca – To the Beach!

On Monday morning we spent some time in the kiddy pool at the resort, headed in for a nice homemade lunch and then napped. After a good rest, it was time to finally hit the long-time anticipated beautiful Carlsbad Beach. I took over 200 pictures, here are some of the cutest!

Chase started out in the Ergo for a bit.

It took Tate about 2 seconds to get down and dirty in the sand.

My Daddy! SOOO cute!!!

Tate, Grandma and Grampee played together in the water.

And Tyler got right to work on a sandcastle (the Tower of London replica).

Then we put Chase on a towel on the beach, he was thrilled and started touching and experiencing the sand right away.

 

 

Tate was Tyler’s workhorse for the construction of their Tour of London sand creation; he and Grampee walked down to the water to fill the bucket umpteen times.

 

And finally their masterpiece was complete.

Then Tyler took Chase in for a closer look and we found out that he is a fearless water-lover! This is not his first experience in the water; last week Tate, Chase and I went to the Rec Center pool with some friends and he loved it, so I suspected the pool would not be a problem, but the ocean is another story! Tyler held Chase at first, but then he was quite happy to be free to explore on his own.

 

It is early Tuesday morning now and the two Allbritton youngins were ready to rumble at their normal CO time zone wake-up time….more fun to report later.