August

Grandma Z came to visit for a few weeks.  Ginny was having a rough spell and my mom came to help her.  She's doing better now.

Ginny & Amelie

Logan, Grandma Z, & Amelie

Mixed in here is a trip to Tiny Town with Amelie's bud Levi.  They were born 8 days apart.

We went to dinner at White Fence Farm, which is much more than a restaurant.  They have a playground, wishing fountain, petting zoo, indoor play area, band... quite a production. 

Amelie & Logan with Ginny & Grandma Z at White Fence Farm

Nate turned... I'm not sure how old.  We joined the early version of the birthday party.

Kenny & A

There are many versions of this picture... none with everyone looking at the camera.

It ended like this

Kenny & Nate

Logan loves Nate.  His favorite game is to clip a leash to him and try to lead him around like a dog-- or vice versa.

We went up to the ABC climbing gym in Boulder one afternoon with the Singers and Burgers. The gym is just for kids, with zip line, slides, tunnels, etc. Amelie liked it too-- it had padded floors great for walking practice. I'm not sure how much climbing actually got done, but they all had a great time.

We hiked to the top of the Denver Mountain Park next to Three Sisters with Auntie Kenny one afternoon.  The Denver Mountain Parks do not publish maps or label their trails, so we were lucky to stumble upon this one.  It led to a great viewpoint.  I love that after 6 years here we can still find new trails close to home.

Logan got a tool set as a going away present from Tammy.  He put on his safety goggles and tested the jackhammer out on a tree outside.

We went down to Colorado Springs for Lucas' birthday.  Its so nice to have Mike, Janelle, Lucas, & Axel close by now!  We played at their house, had yummy birthday cake, and went bouldering at Garden of the Gods.  

We have had so much rain this summer-- there are mushrooms everywhere!  All different shapes and sizes and colors.

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We found some fun hikes at Mt. Evans.

 

 

This is the lower part of the Mt Evans Wilderness. You get there by driving out Bear Creek, past Evergreen Lake... and just keep going. There were lots of raspberries.

Teddy & Logan exploring at 3 Sisters

A hike to the old fire lookout at Devil's Head in the South Platte. 

Logan found a cool rock tunnel below the lookout

We went down to C Springs for the balloon festival.  Unfortunately it was too windy and the balloons didn't blow up for the glow at night, or the mass ascension the next morning (well, they blew up halfway and then had to deflate as they started rolling over the crowds of people, blown by the wind).  Logan still got his cotton candy so he was happy.  We went home and looked at pictures of the ABQ balloon fiestas instead... someday we'll go back to that one.

Balloon glow without the balloons

Mass Ascension

Amelie- 14 months

At 14 months, Amelie is just starting to choose to walk more than crawl.  She is pulled towards stairs by some gravitational force and since the biggest set of stairs around here is out on the deck, that's where she always wants to be.  She likes to walk down and up, down and up, over and over again.

She understands most words, and her vocabulary includes more, milk, yes, mama, dada, dog.  She loves going outside, and always wants to find the horses. She loves pointing out dogs on our hikes-- she get's so excited.  Da, da, da!  She's inherited Auntie Kenny's animal-loving gene for sure.  Its only a matter of time before she convinces Daddy to buy her a pony.

She still has only 2 teeth.  It seems like she has been teething forever, and she has a terrible rash to prove it.

Logan's First Day of School

Logan started school!  He's going to Free Horizon Montessori in Golden.  I thought it would be a hard transition, since he's been going to Tammy's since birth.  We started talking about it many weeks in advance, went to the school twice to meet the teachers and attend the school picnic, and went over again and again just what we would do the first day.  Tammy spent weeks role playing with him-- how you make a friend, what you do if someone doesn't want to play with you, etc.  I was fully prepared for him to cry and hug my leg and have him torn away from me screaming.  I'd been warned by a friend that this might last for weeks.  Instead, he went right in, struck up a conversation with the teacher, and forgot to even say good bye to me. When I pick him up in the afternoons, he's usually playing trains or legos and does not want to leave.

His teachers are Ms. Kristin, Ms. Serra, and Ms. Amber.  The after school teachers are Mr. Shawn and Ms. Miranda. They all seem very nice-- I think you have to be, to be a pre-K teacher. The friends he talks about are Caleb and Gavin.  His favorite thing is the globe that has smooth blue water and sandpaper texture continents, and the knob cylinders.  Those are things I remember from my Montessori days.  He comes home with paintings and macaroni necklaces and songs like Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light. We get a one sentence report each week, which is a big change from daycare where we had conversations at drop off and pick up and texts with updates all day long.  They talk a lot about building independence, so I guess this is all part of that. I try to pry what I can from Logan... which is not much, and in any case a 3 year old's version of events. He has not yet played with the peninsula because he has to have a lesson from the teacher first. [The peninsula is the best of a series of plastic geographic formations, and you pour water in them, and the peninsula is left raised surrounded by water.] He had a plum for snack. Andrew smashed Caleb's drawing. Somebody pushed someone else on the playground. I'm looking forward to parent's night when I get to have Logan show me around his classroom... and I'm hoping we get to play with the peninsula!

Thank you Tammy

This was Logan's last day at Tammy's house before he started school.  We were so lucky to find her and her family 3 1/2 years ago.  She is not just a daycare provider, but a counselor, parenting coach, and friend.  Much of what we know about parenting, we learned from her.  Fortunately, we still see her every day since she still takes care of Amelie, and even Logan gets to go back on days when school is closed.  Some pictures for old times sake:

Logan & Tori, Christmas 2012

Logan & Gracie, February 2013

Daycare pics

Here are some photos from Logan & Amelie's days at daycare.