September

Sasha graduated to a bigger bike this month.  She especially loves the white tires which she believes make the bike look much fancier.  The little white pack on the handlebars has proven handy for fetching the mail from down at the bottom of our street.

Phil met his brothers and his parents for a long weekend in Michigan as part of a x-mas gift to his dad last year.  It sounds like they had a great time boating and exploring deserted Manitou Island.  The kids and I had a surprisingly fun, easy weekend without him.  On Saturday we went to see Despicable Me 2 which is the funniest kids movie I've ever seen.  On Sunday my dad and I played music for the wedding of the guy who built our house.

Jack helped me make chocolate cupcakes to take to his school on his birthday. 

He was very proud to be turning 3 and learned how to hold up 3 fingers to go with it. 

One of Jack's gifts from us was a big Lego set.  Both kids are really into building Lego things right now.  Sasha loves to follow the step-by-step instructions in the booklets that come with them and Jack just wants us to create various vehicles which he then modifies in one way or another.

Sasha learned how to pump!  It has opened up a whole new world for her on the playground.  The next week she reported that she used the swings the entire recess for all 3 recesses at school every day.

Jack still loves his glide bike.  I take him to a skate park occasionally during the day when the big kids are in school and he enjoys doing "tricks" on the hills and bumps.  He especially loves to get going fast enough to put his feet up on the pegs and ride like a "motercycler".

We had a little party for Jack at our house with a few of his little buddies, Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Megan. 

Jack requested a rocket ship cake with fire coming out. 

Sasha and Jack love to pretend they are eagles sitting on this big rock in our yard that has 2 holes in it which they pretend are nests.  They have "eggs" in them that they protect and then I am the fox who tries to sneak in and steal their eggs while they are off gathering food in the yard.  Never gets old (for them anyway!)

Already the Halloween excitement is palpable in our house.  Here they are painting trick-or-treak maps on cardboard (Sasha's idea).

Fall photo shoot.

August 2013

Against our better judgement, it being monsoon season and all, we went camping one night at Santa Barbara, a beautiful campground in a canyon up in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  We set up the tent, did a short hike along the stream bordering the campground, and had just gotten our fire going before it started to drizzle.  We were able to cook our tin-foil dinners over the hot coals luckily, but we had to huddle under the porch of our tent to eat.  The drizzle turned to a steady downpour that continued for 12 hours straight through the night.  The tent which is at least 25 years old (the one I grew up with) wasn't exactly water-tight.  Everything was very damp in the morning, but the kids seemed unfazed.  They LOVED camping. 

Relaxing while listening to big sister read a book.

First day of kindergarten for Sasha

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone!  Jack is continuing at Momentum Bilingual Preschool this year 3 days/week. 

Sasha had to miss her 3rd day of kindergarten because we drove up to Estes Park, CO to attend my cousin Emily's wedding at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies.  What a fun weekend we had!  My parents rented a cabin for all of us and there was lots of time to enjoy all the activities at the camp.  Highlights included pony rides on Shortcake (Jack's) and Cupcake (Sasha's), miniature golfing, swimming at the huge indoor pool, and most of all the craft shop.  Sasha is a craft-o-holic declaring that she is going to be an artist when she grows up ,so this huge, well-stocked shop was heaven for her.  She spent hours in there carefully painting a ceramic fairy.  She asks almost every week now when we can go back to that camp with the huge craft shop. 

The outdoor wedding ceremony was just beautiful and the kids were on their best behavior for the most part.  Phil and I (or maybe just "I") enjoyed dancing late at the reception after the parents took the kids back to bed in the cabin.