Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

We took a trip down to Colorado Springs today to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to celebrate Mike's birthday. It's a small zoo, but unique because it's on a mountain side with great views. Plus, it has a wonderful exhibit where you can feed the giraffes, or "iraffes" as Jack says. He can't quite get the g-sound yet. Here's a video and some pictures. The giraffes were everyone's favorite animal today!

 We did see some other animals too, of course. Jack still likes "elphies" too...

 We had to make two visits to the giraffes...

Jack's second favorite exhibit today....one with a whole different kind of animal. They are building a new elephant habitat, which is still under construction, but we had to stand and watch the tractors forever! 

 It was a very fun day overall. Happy Birthday Mike!

Seattle 2013

Jack and I had a great time visiting Seattle for a few days to meet Tommy. He seems like a really calm baby overall, although he eats constantly. He seems to be a great sleeper too...Jack was getting up more times a night than he was. 

 Sam is getting big too. He likes to rough house and play spinning games with his mom. Jack had no trouble joining in with this game!

 We took several trips to the park to play and all the boys had fun.

 The boys mostly played by themselves, but a few times they joined in to play with each other. Jack picked up Sam's name really quickly, but he wouldn't say Tommy, just "baby."

 Jack really liked the baby and liked to be near him all the time. He was good at being gentle and just patted him on the head.

 We did go into Seattle one day. Jack liked to look around and see everything, but ironically his favorite parts of the day were jumping in a puddle on the boardwalk and eating clam chowder at lunch. He liked the clam chowder so much, he licked the bowl clean, literally.

 He loved all the planes, trains, busses, and "tractors" that he saw along the way, and I was really proud of the way he behaved. He handled traveling really well. We came home Tuesday, and then Wednesday his pacifiers disappeared. We've gone cold turkey. He's handling it well most of the day, but nap and bed times are a little rough.

Blizzard that Wasn't

The news was predicting 8-12 inches of snow Saturday, with winds supposed to cause white-out conditions. They posted all sorts of Blizzard Warnings and scared all of us into thinking it would be a terrible storm. We rushed around getting our errands and groceries Friday night and canceled Saturday events expecting a big storm. What we actually got was about 3 inches of snow. It certainly was a heavy snowfall for a couple of hours, but it stopped by mid-afternoon. Then, today it's been pretty warm, so most of the snow has melted already. Of course, Aspen finds the little bit that's left to lie down in. 

We got a new little point and shoot camera this weekend. It's just a cheap one, but we needed something small to fit in a pocket for when we don't want to get out the big camera. We spent a little while this afternoon playing outside and I tried it out a few times. It takes pretty good pictures for the $99 price tag! Jack had to go say hi to the neighbor's horse first. 

 Then, the fence provided at least 1/2 an hour of entertainment. He likes to climb up on the rails. He's very proud that he can get up there all by himself without help!

 We also ran around a lot! It's fun to race down the paver stones.

 I love this picture with his hair flying everywhere too. He was twirling around in circles and fell on his bottom right after the picture was snapped. :)

March Weekend

Today, we started setting up our grow lights in the storage room, and I planted the first of my indoor starts (artichoke and anaheim peppers, both of which need such a long season that we are supposed to start them indoors a whopping 12 weeks in advance!). In order to keep Jack out of my dirt, I had to give him a little bucket of his own dirt, so he could run his tractor around in it. Of course, I also had to vacuum the floor afterward too! 

 With two gorgeous days of 50 degree weather, our deep snow is melting fast. Jack loves it! It's warm enough to play outside in just a light jacket, but there's still lots of slushy snow to play in. Yesterday, he hauled his fire truck all the way out into the middle of the lawn. He's just fascinated with stepping in the snow. I had to take a long shot so you can see all the steps and work he took to get it out there, but he didn't want any help! He moved it all over the yard, and every time he'd tip it over he'd say "uh oh!" but he was determined to do it by himself! This is the same fire truck he filled with dirt camping last summer, and now it's getting soaked! The thing has held up remarkably well, although about half of the buttons don't work anymore.

Then, here's one last glimpse of mischief...Yes, that's a rock he puts in his mouth. Oh dear!