Walking Miracle

That is what the doctors are saying about Mark. He has recovered better than ever expected. The doctors had expected paralysis or death. Instead he is being released from the hospital today. He is going to come stay with us for a bit. He has some sight issues and hand/eye coordination issues but other than that he is doing extremely well.

We are going to have him bunk in Campbell's room. The kids are going to share a room for a bit. It's a good thing our kids are so easy going. We're not sure how long he will be staying with us, but the doctors don't want him going back to work for 4-6 weeks.

Meanwhile, Adam and Barbara left this morning. They should be in Atlanta by now. We'll keep you all informed with his recovery. Thanks for all the good thoughts.

Good Thoughts

At about 4:00 today my phone rang. It was Aaron. I knew as soon as he said "Darla" that something was wrong. He never calls me Darla. He told me that I needed to go the emergency room immediately. Poppie had had a stroke.

Yes, Aaron's dad is at the hospital just around the corner from us. He had a stroke this afternoon. It was mild but as of right now he has some speech issues. He is also having troubles seeing out of his right eye, although that is getting better. The neurologist is hopeful that he will recover from that. The bigger worry right now is a large clot just below his ear. It is so large that they are not able to remove it at this point. They are giving the medicine 24 hours to see if it can break up the clot. If not, he will be going in for surgery on Sunday to remove it.

We will keep everyone updated as we are updated. Until then, please send good thoughts his way.

A Very White Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Day. Santa was very good to all of us. Caleb got a space ship from Santa and Campbell got an ice skating doll. About half way into opening the gifts Mommy and Daddy realized that we may have overdone it on gifts for the kids this year. They both got way too much stuff. Next year will not be nearly as large, but it was great fun to watch the kids. They both enjoyed every single gift they got. Caleb even gave us "Dank You" every time he was handed another gift.

Poppie showed up here in Colorado and spend the morning and evening with us. The kids were thrilled to have Poppie here. Aaron of course cooked some great food for the day.

To top it all off, it snowed ALL day long. We woke up at 7 with it snowing. It didn't stop until about 9 last night. We definitely got a White Christmas. Believe it or not, this is very unusual. Apparently this is only the 14th time in the last 106 years that it has snowed on Christmas Day. Apparently only about 30 percent of the last 106 years has even had snow on the ground on Christmas Day. Who would have thought that it would be unusual to have a White Christmas in Colorado?

Hope you all had as wonderful of a day as we did.

PS. That's only Caleb's loot in that picture. That is really kind of scary.

Week In Review

Ok. So I've been slow to update this past week. It has been a busy one gearing up for the big day and all. Campbell did her imigration project on Wednesday. We got her all dressed to look as Norwegian as possible. She even let me braid her hair. She took her baked good in and imigrated. She passed of course. She also got extra points for the goodies and because we taught her how to say "Hello, My name is..." in Norwegian. The teachers were very impressed.

Thursday was her last day of school before the holiday break. She toook gifts in for her teachers. Her teacher gave the kids each a cute little gift bag. The bags had a candy cane, cookie cutter and cookie recipe. It was really very cute. Now she is home for the next two weeks and we have to keep her entertained. Luckily, I have it on good word that Santa is bringing her some books.

Friday we woke up to a very nice day. The kids and I ran to the upscale mall that we rarely go to. It was actually a good day to go. We found a lot of really great deals. But the best thing of all was finding the tea store that we use to go to in Atlanta. The girl that managed the store in Atlanta is evening running the store here. Now we have our own little piece of the south right here in Denver. We made it home by noon and that was none too soon. It really started to snow in the afternoon.

Saturday was a great day! Aaron finished making the present for his aunt and then took both kids with him to go shopping. I had a few hours to myself. It was nice to have some quiet. Why are both of my kids so freaking verbal. Most times I love it but there are moments. Saturday evening we went to see the zoo lights. It was very cool. Yes it was cold outside but the lights were very nice. We didn't get to see all of the animals, but they did have the giraffe house and the pacaderm house open. We spent about an hour walking through the zoo looking at the lights. It was very nice. I even splurged and bought the picture they took of us as we walked into the zoo. It's not the greatest picture, but it's the memory that counts. We had a really great family time. After the zoo, we stopped for some yummy warm Tai food.

Now today we are headed off to a Baby Naming Ceremony. We have never been to one of these so this should be interesting. The people are really great thought so we are excited for them. We are also really excited to see baby Rosa.

My Daddy Truck and Baking

Saturday was much too cold to do much of anything. It was only in the 20's so we opted not to do a whole lot. Caleb and I did decide to take Daddy's truck over to get it inspected. The tags expire this month and in order to get it licensed in CO we had to have it inspected. They just check it to make sure that the emissions are working properly.

We got to the place. There were two cars in front of us so we went into Booth #5 as instructed to wait. We watched the first two cars go through the testing. They hook up a couple of pipes to the car. They also run a tube inside the car. I guess this is to make sure that the car is not backing carbon monoxide into the seating area. That's just a guess. I don't really know. Once all the tubes are placed properly they get in the car and run it on a treadmill. They also have a fan in front of the car to simulate wind resistance.

Caleb thought this was all very cool. This is something that little boys really enjoy seeing. The cars were doing a little too much bouncing around for my taste but Caleb loved it. Until it was our turn. He saw the man get in the truck and immediately started screaming "No, my Daddy truck!!" He screamed it over and over for the entire 10 minutes of testing. He had huge tears rolling down his face. He was not at all pleased with the man taking his daddy's truck. What started out as a very cool boy trip turned into a very traumatic trip. Sometimes you just can't win.

Campbell's current unit for social studies is immigration. They are studying all the aspects of immigrating to the US. As part of this unit they get to choose an identity and pretend they are immigrating to the US. She has chosen to be 9 year old Annette from Norway. They have filled out their immigration paperwork to recieve their greencards. They have also created their passports. Tomorrow and Wednesday they get to dress as their persona would and go through "Ellis Island". Ellis Island is actually the teachers. They check the paperwork to make sure they have done everyting properly. I think this is the coolest way of grading papers. How much more fun could it be.

We found a dress and a sweater for Campbell that will make her look Norwegian. Lucky for her she is Norwegian so she has the blonde hair and blue eyes. That will be easy for her. To add to the authenticity of it she and I decided that we would make some Norwegian treats to send to school with her. Yesterday we spent the morning making Krumkakes and Yulekake. These are two things that my mom made every year for Christmas. Campbell will be taking these to school with her to share with the class. I love this unit and the nerd in me wants to participate too. Ahhh...to be 9 again.!

Calamari or Spider

Our kids love calamari. Usually when we go out to eat, we get that for an appetizer. For a while Campbell pulled the normal kid stuff and said that she didn't like it. But, she couldn't stay away long. She just had to eat it.

Last night we went to eat at a place we haven't been to before. Most places serve calamari as little breaded rings. This place had those, but they had also mixed in the whole squids with the little rings. Campbell just avoided the whole squids but chowed down on the rings.

Caleb was doing great with the calamari. He couldn't eat it fast enought. Until....we suddenly heard him say, "eeewwww, pider". He had looked at what he was eating and thought that the little squid was an enormous spider. That was it. He was not touching anything else on that plate. He was sure the "spider" had touched everything there. Luckily, when his pizza came out it did not resemble a spider. Poor kid has been scarred for life.

Orthodontist Added to Christmas Card List

You know your pocketbook is in trouble when the orthodontist looks at your child's mouth x-ray and says "Wow! That's some crowding." Campbell had her followup with the orthodontist on Tuesday. She has seen him once before, but he didn't look at any x-rays that time. He thought she had some crowding then, but wasn't too concerned. This time, he was quite concerned.

Campbell inherited both a small jawline and large teeth from me. As I was growing up, my dentist never felt it was necessary from me to have my teeth straightened. I wish he had, but that's small town doctors/dentists for you. Oh well! I will look into having it done for myself. Since I don't qualify to have my eyes fixed, maybe I can get my teeth fixed.

Anyway, back to Campbell. She has a new top tooth coming in. The problem is that the tooth is coming in in front of the other teeth because there is no other spot for it to come in. On the bottom set, she has a tooth set to come in, but there is no spot for it to come in. It is coming up behind the other teeth. These two situations mean that her teeth are not at all straight.

The orthodontists plan is to wait on the top teeth for 2 months. She will go back in February and he will determine then if she needs to have some teeth pulled. As for the bottom teeth, she gets to go into the dentist within the next couple of weeks and have 2 teeth pulled. She will be seeing the ortho every couple of months so that he can try to keep on top of this mess of teeth. By the summer, she will most like have wires on her bottom teeth (not braces yet, just wires) and possibly on her top teeth as well. It's a good thing we have that dental insurance!

Campbell's Poem

White roses like ghosts with petals

They're as white as white metals

Though I hate the fact

Through all my act

That I can never find enough dirt and pebbles.



by Campbell L Brown

Mommy Too, Kiddo

On the way to the gym this morning, Caleb says, "Mommy, Dub need doffee".

Boy could I relate. Although, I need the coffee to keep up with the decaffienated version of Caleb. He certainly does not need caffeine.

Snowman Snow

Yesterday we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground. I was happy it wasn't more, but Campbell wanted more. She wanted to go sledding. Instead of sledding, we went to the outlet mall to do some shopping. We started with lunch and then just walked through the shops. We didn't buy a whole lot. It was more just a nice day spent with the family. We spent about 4 hours total at the mall.

When we walked out it was really snowing and the parking lot was already covered in snow. We quickly realized that Campbell might just get her wish for sledding snow. And that she did. We woke up to 3-4 inches of snow, the perfect amount for sledding. We left the house at 7:30 to go to the park to sled.

We found the best hill and got ready for our fun. We were the only ones there since it was so early so we had the hill to ourselves. Both kids had a blast going down the hill. Caleb closes his eyes everytime we go down, but he squeals with delight the whole way. Campbell couldn't have been happier partaking in the sledding fun. She especially loved sitting on the sled with Daddy and going down.

Caleb also enjoyed making "choo choo train tracks" in the snow. I pointed out his tracks as he was walking and he decided that they were train tracks. He also went down the snow covered slide which he thought was great. Campbell made the requisite snow angel. We spent about 40 minutes just playing in the snow. The kids loved it. Caleb did not want to leave even though his cheeks were cold and his nose was running like a faucet.

After our snow fun we went to the coffee shop to get our coffee and cocoa. Caleb go his very first cocoa from the coffee shop. Usually he just gets a snack. He loved the "doffee" (because he swore it was coffee like mommy and not cocoa).

P.S. Caleb calls snow "snowman snow". It doesn't matter how much or what kind of snow it is. He just calls it "snowman snow" it's actually more like "dowman dow", but you get the gist.

Back on the Charts: For Now

Two months ago at Caleb's 2 year well-baby we were told that he had fallen below the curves on both height and weight. He was only 21 1/2 pounds and 31 3/4 inches at 2 years old. This put him very much under the 3rd percentile for both. The doctor was concerned because he had fallen from the 4th percentile in weight and from the 10th percentile in height. We were to do everything we could to try to get him to grow which meant feeding him until he was stuffed and then feeding him some more. Well, this child has never had a problem eating. He is two and has never been through that toddler stage where they won't eat. The problem is getting the amount of food he eats to translate into growth.

If he didn't gain 3/4 pound and/or grown 1 inch in two months then we would have to look at doing a bunch of blood work and other tests on him. Needless to say, we have spent the last two months concerned about every bite the child didn't put in his mouth. Today we had the follow-up appointment to have him re-measured. He performed like a superstar. My kids are definitely over achievers.

He weighed in at 22 1/2 pounds today putting him back up in the 4th percentile for weight. His height was recorded in at 33 1/3 inches putting him back in the 10th percentile for height. He earned a reprieve today. The doctor is still not ruling out testing altogether. We have to keep an eye on him and he will be going in for routine height/weight checks to make sure he continues to grow well. The next appointment will be in April. This means we get to continue our trips to the coffee shop for pumpkin bread and/or oatmeal raisin cookies. And of course, when we get those treats mommy gets a coffee. It works out for all of us. How ironic is it that Aaron and I both work our butts off to try to lose weight and both of our kids are under weight? It just doesn't seem fair. Why can't I just transfer my fat to them?

Another Walk

Tuesday the weather was extremely nice again. It was a record breaking day with temperatures in the 70's. The 70's! We are in Colorado in December and the temperature was 72 degrees. With weather like that we HAD to take another walk.

When Campbell got off the bus, I had her change her shoes (she still loves to wear dresses and dress shoes) and grab a drink. We headed back over to the grocery store for some dinner items. The walk wasn't as interesting as the one on Monday. Although, I did learn everything that a 3rd grader knows about space. Trust me when I tell you that it is A LOT! Like did you know that there is no longer a planet named Pluto. That one has disappeared since I was a kid. They now have some other fancy name for the type of planet that it is. I don't remember what she called it. It's a good thing I wasn't taking the test yesterday. I was also told a whole bunch of stuff about moons and stars and rings that I don't remember. We had a very educational walk.

We did see the geese again, but the large convention was over and it was just a meeting of the elders. At least, that's what we decided it was. The sun was setting as we were walking. It was causing a really strange glow making everything look yellow. The sky looked really incredible though. Thankfully I had the camera and was able to get a couple of good shots. I could really get use to all this nice walking weather. Even with the talkative children I have, the walks are very relaxing. There's also the added benefit of my 9 year old teaching me some things.

When we returned from our walk we jumped in the car and headed to the mall. We needed get Daddy's present for Christmas. They were on backorder online but the store said they had them in so we went and got it. We also got ourselves some hot tea and treats from the coffee shop. We had to get back all the calories we burned on our walk.

A Healthy Dose of Vitamin D

For two days now, I have been trying to catchup with our laundry. It seems that it will never end. Today as I attempted to start a load of towels I realized that I was out of detergent. I knew a trip to the store was in order if I was to ever finish the laundry. I remembered that the news said the weather was suppose to be in the 60's today so I decided to take advantage of the nice day.


When Caleb got up from his nap, we grabbed juice and jackets. We loaded up in the stroller and started walking to the grocery store. It was quite the adventurous walk today. First we were attacked by a dog. Well, not really, but the fence was only about 6 inches too high for the monster dog to jump over. I imagine with a bit of practice this dog will be making it over the fence to attack defenseless children in strollers. (OK. Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but you get my point.) We then saw two men trying to fix their car which had broken down in the street. Caleb made sure to point them out, "Mommy, Men dar fits", which translates to "Mommy the men are fixing the car." "Yes, Honey. Mommy sees the men."


We passed the men and continued our walk. We then came across the goose convention. I wish I had my camera. There were so many geese that it was unbelieveable. They were all on a lawn in front of a local business. There were at least hundreds of geese. (Michelle, think Brad's bird experience, only these were giant Canadian Geese.) We stopped and talked to the geese for a couple of minutes. We had said, "Bye doose" and walked about 50 yards when Caleb announced, "Mommy, mooore doose." Sure enough, there were more geese headed to the goose convention.


We finally arrived at the grocery store. Actually, it was only a 15 minute walk. The store is that close. We went in and got our detergent. On the way out we stopped at the coffee shop and got "mommy yummee yummee doffee" and "Dub yumma yumma". Once our purchases were made we started our walk home.


The return walk wasn't nearly as exciting. The geese were still having their convetion. We said a quick hello and continued our walk. The men had obviously fixed their car because they were gone. The fence jumping dog had been joined by his/her larger dog friend who wouldn't allow him/her to jump on the fence. They were both loud but no jumping.


It was terrific to get our dose of natural vitamin D. Hopefully the weather will allow for more of these outings.

Lights

Friday evening we headed to downtown Denver to see the Parade of Lights. We met Aaron at a local pub. He had an afterwork meeting there, so that's where we met him. The kids and I drove around for about 15 minutes before we found a parking spot three blocks from the pub. We had to walk through snow and cold to get there, but we made it and found Daddy. (Note to self: Never agree to meet at a pub after 5 pm on a Friday evening.)

Once we found Aaron (upstairs in the most difficult place to find with a squirmy toddler) we decided to go next door for some dinner. We went to a little place that has a very limited menu. Actually it's a wine bar (must remember this place the next time us parents get an evening off). This is when it's a good thing that our kids are not picky eaters. They ended up having the apples and cheese plate with bread. They both loved it and found it to be the perfect treat. Aaron and I had salads.

After dinner we grabbed our stroller, blankets, hats, and mittens from the car. Then we walked to the train station (about 4 blocks), bought our tickets and boarded the train for 16th and California. Once we reached our destination we hit the coffee shop for hot drinks and cookies. After getting our warm drinks, we walked around town a bit. We had about an hour before the parade was to start. We went through an art gallery and walked through the street lights.

At 8 pm we found our spot along the parade route to watch all the lights. Caleb was asleep by this point and slept through the first 15 minutes of the parade. Once the bands started though, he couldn't sleep anymore. The parade was very cool. Each float had lights all over it. Even the band memebers had lights on them. The parade lasted an hour and we all had a great time. Caleb did not like the giant balloons and loved the bands. Campbell loved it all. It was a great time for the entire family. We were all a little cold but we had a great time.

After the parade we headed back to the train station only to discover that it was running at that stop due to the parade. We would have to wait an hour for that stop to open. We decided to just walk to the next stop. The city was obviously prepared for this event and had the entire train station crowd system working in top form. We had purchased round trip tickets earlier so we did not have to stand in that crazy long line. Having the stroller also came in handy. We got to go through the handycapped/stroller line. We were able to get directly on the train with no waiting. Getting off the train at our stop was a little more difficult just because the train was packed. But we made it and we headed to our cars to load up and go home.

Caleb talked about the parade the entire way home. Campbell rode with Daddy and he said that she was quiet the whole way home. Both kids were exhausted. Campbell gets quiet or giggly when tired. Caleb talks a mile a minute when he is tired. If you want to know how many words he has in his vocabulary just get him overtired.

"Doe Way"

I have been taking Caleb to the Child Watch at the gym while I exercise. He ends up going 4-5 times per week. Each visit is between 1 and 2 hours long. That really isn't that much time. Apparently though, it is too much time.

It's amazing how quickly children can learn from each other. Caleb really loves to go to "school" to play with Asher and the vroomas. (Asher is not the only other child in there, he's just the one that Caleb likes the best.) He has learned some good things while there. He is learning his socializing skills. He also learns a lot of language and game playing from the older kids in the class. They have a woman come in and teach them sign language. They work on counting and ABC's and other preschool type things.

But, with the good comes the bad. He has learned a couple of phrases that I would like to erase from his vocabulary. His favorite new phrase is "Doe Way" which means Go Away. He even gets the nasty tone with it and will name the person he wants to go away. "Doe Way, Mommy". The other phrase is "Stop It". This one he tries to hit while saying it. Very bad behavior. I know it's confusing for him because he hears other kids using these phrases. He gets upset when he has to sit in time out for saying them. He will learn that these phrases are not acceptable in this house. He's lucky he's so darn cute.

A Cold Winter's Night

Technically it's not winter yet. It's still fall for a couple more weeks. The weather, though, said otherwise. Friday evening at around 5:30 it was already in the 20's. That's a perfect night to go stand in the middle of mainstreet to watch the lights be lit and Santa go down the street. Right? Yeah, not so much.


We did go to the Downtown Littleton lighting. We almost didn't because Aaron felt it was too cold. The kids were wild though. I mentioned that I would take them to the bookstore instead. Aaron decided that if we were going out anyway we might as well go to the lighting. Probably not a great idea, but we were living in the moment.


The "ceremony" was scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30. I thought that this meant the parade with Santa would start at 5:30 and the whole event would be over at 6:30. I guess that's why I'm not an Event Planner. We were downtown at 5:30 ready to go. We grabbed our free hot cocoa and picked a perfect place to watch the parade. By 5:45, nothing had happend yet. Aaron ran into the coffee shop and got us some hot drinks. That took about 20 minutes because the line was terribly long.


After getting the coffee we decided to try walking around to keep warm. It was very cold and we were starting to feel it despite our many layers of clothing. Aaron should have put on his long johns when the rest of us did. His legs were very cold. We walked to the end of mainstreet where we saw the tree. Also, they had children getting up on the stage to sing. Normally, I would have thought this was very cute. But, it was cold outside and the kids did not know the words to the songs they were singing. Very annoying!


Finally, we decided to give up on the lighting and started to walk back to our car. Just as we were about to turn down the street where our car was parked the lights started to come on. This was at 6:35. They lit one block at a time. Santa rode in the back of a truck. That was the parade. I don't know how long it took to light the entire street, but it took about 10 minutes to light the 2 blocks that we saw.


Hopefully, the Parade of Lights we are attending in downtown Denver next weekend goes better.

A First Thanksgiving

This was our first Thanksgiving in Colorado. The weather definitely welcomed us with snow and cold. In what has become our tradition, we invited some guys from Aaron's work to have dinner with us. Three of the guys came and one of them brought his wife so we had 4 extra people for dinner. This was the first Thanksgiving for all of them. They are all from India. They have all been in the States for more than a year, but this was their first time having a Thanksgiving dinner.

We fixed mostly traditional dishes. We did add a couple of egg-free and vegetarian dishes. All of the food turned out great. We were even able to time everything almost perfectly. Aaron told everyone to be here at 2:00. Everything was done cooking at 2:30 and we then sat down and ate. In true Thanksgiving fashion everyone ate until they were over full.

After dinner we all just sat in the living room and talked. We learned how arranged marriages in India actually work. One of our guests is going to India in January to meet and interview potential wives. Apparently, using his horoscope his family will have chosen about 5 girls for him to interview. He will choose between those five girls who he will marry. We found this entire process to be very interesting. They probably thought that we would never stop asking questions.

Our guests all left at about 6:00. Then the four of us sat down and played a board game. Campbell loves Clue so we played that. Caleb even got a "turn". Really all he did was move his man around the board. He did a great job counting, though. His man always moved six spots. That's how many he can count without assistance.

It was a really nice day. Although, we missed all of our friends and family in Carolina. We wish that they could have all been with us on this day of Thanks.

Elmo Potty

We have been working with Caleb in a very relaxed manner on using the potty. We let him choose in the morning if he is going to wear a diaper, pullup, or underwear. We have been hit or miss on him actually using the potty. When he does, it's usually because I have put him on the potty in time. Last night was very different.

He was wearing his big boy Elmo underwear. He started to go potty, stopped himself and told me he needed the potty. I quickly pulled off his underwear and stuck him on the potty and he finished his job. While I know that we have a long way to go in this training effort, this one little step tells me that we are getting closer.

Can you gues what we are using as potty prizes?

ER or Not ER?

We started our weekend by trying to get family pictures done. The last formal ones we had done were when Cambell was 4. It was about time. It did not go well. The first group of pictures she showed us, we did not find one pose worth purchasing. Sure there were some cute pictures, but there was a flaw with each of them. I am cheap and if I'm going to pay for pictures, they better be good. I don't want to see any glare on the glasses. I don't want one kid looking like he trying his best to get up and run around like a crazy man (gee I wonder who that was). And I know it's difficult, but I would like for all four of us to at least look like we wanted to be there and were a happy family. She took a few more poses and we finally got two that we could choose. Aaron and Campbell ended up taking off their glasses so that we didn't have to contend with glare.

It was 7:00 by the time we finished taking and ordering our pictures. I still had to pay but didn't figure that would take too long. We hadn't had dinner yet and we were all starving. The plan was to head over to the Vietnamese restaurant right after we left the photo place. After 30 minutes of the lady messing up the orders, I sent Aaron and the kids to pick up dinner and told them I would meet them at home. Finally she got it all together and the order went through. Now let's just hope that she actually ordered the correct pictures.

Aaron and the kids brought the dinner home. We can at least say that we tried the Pho Noodles. We will never get them again, but we at least tried them. None of us really cared for the food. Aaron and I ate it just because we paid for it and we didn't want to cook. Campbell had a peanut butter sandwhich. Little "I don't like peanut butter, ew" Caleb ate some raviolis.

The rest of the weekend went rather smoothly. Aaron worked on a wood working project. The kids and I cleaned and ran some errunds. Sunday at around noon is when all that changed. Aaron came in from the garage holding his hand up. That's when I saw the blood. See, if I cut myself we're in pretty good shape. When Aaron cuts himself we're screwed. I can handle my own blood but someone else's blood makes me squeemish. Aaron can handle other people's blodd but not his own. Upon seeing his finger I immediately felt a little sick. I could tell that he also felt very sick and knew it when he yelled for a stool. I collected myself and gathered the necessary equipment. He didn't want to have to go to the ER. I got tweezers, scissors, gauze and tape. We boiled some water for the tweezers and scissors.

He had sanded a good portion of his finger. Once we got it washed and I pulled some of the debris out, we could see that it was too deep. He needed to see a doctor. We wrapped his finger and sent him to the Urgent Care down the street. They cleaned it up and wrapped it properly. He cut it all the way to muscle but not the bone.

While he was at the doctor Caleb slept and Campbell and I made cranberries and cheese spread for Thursdays dinner. The rest of the afternoon went well. I was able to go to the store by myself and later in the evening Aaron took Campbell ice skating. We are now prepared for our holiday week.

WARNING: Ugly sanded finger picture below.

Even the Best

You all know that Campbell is a very good kid. She rarely gets in trouble. When she does it's usually for being mouthy or not cleaning her room. These I feel are normal 9 year old misbehaviors. Before this week, she had never been in trouble in school. School is her sanctuary and she always tries to be the model student. Her worst offense at school up to this point was reading a book during math class. Oh the horrors! :)

Here's what happened. Each child has a homework journal. They bring it home each day. The parents are to look at the book and make sure that the child does the homework listed in the journal. Once the homework is done the parent must sign the book to let the teacher know that they have looked at it and that the child has done their homework. The student then takes the book back to school the next day. If there is not a parent signature the child loses 5 minutes off their recess. Personally, I think it stinks that the child loses 5 minutes just because the parent was being slack and didn't sign the book, but I digress.

One day last week I forgot to sign her book. It happened to be a day when there was a substitute so she may not have lost the 5 minutes anway, but who knows. Instead of just letting it go, our smart little girl decided that she would sign my name for me. Yes, that's right. My 9 year old committed forgery. Unfortunately for her, the sub didn't catch it. Mommy did. She recieved a huge lecture from Aaron and I. We then sent a note to the teacher letting her know what had happened and asked that she make Campbell stay in for the the 5 minutes she would have lost. The teacher took it one step further. She made her do this paper called a Think Tank. The paper asks questions about what the child did. Why it was wrong. And what are you going to do the next time you are faced with this situation. Campbell was mortified that she was subjected to this type of punishment.

We know that all kids try this. I mean, her parents both tried it. Aaron even remembers that as a 1st grader he tried it. Only, he signed the paper with "My mommy". Campbell's forgery was a bit more sophisticated. It does suck as a parent though to see your child so upset because she had to be punished. It's really difficult to draw that line between comforting your child and teaching her the difference between right and wrong.

Space Explorers

Aaron had Navy Leadership training all weekend so the kids and I were on our own. Saturday morning after lounging half the morning in our pj's we decided to head out to find a new park. We started by dropping some clothes off at the consignment store. As an added bonus, I had some money on the records there so I got paid $19. That's always a nice surprise. After leaving the consignment store we dropped our movies off and dropped some stuff off at Goodwill.

I knew the general area where this park was, but I didn't know exactly where it was. We headed down the correct street and lucky for us the park was on the right and very easy to see. We parked the car and headed out to explore. We found both the train depot and the petting farm. Unfortunately, despite the 70 degree day, those activities are closed for the season. They won't be open again until Memorial Day. We were just going to have to be happy playing on the playground equipment.

There were two playground areas seperated by a picnic area. One area looks like your average play area with slides, swing, tubes and the like. The other one is where the kids chose to play. The equipment looked like space ships. Caleb loves space ships these days. To him anything is a spaceship (i.e. the package of discs, the toy iron, etc.). Campbell is currently studying the solar system in school. She taught me a ton of space stuff that day. We spent two hours going to Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Uranus (which is now pronounced Urnus). I was informed that we could not go to Pluto because it is no longer a planet. Boy! It has been awhile since I was in school.

We grabbed some McD's on the way home. Caleb fell asleep as soon as we got in the car so he ate his cold when he woke up later. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing in the house. Aaron met up with us in the evening. We ate at a restaurant we hadn't tried before. It was good food but I will need to spend the next two weeks in the gym everyday to work it off.

Sunday morning, Campbell and I headed out to a baby shower while Caleb played with his friend Jake. Jake is almost 3 and lives down the street from us. I was very glad that he could play with Jake while Campbell and I went out. He had a great time doing everying boy. They threw balls down the stairs, played cars, and did lots of screaming. Campbell and I had a nice couple of hours together celebrating our friends new baby who is to arrive the middle of December.

When Good Kids Turn Bad

Caleb is normally a pretty good kid. He definitely knows how to throw his toys around a room and make a mess. But, usually he's pretty good. And then Friday evening happened...

I had been upstairs cleaning up the weekly mess in the office. Caleb was there with me. I decided to run downstairs and start dinner quickly. I was making a quick dinner since I more warm pre-made stuff than actually cook, so it only took about 5 minutes for me to get it started. In that five minutes, Caleb showed me just how quick and sneaky he could be.

Upon returning to the office I noticed Caleb's face looked funny. Upon further investigation I discovered that he had retrieved a tube of lipstick from my make-up drawer, drawn all over his face and shirt, and painted some walls. Ahhhh.....Boys!

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Aaron had drill all weekend so the kids and I hung out. We went to a craft show which was just over crowded so we didn't hang out there too long. Although, we did find some fruity smelling all organic playdough. Caleb got to play with it Saturday afternoon. It was his first experience with playdough. At first he didn't really know what to do with it, but he soon figured it out. We also went shopping. On Sunday, I told Campbell that if she helped me clean the house then we could go watch a movie. Bribery is a great thing. She has never cleaned the living room so quickly! We ended the weekend with a nice family dinner out. To make it even better, we were the only people in the restaurant. It was really nice to have our own personal restaurant for a bit.

Dress Up

The kids had a great Halloween. Tuesday evening the kids and Aaron carved their pumpkins. Caleb was not at all pleased with the scary pumpkin that Aaron did for Campbell. So, Caleb got a happy pumpkin. Both of the kids had a great time pulling all the insides out of the pumpkin. Caleb thougt this was the best game ever.

On Wednesday, Campbell got to dress up for school. She decided this year that she would be a witch. Aaron and I were so happy to have her out of the princesses. She has done the princesses to death. Caleb and I joined her at school for her party. We only spent about 45 min there but Campbell was happy to have us and Caleb enjoyed all the stimulation. After Campbell's party Caleb and I went to Daddy's office. Caleb got dressed in his costume and made the rounds around the office. He had a lot of fun.

That evening we started by going out to dinner. We then met up with a few people and did the trick-or-treat thing in an outdoor mall. It was a lot of fun. The event was put on by the police department and the police were there in force so it was very safe. The stores all did a great job handing out candy to the kids. Caleb really understood that he was getting candy this year. Although, he really only cared about the doddy bop (lolly pops). He made sure that he had one in his hand at all times.

We spent about an hour before Campbell said that she was done. We can always count on her to tell us when she is done. She has always been that way. When she's done, she's done. She really doesn't do if for the candy as much as the experience. She is an odd child; mature beyond her years. Caleb was worn out after the first 15 minutes, but he hung in there well with his sister.

Nine

We started the weekend on Friday with Campbell turning 9. Wow! I can't believe she's 9. It seems like just yesterday that she was 2. The time sure does fly. She took pumpkin muffins to school for her friends. At school she got a special pencil from her teacher and her music teacher sang happy birthday to her. When she came home we all got ready and went out to dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant that looks like a castle. Campbell has been asking to go this place, so her birthday was a perfect excuse. The food was absolutely delicious and both kids just gobbled it up. We got a piece of cake that even with four of us sharing we couldn't eat the entire thing. It was at dinner that we gave Campbell her birthday gift. She got the Kirsten doll that she has been asking for. She couldn't not have been happier.

Saturday, Aaron was working on building a chair for his co-worker so the kids and I went out to run some errands and do some shopping. The three of us had a nice time just hanging out. We then came home to just hang out. I made some soup for dinner and we prepared to watch the baseball game. That chair I said Aaron was making, well it broke and he was no longer able to work on it. He ended up going to a gory boy movie while the kids and I watched the game.

Sunday we got up and headed out to breakfast. You wouldn't think that this would be a big ordeal but it sure was. The first place we went to were only serving brunch on Sunday and it was $15 per person. No thank you. I don't eat that much breakfast. So we loaded in the car and headed over to another breakfast place that we have been wanting to try. The wait there for breakfast was an hour. An hour for breakfast, I don't think so. We had hungry kiddos who were not going to wait an hour. Finally we just settled on the old standby I*HOP. This turned out to be a great choice. The wait was short and there was a lady there making balloon animals for all the kids. Campbell got a white cat and Caleb got a blue "baby wawee" (giraffe). They each got to choose the color and animal for their balloons. If only we had known what wonderful things these balloon animals were. Once they got those things neither of them (and by neither I do mean Caleb) whined for the rest of the morning. They both carried their animals everywhere. They were great!

After breakfast we went to the "out of our class" shopping mall. This mall has certain high end (read: expensive) stores that we don't buy from but are fun to walk through. IT was a nice relaxing morning. We then came home where Aaron made stew for dinner and we settled in for what would turn out to be the final baseball game of the season. Our home town team was swept in the WS but it was fun to have them in it. They are a young and talented team, so I'm sure they will make it back to that stage soon. It all made for a perfect fall day.

Party Central

We had a great long weekend. Campbell was off of school on Thursday and Friday. We had a great time. On Thursday we went to park with our new friends. S is very nice. They have 3 kids; 2 girls (8 & 5) and 1 boy (almost 3). We had a great time playing with them. After the park we headed to lunch with some friends from the Navy who were in town visiting. It was great to have such a social day. Those days are few and far between for me with my work schedule, so that was nice.

Friday morning the kids and I went to the zoo with S and her kids. Again, it was nice to have another adult along for the ride. Usually it's just the kids and I that go, so it was nice to have company. We got to see the baby giraffe and the baby zebra. Caleb was thrilled. He has been asking to see the "baby wawee" (baby giraffe) for weeks now. That evening Campbell had her birthday part sleepover. Last year's sleepover was such a success that we decided to do it again this year. She had 2 friends come over. They watched their girly movie, played girly games, and listened to girly music. They all had a great time. I had to make them go to bed at midnight though. They were willing to stay up longer, but I was too tired.

Saturday we went to the pumpkin farm to pick up a couple of pumpkins. I hate that they ave to be so expensive at these farms. But, I guess it's the experience that counts. Caleb really loved climbing on the pumpkin piles. Campbell didn't want to do any of the games. She just wanted a pumpkin. The pumpkins at this place were all huge. Campbell picked out hers. It was too heavy for her to carry, so I had to carry it. We looked and looked to find one for Caleb that Campbell was able to carry. Forget getting one that Caleb could carry.

Sunday is when everything went really crazy. You see, Saturday the temperature was 78 degrees. We went to get pumpkins in t-shirts. We woke up Sunday morning to snow. It continued to snow all morning. When all was said and done we got about 7 inches of snow. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but we had a cookout birthday party planned for the kids. We had all the fixins for a great grilling get together. We still had the party, but instead of everyone hanging out in the garage as planned everyone was in the house. Aaron rented a propane heater for the garage so he could cook outside. ( You gotta love these stores being open on a Sunday morning. We aren't in the South anymore for sure.) The party turned out really nice. We had 4 families show up. We sure missed our normal birthday guests but it was nice to at least have some people to share the day with. Aaron made some awesome food as usual and I did a great job ordering the cake and picking it up. Happy Birthday to our kiddos!

Pictures from the week

What a week!

We had a busy week. It started on Wednesday with Caleb's birthday. Our baby is now two. It seems so unbelievable. He had a great day. We started by going to breakfast as a family. That evening we had cake. He was a champion candle blower. He was able to get them both on his own. He then opened his gifts from Nana and Poppy and Campbell. He got a Leo (Little Einsteins) doll from Campbell. From Nana and Poppy he got an Elmo and a movie. His gift from Mommy and Daddy still isn't here despite the fact that it was ordered on October 1. Oh well, he's too young to know the difference. It was a great day for our little man!

Thursday, the kids had their yearly physicals. Both kids are very healthy and have met all of their developmental goals. Caleb was able to stack the blocks and went one step further and was able to tell the colors of the blocks. The only not so great thing that we got with both kids is that they are too small. Campbell still isn't on the growth chart. She never has been. Caleb is still not on the chart for weight and his height fell from 20% to less than 3%. In two months we have to re-weigh and re-measure Caleb. If he hasn't gained 3/4 of a pound and/or grown 1 inch then he will have to go see a specialist. In 6 months we have to re-measure Campbell. If she hasn't grown and inch in that time then she will have to see a specialist. We believe that everything is fine and that they are just small kids. But, if there is something wrong we would like to know now when we can do something about it.

Friday night, Aaron and I got the chance to go out on a real grown-up date. We went to the Navy Day Ball. Every year there is a celebration for the Navy's birthday. This is always a big deal and most places go all out for the event. This one was no exception. It was a lot bigger than we had anticipated. We arrived and had our first cocktails while we waited for our friends to show up. One of Aaron's sailor friend's needed a date so Aaron set him up with a girl from work. Once they arrived we headed to the ball room for the formal part of the ceremony. This is where speeches and toasts are done. They also do some special things for the POW/MIA sailors as well as for those lost in war. It's a really moving ceremony. After all that we ate and then danced. We made fun of overly drunk people. And believe me, there were some drunk people. One in particular was at our table. We didn't know him, but believe me we will never forget him. The two people Aaron set up got along great and even exchanged numbers. It was really nice to have such a wonderful parents only night.

Saturday morning Campbell had another marathon. Aaron was at drill weekend so it was just the kids and I. We got on the train at 7:30 am and headed downtown for the race. We arrived 30 minutes later and got her checked in at the sign-in table. The race wasn't scheduled to begin until 10 so we had some time to kill. The weather also picked Saturday to turn into winter. It was so incredible cold out there. Luckily the Radio Disney booth was there to play music for the kids. We spent an hour or so dancing to keep warm. Caleb visited with Ronald McDonald. At 10 the races began. Campbell still had to wait though because the 1/4 and 1/2 milers went first. Once those were finished it was time for Campbell's group to go. They started and finished in front of the capitol building. The run took them on a loop that went past the art museum. Campbell loved that she has been to all the places they were running by. She ran her mile in 10 min 36 sec. That is fast for a kid her size. She got her medals and we headed back to the train to go home.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and trying to keep warm. Hopefully this week will be a touch slower.

The Louvre Comes to Denver

At least part of it did. The exhibit "Artisans and Kings" which normally resides at the Louvre is currently on display at the Denver Ar Museum. Campbell right now is fascinated by anything French. Her room is even decorated in a Paris theme with poodles and cafes and the like. When we heard that this exhibit was here in Denver we decided we had to go.

We probably didn't pick the best weekend to go. Denver had an extremely packed weekend. Here's a quick list of events: Race for the Cure, Oktoberfest, Avalanche hockey game, Broncos game, and two NLDS Baseball games (although only one was needed. Go Rockies!). With all of this planned parking was not an easy task. We should have taken the train. Oh well! We eventually found a place to park and headed for the museum.

The Louvre exhibit was fantastic. There were paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and funiture. Campbell was amazed that these items came from castles and were created more than 200 years ago. The tapestries were beautiful. The colors are still very bright and the detail was perfect. I found it amazing that these pieces of art have survived for more than 200 years in perfect condition.

Once we finished the two floors of the Louvre exhibit we headed upstairs to look at the rest of the art museum. There was definitely some nice art and then other "art" that you wonder how it ever made it there. We ended up spending 3 hours at the museum and only made it through the first building. There are two buildings to the museum. We will be heading back another day to see the rest of the museum.

After leaving the musuem, we walked through downtown to go get some lunch. Aaron, Campbell and I ate while Caleb napped. We then went to a cute little spice store where Campbell got some Ginger ice cream which was surprisingly good.

Campbell Lenna

Wednesday we had Campbell's parent teacher conference. It pretty much went as we had expected. She is a very bright child who loves school and does well in school. Her teachers were very proud of her for being elected to Student Council. They said that at this age and being new to the school it's a very big thing to get that recognition from fellow students. She is getting terrific grades in all subjects. She's doing very well in math. This is where we expect some difficulty. They use a different method for teaching math here than in SC. She may have some holes to fill in there, but so far so good. She's doing excellent in reading, spelling and science. She scored in the high group for her writing ability. She is our smart girl.

There is one problem, though. We have the same problem at home with her. The teachers hated to even bring it up because most kids are not like this at all. The problem is that she reads. It's not just that she reads, but she reads while she should be doing other things. She has been caught reading when she should be doing spelling worksheets or paying attention during math class. She does the same thing at home. She is the kid whose punishment is to have to pack her books into boxes and put them in the basement. Overall though, the teachers are very pleased with her.

Wednesday was also her first Student Council meeting. She has a meeting once per month. They discussed their first project which is a food drive. She was responsible for hanging some of the posters and putting boxes in two of the classrooms. They also discussed the officer positions for Student Council. She wants to try for Seargent at Arms. This is the only position available for the third graders. If she wins she would be responsible for setting the meeting location and calling the meeting to order. This weekend we will be writing a speech and making posters. Our sweet little Campbell has turned into a politician! She loves the power.

We are so very proud of our Big Girl. Can you believe that she is almost 9?!

Fall Classics

On Saturday the family headed down the street for the Corn Maze. The kids were both very excited about this outing. Campbell loved finding her way through the maze. Caleb loved picking up every kernel of corn he saw. He had to throw them to birds for "bird yumma". Campbell did get tired of waiting for her brother to feed the birds. We had to remind her not to get too far ahead so that she (or us) wouldn't get lost in the maze somewhere. It took us about an hour to walk through the maze.

Once finishing the maze we shared a funnel cake. The kids both enjoyed the yumma snack. After our snack, Aaron and Campbell went back through the maze. This time they made it through in 15 minutes. While they were going back through the maze, Caleb and I hit the little kid maze and the pumpkin patch.

To end our Corn Maze experience we looked at all the scare crows. Caleb wanted nothing to do with these scare crows. Campbell loved the bride and groom pumpkin head scare crows. All in all it was a great fall day.
On Sunday, we went to the Rockies game. Aaron was participating in a military parade on the field before the game. It was Military Appreciation Day at the game, so we attended. It was a fantastic game. Campbell was really wrapped up in the game. I was so excited to see her getting so happy about a baseball game. Finally she is showing some interest in something not girly-girl. She wanted the home team to win so badly. They did not disappoint. The teams were all tied up until the 8th inning, but then the home team scored three runs. Caleb was not thrilled with all the noise. At that point he was trying to take a nap. The final score was 4-3 Rockies. Yeah!!

Green Weekend

Green does not refer to the color of the leaves here because they are changing quickly to golden, red and purple. Green does not refer to money because we neither spent nor earned any this weekend. Green does not refer to the environment, although carbon monoxide detecters have been placed in several places along the interstate.

In this case, green refers to what is coming out of Caleb's nose and being lacquered to his cute little cheeks. You see, we are on day 20 of the 10-14 day cold he acquired earlier this month. The first week was all green. The second week was all clear, so we thought we were healing. Alas, this weekend it went back to green. The poor little guy wakes up in the morning holding his throat and saying "ow". In the evenings, he coughs and says "ow". The cold did get him an Elmo humidifier, though. He requests "Dada fan on!" every day. Because of his illness and Aaron's new woodworking project we did not go anywhere this weekend.

In other news, Campbell's school called this morning asking me to pick Campbell up. Apparently, she had a tummy ache and needed to come home. Right now, I have one in bed coughing and one on the couch trying to keep her chicken noodle soup down. Fun days here at Casa de Brown.

Trains and Leaves

Saturday was a relaxed day for us. We went to the zoo in the morning. We wanted to get there one last time before it gets too cold. We also wanted to see the new baby giraffe. He is currently only 2 weeks old. We learned that when the baby giraffe, he was already 6 feet tall! As we walked through the zoo on our way to see the giraffe, Caleb kept repeating, "Baby Wawee", which means "Baby Giraffe". He was very excited to see this baby.

Sunday was our busy day. We got up early and headed to Georgetown for a train ride. We got there at 9am only to learn that they were booked until the 2:55 train. We bought our tickets and decided to go on a drive. We drove over the pass towards Breckenridge. It was a beautiful drive. The leaves were just beginning to turn colors, so we saw several degrees of green and yellow. The higher we went, the more color variation we saw. We stopped in Breckenridge for lunch only to find that Oktoberfest was being held there. We made a quick walk through that and Aaron got his beer.

We made it back to Georgetown shortly before our train was to board. We got on the train and decided to sit in the open air box. The train was an old fashioned steem engine. The open air boxes use to be coal cars. The covered cars use to be used for lumber and/or livestock. The entire trip was just over three miles but lasted about an hour. We went over a bridge that was 100 feet high. We got to see waterfalls and more leaf changes.

The second half of the trip we opted to sit in the covered car. When we had stopped for a short layover, the rain really started to come down. We didn't want to get soaking wet so we moved inside. We were still able to see really well, though. The trip was absolutely wonderful. Caleb loved it and is now telling everyone he sees about the choo choo.

Council Woman

Today, Campbell was elected to the Student Council. Each class had to elect two representatives. In her class 12 kids competed for the position. Campbell won one of those posititions. She had to give a speech which she wrote and memorized over the weekend. We are very, very proud of her!

Spelling

Campbell's teachers are doing a new format for spelling tests this year. First, the students will be placed in one of three spelling groups. The groups are based upon ability. Second, on the tests not only do they have to spell the word correctly they have to use it correctly in a sentence. She brought home her first list today. Here it is.

irate, straightaway, array, bouquet, sachet, weigh, obey, masquerade, carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, deciduous, coniferous, habitat

I'm beginning to think that Campbell has been promoted to an honors high school class without me knowing. She also proudly announced that she is in the top spelling group. My thought was, "Well I should hope so with words like these."

Yeah for Friends

This last week was a busy one. It always seems that a short week ends up being a busy week. Aaron and I both felt like we were playing catch up at work all week. The weekend has been much more laid back but a ton of fun for Campbell.

Friday night she had a birthday party to go to. This is the first birthday part that she has been to since moving here. They started out at the little girl's house then went to A*mazing Jakes which is similar to Ch*uckee Cheese. After fun and games they went back to the house for party games and cake. It ended up being a five hour party, but the kids all had a lot of fun.

Saturday night, Campbell had a sleep over here at our place. Her friend Paige came over. They started by making pizzas. I even made the dough from scratch and it turned out pretty good. The girls were happy anyway. We had also rented some movies so they had their fill of Hi*gh Sch*ool Mus*ical. They actually ended up going to bed early. I was going to let them stay up until midnight, but they were in bed by 9:30. They were up early this morning though.

I took the kids out to breakfast where the girls got their chocolate chip pancakes and Caleb got his mouse pancakes. All the kids were very happy with the breakfast. After eating we came back to the house and the girls got to play the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. We took Paige, who is a very sweet girl, home around 3. Campbell has made some great friends and is really starting to settle into life here in Colorado. Our SC skin did show today when we were complaining about it being cold. Really it's 70 degrees, but it's only September. This may be a long winter!

Labor Day

With it being a three day weekend and all, we decided to go away for the weekend. Aaron left work a little early on Friday and we packed the car. As soon as we got Campbell from the bus we loaded in the car and headed out of town. We did have to turn back twice to get important things like hiking shoes and Frog and Dog.

Anyway, we went to Glenwood Springs. The drive wasn't too bad. We made it in under 3 hours. We went to our hotel which was really a bed and breakfast inn. The in is at the base of a a ski run. From our window you could see the ski runs. It was a really great place to stay. We spent the rest of the evening just watching tv and letting the kids play in the play room.

We got up early Saturday morning and headed to Marble for a hike. As we entered Marble we saw a huge buck in the middle of the road. He didn't seem to care much about us being there. We made a quick drive through the town of Marble. We even got to see the house where Aaron's grandpa lived. The last time Aaron and I saw the cabin was 10 years ago. We didn't get to go inside (no one was home) but Campbell still found it interesting.

After our little tour of Marble we made our way to the trail head for our hike. We don't have a 4X4 so we had no choice but to hike it. We started with a 1/2 mile uphill hike to the trail head. We were hiking to the Crystal River Mill. From the trailhead it was 4 miles to the mill and 4 miles back. The hike wasn't that difficult and it was certainly beautiful. The trail does allow for 4X4 vehicles, so we had to watch for those along the trail, but we had a great time. The scenery was amazing.

We had our picnic lunch in front of the mill and then headed back up the trail. All in all, the hike took us about 5 1/2 hours and we all did great. We even got to see the little lake where Aaron went fishing with his uncles when he was about Campbell's age. After the hike, we took a drive up to the marble quary, at least as far as we could go. The chunks of marble they bring out of there are incredible.

To end the day, we went to the hot springs in Glenwood. The water in the hot pool was around 104 degrees. The cool pool was about 92 degrees. The hot soak was fabulous after our 9 mile hike. Campbell preferred the cool pool but Caleb and I spent most of our time in the hot pool. We even met up with one of Aaron's co-workers and his family. After the pool we took the kids for some much deserved ice cream.

Sunday mornig we got up and got all of our stuff packed. After breakfast, we checked out of the inn and headed to Aspen. Before leaving town though, we made a short hike up to Doc Holliday's grave site. Campbell loves anything history, so we couldn't skip this one. They have a stone marker next to the grave site stating that they are not exactly sure where in the cemetary Doc Holliday is buried. Aaron found this to be quite funny especially since we had to walk all they way to the back of the cemetary to get to the grave stone. Once we made it to Aspen, we just walked leisurely through town. We did some shopping and had lunch. After lunch we started our drive home.

We went home over Independence Pass. Campbell was very excited to see the Continental Divided at the top of the pass. She also go to see tundra which is what they studied in class last week. Caleb was not thrilled that we woke him up to take him out into the cold air just to look at more mountains. Our last stop was in Silverthorn. We did a little more shopping and then went to dinner. We had a great dinner at a little Italian restaurant. We made it home late in the evening and everyone pretty much went to bed.

Today we all go haircuts and just hung out. We needed the day of relaxation to recover from our weekend of fun. We hope you all had as much fun or your weekend as we did.

Working at Home

I thought I would take a moment to let you all see where I work now.

First the desk. Trust me, it is not always this clean. In fact, it is never this clean.

Next, take a look at Caleb's table, aka the printer.

Now for the view. This is the only window that I can see from my desk. It's a good thing the views are nice. Depending on the season I get to see this tree in it's various stages. I love it!

This is the floor where the little one plays, obviously. This picture was taken after only 5 minutes of play, so as you can imagine it get's much worse!

And finally, if I look over the balcony of the loft where my office is, I can see the culprit of the floor "organization".

We are on our way to Glenwood Springs for the weekend. I'll post a report when we return. Happy weekend to all!!