North Pole

We were looking for something Christmasy to do with the kids this last weekend. After doing some research, we decided upon Santa's Workshop in North Pole, CO. This place is about 30 minutes from us. It's basically just a North Pole themed amuzement park. They all sorts of little rides as well as shops. They also have a post office. A few of you will be getting post cards from us. Be sure to look at the postage stamp. Your kids will find this very cool.

We all had a great time. Luckily the weather was in the 50's so we didn't get too cold. We did not visit with Santa in his house. The line was entirely too long. We were not up for that. The kids had a lot of fun though. Caleb did not like the roller coaster. It was the only ride he cried on. Campbell did not like the space shuttle ride. She almost cried on that one.

We spent nearly 4 hours at the park. Caleb was so exhausted. We barely go in the car before he was asleep. We followed the park excursion with a nice lunch in Manitou Springs. Caleb did not wake up for lunch. He slept through the shift from car to stroller and the entire lunch.

That night we sent Campbell to the Tween Night over at the Y. This is the first time that she has gone. She had a blast and requested to go again. They have the night twice per month. We will probably send her once per month. We may also try out the Parents Night Out. Caleb is old enough and potty trained. Aaron and I might actually get a dinner by ourselves once a month.

Holiday Program

Last night Caleb had his very first holiday program at his preschool. He attends preschool at a Luthern Church so I'm sure you can imagine that the songs were religious in nature. His class sang three songs. The first two I had not heard before, but they were cute. The last one was "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".



Caleb did not sing during his songs but he was dancing. He was full on rocking it with tongue out and all. This was during a song called "My Gift to Jesus". Definitely not a rock and roll song. Caleb likes to rock and roll though. It was a very cute little program.



On a side note, a bunch of parents and grandparents need to learn some manners. After the program we had to stress to our children that we did not want to ever see them behave the way some of these adults behaved. They were pushing and shoving people to try to get the best picture of their kid. One woman was waving her arms around trying to get her kids attention. In the process of doing this, she was totally in the way of other people trying to see their kids. People were also talking throughout the entire program. The teachers were trying their best to keep the kids quiet all while these parents couldn't shut their traps for a 30 minute program. Rant over.

Busy

So, it's been a while...

We have been busy so I will just give you a quick recap. My brother and sister and nephew came into town for Thanksgiving. It was good to have them here for a few days. While they were here we went to the Pro-rodeo Hall of Fame. That was my brother's one request. The boys hated the statues. We also took all the kids to see Santa. Caleb and Landon were both afraid at first but quickly warmed up. Caleb had Santa laughing with all his talk about monkeys. The child has a lot to say about them because he is one.

On Thanksgiving we also had our friend Angie over for dinner as well. Of course we all ate way too much, but what else do you do on Thanksgiving. My family left on Friday morning. The kids and I did some shopping but didn't really find any great deals.

We got 11" of snow on Sunday. Aaron decided we should go hiking. We headed over to Garden of the Gods. The odd thing was that though we already had 8" at our house there was only maybe 2" over there. Oh well. We did a small hike through the park and then did lunch in Old Colorado City.

Aaron's brother was came to visit on Monday. He was here on business and stayed with us for 2 nights. The kids were thrilled to spend some time with their Uncle Pooky.

Aaron has been out of town for Reserves this weekend, so the kids and I were on our own. We spent Saturday afternoon shopping in Denver. That evening we went to the Parade of Lights in Downtown Denver. We had a great day. It would have been nicer with Daddy but what can you do?

Today we just hung out. Campbell had a little girl over for a play date. Other than that we just did housework.

So, now you are caught up on us. I'll try to keep up better in the future. No promises though as we are trying to get ready for Christmas and the traveling that we have planned.

Delayed

This is a word we are not use to hearing about our dear daughter. She was born 5 weeks preterm but hit all of her milestones ahead of full term babies. She was walking by the time she was 10 months old. She was speaking in full sentences by 18 months. She could sing her abc's by 18 months. She was reading by age 4. At age 10 and in the 4th grade she is working on a 9th grade reading level. She is anything but delayed.

She has always been a tiny little thing. Previous to this year she was estimated to be between 5' - 5'2" at full adult height. That changed at this year's well baby appoint. (Yes, I still call it a well baby even though she is clearly not a baby anymore.) This year she had dropped on the curve and they said that at this rate she will only reach 4'9". Panic set in and we agreed to see the ednocrinologist.

Three weeks ago they ran all sorts of blood tests on her. They also did a bone age scan. This scan is just an x-ray of her left hand and wrist. From this scan they can tell what age her bones are. Apparently, bones are not necessarily the same age as the person is cronilogically. Yesterday we got the results back.

6 years 10 months. That is the age of our 10 year old daughter's bones. The good news with this is that she is the size of an average 7 year old so she is tall for her bone age. While this is the best news we could have received and what we were hoping for, the doctor is still concerned. He normally sees a bone age that is 1-2 years behind the cronilogical age. Being 3+ years behind is slightly worrisome for him. We now have a choice to make.

Her IGF-1 (human growth hormone in the liver proteins) level was at 91. Normal levels of this hormone in 10 year old girls is 120 or greater. Deficient levels in 10 year old girls is less than 60. So as you can see, she falls right smack dab in the middle of the gray area. She is neither deficient nor normal. We have to decide if we want to put her through further hormone testing or just let things go.

The hope is that with no intervention, she would reach her full expected adult height of 5'5-5'6 three years later than her peers. She will go through puberty three years later than her peers. (She'll be the flat chested girl all through high school.) The fear is that if we do nothing it affects not only her height as an adult but her ability to have children of her own (many, many, many years from now) as an adult. We still have a bunch of research to do to see if this is something we really need to look into. The height is not our main concern at this point. Even without intervention we are certain that she will hit 5' at a minimum. Our concern is other health issues that may be affected.

This whole "delayed" issue is certainly new territory to us.

Crafty

Aaron and I have decided that we are going to be a bit more crafty with our gift giving this holiday season. He is putting his woodworking skills to use and I am putting my sewing "skills" to use. We are just trying to be a bit more frugal and show the kids that it is about what comes from the heart not the pocketbook.

Aaron has been working on a stick horse for Caleb. It's going to be very cute. He is also working on a couple of doll beds for Campbell. It is what she wants for Christmas. He has been able to use all wood that is just lying around the garage so no real out-of-pocket expense. He did have a to purchase a $3 dowel for the stick horse, but no big deal.

I am making super hero capes for the little boys in our lives. I am making matching pj's and robes for Campbell and her (4) 18" dolls. She will be thrilled with these. I will be making bedding for the beds that Aaron is making as well. I am also making a quilt for my secret santa person. Hope they like it. Once those projects are finished we will have to see what else we can get to. Caleb has requested a space alien quilt, but we will have to see if I can get to that for him.

Campbell has also gotten into the crafting goodness. She has learned how to make pillows. Two of them are already completed. She also has a couple of purses she would like to make. Finally she wants to make a stuffed animal for her brother. Hopefully we can get all of these projects completed in time.

Family Traditions

On Monday, Aaron flew to Atlanta and then drove to Montgomery, AL. He was attending the commissioning of his cousin Brian. Brian was being commissioned as an officer in the US Air Force. Aaron got to swear him in.

History

Our kids have seen a very historic day. This is something they will be able to tell their children, grand-children, great grand-children, etc. Like so many people have said, we were all told as kids that we could do anything we wanted, even become president of the US. But, when you looked at that poster that is placed in every classroom across this country, all the faces looked the same. Sure they had different hair colors and styles. Some were heavier than others. But, every single one of them had the same color skin and they were all men. Now that poster changes.

I've been trying to explain to the kids how incredible this really is. Caleb doesn't really care. Campbell doesn't quite get it. She understands that it's the first time. I think part of her not quite understanding the significance is her life. She, unlike myself, has grown up in a very diverse lifestyle. She has friends of all colors. She has never really known a world where prejudice is allowed in our household. She's been around it, we just have sheltered her from that and made it clear to her that everyone is created equal no matter what. Apparently that has worked. As she studies more history I think it will start to sink in. I may make a trip to the library today to get her a book on the Civil Rights Movement.

All in all, today I can say that I am very glad that my kids are American. Yes they can!

Short Stature

At Campbell's well-baby appointment this month the doctor was slightly concerned about her height. It seems that she has only grown an inch this last year. They worry if kids don't grow at least 2 inches per year. The doctor gave us a referral to the endocrinologist.

Today we had that appointment. The endocrinologist said that there could be any number of reasons or no reason at all. The least likely is Turner's Syndrome. He doesn't see any other markers besides the short stature for TS. Other reasons include thyroid problems, growth hormone deficiency or slowed bone age. We are hoping for the slowed bone age. That would mean that she is just a late bloomer.

We had a series of test done today. She had 5 tubes of blood drawn. She was not thrilled with this. She also had an x-ray of her hand done. This is for the bone age test. We should have all results (except the TS kareotype test) back within 10 days. We are all hoping that the bone age test shows that her bones are only 7-8 years of age and not 10 years of age.

As an aside, the little girl who had an appointment right before us was named Lenna. That's Campbell's middle name. Campbell found that to be very cool.

Pre-School

Yesterday, Caleb became a pre-schooler. He will be going to a Luthern church down the street from us. He attends Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 8-12:30.

He was excited to go play yesterday. Although, he did say that he was excited to "dance like a monkey so my friends will laugh at me". Yes, he is always a clown. He takes after his father for sure.

He had a terrific first day. The teachers said he did very well. They commented on how well he speaks and that he didn't let any of the other kids bully him around. He gets a hot lunch there and ate all of his lunch yesterday. He did, however, refuse to use the potty at school. At least he didn't wet his pants. He just waited until he got home.

Hopefully the rest of the week goes just as well.

Ten

It's hard to believe that she surprised us with her early arrival ten years ago. It feels like yesterday.

The Delight

Last week we had Campbell's parent/teacher conference. Both her regular classroom teacher and her Gifted and Talented teacher said that she is The Delight of the classroom. They could not say enough good things about her. They don't use the A, B, C, D, F scale here. But if they did, she would have received straight A's. We also learned that she is not only one of the top students in reading but that she is also one of the top students in math. We are so very proud of her accomplishments. She has worked really hard to catch up with the math standards here in Colorado. She is definitely our smarty-smart girl.

Weekend Before Last

Weekend before last, we found ourselves in an unusual position. Aaron was off work and Campbell was out of school. I was able to take the day off from work. With all of that, we decided to take a mini-vacation. Friday morning, we got up early and headed for Mesa Verda in southern Colorado.

We made it to Durango at about noon. We were going to take the kids on a train ride but discovered that the train rides started at 9am and lasted all day. We decided instead to tour the train yard. The tour lasted about 1 1/2 hours and we got to walk through the train yard and the workshops. By the time we finished walking through all of this, Caleb was filthy! His hands were black. He also managed to ruin my khaki pants with the black. Take my advice, if you ever go to a train yard do not wear khaki!

After the tour we headed to Cortez to our hotel. Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Mesa Verde to walk through the ruins. We spent the morning walking through these ruins. The two hikes we went on we had to climb ladders to get to. It was an amazing place and if you ever get a chance to go, Go. We ended our morning there with a picnic lunch.

That afternoon we headed down to Four Corners Monument. At this place Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado all meet at this one spot. All four of us were able to stand in a different state at the same time. We expected more, but alas it was just the little monument. We spent about 30 minutes there before we headed back to Cortez.

On our way back we saw a sign for a winery. We followed the sign and made our way to this cute little winery. We spent about an hour tasting wines while the kiddos played in the gardens. We've never done this before but we had a good time. We were worried the kids would get bored while we were there, but they seemed to have a good time as well.

We made it back to Cortez for dinner. Aaron took Caleb to the potty and made a horrible mistake. He decided to hold him up to the urinal rather than sit him on the potty. Let's just say that Caleb needed to more than just pee.

We ended the evening by watching a documentary on Former President Carter and eating ice cream. Hey, we make learning fun! We headed home Sunday morning with sick child. Campbell woke up at 4 in the morning vomiting. We had to stop more than once on the way home to let her empty her stomach. Poor kid.

Marathon, Party, & Maze

Saturday was a very busy day for us. We started the morning with Campbell's marathon mile. We had to be to Denver by 8am which meant leaving here by 7am. We are normally not up this early on a Saturday morning so that was a stretch, but we left here at 20 minutes until 7. So we did good.

We got Campbell all checked in and then had to wait for her to run. The race didn't start until 10 so we just did some walking downtown. She ran her race and ran it in 9:25. That was pretty good considering the number of people in the race. There were so many kids. Next year I think they need to seperate the race into age groups. It would prevent kids from being blocked in by the 500 kids in front of them.

We also did a birthday party for the kids on Saturday. Most of our friends are up in Denver so we decided to do a bowling party up there. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time! We had a lot of good friends show up and we enjoyed their company.

I think something was working against poor Caleb though. He has talked about having a baseball party for months now. Last week I ordered the cake for him. It was a baseball field with a baseball on it. The perfect cake. When I went to pick up the cake Friday evening, we instead got a basketball cake. The decorator was already gone so we had to take what we got. (Although, I threw a fit and got the cake for half off.) Then, on Saturday we went and got the kid a balloon with a baseball on it. Just as we walked out of the store the balloon popped. We got a new balloon and headed to the bowling alley. As soon as we go there the new balloon popped. At least the baseball decorations I go worked out well.

After the part we headed over to the corn maze. It was fantastic to walk through the maze in the evening with the sun setting. By the time we left it was dark. It was a really nice way to end our busy day.

Annual Updates

Today the kids had their yearly well-baby appointments. All went well. They are both small but healthy. The doctor is sending Campbell to an endocrinologist (sp?) to make sure that everything is good with her. She is very tiny so the doctor just wants to make sure that all is good. She also wants us to try to break Caleb of his "W" sit and get him to sit criss-cross style.

Campbell's Stats
47 1/2 "
49 lbs 4 oz.
BMI 15 1/4

Caleb's Stats
35 1/2 "
27 lbs.
BMI 15

Three!!

Phone Call from the Teacher

On Tuesday, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was the school. My first thought was that Campbell had another headache and needed me to bring her some medicine. (This has happened twice this year. I'm thinking it's time to get her eyes checked again.)

When I answered the phone it was actually her teacher. She told me she was calling about Campbell. Now, my first reaction is "but she's a good kid. What could she have done?" Turns out she did nothing wrong. Instead she was calling to inform me that Campbell had received a 100 percent on her math test last week. She got to go to the office to get a high five. This school is definitely all about the positive reinforcement and making sure that parents know the good as well as the bad.

Campbell's goal this year has been to do well enough in math to possibly get into Gifted and Talented for math next year. She is well on her way!!

233 Years of Tradition

October 13 marks the 233rd birthday of the United States Navy. To mark this birthday we at the Brown household had ourselves a Very Navy Weekend.

Friday evening Aaron and I got ourselves all gussied up. We then dropped the kids off with family for a sleepover with Cousin Anna. We then headed to downtown for the Navy Day Ball. The venue was decorated nicely to include an ice sculpture of the Navy Ram with falcon feathers in his mouth. There were also blue and gold M & M packets. It was all very cute.

There was a huge turnout at this party. There were 68 men from the 1951 Naval Academy class in attendance. As is tradition, the oldest and the youngest Navy member in attendance cut the birthday cake. This year, the oldest was a 90 year old man who survived Pearl Harbor. The youngest was an (barely) 18 year old girl on the Naval Academy cheerleading squad.

After the cake cutting, the Naval Academy cheerleaders held a pep rally for us. (The Navy vs. Airforce football game was on Saturday.) It was very cool to have them show up there. They took time out of their evening to come do some cheers. It was also really nice for them to see a great mix of Navy personnel (i.e. retired, active, reserve, enlisted and officer). I think they had as much fun as the rest of us.

We ended the evening by going out for sushi with some friends. We had dinner at the ball, but there just wasn't enough on the plates for any of us.

Saturday morning there was no time to sleep in. We had to be up by 8 even with our slight hang overs. (Note to self: Don't drink champaign after drinking wine.) Aaron made breakfast for the two of us and two of our friends who had stayed over. As soon as breakfast was over, I went to get the kids while Aaron started packing the truck.

We attended the Navy vs. Air Force football game Saturday afternoon. Before the game, though, we did some tailgating with a bunch of our Navy friends. We grilled hot dogs in the back of the truck. After filling our tummies, we headed in for the game.

Aaron and I lived in Baltimore for three years. During that time we never once went to a Navy football game despite the fact that Annapolis was only 30 minutes away. This was our first game and we had a blast. Caleb did not like all the noise, although, he was able to take a short nap even with the noise. The game ended with Navy on top! Yeah!

Contractor Layoff Pros and Cons

Aaron spent the last two weeks in Rhode Island. He was doing his Officer Training School. About halfway through the second week of OCS, his boss here in Colorado sent him an e-mail. The e-mail basically told him that when he returned from RI he would be out of work for at least a week and most likely two weeks. This sucks because it means he will not be earning a paycheck during that time. That means that for the next two weeks I am the primary breadwinner for the family. Now, my paycheck means we can pay rent and eat for two weeks but that is about it. Lucky for us we thought ahead and put money in savings for just these cases.

Being the analyst I am I decided to put together a pro/con list for this layoff. So, here we go...

Pros:
1. I have a manservant. (He has already done the grocery shopping for me.)
2. I don't have to get dressed until noon. (Usually I have to be dressed to take Campbell to school.)
3. I have someone here to help entertain the boy child.
4. I can actually go get my eyebrows waxed by myself.
5. He will have time to build some holiday gifts for the kids.

Cons:
1. We will be together all day everyday during this time.
2. I will watch more than my share of shoot 'em up and/or alien movies.
3. I'm sure my schedule will be adjusted and readjusted.
4. Oh, and he won't be earning a paycheck!

As you can see, we are trying to remain calm and humerous through this time. It is always stressful to have the main breadwinner lose his/her job, if even for just a couple of weeks. We (and his bosses) are optimistic that he will be back to work as early as Oct 6 or as late as Oct 16. These are the things you deal with as a contractor.

8:55

This week was her third and final race of the cross-country season. She definitely went out in style. She ran the mile in 8:55.

9:48

Ok. So this kids is fast. This week she ran a mile in 9:48. I have problems running a 10 minute mile and she's running faster than that!

10:20

Lolo ran her first cross-country meet tonight. Her age group had the option of running 1 mile or 1.5 miles. She chose to run 1 mile. She has two more meets and will run the 1.5 at one of those. This was a true cross country meet. She has run 3 marathon miles. During those runs, they run on fairly flat courses. This course had some elevation changes. She said that the up-hills were dificult. She was still able to run 1 mile in 10:20. That is pretty good for such a little girl.

The Greatest Gift

I love my father
I really really do
But I can’t find the perfect
Gift for him from me to you!

I looked in all the stores for it
I really really did
But I couldn’t find the perfect
Gift with money from a kid.

I even tried a frog and I even
Tried a dove but today I learned
A lesson that the greatest gift
Is love!

Author Campbell L. Brown

Operation Relaxation!

After our onslaught of visitors over the summer and our camping trip, we were ready for a nice relaxed weekend. That is what we did this past weekend. We went out to breakfast and walked through a nice outdoor shopping center with our coffee on Saturday morning. While the boys napped Saturday afternoon, the girls went out to lunch and did some shopping for some wonderful mommy/daughter time.


Sunday we all slept in and just spent the day around the house. We did some cleaning. Aaron mowed the yard. We also started getting Aaron's stuff ready for him to leave next weekend. He leaves Saturday morning to go to Rhode Island for Officer Candidate School. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend with just the four of us.

Labor Day Weekend

Ok. I know I'm a week late on this one, but we have been busy.

Over Labor Day Weekend this year, we went camping and hiking near Winter Park, CO. Some friends of our went as well. We had 4 adults and 3 children camping in tents. It was really a lot of fun.

Our friends had been to the campsite before and suggested it. As it turns out, this site is not a marked site. It is just a spot in the woods. We went up the night before our friends and it took us a bit to find the site. The problem with finding it was that the road that was marked on the map didn't actually exist. We took a nice "scenic" drive up the mountain in th dark. Luckily we ran into some guys who were leaving the mountain. They explained that we were way out of the way of the campsite. To make a long story shorter, we eventually found the site and set up our tent via headlites.

The best part of the site was that it was completely in the woods but only about 5 miles from town. We were able to get up and go into town for a warm breakfast and coffee. After our breakfast we went back out to the campsite where we reset our tent (in a better location) and unpacked and organized. Then we went on a lovely 2 hour hike. By that time we were ready for lunch. We had lunch in town that day. We also walked around the shops in town. Our friends weren't scheduled to be to the camp until around 5 so we were just killing time. We were even lucky enough to get a nice nap in the woods.

That evening we went to a local rodeo. This was a very small town so the rodeo was definitely small town rodeo. It was reminiscent of the rodeos I went to every summer growing up. Campbell even got to participate in the rodeo. She entered the "Calf Scramble". The object of this was to pull a ribbon off of a calves tale. All children aged 6-12 were able to participate. They ended up with about 50 children vs. 10 calves. It was quite hillarious to see these kids running after the calves. Campbell did not get a ribbon but she got a t-shirt prize anyway. I guess she was just too cute in her skirt running after the calves. Her first words to us as she came back were "I got knocked over by a cow!"

The rest of the camping trip was your average camping trip. We made pancakes, eggs, and bacon over the fire (after roasting marshmallows for the first course of breakfast). Aaron made Frogmoore (sp?) stew over the fire during a rainstorm. We went on a couple more hikes. (We hiked about 16 miles over the course of the weekend.)

We had a fantastic weekend! Though we did learn that while all four of us can fit in a three man tent, we really do need a slightly larger tent to be a bit more comfortable. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed sleeping in the tent. It got very cool in the evenings but we came prepared for that so all was good. This is definitely something we will do again!

And it only took us a week to get everything put away!

There is something fishy going on here.

When we moved from SC a year and a half ago, we promised Lolo that we would get her a fish. Both kids have been asking for a puppy. In fact while we were in MT we went to the local fair. An old friend of mine put Caleb up to asking me to buy him one of the puppies they had for sale. I quickly shot down that request.

At this point Aaron and I are not interested in having pets. We did decide, though, that we could get the kids some fish. We went over to the local pet store this evening and picked out our new fish. Campbell chose a Betta fish. She named him "Snowball". Caleb got three small fish. He named them "Spaceship", "MonkeyMonkeyMonkey", and "Tree". Both kids are really excited about their fish.

Hopefully I don't jinx myself

I'm hoping I don't jinx us here, but I think we can say that we are done with diapers. Dubba-Do has been mostly in underwear for the last week or so. He has not had any accidents. Even when we have had him in pull-ups he asks to go potty. While on our camping trip this last weekend, he refused to use his pull-up. He insisted on "pee in the weeds". He has a hard time getting his pants down and/or getting up on the potty by himself; but he tells us whenever he needs to go so we are happy to help with the process. What a big boy he is!

Landshark Tag

When we left Greenville our smarty-smart girl was doing the final testing for the Gifted and Talented classes. The teacher told us it was more of a formality and that she would be accepted. She did not get to participate because we moved. Fast forward to the end of this last school year. She had been accepted to Gifted and Talented in Littleton. They were working on her IEP (Individual Education Plan) when we made the decision to move to the Springs.

The other night at the back-to-school event for her new school we sought out the Gifted and Talented teacher. We spoke to Ms. R and asked her what we needed to get our girl in the class. She asked us to bring her the paperwork from Littleton and she would make some phone calls. The next day I dropped the paperwork off to her. The day after that she called to inform us that our girl was indeed accepted to Gifted and Talented (TAG) for reading. Now while the rest of her class does their regular reading she leaves to go to her advanced reading. To make us even more proud, there are only 6 fourth graders in her school who qualified for Gifted and Talented in either reading or math. She is one of those six.

Now on to the Landshark. Yesterday, Campbell had her first practice for the cross-country team. That's right, the elementary school has a cross-country team. They meet once per week for seven weeks for practice. They also have 3 meets. She is very excited to start this activity. In the spring they also run track.

Fourth Grade Math

Tonight Campbell brought us her math homework. She was having a difficult time with one particular question. Aaron and I both struggled with this particular quesiton. We thought we knew the correct answer but didn't want to lead our child astray.

Living in the day and age we do, our first step was to Google the question. We had to laugh at the results. There were no fewer than ten blog posts regarding this particular 4th grade math question. Apparently we are not the only college graduate parents who can't do 4th grade math.

Also, how funny is it that we can find this information on blogs using Google? When we were in 4th grade none of this existed. Our parents just had to struggle through these questions.

Freedom!

For the past 5 weeks we have had people staying in our house. First it was Aaron's mom then my mom and nephew. During their stays we had other visitors scattered in as well. We LOVE having visitors. We are always happy when the grandparents can spend time with the kids. We just didn't schedule very well this time. We didn't even have one day of a break between visitors. Yesterday, the last of the visitors left.


To celebrate, we stayed the night up in Denver on Saturday. That wasn't the plan but that's what happened. Aaron had reserve duty this weekend. Since moving to the Springs he now spends Reserve weekends in Denver. Because the Navy pays for the room, usually he has to share a room with some other sailor. For some reason this weekend he got a room to himself. So we made a family night of it.


The kids and I headed up for the evening. On the way we stopped to get Caleb some new shoes. The kids is constantly growing out of his shoes. Hopefully, one day his height will catch up to his feet. Lucky for him we found shoes with spaceshuttles and planets on them. He still loves anything space related, so was thrilled with the shoes. He even wanted to sleep with them that night.


We ended up doing dinner with a bunch of people from Aaron's new unit. When he was commissioned he was moved to a new unit. This was the first weekend with the new unit so they had an afterhours get together. It was nice to meet the people from the new unit. The kids don't get to see a whole lot of Navy so it was good to have them around a bunch of people in uniform for a couple of hours.


After dinner we headed downtown to walk around. If you've been living under a rock then you probably don't know that the DNC is in Denver this year. The convention actually starts this week. We didn't notice anything really different about Denver except the police presence. There were more police than non-police...on foot, on motorcycles, on bicycles, in cars. We even ran into a group of about six at the coffee shop in full riot gear. I guess they were prepared. About the only action we saw them get was turning on their lights for the kiddos. It was a nice walk through downtown, though.


Give us a week filled with more family nights like this and then we will be ready to start planning for more visitors.

Meeting Great Grandma

While we were in Montana getting my mom and my nephew, I took the kids to see my grandmother. This was the first time Caleb had met her. Campbell has met her before but doesn't remember as it was about 6 years ago.

Grandma Ruby is now 85 years old. She is suffering from the effects of hearing loss and alzheimer's (sp?). She may not remember this visit but at least I got that picture of the kids with her.

She seemed very happy to see me and the kids. She even proudly showed us her picture wall where the kids pictures were. Grandma has had this wall for as long as I can remember. She is not the type of person to have nick nacks. She does not have pictures in frames sitting around her house at all. But the wall in the hallway between the kitchen and the bedrooms has always had pictures haning on it. Each of her 4 children has a framed picture on the wall. Below each of the framed pictures are pictures of the grandkids and great grandkids. She may not remember where she parked her car or even if she has one, but she can name each child in those pictures.

Living the Dream

This morning Caleb was sitting in the living room playing with something. Aaron walked in and asked him what he was doing. Caleb's response? "I just living the dream." I don't know where that came from, but apparently life as a 2 1/2 year old is good.

In other Caleb funnies...He has been into singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm". This farm rarely has animals, though. Caleb likes to add other things like cookies, cars, rain, etc. to the farm. Today he added "a na*ked". (He calls his boy parts his "nak*ed".)

I have a feeling that once this one starts school we may be getting some calls from the teachers. He has an imagination and likes to be a clown. This may not be the best mix. Lucky for him he's cute!

Speaking of School

My first day of school was actually in the first grade. I did not go to kindergarten. We lived out in the middle of Nowhereville, MT. The school where kindergarten was offered was twenty miles from where we lived. For this reason, our parents could decide whether we attended kindergarten or not. My parents chose not to send me.

The school I attended when I did go to school was also out in the middle of nowhere. It was about a half mile from our house and yes, I did have to walk in the snow. I even had to walk, or hop) when I broke my leg. It was December when that happened so there was definitely snow on the ground. Not a fun time.

Anyway, that wasn't suppose to be the story. The school I attended from first through sixth grade was very small. When I say very small, I mean very small. The school had two class rooms, an entryway, and two bathrooms. All grades were taught in the same classroom. There was also an apartment out back for the teacher to live in.

Out front, there were three large pine trees that formed a semi-circle in front of the flagpole. These trees provided a great windbreak from the cold, Montana winters. We were required to go outside for recess no matter what the weather was like so we used this shield a lot.

Campbell loves my story about the moose, so here's the story. One day when I was in 5th grade we were all sitting in class when the teacher excitedly told us to look out the window. To our surprise a bull moose was looking in the window at us. Yes the story is real. That's my very own "Northern Exposure" story.

Two weeks ago I had to go up to Montana to get my mom and my nephew. While there I took Campbell over to the school I had attended. The school is no longer open. It closed the year I went to seventh grade. I was able to get pictures of her standing in front of it, though. The swingset (which was red) is now gone. Also, the monkey bars that were installed when I was in second grade are gone. The building is still standing though and brings back oh so many memories (good and bad) of my childhood.

Pictures in Time

What a 4th Grader Looks Like

Feeding the History Junkie

Campbell loves anything to do with history. It's her favorite subject in school. We like to take every opportunity we can to feed this addiction of hers.

The first weekend in August I had to go up Montana to get my mom and my nephew. They are staying with us for about three weeks. Having grown up in MT and studied MT history I knew that there would surely be something that I could take her to see. I thought about going through the Lewis and Clark Caverns. Caleb is not a huge fan of tight, dark spaces though so that was out. I decided instead to take her to the Battle of the Little Big Horn Monument and Park. Some of you may know this better as Custer's Last Stand Battlefield.

I gave Campbell a brief history on our way to the Park. Once there, we first looked at the National Cemetary that is located there. We also looked through the museum (which seemed much smaller than I remembered). We then took the driving tour around the battlefield.

The battlefield is marked with headstones in each location where a body was found. The stone is marked to indicate whether it was a Cavalry Soldier or an American Indian who had died in that location. It was a really interesting tour. The last time I had gone when I was younger than Campbell there was no driving tour. Campbell really enjoyed our 2 hour visit to this park.

4th Grade

Tomorrow is the day that Campbell starts 4th grade. I have no idea how she became old enough to be in the 4th grade. A friend and I were talking the other night. We both remember the day Campbell started Kindergarten. It was such a big day for her. She could not have been more excited to begin her school career. There were no tears from parents or child when she started Kindergarten.

This year might be different. It seems as though she is just growing up so fast. She only has two years (this and next) left in elementary school. Next year will be a year of preparing her for middle school. I can not even believe that this child of mine is nearing middle school. We're just
going to ignore that fact.

Campbell is thrilled that summer break is over. She is the type of child who starts counting down to the first day of school on the last day of school. She would be a perfect candidate for year round school.

Yesterday we went to the back-to-school event. We got to meet her new teacher, Mrs. K. Mrs. K is actually shorter than I am. This is good for Campbell. She has yet to catch up with her peers in size. I fear that will never happen. It's good for her to see that other people are short as well. Mrs. K also seems to be very strict, not mean, just strict. This year is about teaching these kids responsiblity.

The school is terrific! The staff really believes in their motto "Reach for the Stars". Each student is given a punch card. When the student is seen doing something positive they are sent to the office to get a punch on their card. Once they reach 25 punches they get to choose a prize. Talk about your positive reinforcement.

Tomorrow morning we make that walk to the first day. Campbell has her first day breakfast menu planned. She also has her first day out fit picked out and ready to go. She is ready to start the year as a 4th grader!

14 Years

Yesterday, Aaron and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I don't know how we have survived each other for all those years, but we have.

ALIVE!

We are indeed alive. We have been super busy around here. On the 21st Nana came for a visit. She has been having a great time with the kids. On the 24th, our friend, his girlfriend, and his two kids arrived. They were here until Sunday evening. We had a great time visiting with them. Aaron got his commission on the 25th.

Speaking of the commissioning, the ceremony was fantastic (besides the MC who had a difficult time reading). Aaron was one of four people who were commissioned that evening. We held it in an old house in Littleton. The house and grounds were absolutely beautiful. The Denver city skyline served as a backdrop for the ceremony. After the formal ceremony (the MC showed up late) was completed we had food and drinks.

Two of the people who were there to celebrate with us have been our friends since Monterey. That's 15 years of friendship. It's hard to believe that we have known those guys for that long. It was fantastic to have them share in this moment with Aaron, though. Aaron's parents and brother were all able to make it as well. Aaron's family purchased him his officer sword as his gift. He was really surprised and very happy. He though he was going to borrow his dad's sword but instead got his own.

The whole evening was really a lot of fun.

Maybe Not

Now they are saying that the lion may have been a large dog. A dog that looks like a lion? and is is as big as a lion? I hope I don't run into this lion/dog anytime.

A Lion? Seriously?

Lion on the loose in El Paso County
Story By: Bea KarnesSource: AP
Colorado Springs Published 23 minute(s) ago
Reverse 911 warning goes out in the Falcon Hwy. and Log Rd. area.The El Paso County Sheriff's Office reports that a lion has been spotted in Eastern El Paso County. Big Cats of Serenity Springs is in the vicinity. It's a sanctuary including lions, tigers, ligers, cougars, leopards, and servals. Serenity Springs reports that all of its cats are accounted-for.Residents are encouraged to remain indoors with their pets and report any sightings by calling 911.

This location is about 20 miles due east of where we live. I guess we are having an indoor day today.

Mustang

Aaron spent his first drill weekend as an officer. Last week he signed all the paperwork that deleted him from the enlisted ranks and added him to the officer ranks. He said it was very strange to have people soluting him and calling him sir. He kept looking around for the officer before realizing that it was him. I guess after 10 years of being the one who says sir and solutes first, it take a bit getting use to being soluted and called sir.

For those who don't know, in the Navy when someone receives a commission to go from the enlisted ranks to the officer ranks they are forever reffered to as a Mustang. Someone who came in directly as an officer or through the Academy and never spent time in the enlisted ranks does not receive this "title". Aaron proudly accepts being a Mustang.

Stars and Stripes and Stars

On the 4th we went up to Parker to spend the evening with Aaron's cousin and his family. M & T were nice enough to grill us some burgers and dogs. Is there anything else to eat on the 4th? The kids all played in the pool and the sandbox. They all had a great time. The three of them really are cute together with all their blue eyes and blonde hair.

We ended the evening with a fireworks show in Parker. We were lucky enough to have front row seats. It was a really nice display. The fire truck had to put out 3 fires. The ground here is very dry. We had headphones on the kids so that the noise wouldn't bother them. Caleb was completely mesmerized by the fireworks.

Now to the other stars. I am working on making a quilt for Aaron. I am doing this as a gift to him for his commissioning. I am taking his enlisted uniforms, cutting them up and making a quilt. I must let you know that I have never made a quilt before so this is quite an endeavor. Wish me luck!

Donkey Derby

Last weekend we packed up the kids and took them to Cripple Creek. Cripple Creek is a small casino town about an hour from us. Every summer they have three weekends of Summer Fest. Each weekend they have a different theme. The theme this last weekend was Donkey Derby Days. They were having a donkey race (we missed it) and a bunch of other activities.

Our first stop when we arrived was the miniature pony rides. Each kid got to pick one pony that they wanted to ride. Caleb got the smallest pony, so small in fact that Caleb and the pony were the same height. Campbell picked one that was a regular pony, not a miniature. They were both very excited to be on the ponies. Though, I don't know who decided the pony ride location. It was directly across the street from the fire house. During our kids' rides the fire trucks had to leave the fire house. Not a big deal, except that they decided to use their horns, despited the fact that the road was closed because of the festivities. The horn didn't faze Caleb's horse thankfully. But Campbell's horse spooked and started hopping around. Campbell was bucked off in this process. Luckily, the man charged with staying with her during the ride was on top of it and caught her. All ended well.

After the ponies we went to the petting zoo. I don't know what it is around here, but they call these things petting zoos but there is always only one animal variet to pet. Also, 3 of the 4 that we have been to have been goats. Once they got to pet rabbits. Anyway, they went to pet the goats. They had baby miniature goats that were small enough even Caleb could hold them. Although, he didn't like it because he thought they were eating him. They were actually only licking him.

Campbell then went for a donkey ride down the street. Caleb and I stayed behind and visited with the baby donkey and the llamas. Once she returned we headed down the street to get our lunch. Aaron got his sausage dog. Campbell had a hamburger, and Caleb had a hotdog. I ate Campbell's leftover hamburger and Caleb's leftover hotdog. The kids also got some face painting done.

At noon, they had a parade. We sat through that. It was just like any smalltown parade. There were a bunch of old cars. The Shr*iners were there. At least at this parade they threw out candy. This was Caleb's favorite part of the day. This kids loves candy, especially chocolate. After the parade we headed home.

Too Good

We knew that things were really going to smoothly for us right now. Something had to happen. Yesterday it did. I logged into work and checked my e-mail. That's when I saw it. It was the e-mail letting me know that my working from home gig is coming to an end. They will start advertising for the position on July 7. From there I will have 2-3 months of work left. They have decided that they want someone inhouse for my job.

I am a little sad. Not only did I enjoy workinging from home, I really enjoyed the job itself. The job was challenging but not too challenging. I felt that I was doing some good and using my talents. I also enjoyed working with the people in the office. I was the youngest in the office but there were some really great people in the office to work with. Now we just need to figure out where I go from here. What is next on my plate?

Bridge and Park

This past weekend we took the kids to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. It was a lot of fun! This is the largest suspension bridge in the world, or so they say. the bridge was 1053 feet above the Arkansas River below it. Campbell was a bit nervous walking across the bridge. She has a bit of a fear of heights. Cars are also allowed to drive across this bridge. So as you are walking across cars may drive across at the same time. The cars really make the bridge sway.

The kids got to pet goats. I grew up with goats so this is really no big deal to me, but my kids seam to think that goats are the bomb. While in the little petting "zoo", which was only goats, I got yelled at. You see, there was a cute little donkey right next to the fence where I was squatting. I stuck my hand through the fence to pet him. Apparently you are not allowed to put your hand through the fence to pet the donkey. You can however put your arm over the fence to pet the donkey. Semantics I guess. Whatever...

After petting the goats we walked through the wildlife exhibition. They had buffalos and elk in fences for your viewing. I got yelled at again because I apparently got too close to the fence while taking a picture of the buffalo. These people may want to put up signs listing these rules.

The kids also got to ride on donkeys. They were both thrilled beyond belief. Aaron and I thought that Caleb would get scared and freak out. He did not get scared at all. He followed the donkey guide's instruction perfectly. While going up hill he was to lean forward and while going downhill he was to lean backward. While leaning backward Caleb tilted his head back as well. He was going to make sure he was definitely leaning backwards. It was so very cute.

After the donkey rides we went and had lunch. As is usual fore these types of places, lunch was way too expensive. Next time we will pack a picnic lunch. On our way to lunch Campbell fell off one of those parking cement blocks. She was using it as a balance beam, but she forgot to balance. She really gauged her leg on that fall.

After lunch we did some gold mining. The kids did get some fool's gold. We then went for a ride on the horse drawn wagon. This ride ended way to soon for Caleb. I think he could have stayed on that ride forever. It was naptime, so he probably would have fallen asleep in another 10 minutes. We had three more rides to complete though.

We headed over to the skyride. This is a little car that is suspended over the gorge with a cable. You ride the car from one side to the other. The views from the skyride were incredible! Once we reached the other side of the gorge we headed over to the elevator. The elevator ride takes you from the top of the gorge to the bottom of the gorge. It is set at a 45 degree angle and takes about 5 minutes. Once we reached the bottom of the gorge we were allowed out to view the Arkansas River up close. We then headed back to the top.

Once we got back to the top we headed over to the last ride. The last ride was a carousel. Every good amusement parks needs one of these. We dutifully put our kids on and let them ride. Once that was done we headed back into town to the Abbey.

Aaron has joked periodically that when Campbell hits 12 we are going to send her to the convent. This trip to the Abbey was not part of our search for the perfect place to send her. Actually, they have a winery so we were going to do some wine tasting and purchase some goods. We were lucky enough to stumble upon an art festival that was also taking place. It was a small art festival, but it was nice to walk through and we got to listen to some nice jazz music. We ended up purchasing 2 bottles of wine for our enjoyment.

School Mascots

The school here in Colorado Springs will be Campbell's third school. That means 3 different mascots with three different school colors. In SC she was a black and puple Paris Panther. In Littleton she was a green and yellow Runyon Ram. Here she will be a blue and silver Academy End*eavor Astronaut. An Astronaut! Isn't that the coolest mascot?! I am so excited. I grew up as a Bulldog. I always thought that was kind of a boring mascot. I think that an astronaut is a very cool and unique mascot.

Pizza, It's What's for Dinner!

Campbell has been begging me to do homemade pizzas for dinner. She loves to do these. So the other night I relented. (It is fun, but with a toddler it can also be messy.) Caleb ate more of his sauce than he put on his pizza. Campbell of course made a beautiful flower design with her pizza. Caleb just dumped everything on there. He started out with 6 pieces of pepperoni, but only 2 actually got cooked. He ate the others.