Spring Break 2010

This year for spring break the four of us were blessed with the opportunity to go to Estes Park. We were able to leave Abby with Mimi and Papa (thank goodness, since it's a 9 hour drive!), and spend 4 days in the mountains. We went hiking, snow shoeing, snow tubing, and rock climbing. We all had a fabulous time. The first day was sunny and 55 degrees. The next day it was a serious blizzard with at least 10 inches of snow. And the rest of the time was snow covered, sunny and beautiful. We were able to see the mountains in 3 different landscapes. It was great to spend some one-on-one time with the 2 older kids. They are growing up so quickly and it's such a blessing to slow down and focus only on them.

We were driving in the middle of the city and right in the middle of a field was a huge heard of elk. Later the same day when we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park we saw more and more with bigger and bigger antlers.

Since it was snowing so hard, we headed into town to let the kids try rock climbing. Andrew is always climbing trees, so we knew he'd be good at it. He flew to the top in no time at all. Even as the walls became more challenging he never slowed down.

The surprise during the rock climbing was how good Kate did. She had no fear and never slowed down. Quite impressive for a 4 year old.

Throughout the entire trip we kept seeing that Andrew is such a natural in the mountain enviroment. He loved every minute of it and was so coordinated with it all. While Josh and I were slipping and sliding all over the path, Andrew was treking through with no problems whatsoever. We really look forward to going back in the summer so we can hike to different lakes and waterfalls that were still frozen.

The Kissing Hand

Andrew's kindergarten class performed 'The Kissing Hand' for Valentine's Day. It's a story about a raccoon that doesn't want to go to school. Andrew was the fox...the sly fox. His lines went like this....

Mrs Owl: "Who-Who. Time for school"

Andrew: "I can't wait! Mrs. Owl says I'm pretty sly for my age!"

He did a great job. It was so fun to see him on the stage at Cair Paravel.

Catch Up!

Wow, I haven't posted anything in a really long time! Life with 3 kids is crazy busy! This morning Abby took an unexpected nap, so I decided to update the blog. The next group of pictures is just a compilation of December thru March. They include Kate in the Nutcracker, sledding, Christmas, and some other odds and ends. I plan on making this blog a priority from now on. I really want to record the day to day life of our family. There are so many moments that I never want to forget.

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Great Wolf Lodge

To celebrate Josh's homecoming, we decided to surprise him with a night at Great Wolf Lodge. It was the perfect mid-December get-away. We were able to spend all of our time at the lodge, which made for wonderful family time. All three kids had a great time, but Abby was definitely the happiest. She absolutely LOVED the water. Andrew immediately remembered how to swim and loved going down the big slides. Kate still doesn't like water in her face, but felt completely at ease with a life jacket on. It was nice to get away for a little while and just focus on each other. We plan on making it a yearly tradition.

Cookies with Mrs. Claus

Kate, Nana and I were able to go have hot chocolate and cookies with Mrs. Claus. It was very special one-on-one time with Kate. And she was able to tell Mrs. Claus that she wanted a toy circus for Christmas. She promised to pass the word along to Santa!