Cousins.

 On Tuesday night, my sister had to go to a wedding shower for her niece who is getting married the first weekend in August. It was the lingerie shower, so definitely not appropriate for little boys to be there. Haha! She called me and asked if I minded Ebin coming over for a little while.

 I told her I didn't, but his dinner was on her since we hadn't yet grocery shopped. (We've been holding out all week waiting for me to go back to work so we didn't eat up all our food. Plus, I've actually had plans every night this week. Go figure.)

 The boys enjoyed playing together, and boy did they play! Lots of loud, loud truck racing in our teeny, tiny living room, around the corner and down the teeny, tiny hallway. They also played with Micah's Lightening McQueen car, and had their first "fight" about something. Ebin took a truck away from Micah, and it was the first time he actually protested instead of just going to get another truck. (His protest including crying, pointing to Ebin and the truck, shaking his finger at Ebin, then saying, "Mama!" repeatedly. It was kind of cute.)

After a while, I had the boys sit down to watch some Netflix. This was around eight in the evening which is well past Micah's bedtime. They enjoyed some Curious George and Veggie Tales. Here we were cuddled up on the couch watching it together, and Mr. C snapped a pic.

#1 I have double chin issues in pictures thanks to my no neck. I'm not that fat.

#2 I can't ever remember to move my neck up appropriately.

#3 I hadn't washed my hair this day because I was cleaning all day, and I technically hate the picture of me. The boys are cute, though.

It was a fun evening! Micah gets to go visit Ebin again tonight since I'm going to supper club. Isn't it nice to have sisters who only live five minutes away? =)

Since Colorado...

 Before beginning my blog post, I thought you'd like an insider's view into a toddler's world. Somehow or another while I was unpacking from our trip, Micah got my iPhone. Please ignore my horrid hair, Mr. C's comments about mosquito bites, and just enjoy what I think was hilarious. I don't know how he got to the video, and he hasn't ever done it again. You'll also enjoy him saying "Daddy" and "thank you" although I don't remember what he thanked us for. =)

 

  On our last day in Colorado, we sat in the airport restaurant eating while Micah (again) played with my iPhone. Here's our very last Colorado picture via Micah. I guess this was his view of the ceiling! Haha!

The trip home was long and arduous. We left our condo at nine in the morning to make the two hour drive back to catch a flight in Denver.

We ran into many, many problems with TSA at the Denver airport. TSA made us disassemble our jogging stroller (not an easy task!) to fit through the x-ray machines. I was given a full body scan as was Mr. C. We had to have all our bags checked. Each item (all under three ounces) was taken out of Micah's diaper bag and scrutinized. They even ran pH tests on some of the liquids! It was awful. It took us forty minutes just to get through security whereas in Nashville, we walked on through easily.

Then rode on a delayed flight to Nashville.

After that, we waited at the airport for thirty minutes for our hotel shuttle to pick us up.

We rode to the hotel, got our car and headed to eat (again).

Then we drove home arriving around ten in the evening. Whew! Long day doesn't even begin to describe it.

So the next morning when I ran to the Walgreens down the street to get a Coke, imagine my surprise to get into a WRECK in the parking lot!

It wasn't too bad of a wreck, but this was my car.

This was her car. I was pulling out of my parking spot, and she hit me.

Now she is lying and saying she was sitting perfectly still. I mean, come on? Would this much damage happen while slowing backing out of a parking space? 

At any rate, they are saying it is all my fault so therefore, I'm ill about it. Lots of liars in this world, I'm afraid. It doesn't help that her boyfriend was a cop, so he probably told her exactly what to say to the insurance companies.

I contemplated cleaning my house, and I have a really hard time with this chore. Therefore, our house stays cluttered a lot. I wish we could all get on board with the pick up after yourself concept, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Micah likes to help lately, so I'm hoping I can start teaching him to "help" clean up some.

Micah has become obsessed with condiments, especially ketchup. He says, "No" to almost every question I ask him. I finally got a yes this week!! Whoo-hoo! 

Mommy: Micah do you want some more ketchup for your fries?

Micah: Pauses, thinking over his answer choice. Slowly responds, YES!

The he proceeds to smack himself in the head with a hand full of ketchup.

He laughed, I laughed. It was a bit funny! Here's the after result.

Another cute memory of the week (that doesn't go with this picture below) was when Micah finally prayed with me!

I'd say, "God is great."

Pause.

Micah would say, "God blachahckahs."

I'd say, "God is good."

Micah would say, "God bah cahaha bah."

I'd say, "Let us thank Him for our food."

Micah would say more gibberish.

Then I'd say, "Amen!"

Micah would say, "Amen!"

Precious! He only did it once, but he is starting to say "Amen" more with each meal.

These pictures were captured one morning this week when Micah wasn't quite awake yet after I caught him trying to eat the dog's food. 

These are the faces right after I said, "NO!!"

I think I scared him a little bit, but the thought of him eating dog food really grossed me out.

I went shopping for Micah last night to buy him some school supplies since he starts Mother's Day Out in the fall so his daddy can get some sleep during the day. How cute are these puppy backpacks? Micah loves them, and carries them around the house. He calls them his "puppups" (of course), and points out the "eye", "nose" and "ear" all the time. So cute! I can't believe he is big enough for "school" this fall.

Here's Micah eating his breakfast (right after the dog food scolding), and I've found an awesome way to get him to eat his oatmeal. I put way, way less water/milk into it. Then I roll it into little cookie dough like balls. He can handle them himself, and it is healthy.

Four more days of freedom. I'm going to miss all this Mommy & Micah time.

Colorado Vacation. July 10-11, 2012. Keystone & Dillon, Colorado.

We're nearing the end of our Colorado vacation pictures, and I'm sure some of you are sad. Yeah, right. You're probably like, "Um, move on, already! If you have seen one mountain, you've seen them all." In the end, I would love to have a large following of readers, but this is mainly our family archive. It wouldn't be fair to our memories if I shoved off our last few days in Colorado, so more pictures for today. At least it gives me a lot of blog material other than, "Here we are sitting around our house doing laundry." For that, you should be thankful. =)

The last few days in Colorado did not go quite as planned. We planned on heading back to RMNP, and we also wanted to see Great Dunes National Park.

However, traveling with a wee companion means making changes and allowances.

Micah just wasn't up for three hour car rides (ONE WAY) to exotic destinations so Mommy & Daddy could check off their "I've been there" on the travel list. So what did we do instead? We spent the rest of the time at or around our condo, walking on the fifty-five miles of paved bike trails, hiking near the ski resort, taking Micah to playgrounds, and watching local wildlife.

  

Micah got a nap every day in the condo, and we cooked a lot of our own food. We walked for hours on end following the coast of Lake Dillon. Mommy & Daddy enjoyed a lot of time to just talk, and it was wonderfully relaxing.

 

Our family has definitely evolved from "hotel living" to staying in condos and cabins on vacation. Or, at least, I like having our own kitchen.

 

 We took Micah to the local playground which was amazing! There were three playground sets, and I'm sorry...didn't take pictures of all of them. However, this little set was just Micah-sized! He could climb up on it by himself (with me following him, of course!). He could slide down the little slide alone.

 

 And who could argue with the view the parents got as the toddler ran off his energy?

 

 He especially likes "driving" these days, and I tell you...he's all boy!

 

 

 I think that playground was his favorite thing as he totally had a meltdown yelling, "No! NO! NOOOOO!" when it was time to go.

 

 I'm still convinced that if you want some Rocky Mountains, our last part of the trip wasn't as scenic as the beginning, but it was kid friendly!

 

 

 When we finally did tear him away from the playground amidst the largest temper tantrum known to man, we finally headed on another walk.

 

 It was Mr. C's idea to not strap Micah in (again!) so we could escape the scene of the temper tantrum with as little stares as possible.

 

 He quickly saw why this was a bad idea. Observe Micah trying to climb out of the seat to run back to the playground in the picture below.  So Micah was strapped into his stroller once again. We heard more, "No, NO, NOOOOO!" at this, but at least we were away from the crowds.

  

 

 One day we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Dillon. Despite it's wonderful decor, the Mexican food was awful! It had zero flavor or seasoning. Disgusting.

 

 Food was a sore topic for us on this trip, and we would agonize over going out to eat. Then Mr. C would pick a restaurant, it was never good, and our money was wasted.

   

   Finally, by the end of the week we found a pizza place in our ski village that had awesome everything related to pasta. That's blog talk for we went there three times out of desperation.

 There was a river right outside our door at the condo, so the last couple of days often involved a "river walk" right down the stairs.

 Micah is in love with water, so we let him get in it. He was shocked at how cold it was to his little feet!!

I have to tell ya, I could so live in one of these walkable communities. I'd love to live somewhere that had nature at my doorstep, but I could walk to a Starbucks, a grocery story, or the pizza place. I'm definitely missing that at home this week!

We tried our hands at taking some family photos (as you can see above), and Micah enjoyed getting into the water.

 

However, when he had to get out of the water we got a lot of faces like this followed by the, "No, NO, NOOOOO!"

 

I'm currently working on some discipline techniques, and Mr. C thinks I'm crazy but I've started putting him in time out at home. He cries a bit, and he stays in his crib for about one minute. It actually seems to work.

 

This was the view of "our" river at our condo.

After allowing Micah to take his naps (while Mama watched HGTV and did limited laundry in the condo washroom--my how thankful I am for my own laundry in my kitchen after that trip!!), we'd eat dinner at the pizza place or on our patio. Then we'd head out for some nighttime walks and hikes. I'm firmly convinced if I could exercise like we did on this trip, I'd already be at my goal weight.

This little pond was about two miles away from our condo. We actually drove to the pond so we could walk in either direction. I was dressed in my "its the end of the vacation so I have nothing good or cute left to wear" clothes. Still, I think this turned out to be one of my favorite family shots despite my looking like a hobo. And I'm representing Union! Go, Bulldogs! =)

We got a big shock when we saw a beaver and her babies! It was just presh!! There was a native Coloradan (??) who was at the pond watching the beavers with her daughters. She said most people up there don't get to see a beaver. It's kind of their mystical state animal because during the gold rush so many beavers were shot and killed for their pelts leaving the state to be overrun by nutria instead.

 

 That was neat to get a bit of Colorado history from a native. She was very nice, but I can't even remember her name for the life of me! That's sad, I know.

We were sad that it was our last evening in Colorado, but our boy was getting tired of driving. Micah was also tired of sitting in strollers. It seemed no amounts of playgrounds could cure that illness. I hated to leave the seventy degree weather, the scenery, and the aimless trail walking for hours each day. Mr. C was ready to get home because he was tired of driving. I can understand that. We put 1,000 miles on that Honda Civic!

Well, my friends, that is basically the end of our Colorado pictures. I hope you have enjoyed them, and I haven't bored you to tears too much. We had the most awesome, fabulous, fun time, and I wouldn't let traveling with a small one keep you from flying. 

I'll save our funny flying story for another post, but overall, Micah did awesome! 

Happy 2012 Confident Family Vacation!