Ten Weeks in Pictures

It's been ten weeks since our last posting. Considering that life will not be slowing down anytime soon, we decided we could post some pictures of what we've been doing.

Daniel's First Time Skiing (Thanksgiving)

Rachel Picks a Sled

Rachel Loves Pie

Daniel and Rachel Posing before Dinner

Daniel's Homemade Batman Costume (He cut out the mask himself and lived in this for 3 days)

Rachel is a Princess and Daniel is Optimus Prime for Halloween

Farmor and Grandpa Come to Visit

Daniel's Beary Special Day at Pre-K

Rachel's First Swim Lesson

Rachel at the Children's Museum

Fall is here

Friends

The calendar says that fall is here, and we've seen our first snowfall (though it didn't stick), so it's way past time for another catch-up blog posting.

Since last time, we've been sick. Every one of us has had this nasty cold that settles in the chest and makes you miserable. It's been going on for a month now,but I'm hoping it's on the decline.


We went camping again in August, and then over labor day weekend for a total of three trips this year. Each time, it got a little easier, more relaxed and more fun, so this is a trend we'll keep up. The kids were deeply envious of mom and dad's camelbaks, so by the last trip, we all had one, and were able to go on a really nice "moderate skill level" hike. So, sure it took 3 hours to go 1.6 miles, but it was fun.

We also took a weekend morning and drove up to a stocked trout pond. Daniel thought it was good fun to cast out his line and reel it back in - a 4-year-old doesn't really have the patience or attention span needed to catch something, but he enjoyed that dad did, and we cooked up the trout as a snack.


















The other big event in August was that Grandma Babe moved to Denver from Houston. Anida flew down to Texas, and they drove the moving truck up here. Daniel got a kick out of "driving" the truck, and thought it was great fun to help Babe move into her new apartment. We're already reaping the benefits of having her here, from more time with the kids to a recently-instituted "date night" on Fridays (yay!).

Daniel has pretty much been living on his bicycle since the last posting - his favorite activity is to "Play Police" which involves riding his bike in circles around the cul-de-sac while chasing someone else - preferably an adult on another bike. Rachel has inherited Daniel's tricycle and recently figured out how to pedal, so she's mobile too.

















School has started for both kids this fall - Daniel is in the preschool class three days a week, and Rachel is in playschool two days a week. The schedule is such that every week there's one day for Daniel and Anida, one for Rachel and Anida and one for just Anida... This seems to be working out out well. Both kids are also enrolled in the 'natics (gymnastics) class once a week, and Rachel in particular thinks that the chance to bounce, climb, balance and skip is just about the best thing in the world.


Here's Rachel on her first day of school. By coincidence, her class is almost all girls, which is exposing her to the girly-girl phenomenon for the first time. While her classmates were playing with the dolls, she beelined it over to the cars and trucks.

Rachel's language skills have blossomed in the last couple of weeks, and while her pronounciation of R and L is still frequently a W (Cherry becomes Chewwy, etc) she's easy to understand most of the time. This week marked a step forward in that she'd been trying to get Anida and Daniel to understand something she was saying, and when they just didn't get it, she switched words to get her point across, so she's grasped the concept of a synonym.


There have been lots of fun activities in the last month. We took the kids to see "Up" at an actual movie theatre, and had dinner at Casa Bonita (of South Park fame)- though the dinner is certainly less memorable than the cliffdivers, puppet show, magician, etc. We tried miniature golf again, and Daniel did much better this time, at least when he was focused.

This will be the year for ski lessons for Daniel, though I certainly hope to have another blog posting before that's a reality.

Love,
ADRE.

Today was a day for milestones

Friends

Today was a great day - and I actually think that you should just let the video tell the story. It's only 2 minutes long, but because I wanted to keep the quality high, it might take a few minutes to download.

Rachel's milestone for today was that she mastered the "F-words". Now that might not sound like a desirable achievement, but until today, she would consistently say "S" rather than "F" at the beginning of words. Firefighers were "siresighters", Four was "sore" and "I passed gas" was "I sarted!" Not today -> all of a sudden, it seems that a switch flipped and we now have "F".

I'm going to finally get around to writing the vacation update blog once I post this, so right after this posting is another set of updates.

Love, ADRE.

August. really?

Friends

How did we get to August? I mean, really - what happened to June and July? Time is just flying by. Two weeks of that time was our vacation in Norway/Sweden/Iceland, but before getting to that....

Back in the beginning of July, Daniel had another seizure. Yes - it had been about 10 months. Yes - we thought we might be done with them.

It all worked out fine in the end, but there was some additional drama when the doctor at Children's Hospital screwed up the dosage of the antiseizure medication, giving him 500% of the correct dose. So that bought him an overnight at the hospital while he worked it out of his system. The effect on Daniel was as if he was very, very drunk - he lost enough control of his muscles that he couldn't really stand, but he could still ask the pretty nurses to dance with him, and tried to impress them with his knowledge: "Did you know....that.....I....can count to...........40?"

By the 4th of July, he was back to normal, and we got to see the fireworks show and that made a big impression.

Then it was time for our summer vacation. The flight to Norway via Minneapolis and Iceland went without a hitch - we have some of the best little travellers ever. It was considerably easier than 2 years ago when we took the same route and there were delays. Once in Norway, we rested up for a day before zipping on over to Stugan - the family cabin on the Swedish coast. The weather was kind of bland for the first couple of days, but quickly got nicer. As usual, the boys spent their days catching crabs, while Rachel was much less certain that she wanted any part of that. Rachel did, however, have a complete crush on her hero Jacob, and wanted nothing more than for him to play with her (which he did - showing himself to be a very mature 9-year-old).

Daniel and Leo really bonded on this trip, and played wonderfully together. There were trips in Grandpa's boat, strawberry picking at the local farm, but otherwise just a lot of hanging out and having fun.

From Stugan a quick trip back to Oslo, then onwards to Iceland for a 4-day stopover. Iceland was a fantastic experience this time around, and defied a lot of stereotypes. It was warm enough for shorts every day and due to the economic meltdown there, it was cheap.

We got to see puffins this time, got to go whale-watching, see the sights from last time in sunshine rather than rain and have a relaxing soak at the blue lagoon. Equally nice was the municipal pool 3 blocks from our B&B, where all of the outdoor pools were maintained at very pleasant body-temperature water, thanks to Iceland's access to geothermal heat. The highlight from the last day was the Reykjavik zoo and park, where the kids play area was simply fantastic - Daniel just about peed himself when he found the Caterpillar sand scoops that used real hydraulics to lift and move dirt. Daniel got a viking get-up, and Rachel got a puffin, which she insisted was a penguin, so his name became "Penguin the Puffin".

Back in Denver, we've had the local city summer celebration day (slides, carousel rides, and Daniel got to paddle a kayak), which was nice.

The local HOA party where we met some new neighborhood kids, and otherwise a number of get-togethers with friends. I hate to skim over these, because they were a lot of fun, but that's the price of updating so seldom.

And that's the historical timeline update. Next, some anecdotes from the last 6 weeks.

Love, ADRE.

Anecdotes from the last couple of weeks

Friends

There are some things that have to be written down just so that they are remembered, without necessarily fitting into any of the previous posts.

As you probably inferred from earlier postings, Daniel has been able to earn a quarter here and a quarter there by helping out around the house. He used this money to buy himself a "recycling truck" which has been his pride and joy for the last couple of weeks. That's the background for the following exchange from last week:

Daniel wanted to watch something on TV, but had been a pill about it, so we'd said "no", and asked him what he might do to get what he wanted, thinking that he'd answer something like "I could ask nicely" or "I could calm down", but what he said instead was: "I could give you some money..."

We've been spending some time with a Realtor lately, so it probably shouldn't have surprised us when Rachel asked "Are we going to look at pwopaties today?" - Anida is convinced that we have the first 2-year old to use "properties" in a sentence.

We're actively trying to phase out Dora the Explorer and Diego from our media picture, because Daniel and Rachel have both really outgrown them (but they don't know it). The new hit is "Super-WHY" from PBS which is great in that it teaches word recognition and intro to reading.

I really ought to do a dedicated Rachel update because she passed the 2 years and 6 months mark at the end of July, but I just know that if I postpone, it won't happen. So in brief (hoping that I'll eventually flesh out).

Rachel is certainly developing and showing a personality of her own. For a long time, she's been the quiet one - happy to be included in anything that Daniel does, and without strong opinions of her own. That phase has ended.

We now have a confident, self-assured toddler who wants no advice from anyone. "I can do it mySELF" is frequently heard if you try to dress her, and she recently started to refuse to wear diapers/pullups "I'm a big gurl, I wear PANTIES!"

Speaking of which, there has been progress on the potty-training front, and we have more successes than failures these days -> it's just that the failures are so - well - messy. Nonetheless, there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh, and Rachel can count to 20 and is very proud of that fact.

Sliding and Swinging are still some of her favorite activities, and she loves to color and paint - just loves it.

And that'll have to do for now. Until next time.

Love, ADRE.

Events from the last month

Friends

Is anyone out there reading this still? I know that after failing to post for 5 weeks, we don't deserve an audience. So this is really for posterity and those of you who are really into delayed gratification.

Anyway - a lot of little updates from the last 5 weeks. The first one was that we packed up the family and flew off to Providence, RI to attend Eric's 15th college reunion and meet some old friends. This was a fun trip.

Both Daniel and Rachel thought it was a hoot to see Dad's old school.

The hotel had a nice swimming pool where Daniel got to show off his swimming skills, and the Alumni field day had a lot of activities for the kids. The magician was at the exact right level for Daniel to really enjoy, and since he thrives on attention from older girls, the soccer clinic run by the Brown women's soccer team was right up his alley.

Rachel boogied to the sounds of Dave Binder, and they both thought the idea of free, unlimited ice cream was the best thing ever.
The Brown graduation procession is a pretty special event where alumni and faculty line the streets of College Hill while the graduating class walks by, then the alumni file past the graduating class. It was a little too much for Rachel, but the crowd went wild for Daniel sitting on Anida's shoulders. They screamed his name and he gave high-fives all the way down the street. (really, I'm not making this up).


Meanwhile, Daniel had a graduation of his own, or at least a last-day-of-preschool. We brought in the pinata that didn't get used at Daniel's birthday due to weather, and the whole class and Rachel got to beat on it.

Next fall, both Rachel and Daniel will be enrolled at the school, and we're pretty sure Rachel is excited.

Post-school, Daniel's enrolled in a theatre arts session at the local rec center, and Rachel goes to a drop-in gymnastics session at the same time. They both seem to have a good time. Outdoor pools are also being frequented.


Anida declared that the infant swingset that Eric built about 3.5 years ago was no longer up to the task, so we disassembled that and over the course of a weekend built a much larger one. The trapeze hasn't yet seen a lot of action, but that will probably change, and Daniel likes the fact that the swings hang low enough that he can get himself on.

The local motorcycle/ATV store was running a "family day" that we just randomly found out about, and so Daniel got the chance to dress up in full dirtbike gear and zoom around a dirt track with an instructor on the back of the cycle, which he thought was good fun.

Whew. Let's see -> in addition to the above, there's been a trip to see "Dora" at the local theater, some trips over to the local beach, and we now have some water guns for battles in the back yard. Yes, indeed - summer is in full swing.

Rachel's molars are popping through, and we took Daniel for an appointment with his foot doctor (all is good, nothing to do). There are some videos that we might get around to posting - ignoring the blog for a month makes this a big batch of summaries. Short version -> we're doing great and having a good spring/summer.

Love,

ADRE

I don't like camping

Friends

So last weekend we made good on a longstanding plan to take the kids camping. Anida did all of the research, planning and packing, and on Friday afternoon we piled into the car and drove up to the mountains.

And everyone had a great time. The post title came from Daniel saying the following on the last morning:

"I don't like to be cold. I don't like to be dirty. I don't like camping because it makes me cold and dirty".

Which didn't stop him from continuing to play in the dirt, learn how to throw a frisbee and in general have enough fun that he says he wants to go camping again.

There were marshmallows. There were s'mores. There were hotdogs over an open fire. And yes - it was cold. Even in the middle of June it gets cold at night at 9800 feet.

Both Daniel and Rachel had fun exploring, going on (very short) hikes and throwing things in the stream nearby.

The mosquitos mostly feasted on Rachel and Anida and left the boys alone. No major hiccups with regard to the trip, except that the coffeepot broke in transit, and we nearly ran out of matches because the "waterproof" matches turned out to also be nearly fireproof.

So we'll do it again.

Until next time.

ADRE

Random Updates on a Sunday evening

Friends


There are a total of three new posts this evening, so don't stop once you're done reading this one -> a lot of little updates that didn't fit anywhere else come first.


Eric usually takes Daniel to swim lessons while Anida does other things, and so she hadn't actually seen first-hand how good of a swimmer he's become until today.

And it was a good day for it too. He got to swim across the whole pool on his back, show that he can breathe properly, but the best part was that he got to jump from the diving board a couple of times. He was proud as a peacock over that one.


Daniel's been spelling out words as he sees them written on signs and buildings, but we didn't actually know that he had cracked "the grownup code" of spelling out things in conversation that we didn't want him to hear. That illusion was shattered at dinner on Friday, when Anida said jokingly to our guest "If you do that, I'll have to kay-eye-ell-ell you", and Daniel said "Did mama just say "kill"?

Oops. Oh well. Could have been worse.


Most of the Rachel updates are two posts down, but we had a similar exchange at dinner yesterday, when Eric - in frustration that Rachel kept making a mess at dinner, referred to her as "a little oink", to which she immediately said "I'm not a pig".


OK, note to selves - kids are listening more than we give them credit for.


Rachel scored major points with Anida for saying "Tank you for washing my pajamas", and then proudly took her clean clothes upstairs.


And that about does it for now. Since these posts appear witht the newest one first, keep reading for 2 additional updates.


Love, ADRE

Swine Flu stinks...

Friends


We were going to spend a nice long weekend at a resort in Cancun with the Pasta family, but given the hysteria around Swine Flu in the last couple of weeks of April, we changed destinations at the last minute.


In retrospect, that decision is looking a little wimpy, but at the time it seemed prudent.


Thankfully, we were still able to pull off a trip to San Diego, which turned out to be a very good trip.


Legoland was a huge success, and everyone had a good time. Daniel was tall enough for the rides that he wanted to ride, and Rachel had plenty to do too.

The highlights were driving a lego car, riding a pirate boat (where you could spray other boats) and putting out a "fire" (which the Pastas, to their credit, did faster than we did).

It was just a lot of fun all around.









On Saturday, we saw the San Diego Zoo in the morning, and the Midway in the afternoon. The Midway was the bigger hit of the two, but Rachel liked the Panda exhibit and proclaimed "I have one of those at home!" We wrapped it up with a chance to play on the sandy beach at Coronado.

The days were full of excitement, and we didn't have any problems keeping everyone entertained, but we might have worn them out a bit. On Sunday, we hit the San Diego Wild Animal park, and when we walked in the front gate, Daniel took one look and exclaimed in disgust "This is s ZOO". We didn't last long at that park, but went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool before going over to Jan Robert and Lia's place for a nice BBQ.


Monday was another full day of entertainment, with a harbor cruise, a ride on a double-decker bus, a drive along the coast and a chance to see sealions in La Jolla. If it sounds like we were busy, we were. The kids had a blast, and so did the adults. Sure, it was a little more work than sitting around a pool in Cancun, but not a bad vacation by any stretch of the imagination.

Tuesday, the Pastas had an earlier flight than us, so we parted ways at the hotel after breakfast, with the intent to return to Legoland, but the big L was closed. So we regrouped and went to the Birch Acquarium, which was very nice, and then played some miniature golf at Boomers, before heading back to town for the trip home. It was our first time playing miniature golf, and Daniel can whack the ball pretty well.


Next stop will be Providence, RI where we're all going to Eric's college reunion, then later in the summer it'll be Norway and Iceland.


Hope everyone is doing well. Will try to do one final posting here before calling it a night.

Love, ADRE.