New Bathtub

What do you do for bubble baths when you have a two year old and only a stand-up shower?

Utility sink.

Brian went ice fishing.

 Brian headed up to the Red Feather Lakes with our friend John to do a bit of ice fishing this afternoon.

Here is their tent.

 He drilled his own hole.

 The hole.

 

 Here's one of the little fellas that he pulled up.  

Don't worry he was released back into his icy fish world.

 

Denver Day

We loaded up in the wagon with Anna and headed to Denver for a day of Fun, Fun, Fun.  It began to snow right before we left Ft. Collins then escalated as we traveled south.

This is how it looked when we got to Denver Machine to pick up Rich for some delicious vegetarian cuisine at Watercourse.  .

 Then we headed to the REI flagship store, which is huge.  Viola picked out a little snowboard for herself.

 And the main event, IKEA.

Viola really liked these "ePROP" computers that were placed everywhere.

 And they had this super cool little kitchen.

 Anna was super excited to find a badger on the mix-and-match.

 Then it was time to load up a cart with boxes of furniture in 5000 pieces.

 Here they are, the purchases.  Viola got a tall chair, a train set, small spoons and forks, and a diaper pail.  

Brian and I got nothing.

 Anna found the chair that she was looking for and some other pretties.  All in all a successful 4 hours.

We celebrated baby with a tasty treat.

 Post ultrasound we headed to the only Chic Fil A in town for a spicy chicken sandwich and some time on the playground.  Viola would not climb above this position insisting that she was both too big and too little to go any higher.

 Fortunately there were plenty of entertainments down low for this little chicken.

22 Weeks, It's a...

...Baby!

Sorry for those of you who can't stand to wait but this one is still a surprise.

Beans, rice, and guacamole!

 Taco soup, yum!

This one can put away some guacamole. 

Viola wore braids today.  We thought they looked nice.  she wasn't so sure. 

Stopping in for some Fro-Yo on a winter day in Colorado

This one enjoyed some Pomegranate-Raspberry sorbet with some fresh blackberries on top.  We watched some extreme snow boarding on the TV while we enjoyed our frozen treat and Viola decided that she would like to be a snow boarder when she gets big.

Loving all of this Papa Time

 Viola is beside herself having so much time with Papa. When it comes time for him to go to work it might not be pretty.

She spoon fed him some curry yesterday.

Snow Walk

Since I have the best snow walking boots I was nominated to take Mary on the first snow walk.  She doesn't know what to do with all of this cold white stuff.

Notice the "gentle leader" around her face.  We could not find it in all of the hubbub and were being pulled around the neighborhood.  But now our walks are quite pleasant.  Thanks "gentle leader".

First Snow in Colorado

 We had our first real snow yesterday, so of course we had to bundle up and head out in the yard and get some snow bunny photos of Viola.

 "Try to catch snowflakes on your tongue, it's fun"

Even Mary got to come out and romp in the snow.

Putting those snow boots to good use.

 Snow bunny and me.

Example of Excellent Parenting

 We went to REI tonight to look at pretty things.  Viola fell asleep on the way there.  And slept for a little bit after we got there too.

 She later woke to join a tricycle gang in this tough hat.

Then she did a little dance.

Off to the See-Saw Park

 Viola wanted to take a picnic to the see-saw park today so we made some hummus and loaded up in the "new new trailer" to head off to the park.  It was my first time pulling a trailer and I am not going to lie, it was a bit harder than biking for one.  Thankfully Brian later met us and pulled it home.  Maybe when my legs get beefier it won't be a problem.  Tomorrow morning: 20 squats.

 The aforementioned see-saw.

Mary didn't know that so much love existed.

Due to Mary's new indoor status she is receiving constant love from Viola.  She tolerates it well.  But sometimes we have to separate these two because there is just too much love.

Vitamin C

 The sniffles have hit all three of us here in the basement.  We are combating them with lots of hot beverages, saline spray up the nose, and strong doses of vitamin C (via generic emergen-C).  Viola favorite is the C.

This sleeping bag fits just right.

Viola tried on this sleeping bag today at JAX and said that it was just right.  She also thought that we should bring it home but we were strong and left it at the store.  Maybe for her birthday.

Papa likes the park as much as Viola

We took a family walk to another park today.  Mary was also included, see her tied to the picnic table in the background.

Have you ever...

Every day we get asked a string of "have you ever" questions such as: Have you ever seen a bear eat a button?  Have you every seen a dog eat a chair? and the favorite, Have you ever seen an alligator bite a sandwich?

Going out to grab a bite Ft. Collins Style

I woke up with an intense Ruben sandwich craving so we headed to Choice City to share one. We have Anna's old bike trailer on loan until we receive the missing part to our new trailer.  The window on this one is a bit foggy so Viola has to peek under the window to be seen.

 Anita Beth gave me a lecture about wearing a bike helmet before I left Jackson.  Well here you go Neeter, I have a very lovely helmet to protect my sweet little head.  Check out my new ride, a Goodwill vintage bicycle that Brian rebuilt and fancied up for me.

Mary is an inside dog now.

Brian and I take turns taking Mary on walks.  I usually take the morning and he takes the night.  Viola really likes to come along.  I let her take a turn at the leash which only lasted so long until Mary pulled her down, fortunately in the grass.  Here are the good times.

The Kitchen still in boxes means eating out with chopsticks.

Water damage.

 Upon unloading the Penske we discovered that both of our mattresses had soaked up some nasty brown water.  We are still waiting to see what our good friend's at Penske are going to do about this unfortunate nastification of our mattresses.

 Viola's mattress

 And the most devistating.  The crib that Brian built soaked up some water too.  We are not sure that this can be fixed.  Very sad.

 

 Water soaked floor of the Penske.

 

We have a playground on our block.

 There is a school down the street that keeps its playground open when school is not on.  Viola is pretty excited to have a playground at her disposal. 

That's a blue Colorado sky.  I think that it was about 50 degrees this day.

Papa really likes the swirly slide.

First View of the Rockies

 We came around a bend and what did we see?  The Rocky Mountains welcoming us to the west.

Hi mountains.

 Our first Colorado sunset.  Gorgeous.

Whatagreasystop and Break down number 2

My brother Bailey graciously offered to come with us from Mississippi to Colorado to share the driving.  Our goal for day one was to get as far as possible so that day two would not be as bad,  that meant getting all the way to Amarillo.  Its more than half way and seemed like an obtainable goal.  After a long lunch stop at Chili's Bailey was not having anything but fast food for dinner.  Hence the Whataburger.  Viola was able to indulge in chicken fingers (a rarity for her) as the rest of us sipped caffeinated beverages hoping for that extra edge to get on down the road. 























Alas Amarillo was not reached that night.  Breakdown number two found us in the lovely town of Clarendon, Texas with not one but two flat tires on the car carrier at 11ish pm.  Penske did send over a nice man with two new tires in about 20 minutes but the problem was bigger than that and it was back to the mechanic for the Penske.  The bearings had gone out on the front right tire of the carrier leaving the entire load to the rear tire.  We were put up in a lovely Best Western and back on the road full of free hotel breakfast with repaired and replaced tires/wheels the next day around 11am.  Second best break-down ever.  We could have been stranded in the middle of freezing cold middle of nowhere north-west Texas.

Book time with Cindy

Viola got to cuddle up with Cindy under the electric throw while we got packed up to leave for the long drive from Mississippi to Colorado.