Fall is here! Fall is here!

We are all VERY excited that fall is here! Well, technically anyway -- the leaves are changing colors, but the daytime temps are still very warm. Not complaining!

Shae made "slippers" from sandwich bags. Brilliant!
Sorry for the red eye... I've been downloading photos on my work computer and I don't seem to have the ability to adjust that. Ah well.

Let's go hiking! Shae, Jody, Zoey and I went to Lair 'o the Bear to take advantage of those aforementioned warm daytime temps.



We "hiked" (loosely-used term here) to a beautiful castle along the river. No, it really is a castle. I'm not sure why. It just is.

Hiking is hard work!

Shae was in chatterbox mode on Saturday. Unfortunately I couldn't find the camera in time to catch her earlier exchange about her brother's behavioral issues (apparently every football player on TV is her "brother") and how she deals with those issues (lots of stern words, counting to three, and time outs, from what I can gather), but this captured the gist of it. The kid cracks me up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UWQXzr4Dw

The end of summer is upon us

Beau is finally back in Denver from a 14-month sojourn in DC, so we celebrated his return AND Jody's birthday with a concert at Red Rocks. Unfortunately it was 55 degrees and rained the entire time... but it was fun!
Broncos game! Go Broncos! (Um, they lost. Whatever.)

This past weekend, we headed up to Breckenridge for Oktoberfest. Last year we went to Vail for the festivities and it was gloriously sunny, warm and beautiful; this year, it was chilly, rainy, and briefly snowing. Such is life. These two pooches were making the most of their time outside by finding comfort on a bench.
Waiting for our friends to join us... cheese!
Finally outside, but taking refuge under a tent.
Shae thinks Laina is the best!






Back inside to get warm. Shae brought along her alphabet flashcards to play with, and the boys got in on the action.



Shae is currently obsessed with cheerleaders. Rah rah rah!

A week in the life

Buddy and Cindy (Jody's sister) took us to see Def Leppard for Jody's birthday! Unfortunately, "us" did not include Shae. But fun was had!

To make up for leaving her behind, we spent Saturday of Labor Day weekend in the mountains -- "my mountains" as Shae refers to them. First up: lunch al fresco in Frisco.
Then some swimming at the hotel pool.

Then dinner at the Dam Brewery! Perfect mountain outing!
Labor Day weekend closed out at the Taste of Colorado. Really quite unfortunately, Shae decided not to nap before we went and she was quite the... well... turkey. But she did agree to pose with cousins Keeley (braces-free!) and Taylor.
And pose with Gramma and Baba (bribed with a mini donut).
She was not, however, amused by posing with mama.
...and shortly thereafter hit a wall; it was time to go home.
:-(
A fun weekend overall, though! Goodbye, summer!

Shae parties... and then goes to the lake

Shae's best pal, Quinlin, turned 3! Quinny had her birthday party at Jumpstreet -- an indoor trampoline park with an area just for kids under the age of 7. All of Shae's daycare classmates were invited to the party, and they had a blast!

Shae and Quinny bouncing around in the bounce house.

Shae and Lilly see what it's like to be long-haul truckers.

Next up: the Broncos mega-trampolines.

All this bouncing is hard work, man!

A giant inflatable slide? Why yes, I think I will!
This rolling landing pretty much took care of the giant inflatable slide...

More driving.

Quinny gets in on the driving action, too.

Shae and Kora decide to learn how to play air hockey. One of those life skills that will really come in handy in future years, I suspect.

All the kids spent a good 20 minutes or so running into, out of, and around the play house. The exact same play house they have at daycare. One might think the luster of such a toy would have worn off by now... but one would be wrong.

Time for pizza!

Quinny had a balloon for each of the kids to take home with them. Lesson learned: don't spend money on a big party for a 2- and 3-year-old group; just buy them a few balloons and let them go nuts.

Hayden is checking out the scene.

So Shae asked if she could take pictures with the camera. It was while Quinny was opening her presents, so I showed Shae how to point the camera, look through the view finder, and which button to push to take the photo. She got the direction of the camera messed up, though, and came back to me with about 15 photos that look exactly like this. She did ask everyone she had pose for a photo to say "cheese!" though.

Interestingly, Shae couldn't have cared less about the cake but she did eat every last bit of the ice cream. (Not wanting to seem rude, I took care of the cake on her behalf. That's the kind of mother I am.)

How to best follow up a morning of birthday party madness? An afternoon at the outdoor fountains!

Next up: another day at the lake. This time on Uncle Buddy's boat. Shae has declared cousin Courtney her best friend.

"Mama, put away the camera. No paparazzi today, please."

Cindy decides to give skiing a try after a 20-year hiatus...

...and got up after only a couple tries!

Cheese!

Responsible parenting: letting your 2-year-old child ride in a tube behind the boat with her blind cousin. Ha. They both had a BLAST and kept asking for "faster! faster!" And then got angry with only one pass around the lake. Water bugs, for sure!