Clive turned 1 year old today! Here are some photos from his party:
Oliver
8 years ago
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Hanging out in Colorado
Horseback riding at Ben's birthday party, hanging out around the house, a couple of hikes, etc. More photos of the kids looking as cute as ever.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Pooh bear and pony rides
Audrey enjoyed some breakfast with her pooh bear before we continued on to the farm for some pony rides.
The Bastille
I climbed the Bastille in Eldorado canyon with my cousins. My other climbing buddies did a route on the opposite side of the canyon.
Blue lake
We did a hike up to blue lake. Audrey is becoming quite good at hiking.
It is fun to play in the snow in late July.
It is fun to play in the snow in late July.
Pittsburgh
Still working through the summer backlog...
After Krakow and Toronto, we went back to Pittsburgh and spent some time with Erica's family.
After Krakow and Toronto, we went back to Pittsburgh and spent some time with Erica's family.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Rabbit Mountain and September Misc.
Audrey and Clive are starting to get to know each other a little bit better. Audrey is fascinated by Clive eating and recommends we feed Clive food when he is fussy. She is also impressed by the mess he can make when he eats. In addition to eating some pureed foods, Clive is also make swift progress toward being a proficient crawler and he has even been observed pulling up to standing once or twice. Quite a strong little boy, I'd say!
This past weekend we did a short hike up Rabbit Mountain near our house. I am impressed by how well Audrey hikes trails holding dad's hand.
Here are a couple of pictures:
This past weekend we did a short hike up Rabbit Mountain near our house. I am impressed by how well Audrey hikes trails holding dad's hand.
Here are a couple of pictures:
Friday, September 4, 2009
Krakow
After our week in Switzerland, we spent two weeks in Krakow. Once again, I went to work every day while Erica enjoyed the culture and cuisine. She even learned to speak some polish and made some friends.
We visited Wawel Castle. It is more than 1000 years old, but it has received constant renovations so some of it is quite nice and modern. We took a tour of some of the castle's rooms, climbed to the top of the bell tower, took a tour of the Cathedral which is full of tombs of various kings and other famous figures. We also got to walk through the caves beneath the castle.
We spent a lot of our time walking around the old town. It is full of basilicas, cathedrals, churches and all kinds of old religious structures. Not surprisingly there are also lots of nuns and monks roving the streets like gangs (they all had their own distinct gang colors). Of course, the old town was also full of tourists, gypsies, prostitutes and euro trash. The sidewalks were often too narrow to handle the number of people walking around. The food was good and cheap.
We spent a lot of time in the old Jewish quarter. It had as high a density of Synagogues as the rest of the city had churches. We ate several meals there since the restaurants were quite good. One place was exactly like eating dinner at my grandparents house.
We spent one day at the Wieliczka salt mine. It had an amazing network of underground tunnels and caverns with intricate artwork carved into the walls. They were charging $10 to allow people to take photographs so you'll have to enjoy the Wikipedia photos instead of one of my awesome slideshows.
We visited the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. The scale of Birkenau was really shocking.
We visited Wawel Castle. It is more than 1000 years old, but it has received constant renovations so some of it is quite nice and modern. We took a tour of some of the castle's rooms, climbed to the top of the bell tower, took a tour of the Cathedral which is full of tombs of various kings and other famous figures. We also got to walk through the caves beneath the castle.
We spent a lot of our time walking around the old town. It is full of basilicas, cathedrals, churches and all kinds of old religious structures. Not surprisingly there are also lots of nuns and monks roving the streets like gangs (they all had their own distinct gang colors). Of course, the old town was also full of tourists, gypsies, prostitutes and euro trash. The sidewalks were often too narrow to handle the number of people walking around. The food was good and cheap.
We spent a lot of time in the old Jewish quarter. It had as high a density of Synagogues as the rest of the city had churches. We ate several meals there since the restaurants were quite good. One place was exactly like eating dinner at my grandparents house.
We spent one day at the Wieliczka salt mine. It had an amazing network of underground tunnels and caverns with intricate artwork carved into the walls. They were charging $10 to allow people to take photographs so you'll have to enjoy the Wikipedia photos instead of one of my awesome slideshows.
We visited the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. The scale of Birkenau was really shocking.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Switzerland
In June, I spent a week working at the Google office in Zurich. Erica couldn't pass up the opportunity to tag along and do some exploring so she and Clive got to spend some time bumming around Switzerland while I slaved away at the office. At least I got some weekends off to take all these nice photos. -Adam
We spent a day in Luzern. We took a boat ride on lake Luzern followed by a cog railway ride up to the top of Mt. Pilatus. Then a cable car ride back down to Luzern.
We took a train to the town of Konstanz where we walked across the border into Germany. The German food we had was incredible.
Of course, we spent lots of time walking around Zurich. We enjoyed seeing the fancy shops on Banhofstrasse.
We got to spend some time with Mike and Alisa in Lausanne
We spent a day in Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald with Mike and Alisa. Sadly the weather was kind of lousy, but the scenery was awesome anyway. We saw a couple (hundreds) of waterfalls, some base jumpers, some glaciers... and then there was the food. I hate to say it, but it kind of made Colorado seem like a dump.
We spent a day in Luzern. We took a boat ride on lake Luzern followed by a cog railway ride up to the top of Mt. Pilatus. Then a cable car ride back down to Luzern.
We took a train to the town of Konstanz where we walked across the border into Germany. The German food we had was incredible.
Of course, we spent lots of time walking around Zurich. We enjoyed seeing the fancy shops on Banhofstrasse.
We got to spend some time with Mike and Alisa in Lausanne
We spent a day in Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald with Mike and Alisa. Sadly the weather was kind of lousy, but the scenery was awesome anyway. We saw a couple (hundreds) of waterfalls, some base jumpers, some glaciers... and then there was the food. I hate to say it, but it kind of made Colorado seem like a dump.
Been busy lately
Its been a busy summer. We have a huge backlog of photos to post starting in June when we went to Europe. Lots of blog posts will be coming in the near future.
Friday, July 31, 2009
RMNP with Glen
This July Adam and I beat the heat with the kids and our friend Glen by getting up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike along the Fern Lake Trail to Cub Lake and up to Bierstadt Lake and then back down to the Shuttle Parking lot. It was a fun, challenging, and picturesque hike. Here are some photos:
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Camping in Fruita, CO - June 2009
We had this great idea that it would be fun to go camping with the kids; that it would be easy. But it ended up being a little harder than we imagined. The first challenge came when we realized we had a lot less room in our car with 2 car seats, so a lot of things that we normally bring camping with us didn't make the cut.
The second challenge occurred when we tried to get some sleep. Audrey woke up Clive and Clive woke up Audrey. Both of them woke up me and Adam. We got very little sleep.
On Saturday Adam biked the Edge Loop, a long and challenging mountain biking trail on the edge of the Bookcliffs. That left Audrey, Clive and me to do some exploring on our own. We visited the Dinosaur Museum and hiked the Alcove Nature Trail at Colorado National Monument. The Dinosaur museum was surprisingly worth visiting. They had a water table and a sandbox that were perfect for Audrey. The animated dinosaurs were a bit scary for her, but she has been reading her dinosaur books and talking about dinosaurs a lot since, so I suppose they didn't scar her for life.
The Alcove Nature Trail was the perfect hike for Audrey. It was a 1 mile round trip walk that did not overlook any great precipices. I kept her going towards the end of the hike by encouraging her to look for the next numbered nature walk sign post.
After all of that fun, it was nap time, challenge number three. The wind was picking up, and it sure was hot. We tried napping in the tent, but it really didn't work at all. It was way too hot and way too windy and Audrey wouldn't even try to sleep. So we drove. We drove north of Fruita near the Bookcliffs. We drove through Colorado National Monument. We stopped at the Glade Park Store so I could get a soda to keep me going. And then we drove back to camp via Grand Junction. The scenery was beautiful and thank goodness the kids got some sleep, but I was so tired.
We packed up and left the next morning driving straight through to Lyons after stopping for coffee and gas. We made it home in 4.5 hours. The kids slept most of the time. We were really glad to be back at home getting some better sleep and giving us more time to get ready for our next big adventure.
Here are some pictures from our camping trip:
The second challenge occurred when we tried to get some sleep. Audrey woke up Clive and Clive woke up Audrey. Both of them woke up me and Adam. We got very little sleep.
On Saturday Adam biked the Edge Loop, a long and challenging mountain biking trail on the edge of the Bookcliffs. That left Audrey, Clive and me to do some exploring on our own. We visited the Dinosaur Museum and hiked the Alcove Nature Trail at Colorado National Monument. The Dinosaur museum was surprisingly worth visiting. They had a water table and a sandbox that were perfect for Audrey. The animated dinosaurs were a bit scary for her, but she has been reading her dinosaur books and talking about dinosaurs a lot since, so I suppose they didn't scar her for life.
The Alcove Nature Trail was the perfect hike for Audrey. It was a 1 mile round trip walk that did not overlook any great precipices. I kept her going towards the end of the hike by encouraging her to look for the next numbered nature walk sign post.
After all of that fun, it was nap time, challenge number three. The wind was picking up, and it sure was hot. We tried napping in the tent, but it really didn't work at all. It was way too hot and way too windy and Audrey wouldn't even try to sleep. So we drove. We drove north of Fruita near the Bookcliffs. We drove through Colorado National Monument. We stopped at the Glade Park Store so I could get a soda to keep me going. And then we drove back to camp via Grand Junction. The scenery was beautiful and thank goodness the kids got some sleep, but I was so tired.
We packed up and left the next morning driving straight through to Lyons after stopping for coffee and gas. We made it home in 4.5 hours. The kids slept most of the time. We were really glad to be back at home getting some better sleep and giving us more time to get ready for our next big adventure.
Here are some pictures from our camping trip:
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Some Clive Lovin'
Clive is 9 weeks 5 days old today and as my sister Jennifer pointed out, it has been a while since we posted any pictures of him. So this afternoon, in fact less than an hour ago, I took some pictures of him which you will see in the slideshow below.
In addition to the recent Clive pictures, I have included a picture of our worm compost bin which we keep on a shelf in the kitchen, some plant pictures, and Audrey in her splint and sling after an ER visit earlier this week. She suffered from a nursemaid's elbow while trying to twist her hand free from my hand. She is doing much better now, though she tells me her arm is 'tender'.
Here is the slideshow:
In addition to the recent Clive pictures, I have included a picture of our worm compost bin which we keep on a shelf in the kitchen, some plant pictures, and Audrey in her splint and sling after an ER visit earlier this week. She suffered from a nursemaid's elbow while trying to twist her hand free from my hand. She is doing much better now, though she tells me her arm is 'tender'.
Here is the slideshow:
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Busy April
We have been up to so many things this April. Audrey has been practicing her biking on her new yellow Strider bike and her tricycle. She is impressed by her friend from up the street, Chase, who rides his bike very well.
She has also been having lots of fun making towers. She makes towers out of everything, but especially blocks and books. She builds them until they crumble under their own weight and then build them up again.
And we have been getting to do a bit of hiking again! Yesterday we hiked with some friends at the Sleepy Lion Trail despite the cool temperatures and mist. We saw some pasque flowers that were just budding. There are going to be blooming pasque flowers everywhere up there in no time. We got a new pack for carrying Audrey. Yesterday's hike was the first time she road in it. For the most part she did well. And so did Adam.
Grandma Judy and Aunt Betty are visiting now and we had dinner with them and the Gibsons at the Boulder Besens last night.
Here are some pictures from our busy April:
She has also been having lots of fun making towers. She makes towers out of everything, but especially blocks and books. She builds them until they crumble under their own weight and then build them up again.
And we have been getting to do a bit of hiking again! Yesterday we hiked with some friends at the Sleepy Lion Trail despite the cool temperatures and mist. We saw some pasque flowers that were just budding. There are going to be blooming pasque flowers everywhere up there in no time. We got a new pack for carrying Audrey. Yesterday's hike was the first time she road in it. For the most part she did well. And so did Adam.
Grandma Judy and Aunt Betty are visiting now and we had dinner with them and the Gibsons at the Boulder Besens last night.
Here are some pictures from our busy April:
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Audrey is 2 and Easter
On Saturday, we had a gathering of Boulder family, Lyons neighbors and mom friends with their families for Audrey's 2nd birthday. We had a great time celebrating Audrey with everyone.
On Sunday we visited a very pregnant Joanna and her family in Coal Creek Canyon. Even in her advanced pregnancy she was able to organize an easter egg hunt for her son, Ben, Audrey, and some other kids. The weather was a bit wintery, but it didn't stop the kids from playing outside. Audrey is still enjoying the candy and crackers from the eggs.
Here is a slideshow of our latest adventures:
On Sunday we visited a very pregnant Joanna and her family in Coal Creek Canyon. Even in her advanced pregnancy she was able to organize an easter egg hunt for her son, Ben, Audrey, and some other kids. The weather was a bit wintery, but it didn't stop the kids from playing outside. Audrey is still enjoying the candy and crackers from the eggs.
Here is a slideshow of our latest adventures:
Monday, March 30, 2009
March Snow
Last week it was 80F and this week it's snowy and cold. So it goes in Colorado. Audrey, Clive and I went outside with our friends in the neighborhood and built a snowman and snowfort. We followed our outdoor fun by some indoor play, snacks, and hot chocolate.
The next day, Daddy, Mommy, Audrey and Clive all took a walk over to the local sledding spot by the high school. Daddy and Audrey went down the hill a couple of times while Mommy and Clive stood on the sidelines snapping pictures.
The next day, Daddy, Mommy, Audrey and Clive all took a walk over to the local sledding spot by the high school. Daddy and Audrey went down the hill a couple of times while Mommy and Clive stood on the sidelines snapping pictures.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Old Kiln Trail and Button Rock Preserve
We had 80F days this past weekend, so Adam and I took the kids out both mornings to do some light hiking (which is the only kind of hiking I CAN do these days.)
On Saturday we went down to North Boulder's Old Kiln Trail. Audrey had so much fun on this trail. Some sections are a bit rocky and loose and she enjoyed the challenge. We also got to see Prairie Dogs popping in and out of their holes!
On Sunday we headed to Button Rock Preserve. We walked the scenic road passing by sport climbers, anglers, and awesome rock formations to reach the dam. We stopped to eat our picnic lunch and even split a chocolate bar on the way back to the car.
Here are some pictures from our most recent adventures:
On Saturday we went down to North Boulder's Old Kiln Trail. Audrey had so much fun on this trail. Some sections are a bit rocky and loose and she enjoyed the challenge. We also got to see Prairie Dogs popping in and out of their holes!
On Sunday we headed to Button Rock Preserve. We walked the scenic road passing by sport climbers, anglers, and awesome rock formations to reach the dam. We stopped to eat our picnic lunch and even split a chocolate bar on the way back to the car.
Here are some pictures from our most recent adventures:
