Bubble gun

Keagan received a bubble gun for his birthday this year and it is a relaxing way to end the day.  He loves shooting bubbles into the air and chasing after them.

 Little brother Logan loves to watch those pretty bubble too.  In fact he likes them so much he would grab dad and try to stand up.  Of course watching his brother run around makes Logan want to do the same.  So once he got up why not let go of daddy?!?  He did not stay up long but he is working on standing every chance he gets:)

Fishing for Bears

After our train ride we took the opportunity to do another very Colorado thing, fly fishing for trout at the Blue River near Silverthorne.  Ok, so just dad put on the waders but we all needed them for this fishing trip.  We found a place to go public fishing but we had to wade across the river to get to the bank to sit on.  It was fun to take the kids and our gear across trip by trip and it was a very beautiful setting.  

Mom basically just ran around keeping the 3 ring circus going.  Ring 1) Daddy is out in the river fishing so mom is just making sure the kids are not in the path of the line and get hooked! 

Ring 2) Keagan is busy throwing rocks.  I mean there are just so many of them, they just need to be thrown.  I am sure this was not helping dad catch any fish but what can you do!  Mom is busy trying to make sure Keagan is not wading out too far into the river and gets swept away.

Ring 3) Logan the rock eater.  So I seen dogs in my practice that eat rocks and we have to refer them to surgeons like Jeff to remove the rocks so I was mortified to see my littlest son trying to eat the rocks.  I spent most of my time in this ring continually taking rocks out of Logan's hands.  They just tasted so good mom!

Finally we had enough of the good times and packed up our stuff and made the many trips across the river to get our stuff back to the side where the car was parked.  All of the sudden we saw a black bear directly across from where we had just been enjoying the Colorado scenery.  We had left in just the right time as it could have been scary to be across the river from a real bear!

Georgetown Loop

Since Keagan is completely fascinated with trains we have decided to continue our tour of Colorado via train.  This trip included a ride on the Georgetown Loop.  It really just goes up and down the mountain but somehow it goes backwards so we cross our path once and therefore they can call it a loop!

July 31st, 2013

We have realized there is beginning to be a theme to our train rides.  It rains at some point!  This ride had it all. Hot sweltering weather, a brief rain storm and then a cool breeze to end the ride.  This all took place in about 90 minutes.  It was really a neat way to see the mountains.  We are so glad our little man is so enthralled with trains!

Visit from Jordan

My cousin Janelle and her family stopped by to visit this summer.  We love to visit them whenever possible as they live in Aman, Jordan but they usually are stateside sometime in the summer. This year they decided to enjoy the beauty of the Colorado Mountains so we were excited they were able to stop by our house.  Keagan enjoyed playing noodle war with Alexandra while poor Paul was dealing with altitude sickness.  It was wonderful catching up with family!

Keagan and Alexandra
July 27th, 2013

Gymnastics Class

Well we finally decided to head to gymnastics class this summer.  Our good friends Kaelyn and her mom Alli told us it was a lot of fun.  And since mom works in the building with the gym we figured it would be easy.  Boy we did not know how much fun we were missing.

We start out with stretching.  Keagan likes the butterfly stretch the best where he gets to flap his wings. The warm up is a little difficult to do though as he just wants to get out and play! He loves to do the balance beam and heaven forbid I hold on to his hand too long.  I can do it myself mom! But the ultimate favorite is the foam pit where he jumps on the trampoline into the foam pit.  It is difficult to drag him away from jumping!

 But sliding down the huge inflatable slide is also fun and is a good break from the foam pit!

July 29th

More fun in the pool

We are really going to miss having a pool so close to our house and one that usually does not have too many people in it all at once.  Keagan would love to swim every day and we try to each day it is nice enough outside.  One night we even swam at dusk and it was a little chilly as the temps drop so fast once the sun starts thinking about going below the horizon.  But the water is kept so warm it was actually warmer in the pool and we did not want to get out.

Moms arms are weighed down with all the equipment needed to go swimming; the bags, the towels, the toys for Logan...Logan himself:)  So when we get to the locked door we have a system that mom unlocks it and Keagan opens it for her.  What a helpful little man!

Right now the horses are living right next to the pool at our friend Nicki's place.  So going to the pool is double happiness for Keagan and Logan.  They get to stop by and feed the girls their treats and then go swimming!

July 2013

Logan is working on his floating skills when he is in the water but mostly just enjoys splashing.  He never makes it quite as long as his brother in the pool so when he is done he gets to sit and enjoy his toys. Since learning how to stand though he gets more adventuresome.  If that fence is close by why not just grab it and try to pull yourself up! He manages to have fun either way.

Keagan loves to be in the water anyway he can.  His use of the lifejacket since coming back from the lake has allowed him to swim to the deep end of the pool but when it comes off it is time to do some jumps in the pool.  We are fairly certain Keagan is part fish!

One last surprise

Last bit of snow at the Summit of Alpine Pass in RMNP at 14,000 feet

Ok, so they say it snows somewhere in Colorado every month of the year but snow in July?!?  We just could not believe it until we drove through it on the way down the mountain back to Denver.  That is just how unpredictable the weather is here.  We learned an important lesson on this trip to the mountains.  #1 - It only takes about 2 hours to get into the mountains from our place in Elizabeth, so we should go more often.  #2 - While it may be 90 degrees at our house it probably is in the 70's in the mountains so when we need to get away from the heat, it is only 2 hours away!

July 25th, 2013

Fishing with Dad

Before heading home to Elizabeth, we made one final stop at some fishing ponds in Winter Park. The Lion's Club has stocked trout ponds outside of the city so Keagan decided to try his hand at fishing with dad.  He took some helpful hints from dad.

But after a few tries, he told dad he no longer needed him to help.  I got this one dad! I need to reel it in all by myself :)  Terrible 2s here we come!

Riding his first bike

We finally made it to Winter Park much to Logan's and mom's relief.  He screamed the last hour of the trip to Winter Park and everyone was hungry.  I guess we learned some important lessons on traveling with Logan on this trip.  Everyone needs more breaks from the car is what it boils down to.

The next morning waking up feeling refreshed from not being in the car we set out to explore Winter Park.  This is where we went skiing in 2002 and the ski resort here was the first one that dad ever skied!  So it is fitting this was the location for some of Keagan's firsts.  The Cabroliet was his first gondola ride.  It was short but fun to be up so high.














The Family Bike Fest part of Colorado Freeride Festival started that Thursday morning and there were not many people there yet.  It was dreary weather but the rain/downpour (or dare I say it snow) did not fall until later that day when daddy was trying to fly fish again.  We spotted a playground with a train so immediately headed over to find Keagan climbing his first rope ladder all on his very own might we add.  He also got in line to put on a helmet and try a Strider bike.

July 25th

Having another adult tell Keagan he had to wear a helmet and how to "ride" the bike proved very useful.  He did not mind the helmet and took to striding with the bike quickly.  The tract he rode on was very conducive to learning how to control the bike without danger of falling.  So overall it was the best first riding experience a little boy (without a big brother to help) could have asked for.

A bend in the river

After viewing the moose and quite a long time in the car we decided to get out and stretch our legs.  Jeff brought along his fishing gear so we set up a spot by a bend in the river.  With such a beautiful background it was time for more pictures:)

 The boys had so much fun they started being boys and hamming it up for the pictures.  Keagan would scream at Logan and he would just get the biggest giggling fits.  We had a great time and dad enjoyed to solitude for some fishing time.  Too bad those trout had full bellies :)

July 24th

Over the Mountain and Through the Woods

...To Winter Park we go!  We enjoyed our trip over the mountain and on the west side of RMNP it was a different scene all together.  Logan woke up before brother and so he got to view the moose and her calf with us.  He was so excited to be out and of course he had as many viewings as the baby moose.  I mean it is hard to compete with Logan, baby moose.

July 24th

A break from the house

Alright, I thought getting a house ready to sell was hard, but having it show ready at the drop of a hat with 2 little ones running around is even harder!  To top it all off Keagan is ready to be potty trained but cleaning up his accidents on the carpet too adds one more thing to do.  So, we decided to clean up the house and leave for a few days.  Maybe this time the house will find its new owners.

One of our favorite places to go in Colorado is Estes Park.  Back in 2002 we came out to Colorado for a veterinary conference with classmates Tera, Mike and Rose and stayed in Estes Park for a few days before the conference started.  We fell in love with it then and visit frequently since we moved here.  Headed up to Estes Park to see elk, rocky mountain sheep and the beautiful mountain views has been a highlight the 4 years we have lived here.  We have been up to the summit at Alpine Visitor Center but never have managed to go across Trail Ridge Road.  So we decided to head across with the boys and stay in Winter Park overnight to relax and enjoy the trip.  We even think Hannah was excited to spend the night over at John's house where she could enjoy the peace and quiet that never is truly present in our house!

Our first stop was in Estes Park to have lunch.  We managed to find this park accidentally and had a great time.  There were so many things to do on the playground.  Logan enjoyed it as much as Keagan did.  We played hard as soon as we got out of the car as we could see a storm blowing over the mountains towards us.  The boys were tired out by the time the first big drops hit us and we ran into the covered shelter to enjoy our lunch.

 The boys had so much fun at the park they fell asleep for the ride across the summit.  We did not feel too bad as they always seem to have a little discomfort with their ears going up and down the mountain.  When they are sleeping they don't seem to notice.  Overall it was a great start to a fun mini-vacation.