We've Been Busy Lately!!

January and February have flown by! We've had quite a few adventures. 

Here are they are in pictures.

This is snow much fun! 1/11/14

Wee!!!

Safari Cooper at the Wilderness Experience 1/13/14

 

Mask making at the Denver Art Museum. 1/17/14

Our little Aborigines!

Cooper & Sofia at the Nature & Science Museum 1/19/14

Space Explorers!

Sam and Ben celebrated their birthdays together at Fun City. Charlie, Ben & Tate are getting fueled up to go play!  1/26/14

Ghetto Fun at Southwest Plaza on a cold, snowy day when gymnastics was sold out. The kids had a blast! (1/27/14)

Fun at the Aquarium with the Sea Otters 2/3/14

 Frosty the Snowman made a visit to our house!

Cooper's first visit to the eye doc. False alarm but at least we know he can put off specs for at least another few years. 2/7/14

Angie and I ran the Ralston Creek Half Marathon in 19 degrees! Frozen tundra! 

Then the boys got a chance to see Jason play hockey and watch the Zamboni, of course. Go, Daddy, go! 2/9/14

Our budding artist...

And Big-Wheeler! Thanks, Van, for letting me test drive your ride! 2/17/14

Just a random pic of my cuties eating their breakfast. Wouldn't it be nice if every day started out this sweetly? 

Happy New Year 2014!

We enjoy having people over and we don't do it often enough. New Year's at our house is starting to become a great tradition so we invited a few families over, ate some good food and shared some laughs.

 

Tate is demonstrating the best way to eat chicken wings; it obviously

takes great concentration. We brough in 6 varieties from

Wing Slingers and they were delicious.

Party Princess Lila is enjoying some crackers.

Sorry, Andy... I didn't really mean to cut you off at the nose.

 

 

 

 Meanwhile, in the living room, Cooper and Ava are working up their appetites while watching a thrilling moving on the big screen.

 

 Time for snacks! Midnight is hours away and the kids need their energy! 

 

 Tate is on Yelp giving Wing Slingers top reviews! This is very serious business. And must be done with only one sock on. So it seems.

 

Ava first demonstrating the ways of the Sit 'n Spin and Jenn,

always up for a new experience, is all in! Weeee!

 

 Happy New Year smiles from Nanci and Ashton!

 

Here's to an exciting and adventurous 2014! May all your dreams come true!

Celebrating the Season with Family & Friends

The holidays brought many adventures this year, including, but not limited to:

 

Visiting Santa at the Village Center, of course... Although, I believe he was an impostor. He wasn't the same Santa as last year and to me (a Jewish Mommy), last year's Santa is the REAL Santa. Cooper has seen him for the last 3 years and he's the real deal. I hope to see you again next December, Real Santa!

 



 

 A visit to the Wings Over the Rockies with Sofia!

 

 A visit to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

with Nana, Papa, Grandma and Grandpa. Here are Cooper and I are in the MythBuster's exhibit doing the old tablecloth trick.

 

Cooper loves the pterodactyl wings in the Discovery Zone!

 We also visited the Transportation Museum for the first time. Cooper loved it and has asked to go back. It was great, but not so much for Tate. Too many "no touching" and "no climbing" signs everywhere. That's tough for a little guy to understand.

 

Next up: baking sugar cookies! And I am not a fan of sugar cookies. Too labor intensive but Cooper loved the whole process and doing it with him was so much fun! This will be a new tradition for us, I think! He especially enjoyed icing and sprinkling the finished product. There were a lot of cookies to decorate so we called in reinforcements! Thanks for helping, Ava!

 

 

Here are the artists in action and just a few of their beautiful creations! 

 

Christmas Day was a blast for the kiddos! Santa didn't bring Cooper his Polar Express Train (he ran out, apparently) but Cooper was thrilled with all his new gear! Lots of Legos, Planes planes, underwear :-) and other goodies! And Tate couldn't be happier with his goodies, too! Duplos, trucks and more!

 

 Cooper playing with his stocking stuffer space man legos.

 

Tate getting a little help from Nana on Christmas morning.

 

After a full day of playing with our new trinkets, Christmas dinner was well attended. Grandma Barb joined us as well as Grandma and Grandpa (they were enjoying dinner at the counter). It was quite a spread and everyone chipped in to help make it special.

Tate and Grandma playing "Planes"! What a hoot!

 

Janell even popped in for a visit!

 

 

Thanks for all your help in the kitchen, Moms! 

 

A wonderful holiday was had by all. Or at least they didn't say otherwise!  ;-)

 

 

We all hope your holidays were as fun-filled as ours were!

Cooper's First Time on Skis!!!

(I do realize that I am completely skipping over the holidays and New Year's by posting this now. I'm OK with that.)

New ski pants: $12 (Target)

Ski rentals: $15 (Sports Authority)

Helmet rental: $10 (Copper Mt.)

Ski tip connector thingy: $10 (Copper Mt.)

Lunch slopeside: $50

Gas: $15

Parking: $0 (FREE shuttle lot)

Lift tickets: $0 (The magic carpet is FREE at Copper!!)

Taking your kiddo skiing for the very first time: PRICELESS

Jason and I took Cooper out for his first ski adventure last Friday, Jan. 3, 2014, to Copper Mountain. This was a momentus occassion for us, for obvious reasons, as I practically spent my entire teenage years on skis and when I met Jason not long after moving to Colorado, skiing continued to be a big part of our lives. After all, we were engaged in Steamboat Springs after a beautiful day on the slopes back in March 2002 so it is obvious that we want to share this amazing sport with our boys.

We rented his skis from Sports Authority Thursday night and his first lesson commenced immediately.

Lets do this!!

(Papa was excited, too. Don't let this picture fool you!)

 

Cooper practicing his "pizza".

 

We headed out not so bright and not so early on Friday morning but made it to the slopes a little after noon. (Tate spent the day at home with Nana & Papa.) It was a picture perfect Colorado ski day with bright blue skies and sunshine!

 

Cooper protecting his eyes from the bright sun with Daddy's goggles and hydrating for his day on the slopes.

 

All geared up. Lets go! 

 

 

After renting a helmet, we were off to the (free) Magic Carpet for some (free) ski lessons, provided by Coach Mom and Coach Dad, with assistance by the wonderful ski harness from Ashton. Cooper took about half a dozen runs and was starting to get the wedge/pizza and french fries concept. Pizza=slow down; french fries=go fast!  All that talk of food made us hungry.

 

 

After lunch, Cooper managed just 2 more runs before the "I'm tired. My legs hurt. My feet hurt." started so we called it a day. Jason and I had both agreed not to push him past his limit and to ensure this was a good experience for him so he'd want to go again. I think we accomplished that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the only video I was able to capture:

 

 

 

 

 

Cooper was a tired but happy boy. The only thing missing in this picture is a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Alas, he didn't want one because it would be "too hot". My sweet little boy. I sure hope there are lots of family ski days in our future!