Fun Field Trips

This summer has been really nice because we have gone around and visited lots of places near where we live. (As evidenced by former posts) Last week we drove up to Denver and toured the US Mint. There are only 2 operating Mints in the United States. One in Philadelphia ( A city I would love to go back and visit) and then Denver. I was disappointed though because they don't let you take pictures inside and they only make coins not bills. Oh well. I am still glad we went its always good to learn new things.

Then Mark mentioned that he really wanted to go up to the mountains so we drove up there and had a nice picnic. The weather was perfect. It's so nice that we can drive an hour or so and be at the base of mountains. I think we will go back and camp there sometime. Maybe when Jared is a little bit older. I don't think I could handle him crawling in the dirt all over our campsite. We will definitely be visiting the mountains this October to check out the colors.

Mark went back to school today to help with orientation. He will also be there Thursday and Friday so Tuesday and Wednesday are basically our last days of summer. Its been a really good one! It turns out that Colorado Springs is actually a really great place to live with lots of fun things nearby. Next week will be our one year mark of living here and I think we are here for at least another 3-5 years. We really are happy here.

First Haircut

On Friday we finally took Jared in to get his haircut. It had gotten really long over his ears and as evidenced in many pictures pretty crazy on top. He started out pretty well and the stylist did a nice job but he was more then ready to be done by the time she finished. He is growing up so fast!

Second Round of Colorado Springs

My Mom came out for a visit last week so we went out and explore Colorado Springs again. We went back to the Broadmoor and the Royal Gorge and then threw in a few different places. She really wanted to see Mark's school so we took her over there for a bit and we went over to the Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods. We went on walks together in the morning and got our ears pierced together. We had so much fun visiting!
I did feel sort of bad because Jared was teething really bad and then got a cold (I think from teething) so he wasn't as happy as he normally is but my Mom still talked about what a happy kid he is. My friend Candie recommended some Teething Tablets that you find at Wal-Mart and they have really helped Jared. They are amazing! Hopefully he will be feeling better soon.
For the last 6 months to a year I have been thinking about getting my ears re-pierced. I had them done when I was 12 and was so excited at the time but then after high school I just sort of lost interest. So when I mentioned it to my Mom she said she wanted to also so off we went. We walked by the store and a little baby was getting hers done so we had to go on a walk so we didn't see that done. I was surpriosed that I felt pretty nervous about it. The lady asked me if I wanted her to use the old holes so I said sure and when she finished making the marks I asked her how she thought it looked and she said really crooked! This surprised me and when I looked in the mirror I could totally see it. She spent a few minutes redoing the dots and moving it up and down and it turns out that my left ear is totally higher than my right ear! Weird! Anyway it really didn't hurt too much and I am glad I got it done. (She made them look as equal as possible) It was fun to do it with my Mom.
Mark has to move into a new classroom for the upcoming year so we helped him move some of his boxes over. Its funny that he has to move because no one will be teaching in his room, it will be empty but the new room is bigger and has better storage so he is okay with it. Thankfully he is still a new teacher so he doesn't have tons of stuff. And the teacher that was in there had it painted last year so it looks pretty good. Next week is basically his last week of summer! He has to be back to school next Thursday and Friday and Monday. Students come on the 04th. He has a new team that he is working with and is looking forward to school starting. I am looking forward to school starting and then August going by super fast so we can begin my favorite time of year! FALL!! My Mom bought me some super cute fall decorations while she as here. I can't wait!

Royal Gorge:

This clock is actually powered by water.
It tells the time, day of month (1-31), season and year

Garden of the Gods



We got there right when it opened, just after 8:00 and enjoyed the quiet while walking around. When we went at Thanksgiving it was really crowded where as this time there was hardly anybody there. It a great place to walk around and was donated to Colorado Springs by the family who owned the land so that nobody would ever have to pay to visit.






You can't tell in this picture but Jared is getting really good at feeding himself. We can hand him a Cheerio or Puff and he will take it in-between his finger and thumb and either put it right in his mouth or watch him move it from one hand to the other. It is fun seeing him learn how to do new things.

We are so glad that both our Mom's could come out this month. It was so fun. It will be nice for Mark to start school and for Jared and I to get into a regular routine here at our new home. I can't believe we have been here for almost 2 months! We are loving it and really feel like it is ours now.

9 Months??

I can't believe that Jared is 9 months- old! That's as long as it took to grow him! He is one fun little boy. He loves to crawl and pull himself up on everything he can including things we don't really want him too. The other day he crawled all the way up our stairs! All15 of them by himself (I followed behind him of course). I am so glad that we have zig-zag stairs instead of ones that go straight up. Less stairs for him to fall down! He seems to have very little fear when it comes to diving off our couches or chairs to get to the ground so we have to be quick to grab him! He loves to play patty-cake and read our "At the Zoo" book where I make ridiculous noises which delights him to no end. He is also getting better at getting food into his mouth. He can pick up little things to eat but often puts his whole hand in his mouth but lately he has been getting the stuff in. His hair is a little out of control and we are thinking its about time to get it cut but its almost the first thing everyone comments about him, we are constantly hearing "I love his hair!" Well we love this little boy!

Its quite difficult to get a picture of him crawling so this will have to do.

Quick Stats:

Height: 29 1/2 inches

Weight: 19.2 pounds
Teeth: None

Today our doctor said that he is really working on them and we could expect them from hours to days! (How can he know that??) Maybe that is why he is having a hard time taking naps the past few days? The doctor also said that by the time babies reach one year old they like to see them weigh 20 pounds and be 30 inches so Jared is practically there. The doctor did suggest we start feeding him more protein and maybe giving him a snack before he goes to bed because I told him that Jared seems like he is starving when he nurses the first time. Any good suggestions for quick snacks?

* I wonder how many of you thought this post would be about pregnancy??

A little bit of Colorado Springs

Mark's Mom came out to visit for a week and so we finally got around to seeing some of the sites here or near Colorado Springs. We have been here for 11 months now but have spent most of that time hanging out locally and playing with Jared. So now that we have had nice weather and visitors we went to check out the sites.

Pikes Peak:

We live about 35 minutes away from the base of Pikes Peak. Pikes Peak is over 14,000 feet and what is amazing is that there is a paved road all the way up to the top except like the last 2 miles. Its a 19 mile drive up to the top with amazing views all the way up. At the top there is gift store and restaurant. They sell donuts that are "donuts made at the highest altitude" and cost 2.99 each! But we all ate one anyway. They were way overrated.

"Purple Mountain Majesties"

Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote "America The Beautiful" was inspired to write the song after standing atop Pikes Peak and enjoying the view. It is spectacular view.

The Broadmoor Hotel:
The Broadmoor Hotel was built in 1918 and is an amazing place. It is a 5 star luxury hotel. While we were there last week the Women's US Open (Golf) was being held there. It is that gorgeous. The neighborhood around is full of large houses with beautiful architecture with really large lots. There are 3 golf courses, a lake, and 12 tennis courts. The view of the mountains is great. We walked around the grounds and checked out some of the stores.

The Royal Gorge:
The Gorge is about 1 hour 20 minutes away from Colorado Springs and a really fun place to visit. There is an Aerial tram, an incline railway, a Sky coaster (they put you in a harness laying on your tummy and swing you out over the Gorge) a carousel, and lots of other fun things. The Gorge was made by the Arkansas River.

There is a wooden suspension bridge about 1,000 feet up, well the planks are wooden so its really loud when cars drive across it and the planks shake a lot.

Sue and Jared

We rode the aerial tram across the Gorge. (that's the shadow of the tram)
In the right corner you can see part of the Arkansas River.



The Arkansas River is rated as a class 5 river for rafters.
We saw a couple of groups of rafters and hope that we can go one day.



We rode down on the incline railway which was built in 1931 and is at a 45-degree angle!
It is the steepest incline railway in America and is still considered one of the most difficult structures ever built.





Looking up to the top.
You ride in these trains that are a lot like cages with just enough space to stand up in them.



The view of the bridge from the bottom of the Gorge.



We ended the day riding the Carousel.
I love Carousels and Jared seemed to really like it too.

We had a lot of fun with Sue and can't wait for my Mom to come out next week.

Independence Day!!

We had a nice quiet Independence day here. Mark's Mom was visiting and she so nicely bought us some Tri-Tip from Costco so Mark and Jared appearantly, were really excited.

The day before we went over to "America the Beautiful" park which is a really pretty park here in Colorado Springs. It is in such a nice setting and has the coolest fountain. The water comes down from the top and the whole fountain rotates. Its so cool! Jared had a good time splashing in the water.

Every year I love seeing the creative desserts that are in the magazines by the checkout stand. So this year I decided to make a fun 4th of July dessert. I got some mini angel food cakes and some blueberries, strawberries and raspberries and combined it with some cool whip.

Simple, festive and delicious.

While Mark's Mom was here we also redid our backyard! Before it was just grass (mostly weeds) so we spruced it up. Sue bought us a weed whacker (its really too small to warrant a lawn mower) and some pretty flowers and hanging baskets. We moved the BBQ over to the other side of the grass and moved some rocks over to put underneath the drain pipe. There was bark there and every time there was a big thunderstorm it washed the bark away. Here is the new and improved backyard.

Before

This is where the BBQ was. We moved the red stones over and put rocks on the sides.

Our little flower bed. Its so nice to look out into the yard and see some color.
Thanks again Sue!

Speaking of thunderstorms. There was an amazing storm here the night of the 4th. Lots of thunder, lightning and big pieces of hail. It was super windy and rainy. I love a good storm. Mark and I had planned on going over to the Air Force Academy for their firework show but skipped it because of the weather. I am not even sure if they still had the show because it was a crazy storm. Fortunately, we got to watch the fireworks from the Sky Sox baseball game on the 3rd. We could see them perfectly from our bedroom. I am glad that we got to see some fireworks. We enjoyed them just after finishing our traditional root beer floats.

Mutnomah Falls and Portland

As I mentioned earlier, Oregon/Washington are so green and beautiful. We drove over to the Columbia River Gorge and hiked up Multnomah Falls

Made it to the top! Overlooking the falls.

It wasn't a really difficult hike and I think the fact that we live in an area with an elevation over 6000 feet helped too. It was just nice to be outside. Driving through the Gorge was really pretty too. There were lots of little waterfalls coming out of the mountains.

On our last day we spent some time in downtown Portland which appears to be a super clean downtown. We went up to the Rose Gardens which were so colorful and just gorgeous.

Portland!



There were so many beautiful roses!!
I would love to be able to go on walks there on Sunday evenings.

Like most little kids Jared loved the fountain in the gardens.
I love how he crosses his feet.

Susan (Mark's sister) Mikaela and Hannah
We are so glad that we got to visit with them!

Apparently Jared was really happy to get home!

He was a little tired of waiting for our luggage so I set him on the suitcase that had come out and he thought it was the funnest thing ever.