Happy Birthday Tommy & Katie

I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the kids' birthdays this year. Their birthdays are two days apart so until they are old enough to start saying something about it, they share a party. Since Mike works every weekend, I didn't know when we would have a party. Then my sister Kathy called me with a great idea. She and her family would bring my mom to Grand Junction where we could all meet to celebrate the birthdays. This is about halfway between us. Mike's brother Gordy and his mom were also able to come. I was really glad she thought of that because spending their birthdays with family turned out to be more fun than we could have imagined. I told Mike that we would still need to do a friend party when we got back home. He said that would be spoiling the kids to give them two parties. I disagreed. After spending as much time, energy and money on the family party though I decided Mike was right. That was pretty difficult to type. I'm glad I don't have to say things like that very often.

We started the party with a swim at the hotel pool. The kids had a blast and so did we. We invented a thing called "The Monkey on the back Olympics". Mike, Kathy, her son Zack and I each had a small child on our back and then raced the length of the pool. It was a great workout and most of the monkeys enjoyed it too. Yes those are skin stickers all over Katie. She looks a bit like a sailor.

Zack and Jaxson.Then we played some basketball. Here's Gordy, Tommy and Mike. Katie with my mom.I was so glad that Mike's mom and brother could make it too. So were the kids. When Gordy stayed with us a few weeks ago, they really adored him.What are you thinking about Kathy?Here's Stockton getting ready to help Katie with her candles...just in case...reallyTommy didn't need any help.When Stockton saw Katie's tiara, immediately claimed it for his own and didn't want to give it up. So we gave him a turn and even let him blow out some candles. The kids decided to have a little picnic with their cake.I was kind of impressed that during the whole party, the kids never asked about presents. I finally had to ask them if they wanted to go open them just to get them out of the pool. When I asked Katie, her mouth fell open wide like she couldn't believe it. And the excitement just continued when she saw her gifts.Jaxson offered his present opening expertise...just in case...really Thanks for the beautiful princess backpack Kathy.This is the best day ever!Katie paints every day. She loves to color and draw too. We got her this art desk that came with a ton of markers, stamps, crayons and paints. She loves it!Katie got the latest Little Mermaid movie. When we were at the store, she saw it and kept holding it and wouldn't let it go. I was so glad we had already gotten it for her. She was very excited when she opened it and she and Stockton couldn't wait to watch it.
Tommy just chillin' Tommy has wanted the Lego Indiana Jones video game forever. He shook his presents before he opened them and tried to guess what they were. He guessed right on the game. He was very excited. I was so impressed with how quickly he learned to play it. He kept asking me, "mom, are you glad I got this game?". I am.
Well, the family birthday road trip was a great idea, Kathy. We also went to this place called Bananas that has an arcade, laser tag, go karts, etc. It was raining the day we went so we could only do the indoor stuff. Tommy and Mike loved laser tag. Katie likes it too. She's too little to wear the vest so she just runs around. The kids won a bunch of tickets playing games and bought some high quality prizes. One thing we got that really was cool though was a beach ball. We took it to the pool that night and Zack, Mike and three kids who happened to be there played volleyball for three straight hours. Kathy and I took turns playing and watching the little kids. How can something so simple as a ball be so much fun? That was the best 100 ticket investment we ever made.

Steamboat Springs

My sister, Andrea, gave me a weekend in her timeshare for a birthday present last year. Well, we never got the chance to use it, so we asked her if we could use it this year and of course she said yes. She is able to go to condos all over the world. We decided to go to Steamboat Springs. It was so nice to get away. I am still getting used to staying at home and although I love it, I need to have an adventure every now and then and this was perfect. We all had a great time. Thanks Andi!

Headsets are a great idea for the DVD player. This way the kids could watch Star Wars the Clone Wars and Enchanted multiple times while Mike and I jammed out to ABBA the entire four hour drive. We got to Steamboat on Wednesday and went swimming and relaxed that evening. The next day, we went to Fish Creek Falls Trail for a hike. Tommy looked at the map and chose the toughest trail. We did all of the trails but we were proud of him for wanting a challenge. We were able to see the falls from the top and then at the base where the kids were able to wade. We did Tommy's tough trail last. It was quite steep and difficult. Both of the kids did great though. They always impress us on these hikes. If we had continued on the trail, it would have been a five mile hike to Long Lake, which Tommy probably could have done... but it was time for lunch.

It was an amazing day. The views were unbelievable. We all really enjoyed it. On Friday, we checked out of our lovely condo and went to the park to play. There is a great trail right along the river and this cute park with the biggest slide I have ever seen at a park.

First Day of School

Today was Tommy's first day of school. He is in preschool this year. Although technically he could have started school this year, his birthday was right at the cutoff. I spoke to many moms and teachers and Mike and I decided to wait until next year to start him in kindergarten. It was a really hard decision because he was ready in so many ways but everyone I spoke to said it is better to wait, especially with boys. I wasn't sure how to explain it to Tommy because we had already talked about kindergarten with him after he finished preschool last year and before we had made our decision. At first, I tried to just avoid it. I just tried to get him excited about preschool. Right before he started though, he said, "I did preschool last year, I'm in kindergarten now." So I decided to just be honest. I told him that he was ready for kindergarten but he would be the very youngest in his class. I told him he could start if he wanted but asked him if he would rather be one of the older kids. He said he would rather be older. He seemed satisfied with that explanation. He has the same teacher as last year and most of the same kids. He loves his teacher and friends and I know we made the right choice.

The Denver Aquarium

The kids and I went to the Denver Aquarium today. It was actually very fun. I was a little nervous to take them alone, but they were great. They both liked looking at the different fish that were there. Katie seemed a little scared a few times. Not of the sharks though, she was fine with the sharks. The first part of the exhibit is like walking through a cave and there some of the walls have carvings on them. Tommy told me that one was a secret passageway. He also said we needed to hurry because a giant bolder was chasing us. He likes Indiana Jones and he has a great imagination. When other people were admiring the same fish we were, Tommy said, "they like our fish, don't they." We got to pet this guy. He seemed to like it. Who knew a sea creature could be so cuddly?

The kids got to poke their heads up this bubble and look around at the fish.
Tommy's favorite fish

Petting starfish

The cast of Finding Nemo

Fun Day!!

Family Day

As a reservist, I am assigned to the 302 Airlift Wing. Every year, we have a family day during the August Unit Training Assembly. Mike was able to go with us last year, but he was on a trip this year. I considered not even going but my co-worker, Tnle, convinced me to go and I'm really glad she did. We had a great time. We got to my office at 7:00 AM because I had a meeting. The kids played under the desk with Tnle's kids during our meeting.The wing put together a really cool event just for the kids. They had one of the hangars set up with several different stations to teach the children about the different aspects of being a member of the Air Force. They got to look at different types of equipment, like these radios. They were able to go on the C-130 and look around. In addition to moving people and equipment all over the world, the unit has a very unique fire-fighting mission. Future Herc pilot
Our Wing commander, Col Muscatell, spent about two hours, (in a really hot hangar) shaking hands with every child who came to this event (about 175). He gave everyone a wing coin. The kids learned to receive the coin in military tradition by taking the coin in a handshake and then saluting the commander. He is a great leader and it really impressed me that he truly wanted to thank the family members of the unit for supporting their reservists.
At first, Katie was scared and didn't want to go meet the commander. When she saw Tommy's coin though, she changed her mind. I was really proud of them both. I realized kids aren't as intimidated by rank as we are. Later, Katie said, "that guy" gave me this coin. I was glad she wasn't afraid of him. She was still afraid of McGruff the crime dog though.

The local Colorado Springs Explorers fingerprinted the kids. Tommy apparently thought he was getting booked into jail. Tommy liked the gas mask. I knew he would, because it would remind him of Darth Vader.Katie was maxed out on fun by the end of the tour.We then headed to the base park for a picnic. Tommy stayed close by his new friends and he and Katie ran all around and tried every booth there. I was glad I was able to relax and talk to some new people and not worry about the kids.


The Mighty Herc fly-by. We will always love this airplane. Mike and I both miss it.