Families are what make life rich. Love is what binds us together. Joy is being surrounded by both. ~Unknown
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Blast From the Past
I am in the process of trying to get our 2009 Blog book completed. Along the way, Kai and I have rediscovered this video. You should check it out--it still makes me laugh HARD!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Olympic Trials
I think it goes without saying that we have been watching a fair amount of gymnastics around here lately in preparation for the upcoming Olympics!! I am excited! The last weekend in June was the Olympic Trials (finally!) and the boys watched with us for a bit. During the broadcast they decided they were going to be gymnasts, too. They ran up the stairs and after a couple of minutes I decided to check on them. They had gone into the craft bin and pulled out rectangular pieces of foam and written on them. They asked me to attach them to their backs and then they were off back down the stairs where they performed their "tricks" off of the slide.
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| Kai's number (2112, which he wrote himself) was on white foam so it's harder to see. |
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
After 3 days of pretty much sitting at home and stressing out about the fire, I hit a point where I knew I had to get out of the house or go crazy. But where? Over the last month, as we have dealt with fires and smoke, I have come to realize that our favorite places in the Springs are all outdoors. We don't do very much actually indoors. So, it only took about 10 minutes of talking myself into it to decide to go up to Denver to visit the Museum of Nature and Science. It has been on my list for a couple of months as I had heard that they had a great dinosaur exhibit. Because I didn't actually decide until 10am to go, we did get a late start, but we had a great day!
We got there at just the wrong time of day--all of the parking spaces were full and the museum had been open for only an hour, so no one was leaving. Since I don't know Denver well, I didn't know what to do. I ended up parking lot stalking someone and then rolling down my window to ask if they were leaving. It turns out the person was a young museum employee and upon seeing my two boys in the car she told me she wasn't leaving, but would give us her parking space. I have NO idea where she moved her car to, but I was SO grateful to her for her generosity!
The museum was more than I had expected and we had a great time. In fact, we need to go back as there was just to much to see in one day. We started in the Space exhibit, moved on to the gems, and then got lunch. After that it was the discovery center for kids, back down to the space exhibit for a show in the planetarium (awesome! And best part of the day--it was a show with Big Bird and was the perfect thing for the boys), back up to the nature exhibits, snakes and lizards, and then the dinosaurs. We didn't get time to see the Healthy Body exhibit and that looked fantastic, too. I really think it's worth a trip back with Reid. Kai just loved it!
While we were watching the Sesame Street planetarium show I looked over at Kai and worried that it might be too "young" for him. Then I racked my brain to see what age-range Sesame Street covered and I came up with the word "preschool". All of sudden it hit me that Kai still is "pre" school. At least for another 2 months at the time. It's amazing to me how mature and grown-up he has become at such a young age. He really did only just turn 5 and yet, in many respects, he seems so much older. Don't get me wrong, he still has some of the typical 5 year-old problems, but in other ways, he is so grown-up. I'm proud to be his mom (most of the time!) I apologize for all of the pictures, but there was just so much to see!
We got there at just the wrong time of day--all of the parking spaces were full and the museum had been open for only an hour, so no one was leaving. Since I don't know Denver well, I didn't know what to do. I ended up parking lot stalking someone and then rolling down my window to ask if they were leaving. It turns out the person was a young museum employee and upon seeing my two boys in the car she told me she wasn't leaving, but would give us her parking space. I have NO idea where she moved her car to, but I was SO grateful to her for her generosity!
The museum was more than I had expected and we had a great time. In fact, we need to go back as there was just to much to see in one day. We started in the Space exhibit, moved on to the gems, and then got lunch. After that it was the discovery center for kids, back down to the space exhibit for a show in the planetarium (awesome! And best part of the day--it was a show with Big Bird and was the perfect thing for the boys), back up to the nature exhibits, snakes and lizards, and then the dinosaurs. We didn't get time to see the Healthy Body exhibit and that looked fantastic, too. I really think it's worth a trip back with Reid. Kai just loved it!
While we were watching the Sesame Street planetarium show I looked over at Kai and worried that it might be too "young" for him. Then I racked my brain to see what age-range Sesame Street covered and I came up with the word "preschool". All of sudden it hit me that Kai still is "pre" school. At least for another 2 months at the time. It's amazing to me how mature and grown-up he has become at such a young age. He really did only just turn 5 and yet, in many respects, he seems so much older. Don't get me wrong, he still has some of the typical 5 year-old problems, but in other ways, he is so grown-up. I'm proud to be his mom (most of the time!) I apologize for all of the pictures, but there was just so much to see!
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| In the tunnel on the way to the outer space exhibit |
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| A person pretending to be an astronaut that you could ask questions |
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| My little scientists! |
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| This was a topographical map/puzzle you were supposed to put together but Finn liked stacking it up instead. He wanted to do the puzzle, but I didn't want to take the time. |
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| A large gem found in Colorado. It was much bigger than this picture shows. |
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| See the monkey. This is what he does ALL the time now. I can't get him to stop climbing and hanging off of things. I thought gymnastics would help....but it's not! |
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| Using a microscope at the discovery center |
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| Finn LOVED this great new invention--a telephone! |
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| In the astro-tot zone |
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| Kai and a mummy! |
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| Kai next to the dinosaur in the parking structure. He was in love with this! |
How do YOU eat an ice cream sandwich?
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| What it looks like when he is done! |
Monday, July 2, 2012
My Confession
One of my goals for the summer was to include more fresh fruits and veggies in our diet. I also wanted to have a greater variety of meals and make sure that our family was just eating better overall.
And then I heard about eMeals, and decided to give it a try.
The verdict--success! I am enjoying the variety of dishes already planned out for us. It's great to not have to dig through cookbooks or websites to find dinners that might sound good. Every week a menu is emailed right to my inbox that consists of 7 dinners with sides. The recipes are pretty simple and yet delicious. I feel like a gourmet chef when I put dinner on the table these days. And the reality is that I spend a lot less time actually cooking the dinner. We are also no longer stuck in a rut for dinner.
I know some people are hesitant to have someone else pick out what they are going to eat. But I don't feel that's necessarily what happens here. I normally go through the menu each week and if it sounds remotely interesting, we make it. If not, then I cross of that meal for the week. There has been at least one meal on each plan that I have totally crossed off. Also, I have rearranged meal orders and done it on nights that worked better for us. And since we have a left-over night once or twice a week, a one-week plan lasts more than a week. Oh, and you can't forget the pre-made grocery list! So much easier when shopping with my boys. We go in, get what we need, and get home without dragging through the store trying to think about what we would like.
The final line is that we all seem to be enjoying dinner much more these days and it's taking a lot less effort on my part!
Just a sampling of our dinners this past week--Sweet Balsamic Pork Tenderloins, Oriental Chicken Salad, Mexican Chicken, Pork Chops in Caper Sauce (I was skeptical, but ended up enjoying it!), Corned Beef Brisket, and Spiced Rub Chicken. I love that I am learning how to cook with different cuts of meat!
And then I heard about eMeals, and decided to give it a try.
The verdict--success! I am enjoying the variety of dishes already planned out for us. It's great to not have to dig through cookbooks or websites to find dinners that might sound good. Every week a menu is emailed right to my inbox that consists of 7 dinners with sides. The recipes are pretty simple and yet delicious. I feel like a gourmet chef when I put dinner on the table these days. And the reality is that I spend a lot less time actually cooking the dinner. We are also no longer stuck in a rut for dinner.
I know some people are hesitant to have someone else pick out what they are going to eat. But I don't feel that's necessarily what happens here. I normally go through the menu each week and if it sounds remotely interesting, we make it. If not, then I cross of that meal for the week. There has been at least one meal on each plan that I have totally crossed off. Also, I have rearranged meal orders and done it on nights that worked better for us. And since we have a left-over night once or twice a week, a one-week plan lasts more than a week. Oh, and you can't forget the pre-made grocery list! So much easier when shopping with my boys. We go in, get what we need, and get home without dragging through the store trying to think about what we would like.
The final line is that we all seem to be enjoying dinner much more these days and it's taking a lot less effort on my part!
Just a sampling of our dinners this past week--Sweet Balsamic Pork Tenderloins, Oriental Chicken Salad, Mexican Chicken, Pork Chops in Caper Sauce (I was skeptical, but ended up enjoying it!), Corned Beef Brisket, and Spiced Rub Chicken. I love that I am learning how to cook with different cuts of meat!
Up in Smoke
The day after my last post, Saturday June 23, I headed to Wal-Mart in the afternoon for some groceries. The minute I opened the garage door I saw a plume of smoke on the mountainside. As I drove to the store, I turned the radio on to see if I could get any information about what I was seeing. And the closer I got, the larger the plume seemed to be. The radio quickly informed me that there was indeed a fire on the mountain right outside of the city and that they were working on it. I called Reid from the parking lot and told him to take a look, which he did. It really wasn't until later that evening when we realized that the fire was still burning, and after listening to some media commentary, that we realized that this fire had the potential to be quite dangerous.
Over the next two days the fire continued to grow. By Tuesday morning (the 26th) the fire was at 5,000 acres and only 5% containment. The smoke in the area was getting bad and we were growing increasingly concerned about Finn's lungs. That afternoon I needed to pick something up in the Springs and so we made our first trip closer to the base of the fire. The smoke had been particularly bad that whole day (even up in Monument) so we were cautious to not get out of the car much. But I did take a few pictures.
Just under an hour after we returned to our home, the worst-case scenario began to play out on the mountain. The wind that had rolled in with an afternoon storm (quite typical around here) pushed the fire up and over the crest of the mountain. And while a fire normally goes down a hill much more slowly than it'll go up, this was not the case. The fire came barreling down the mountain straight towards homes. The flames were in excess of 100 feet and apparently a wildfire burns hotter than a house fire (who knew?). The firefighters pretty much had to retreat. Thankfully the neighborhood had enough time that they were able to clear it out. But it was still disasterous. The interstate was closed southbound for several hours, and the firefighters were calling for assistance from where ever they could find it. At the start of the day Tuesday there were about 400 firefighters on this fire. By the end of the day we were up to over 800 firefighters with more on the way. Wednesday morning the fire was at 15,000 acres burned and still only 5% containment. There were 32,000 people evacuated from their homes. And I was tense with worry about the smoke and Finn.
Thankfully Wednesday they were able to hold the fire to just a couple thousand acres of growth. Even during the afternoon wind they were able to hold their lines, and that was quite a positive boost. Thursday and Friday were good weather days and gave the men and women out there some time to gain ground on the fire. The city was able to get in and assess the damage by Thursday. To date they have reported that 346 homes have been lost, 2 bodies were found inside one home (making them the only casualities reported to date), the Flying W Ranch was a complete loss, and 17,000 acres have burned. As of this evening, the fire is 45% contained.
We are still not out of the woods, however, but we are very happy with the great progress that has been made. A pre-evacuation order still stands for all of the land to the west of I-25 and north of the Air Force Academy. This includes land just less than a mile from our home. The smoke continues to burn, at times more densely than others. Sometimes the wind brings it right into our house, and other times it just seems that whatever is burning is more smoky than other fuels. But I do hope (and feel) that the worst is behind us. We do, however, keep a close eye on the situation and keep Finn tucked away inside.
As most of you are aware, this has been a particularly bad fire season in the Rocky Mountains. It seems that Utah and Colorado are going up in smoke. In some ways, I feel that our summer plans are doing the same, as we cannot allow Finn to breath this air. We have been praying for the firefighters every day, as well as for rain to come to our area. Tomorrow I will be fasting for that very same thing. It's so sweet to hear Finn take iniatitive to pray for the fire in his nighttime prayers. I know that the Lord has been blessing us with this great weather these last 4 days and I pray that He will continue to do so. We will be so grateful to see this fire extinguished and our community begin the process of recovery.
**This was written this past Saturday June 30th. Since I wrote this post, the fire fighters have made tremendous progress. The fire is now at 55% containment and has be held to just over 17,200 acres burned. The smoke still lingers, though.
Over the next two days the fire continued to grow. By Tuesday morning (the 26th) the fire was at 5,000 acres and only 5% containment. The smoke in the area was getting bad and we were growing increasingly concerned about Finn's lungs. That afternoon I needed to pick something up in the Springs and so we made our first trip closer to the base of the fire. The smoke had been particularly bad that whole day (even up in Monument) so we were cautious to not get out of the car much. But I did take a few pictures.
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| Looking out our basement in the early days of the fire |
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| Driving in Colorado Springs |
Just under an hour after we returned to our home, the worst-case scenario began to play out on the mountain. The wind that had rolled in with an afternoon storm (quite typical around here) pushed the fire up and over the crest of the mountain. And while a fire normally goes down a hill much more slowly than it'll go up, this was not the case. The fire came barreling down the mountain straight towards homes. The flames were in excess of 100 feet and apparently a wildfire burns hotter than a house fire (who knew?). The firefighters pretty much had to retreat. Thankfully the neighborhood had enough time that they were able to clear it out. But it was still disasterous. The interstate was closed southbound for several hours, and the firefighters were calling for assistance from where ever they could find it. At the start of the day Tuesday there were about 400 firefighters on this fire. By the end of the day we were up to over 800 firefighters with more on the way. Wednesday morning the fire was at 15,000 acres burned and still only 5% containment. There were 32,000 people evacuated from their homes. And I was tense with worry about the smoke and Finn.
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| While driving along I-25 the fire began to crest the mountains. See the 100 foot tall flames! |
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| The smoke was blowing right towards Monument. This road is the divider between Colorado Springs and Monument. To the right, Colorado Springs. To the left and under the smoke, Monument. |
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| The view from our deck as it all unfolded. |
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| The smoke above our chimney. It was only 4:30pm. The sun was still out! |
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| Our our front door |
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| Another view of the city completely engulfed in smoke |
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| As night began to fall we could see the flames shooting up from the burning houses right from our deck. As each house caught fire, more flames would shoot up into the sky. They would eventually begin to fade and then another house would join the group. I got up at 3am to check on Finn and could see a wall of flames along the mountain. Absolutely tragic! |
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| More houses burning |
We are still not out of the woods, however, but we are very happy with the great progress that has been made. A pre-evacuation order still stands for all of the land to the west of I-25 and north of the Air Force Academy. This includes land just less than a mile from our home. The smoke continues to burn, at times more densely than others. Sometimes the wind brings it right into our house, and other times it just seems that whatever is burning is more smoky than other fuels. But I do hope (and feel) that the worst is behind us. We do, however, keep a close eye on the situation and keep Finn tucked away inside.
As most of you are aware, this has been a particularly bad fire season in the Rocky Mountains. It seems that Utah and Colorado are going up in smoke. In some ways, I feel that our summer plans are doing the same, as we cannot allow Finn to breath this air. We have been praying for the firefighters every day, as well as for rain to come to our area. Tomorrow I will be fasting for that very same thing. It's so sweet to hear Finn take iniatitive to pray for the fire in his nighttime prayers. I know that the Lord has been blessing us with this great weather these last 4 days and I pray that He will continue to do so. We will be so grateful to see this fire extinguished and our community begin the process of recovery.
**This was written this past Saturday June 30th. Since I wrote this post, the fire fighters have made tremendous progress. The fire is now at 55% containment and has be held to just over 17,200 acres burned. The smoke still lingers, though.
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