Aspen Day #2

Today we ended up not doing anything that we had planned to do.  But sometimes that is what makes vacations fun, rolling with the flow of things.  It rained all day today so the hot air balloon show was off.  Bummer!  We drove to Snowmass anyway, just to check it out.  Cute little place.

We changed hotels and decided to splurge since we haven't taken a vacation in nearly two years.  We were pleasantly surprised when they up graded us to a two bedroom.  We ended up with a condo type place with a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and two baths... SWEET!!!

Since it was raining we took a long afternoon nap (my sick body really appreciated it!) and we wandered the Saturday market in the rain.  We also spent a good bit of time sitting in coffee shops trying to warm up.   After our nap we went to the Aspen Brewery.  Its opened in 2008 and is not yet selling their beers outside of Aspen.   It was really good and they plan on starting to bottle and sell their brews in the late fall.  We had another yummy dinner and then put our very sleepy little one to bed.

We are hoping that tomorrow will be less rainy so we can check  out the balloon festival and do some hiking in the mountains.  Below are some random pictures I snapped with my iPhone today.

"I hate the rain!"

Matthew running around a coffee shop. 

More walking around in the rain, I was freezing but Matthew was all snugly warm. 

Downtown Aspen

They have such fun electronic cars in this town. 

Another cool electric car. 

Not just a Segue but an off road Segue?  Really?....

Our hotel living room and kitchen. 

View from the Brewery... beautiful!

Matthew loved banging on the bell and making it ring. 

Click on this and read... I promise it will make you laugh.. this was on the wall at the brewery. 

Matthew saw the big water fountain and just squealed with delight. 

Finally some sunshine!  So we went for another stroll. 

A weekend adventure - Day # 1

Alex is taking classes again so can't get away for more than a few days at a time.  We were both in need of a bit of time away from the "grind" so we packed up Matthew and our stuff last minute and head out.  We decided to drive to Aspen and check out the hot air balloon festival in Snowmass.   We new it was gonna be a bit of a long drive for Matthew but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

We decided to take the scenic route over independence pass and boy am I glad we did!  The drive was stunning.  The aspen trees are starting to turn and the highway is almost all above 10,000 feet so the view are absolutely stunning!  I have a real bad cold so I didn't have the energy to put into taking a lot of pictures but I did snap a few along the way.

The views just kept getting better and better. 

So pretty!

Break time at the top of independence pass... over 12,000 ft. 

"Hi mom, it's really cold up here but I don't care and I  don't want you to carry me up... I can walk.. I don't care if it is taking forever and my fingers and nose are freezing off."  Seems to be that he is as stubborn as his parents. 

Cheerios!!! 

More cheerios!  Yummy!!!

View from the short walk up to the top of the pass. 

yeah a table to bang on!  Matthew you and I played in the park while daddy checked into our hotel. 

Yippee! We are finally here... we changed our clothes and headed out to dinner.  Notice what good dental hygiene my son has.  Yes... that is a toothbrush he is chewing on. 

We went to dinner at a great Spanish restaurant and now my cold is kicking my butt so I am off to bed.  Check back tomorrow for hopefully some more fun pictures of our fun weekend away. 

My one year old

I've been super busy and sick lately so I haven't taken a lot of pictures.  I have snapped a few on my phone though.  Below are a few of them. 

Getting ready for winter... check out my new hat!

learning to feed oneself can be very messy!

baby bathtub surfing!!  

Cool Bean Play house rocks!

The foam pit at cool beans play house.

Phew... all that playing makes for a tired toddler.

Yum.... nothing like a banana snack after a bath!

cool dood wearing mommy's shades at the play ground. 

Fire

We recently bought a "fire pit".... It's wonderful!  

Daddy teaches the boy about fire.

Daddy, Matthew and Rhubarb (GDB puppy we are sitting) watch the fire burn. 

Run Matthew Run

Alex and Matthew play with willow branches in the grass. 

"why can't I have the big stick to eat!?!!!!

Learning how it's done.

On sunday after Matthew's birthday part we let him have another piece of cake.  This time he grabbed it right away and shoved it in his mouth. 

Yumm, ymmm CAKE!

My smiley boy just loves bath time.

Miss Petunia

We are watching Miss Petunia this week.  She is just over 4 months old and is super sweet.  I took her to work with me today and she made me laugh so hard.  I recently bought this really cheep ($20) kennel at target for work.  So far it has worked great but Petunia figured out that if she jumped on the walls that she could roll the kennel. 

I came out of a patient room and heard laughing near my office.  When I looked in, I found Petunia jumping on the wall of the kennel and moving it slowly across my office.  If you look closely you can see her in the kennel.

After a few that's enough she settle down but insisted on laying with her face pushed up against the mesh door.  Silly girl.  At one point she managed to roll the kennel into the hall outside of my office.  What a goofball.

After lunch I decided to see how she would do outside of the kennel.  She did great!   She stayed on her "bed" all afternoon and didn't try to eat anything.  I was so proud of her.

After a long first day at the office.... sweet petunia passed out at my feet.

Pretty pictures

These are just a few shots I wanted to share.  I do a lot of photography with my big Nikon but... As the saying goes, the best camera is the one that is with you.  I took the pictures below on my iphone while out on runs around the ponds behind my house.

I am thankful for the beauty in my life!  

Puppies

I have been missing Vigo so much lately.  He is now in phase 6.  I wish he would just graduate or fail... the waiting is killing me.  Hopefully we should know soon if we are getting a puppy on the next truck or not.   I was missing a puppy so much the other day that I "borrowed" my friend Brianna's guide dog puppy Irene for about 4 days.  It was so great to have a puppy around.  Irene is such a sweet snuggle bug and I just adore her.

Zora (friend's pet dog), Irene and Jorinda (GDB puppies) playing on the deck.... 

"Please can't we all come in and join the birthday party?"

After the party Irene helped me clean up by checking out and eating the left over ice.  She would dig in it and then stick her whole face down in the ice.  Burr...

Check back later this week for more puppy pictures, we are puppy sitting little Petunia this coming week and Rhubarb this coming weekend.  

Matthew Turns one

I can't believe my boy is one!  I feel like just the other day I was pregnant and on bed rest snuggling with a baby Vigo.  Now vigo is in phase 6 at GDB and Matthew is running around the house.  I know everyone says it... but man how time flies.

Matthew's actual birthday was last Monday but we celebrated it this weekend with a party for family and friends.

This was on Monday on his actual birthday.  He hates having clothes on but he didn't even try to take off the crown. 

Birthday boy on his throne!  He loves to watch us go pee.  So we bought him a potty to sit on.  He sits on it with his diaper on and watches us go in the real potty. 

The birthday party....

My friend Brianna took pictures for me so that I could enjoy the party.  I am so thankful for my wonderful friends here!

Daddy and the Birthday boy.

We gathered around the cake to sing, Matthew watched, not quite sure what to think. 

"Mmmmm.... my own little cake"

What fun!

Balloons!!!  

This was one of my favorite gifts... so true!

"Silly  mommy....  don't put a bow on my head..."

Matthew loved his gifts but he got the biggest kick out of playing with two of the hangers.... go figure. 

And just so you don't think my son is always smiling...   fuss fuss fuss.....