Puplit Rock Hike

We hiked to Pulpit Rock a last weekend. It was kind of an impromptu hike because we weren't doing anything on Sunday early evening so I recommended we go. Jon hadn't gone before so we did! We gathered up a few essentials (water, diaper, wipes, stroller, etc) and headed out the door. Literally headed out the door. Do you remember me talking about a really cool place that was within walking distance a few posts ago? Well this is it! So we cruised to the other side of the neighborhood and got on the trail. I was really just planning to take Jon out there to see it and then come home, but he decided that we could actually make it to Pulpit Rock in no time so we went! Hannah was pretty funny because she did not want to be held...she wanted to walk! Unfortunately she had to be held a lot because we were on rock and gravel...we let her walk some in the dirt and on some of the more "flat" ground. Either way, she had a great time and so did we! We decided on this walk that we are definitely going to have to invest in an internal frame kid carrier in the not so distant future! I, of course, was the one taking the pictures because Jon and Hannah were really cracking me up, so I'm not IN any of the pictures. We had fun though and I am sure that we will be out there at least once a week if not more!

Not too thrilled that I am taking his picture!
Playing with and enjoying the rocks...Hannah, not Jon!

This was Hannah's preferred method of transportation...she giggled the whole time she was carried like this!

Trying it on her own, although not crazy about the fact that Dad was holding her hand!

This Ain't Her First Rodeo...

Okay, well technically it was, I just thought the title was catchy! One of Jon's clients at work is the Professional Rodeo people so he got free tickets. We decided to invite some people from work over for dinner: ribs, baked beans, and potatoes to name a few. We went with a "Pre-Rodeo theme" for dinner. I did not get a picture of Hannah gnawing of her rib, but just trust me...she was going to town! Then we all drove down to the Pike's Peak or Bust Rodeo! It was great! Hannah has been really in to animals lately so we weren't surprised when she flipped out about the horses, cows, sheep, etc. She would reach out to them with her arms, as if to say, "come here!" She would also yell, dag (that's Hannah's jersey accent for dog) and bark at them..."woof woof!" We worked on horse, cow, and sheep sounds all night long but she chose to bark instead.

Her she is really focused on the rodeo. The pictures are a little grainy because it was dark outside.

I found out after the rodeo that it was not only Hannah's first rodeo, but Jon's too! I'm glad I got this picture to commemorate the event.

RODEO ACTION!!!!!

Last, but not least. Hannah and I...Well not exactly me.

Just Another Ordinary Day

This past weekend was great! We didn't do much...Saturday we did some home improvement stuff and had planned on going to the zoo in the afternoon. Well we ended up having afternoon rain showers so that plan was nixed. So we just opted for a quick early dinner out and then watched a couple of movies from the Redbox. We played with Hannah in the basement while the movies were on and just got to relax as a family. Don't know why but it was just a great day. Then on Sunday we got up and got ready for church. We've been going to the 8:45am service because Hannah gets grumpy during the later one because it's right in the middle of her nap time. So we did our usual routine...Jon dropped Hannah and me at the childcare building and then went to park the car. I took her in, signed her in, put her name on her sippy cup, and handed her over. Cries...loud, contagious cries! Did I mention that I started work last week and therefore Hannah went to daycare for the first time ever last week?? Yeah, so I guess Hannah wasn't going to be dropped off in "random" places one more time...so I made an executive decision to just bring her with me (her crying and making the other kids cry DID play into my decision making) to the service. I met Jon in our usual spot and he saw Hannah with me. We decided to go to the more child friendly place, instead of into what our college kids at Henderson Hills would call "big church." Jon looked at me and Hannah (both of us were a little stressed out still) and asked if we would rather just go to the zoo. I felt incredible relief and agreed, so we left...and I am SO glad we did. We drove across town while Hannah took a little snooze in the car and then grabbed some breakfast at Panera before heading to the zoo. We had so much fun at the zoo. We have a season pass, but haven't gone since Hannah's birthday...she has become A LOT more aware in the last three months and noticed EVERYTHING! It was so fun to just watch her explore and discover the animals and flowers and grass and trees. She also got to run free most of the time which was even more exciting for her! I just love watching her learn and have fun. There's nothing better for me!This is her watching the giraffes. They are awesome...I think I have mentioned them before but it really is a cool exhibit. It's the first one when you go in to the zoo and you could literally spend thirty minutes to an hour at that one exhibit...feeding them, watching their ridiculously long tongues, etc! As you can tell, Hannah was loving it! She just sat herself down, at a safe distance of course, and watched them and talked to them...so cute!
Monkeys! We love the monkeys! And obviously so did Hannah...very focused!

She loved getting to walk around like a big girl! She pushed her stroller part of the time, ran after us part of the time, and ran in front of us the rest of the time...do I need to say that she was pooped when we left??

I think this picture exemplifies the day. Content...cruising on my own...and slightly flushed from exerting all of my energy running around.

"Oooo!" Something caught her eye and when that happened she would sit down near the fence and start "talking" about what she was seeing!

Turtle! "Are you turtley enough to be in the turtle club Hannah?" Actually it's a tortoise...they are land animals, while turtles are water animals. Interesting huh? This guy, Floyd maybe, was cruising around the zoo getting petted my little kids. Hannah's not so sure about it...

"Oh my goodness I touched it!" It happened so fast that I missed it! But she did touch it...I was so proud because normally she is a total chicken when it comes to touching animals. I mean she once freaked out about Jon trying to get her to touch a ceramic turtle...that's right and inanimate object freaked her out big time! The chipmunk that was racing around our feet though, not so much. She screamed like a baby when he got close!

And, nothing like an ice cream cone to end a good zoo trip. She likes ice cream can you tell???

Food Thief!!!

That's right, we have a food thief on our hands. The law says you are innocent until proven guilty so Hannah is pleading her case, although there is plenty of evidence to prove that she is guilty. But hey, OJ got away with it didn't he, so Hannah figures she will do her best too!

"What are you looking at Mom?? I didn't steal a powdered donut! What are you talking about?!?" No donut in sight and white faced...maybe it's rabies...or an eaten powdered donut! Can't say I blame her, we don't usually have stuff like that in the house so she's got to get it while the gettin' good!
These were taken after the incident. We had just gotten home from Sam's so while I was unpacking everything, I cut up one of the white nectarines that we had gotten and gave her a slice. She shoved it in and I didn't think anything of it until I too tasted the goodness. I looked over to talk to Hannah about how good these nectarines were and to offer her another piece and she was gone. Jon hollered at me to get some paper towels or something because Hannah was making a mess...much to my surprise, she had an entire nectarine in hand with several bites taken out of it! Please notice the bites on the nectarine on her tray!

While Jon and I were cleaning up her mess, she went to the kitchen and she stole another one and started eating that one too! I guess that one was kind of my fault because I didn't pick the box up off of the floor before leaving the room. But good grief she had already eaten about 3/4 of a good sized nectarine by herself, so I didn't think she had much left in her! I was wrong...by the time she stopped eating she had scarfed down at least 1 1/2 nectarines! I have to say though, they were/are super delicious, sweet, and juicy! So these are just her latest offenses...maybe we will let her off the hook since it was a healthy snack that was stolen the second time. The good and the bad should balance out right?!?

Construction & Grandpa

But it's mostly Grandpa! These are a little out of order but that's okay! We are just glad that my Dad got to come visit and help us with our kitchen remodeling (those photos are coming later once we actually get done) !

Hannah "drinking" from whatever she could find! In this case it was the pluming that Jon was using to install our sink. Silly girl!``
This is the last night...Hannah playing with her big red ball that Grandpa got her at Target. It's what Grandparents do right?!

Day one: All smiles during breakfast. That's some banana bread that I made figuring that would be an easy breakfast for the weekend since we would have no kitchen for a few days!

There's nothing better than a good shoulder ride!

Hannah "helping" her Dad cut the counter top. Her way of helping is pretty funny because it could be getting in between your legs or hauling off the tool that you need...either way, she's a great helper, especially if it involves being outside!

My Dad said that he's been waiting almost 15 months to get to do this. Isn't that sweet? They did it a lot so hopefully he got his fill for a while!

Still day one I believe. Hannah did not so much love the sawing, drilling, or other random sounds that were prevalent during the construction. She also did not love having her house chaotic, but then again who could blame her?! I think we all were a little crazy from it!

New floors! Hannah really enjoyed helping with the cleaning...dust pans, swifters, mops, brooms, you name it. Here she is helping Grandpa and me scoop up some saw dust!

We also celebrated the Fourth of July while my Dad was here. We knocked off work early, went out for barbecue, and set up chairs on our deck to watch some fireworks.

Me, Hannah, and Grandpa at dinner. Hannah was a big fan of the restaurant because she got sweet potato fries and okra!

Still lovin' it!

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So there were some huge thunderstorms expected for the evening of the 4th and they cooled things off significantly. It was actually chilly sitting outside!

So we moved the party inside. Hannah was being so sweet with her Grandpa that evening...even fed him some goldfish!

Not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but these are our wet (as in rained on) chairs that we had originally planned to sit in to watch fireworks. Instead we had to watch from the door because it was pouring down rain out there!

This is Jon's butt sitting on Hannah's new ball. She wasn't happy that he was sitting on it so she was trying to bump him off...his butt is just a little bigger than hers though!

Grandpa sharing some iced tea with Hannah...let's just say Grandpa was top dog that evening for that! And for all of you Mom's out there that are worrying, the tea was decaf!

Our view from a walk that we took. The bottom left is Garden of the Gods and the mountain is Pike's Peak. We walked here from our house and it took about 15-20 minutes! Awesome!

The trail that we walked on...did I mention this is within WALKING distance from our new house?!?! I LOVE it!

Hannah might be a bit like her Daddy because she was trying to climb all over! We had to keep a tight grip on her hand or else she would have totally jumped down to other rocks...no good for her being that this little "cliff" was about three feet down!

She didn't mind holding hands as long as we kept walking!

When we were headed home, Hannah went to sleep. We took her out of her stroller and laid her in bed. This is how my Dad found her just moments later! Wide awake!

A Day in the Life

Having a snack on the back porch. Those would be Yan Yan's...basically a cracker that is dipped in chocolate (or strawberry or vanilla but we had chocolate). I threw some in the cart at the Asian market because I needed to get my total up to $5 in order to use my bank card. They sat on the counter for over a month until one nice afternoon I decided to share them with Hannah.

Post Yan Yan photo...can you tell that she was a fan? Cruisin' in the racecar at Home Depot. We have been spending a lot of time there thanks to our re-modeling projects...I will share some of those photo's later!

Jon and I were out shopping for bikes and Hannah was bored so I put her on a tricycle. She was having so much fun as I pushed her around the store on it. She could barely reach the pedels, so she couldn't do it by herself but she sure tried!

I was getting ready to put Hannah down for a nap one afternoon, but instead I put her in the rocking chair for a minute because she likes to rock herself. I guess I had something else to do first, but when I came back a few minutes later this is how I found her. I guess I should have put her to bed before doing whatever I was doing!

America the Beautiful Park

My friend Chrissy & I decided to check out America the Beautiful park last week. It's in downtown Colorado Springs and they have a fountain with a little lazy river type thing for kids to play in, so we decided that it was time to take our kids down to play. I wasn't sure how Hannah would do because she loves the water, but doesn't so much love swimming. It was GREAT! As soon as I put her down in the water she started giggling and then took off. It is really shallow and perfect for little kids. We had a blast and decided that we will definitely be going back on a somewhat regular basis! And the best part about it is that it is totally free!