Autumn & Kalina

In February we took a trip to CA for lots of different things.  We had family pictures, Ryland’s birthday, Daddy worked at the office, uncle Jerry had surgery, and mommy worked at a gymnastics meet.  Then we headed to Las Vegas for the WPPI tradeshow.  While we were there Mom snapped a few pictures.

This toy is two things in one.  You get to play with keys, and put the shapes in the correct place.  It’s over 20 years old since it belonged to Allie when she was a kid.

These Lego’s are old too!

Almost everyone has an iPad or iPhone to play on.  Grandpa and I are relaxing on the couch with some electronic fun.  (actually Grandpa is reading on his Kindle)

For Ryland’s birthday we had spaghetti and Auntie Caitlin made a Mater cake!  Ryland really loves Cars right now!

Look at this snack!  Mom bought them because Grandma really likes them.  We tried them, but they aren’t our favorite.

One day Mom and Grandpa took us to the gym to have some play time.  The pictures are a little blurry since we were playing all over and she only had her phone.  That gym is a great place to play!

We had lots of fun and yummy treats.

These were even sugar free!  What does that mean?

This day was horsey ears day.  (Autumn was snacking on Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups)

I’m sporting my casual attitude.

My silly face.

And, my here comes trouble face.

Later, Autumn went out to help dry Grandpa’s car off.

After Mommy finished her working at the meet we took a plane to Las Vegas.  One night we went to a buffet and after we had dessert the waitress brought us chocolate cake pops.  Autumn inhaled her before mom could even take a picture.

I was “holding” Mom’s for her.

We went to see the dancing water and took a nice walk home to our hotel.  On the way we saw a huge horse statue.

Look, Autumn and I can fit on the same chair.

On the last day there Mom and Grandma took us to Circus Circus to play games.  When it was time to go to the airport Jeffrey found this big car instead of a cab.

Grandpa flew out to Denver from Las Vegas with us.  He’s doing some work at ProDPI and playing with us at night.  Sometimes we just relax and watch tv.

He can be a great chair!

This weekend we took grandpa up to Crested Butte to see a different part of Colorado and have an adventure.  Crested Butte is the mountain near Gunnison where Daddy went to school.  He loves it there but we haven’t had a chance to visit since we moved out here.  We left Friday after school and got there pretty quick.  It helps when you have a movie player in the car and have a little nap too.

When we got to Gunnison we stopped at the Blue Igauna for a late lunch.  Dad loves that place so we had to stop there. We drove up the rest of the way to Crested Butte and found the condo we rented for the weekend.  We stayed at the Black Diamond Lodge, right across the street from the main lift area. This was the view from our window.

These are the icicles hanging outside Mom and Dad’s room window.

That night we tried to find a hot chocolate and ended up at The Avalanche for some dinner.

We made a quick exit after Mom fed me too much food and I had a slight incident at the table.  (Let’s just say hot chocolate, raspberries, and mac and cheese taste way better if you only have them once!)

Mom and Dad have been talking to me about skiing and I said that I wanted to try it.  The next morning we walked over to watch and see what “skiing” looked like.

I still said I wanted to try it, but we decided to go sledding first.  We loaded up on the free bus to town and got off at the Nordic Center.  Over there you could rent a sled and play on the sledding hill.

I went up to the top of the hill and rode down by myself and with Daddy.

Untitled from Kimberly Doyle on Vimeo.

Autumn didn’t want to play in the snow.  Everyone had to work hard to even get her to stop saying “Go Home”.  Grandpa was playing with the sled and Autumn started trying to catch it.

Sometimes she would catch him and take a ride.  (On the outside!)

She eventually got in and took a short ride down the hill.

After we went sledding we went to McGills and had lunch.  Autumn was looking for ham on the menu.

Then we took the bus back to our condo for nap time.  Grandpa, Daddy and Autumn all took a nap and Mommy and I snuck out to the tubing hill for some more fun.

Tubing was soooooo much fun.  I rode the tube lift and tube for almost 3 hours! Those are my feet sticking out of the tube while I ride up.

After this we had to wait while they fixed the lift.

This run was really fast and I didn’t really like it.

Untitled from Kimberly Doyle on Vimeo.

Then they put the black cover on so that I would go slower.

Untitled from Kimberly Doyle on Vimeo.

Here I come!

While I finished riding the tube, Mom went to sign me up for skiing lessons.  Then we picked up my boots, skis, and helmet.  On the way home Daddy bought me a hot chocolate.

Later I decided I wanted to try everything on.

Sunday morning was my lesson with Drew.  I was so excited!  I wanted to wear my ski boots, but the made me walk “crazy” so Mom took them off until we got to the meeting spot.

We had to wait about 15 minutes so Autumn and I played in the snow.  First she had to get down from Daddy holding her.

Drew finally came and I was going to learn to ski!

After we talked a few minutes we headed off to the ski school area.  Did you know that at ski school they have a Magic Carpet?!  Just like Princess Jasmine and Aladin!

Everyone snuck up to the ski school after we left to see how things were going.

Drew taught me lots of things like how to take off my skis, duck walk, stomp my feet, skate on skis, slide down the hill, and stand up.  I’m still learning, but I got lots better in the 2 hours I was with him.  If we didn’t have to come home, I could’ve gone skiing with him some more this afternoon!  He said that for a 4 year old I did great.  I didn’t give up and I stayed out for the whole 2 hours-unlike some kids my age who only last about 45 minutes and need a break.  He said if we were going to be there longer that I would’ve been riding the lift in a few days!

While I was busy skiing everyone else went to the Children’s Museum on the mountain.  Autumn had lots of fun there.  I guess they had art, a garden, pizza making, baby section, play/climbing area, dark room, pirate ship, and a “dirt” yard.  The dirt was made from pieces of recycled rubber and stuff.

Cooking a pizza

Time to play cashier.  “Daddy, give me money”

This was the baby area. but there was so much fun stuff!

These tubes had air blowing in them.  If grandpa and I blocked them, the balloon or balls would go up higher.

They had funny scooter/bikes that you stood up on to ride.

Autumn played pirate on the play structure.

While Autumn finished playing Mom and Grandpa came to pick me up.  I’m riding the magic carpet up to the top for my last run.

Mom got a video of the run, but it’s in 3 pieces because the big board they were hiding behind got in the way.

Untitled from Kimberly Doyle on Vimeo.

Untitled from Kimberly Doyle on Vimeo.

Untitled from Kimberly Doyle on Vimeo.

This is my report card from my teacher Drew.  I love it sooooo much I held it all the way home, called my Grandma to come over and see it, and showed my other Grandma on a video chat.

I had a great weekend with lots of new adventures.  I can’t wait to do it again!

Today Dad found a new place for us to try sledding.  But first, we had to go shopping.  After yesterdays snow play time, mom decided we need a few snow accessories.  My boots were to small, but I wasn’t complaining and mom never got around to buying new ones, and Autumn didn’t have any that she could really walk around in.  Hers were to big and it’s hard enough to walk in the snow, let alone walking when you feet didn’t stay in your shoes.  REI had the boots I had on sale so we stopped there.

Autumn chose new green boots, and I wanted green boots too.  The man at the store found my size in the back, so we both got green ones.  My snowsuit was a 3T from last year and kept going up above my boots so the snow would get inside.  Mom found me a new snow suit, it’s kind of a blue green color, and Autumn chose a pink one.  I got a new jacket but Mom said we’d save it for next year, but after sledding today she realized that my jacket sleeves were to short and the snow kept getting on my arms!  Autumn had a new jacket from Christmas so she didn’t get a jacket.

You should remember that we are playing in snow clothes that we chose.  Mom has mom color sense than this!  We are quite colorful:  pink jacket, blue pants, green boots, and green/blue plaid gloves for me, purple jackey, pink pants, green boots, and black gloves for Autumn!

We got all dressed and headed to the hill.  Autumn…she’s not a happy camper

Dad and I rode down from the top.  We’re heading back up.

We’re loading up.  Dad and Autumn are going to go first.

Still not to happy

not yet

or now

This could be a short sledding session at this rate!

My turn!  WHEEEEE!

SNOW BANK!

Daddy’s turn…

He kinda looks like a penguin sliding on it’s tummy!

We sat here to watch daddy.  Did mention Autumn wasn’t to happy?

A failed attempt at a snow angel.  Mom tossed me into the snow and it was DEEP!

Hey look!  A SMILE!!!!

Now that Autumn is happy, we can stay and play.  Dad and I went to the top.  If no one has told you.  I tend to be more cautious in my activities and not try new things.  I only wanted to ride with Dad.  This is sooooo much fun!

Dad talked me into trying by myself for this ride.

Do you see how I’m headed straight for the camera?  Well, that’s because I’m headed straight for Mom!  And right next to Mom is Autumn.  (To be perfectly honest, I think mom chose her camera over either of us.)  She kinda grabbed at my feet to stop me, but in the blink of an eye I had stopped at the bottom and Autumn was lying on her back in the snow.  (Not happy again!)

Autumn recovered quickly and was soon riding down the hill by herself.  (from about 1/3 of the way from the bottom)  Then she decided to go farther up the hill.

Here she goes!

She may not look it, but she was having fun.  She went lots of times all by herself!

We were done riding the sled so we played for a little bit.  Anyone seen my daddy?

Time to go home.  Look at some of the snow at home…

The first picture was yesterday and the second one was today.  This is our porch, but only this area had snow on it.

Here’s the stairs from down below. (and yes, it is bright and sunny in this picture-that’s the great thing about this place.  The sun comes out and at 35 degrees it seems really nice!)

This is above Mommy and Daddy’s room.  Better not stand under that spot!

It’s so nice today, Dad had to take a break to wipe the sweat from shoveling.  Uncle Jeffrey offered his snow blower, but Dad says he’s a “Man” and wouldn’t use it.  Mom said something about “no sympathy” if he starts complaining about aches and pains.

See how high the snow is.  This is deceiving though because the wind blew it up against the house and not everywhere is that tall.  It looks cool though!

That’s all for today…I wonder if they’ll be more snow pictures tomorrow?!