A Little Boy for Peanut Butter

The fundamental job of a toddler is to rule the universe.

~Alice Kutner

Jade Star, my brother, and his two and a half year old son Finn just spent a long weekend with us, and this morning Peanut Butter was giving me the cold shoulder. It took a few chunks of hamburger to win her back over again. I'm pretty sure she was mad at me because the little boy was gone. She loves little kids and LOVED Finn. She lick, lick, licked Finn's little hands and face forcing him into eruptions of laughter that only encouraged Peanut Butter further.

Steve loves little kids, too, and had a great time with Finn as well. On our last night together, Steve and Finn played a belly laughing game of I'm eating your ear/finger/nose.

Finn is a smart, imaginative, incredibly verbal little boy. Jade Star is an awesome dad. This was a special weekend for me to observe my brother as a dad in anticipation of the arrival of my own babies.

Finn and Peanut Butter, looking for prairie dogs

Father and son

Jade Star and Finn looking for fat bullfrog polliwogs

Finn in a "spinning tea cup" at Community Park in Louisville

Train Conductor Finn and passenger Jade Star

Finn in the sprayground



Steve and Finn in Downtown Boulder

A man-tree (Ent?) on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder

Finn splashes about in the children's swimming area on Boulder Creek. (That's my week 28 belly!)

Fox on a Van

The quick sly fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.

~A phrase containing every letter in the alphabet

Yesterday Steve, our friend Catherine, and I were walking back to our car parked in downtown Louisville (which just happened to be named the Best Place to Live 2009 by Money Magazine today) with a bag of Chinese take out. As we walked, Steve spotted two little ears poking up from on top of a van. Eventually the fox stretched, yawned and sat up. I think this fox probably likes living here too.

Steve used his iPhone camera to get these pictures.

Catching Up II

As promised, I'm back.

Here's the continuation of the Launder saga between March and today.

Fourth of July Trail, Indian Peaks Wilderness - Steve and Peanut Butter's hike

Steve and Peanut Butter heard the familiar scolding of a pika and were able to captured the elusive little guy (or girl) on film.
Can you find it?

When they crested the mountain, Peanut Butter thought it was a bit too windy,
but she really enjoyed the grand vistas

and the flowers, too.


I've been making t shirts for our little babies and for Willow, Claire's little girl who is soon to make her debut in this world.

It has rained a lot this spring and the wildflowers are expressing their thanks by blanketing the hillsides with color.


The 5th of July

After going to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and watching the Louisville fireworks from our street on the 4th of July, Steve, Peanut Butter, and I decided to have a family day on the 5th. We went to...

Buffalo Bill's Grave,

the nearby Boettcher Mansion,

and past a few buffalo on the way to Evergreen Lake where we ate a relaxing lunch and took a lovely stroll (not pictured), then continued on scenic Highway 74 to...



Red Rocks where Steve checked out the museum while the exhausted Crystal and Peanut Butter slept in the car.

Catching Up

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow

A. B. Johnson
The Philosophical Emperor a Political Experiment, 1841

It's been a while, no? Late March was my last blog post and I have some catching up to do. Rather than start from the beginning, I'll start from right now since the news that I haven't shared on my blog, (but many of you now know) is that Steve and I are expecting twins! After discussing a little geneology with my grandmother Elaine, I can say for sure that twins do run in our family.

As you might imagine, this whole twin thing has kept Steve and me quite busy. Eating, for example, is practically a full-time occupation. My typical day entails first breakfast, second breakfast (yes, like the Hobbits), lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. Even keeping this ferocious eating pace doesn't guarantee that I won't wake up famished at 5:ooAM to eat my breakfast early. I'm trying to eat as well and inexpensively as I can, too, so I'm constantly grocery shopping - bread and bananas at Albertson's, fresh veggies from the farmers' market or Sunshine Market, DHA enriched eggs and chemical/antibiotic-free meat from Whole Foods, peanut butter from Target, etc...

Enough about me, I bet you're more curious about the twins. I'm 24 weeks into my pregnancy (not quite done with the second trimester). They are healthy little buggers and they are kicking with regularity and vigor. We found out at our 24 week ultrasound that one is a boy and one is a girl. In case you're not an expert on twins, that means that they are definitely fraternal, not identical.


The twins at 21 weeks (click on picture to see close up)

Me at 24 weeks (I printed the design on this t shirt, thanks to my grandmother Elaine for some great supplies and instruction)


Here are a few more photos to catch you up on our adventures between March and now.
Denver Art Museum


Peanut Butter and Loki continue to be friends, but occasionally fight over a stick

The Launder family, Steve's parents and sister Michelle (below with Steve), visited

My mom visited in late April/early May

Steve and I have also had visits from a chain of other friends and relatives - Ann, Tanya, (kind of) cousin Pandy and family, Ron, Catherine, and Matt LaFountain with his daughter Aster.

At times Peanut Butter was resistant to photographs, so we assisted her.

Steve and Peanut Butter enjoyed a recent hike on the Fourth of July Trail in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.
...to be continued (My blog doesn't seem to want me to upload any more photos to this post.)

March Snow Storm

Storm Wallops Denver

- headline, Denver Post, March 26, 2009

It has been a warm, dry winter here, so, in my opinion, a snow storm is welcome. Of course, for those of you who live or have lived in places where big snowfalls are the norm, you might think that a 15" snowfall is no big deal. What you have to understand is that most communities on the Front Range are not equipped with an army of snow plows and towns don't even plow arterial streets...ever. If you, for some strange reason, are not the type that enjoys getting away to the mountain, then for 95% of the time you don't need snow tires, so why bother?

Governor Bill Ritter declared a disaster, which means that National Guard can now be enlisted to move the snow.

Here are my pics from today, during our walk through the nearby open space, well before the storm was over.

Ice ball!

Second Anniversary Trip: Salida and Manitou Springs

“One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of wandering.”

~Alfred North Whitehead

Steve and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary last weekend by taking a trip to Salida and Manitou Springs (both Colorado towns). We were accompanied by Peanut Butter and Loki, our friends' cockapoo who we are dogsitting. Though PB is a bit of a queasy traveller, she had a great time and Loki eased her nerves by offering up an ear to chew on now and again. PB gladly accepted.

Both Salida and Manitou Springs can be described as art communities. Salida is a mountain town located about two and one half hours west of Colorado Springs. According to a local artist, it was a derelict, boarded up town that was revived in the 1990s by a group of artists who decided to move in and get it going again. So far, it has worked; it's a great little town that is still affordable to normal people despite a mountain location. I suspect that it may retain its character because it is a bit more out of the way than other mountain communities.

Manitou Springs is located in the foothills just a few miles from downtown Colorado Springs and back dropped by Pikes Peak. Manitou Springs is both quirky and touristy with a strong arts presence as well as an old fashioned open air arcade and a number of mineral drinking springs.

Read on in the captions below.

Peanut Butter

Loki

Steve and Peebs

We spotted this taxodermy specimen at a real shoot-'em-up cowboy gas station in Fairplay, CO.

Steve and Peanut Butter in front of Colorado's Collegiate Range. Princeton is the big mountain - wonder where that explorer went to school?.

Steve's three ladies with Collegiate Range in background.


SALIDA

I love this multi-era mural. Guess what the "S" on the side of the mountain stands for.

Art about town. Loki was barking at some of the animal statues - too real for comfort.




MANITOU SPRINGS



One of several drinking water springs. These were. . . zesty and each is slightly different because of the path that the water travels through the rocks. If you zoom in on the plaque on the right, you can see the mineral content. Springs like these made Manitou Springs a favorite amongst those recovering from TB and other ailments once upon a time.

Tast testing.

Steve thought this one was a little bland.

Loki rides the elephant at the old arcade.

Going in to Cave of the Winds. My camera battery died, so I can't offer you better shots. Cave of the Winds is a limestone network of caves featuring fun cave geology like stalactites, stalagmites, cave bacon, and cave popcorn.

A most excellent 2nd anniversary it was!