Steve's Long Weekend

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.

~J. Lubbock

Sometimes you just need a little time off. Steve who has been diligently saving days off for when the babies arrive and who has, at work, been on a team that has been down one person for some time, was a little fried and decided to take an extra day off last week and play with me. I have to admit, it was good for me to - to get in some play time with Steve before the babies arrive.

Our adventures aren't epic these days - we look for mellow fun close to home since I'm so slow and, well, pregnant - but sometimes silly adventures are the best. On Steve's Friday off, we went to the Butterfly Pavilion in Broomfield, which we jokingly (nerdily?) call the Papillon (French for butterfly, pronounced pap-E-on) Pavilion (pav-E-on) whenever we drive by. Us and droves of preschoolers, oh, and butterflies. Later that day Steve indulged my desire to do a paddle boat ride on Lake Waneka in neighboring Lafayette. I couldn't even paddle because of my big belly. Poor Steve: my workhorse. The last two pictures in this blog were taken on a trail in the town to our west, Superior.

Butterfly Pavilion, Broomfield







Lake Waneka, Lafayette

Captain Steve

(Steve wanted to paddle the pirate ship and I wanted to ride in the pink flamingo, but we got the dragon instead. Still fun!)

Single Tree Trail, Superior

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!