Around our house

I've been busy posting about special days and special visitors, but I felt it was time to share a little of the day to day stuff that is happening around our house these days.

1. A Random Conversation:

LB(lil bro): Do you think we'll trick-or-treat or just hand out candy?
Me: Which do you want to do?
LB: Trick-or-treat because I love candy. It's so yummy.
BB (Big Bro): Yah, but candy isn't really the healthiest.
LB: Yah, I know, protein is the most healthy.
BB: What is the most healthiest food on earth?
Me: I don't know, I think blueberries are one of the Super Foods.
LB: Probably cherries. I love those cherries on top of ice cream! I think they are the healthiest.

2. Lots of Angry Birds on the iPad. (Not just them, I'm addicted too!)

3. The reason Chocolate Cupcakes are banned from our house.

4. A note left for his little brother. 

(I write a note each day on Big Brother's napkin in his lunch. Today, Little Brother was home sick with a double ear infection and a sinus infection. This was the note Big Brother left for him.

And just in case you thought he was all grown up and mature from that note above, here he is doing his homework. (And yes, Curious George is on in our house every day!)

 5.  Lots of progress on Little Brother's Speech.

These are words he's able to say correctly in isolation. He has a hard time with them in conversation, but he's encouraged by how much the list grows every day. We've got a great Speech Therapist coming to the house every other week and he's making great progress. 

The next Tebow

 Big Brother's Flag Football season ends this weekend. He got the chance to be quarterback a few weeks back. Here he is in action. He's come a long way in the past couple of months. It's been a long season for the boys- 1 win 6 losses. All in all, they don't seem to mind too much when the parents make a cheering tunnel and when those after game snacks come out!

Granny's Visit: October 4-7

Granny came for a quick visit the beginning of October. We've had a beatiful and warm fall and enjoyed a lot of time outdoors. Unfortunately, she came for our first bit of cold wind and snow! We did manage to head to a Pumpkin Patch just south of town. The kids enjoyed it, but we adults thought it was really lacking! To start, they charged quite a bit just to get in. Then, while helping Little Brother launch his gourds, one got stuck in the pocket and rocketed into my throat. It hurt like crazy. The boys loved the hay bail slides and spent a good amount of time. They took us on a tractor ride that looped around and the boys enjoyed petting a few animals. When we couldn't bear the cold wind any longer we headed out without buying any pumpkins (I know, gasp!).  As we were leaving the owner told me I could pick one out for the damages to my neck. It was nice of him after all.

Granny babysat while Kevin and I went out to dinner and a movie. I, then, spent the night with the stomach flu. YUCK!

We woke up the next day to SNOW! Little Brother headed out in his PJ's and crocodile rain boots. Though the weather and activities were a little bit of a bummer, it's always a great time with Granny. The boys didn't mind one bit!

Burning Bear Creek- Hiking Trail

On Grandma Sheryl's last full day of visiting, we headed up to do some hiking. Along the way, the boys decided to count motorcycles. It just so happened that they picked a great day for finding motorcycles. We were right in the middle of a motorcycle rally to raise money and awareness for a local foundation called "I Luv You Guys." They rode from Columbine High School to Platte Canyon High School, both where shooting tragedies took the lives of innocent students. 

So, we counted and counted and counted! We counted 700 motorcycles and then we just had to stop! 

Finally we made it to our hiking trail. It's a trail we did last year as well. This year we started across the street and headed the opposite direction. We parked by this aspen grove and I was hoping it wouldn't be the only changing leaves we saw. We had heard there was a river and a clearing with amazing aspens and vivid fall colors. Along the path, we'd ask people descending how long it was to the clearing. It became a running joke because EVERY hiker told us "about 20 minutes." Well, about 2 hours later, we found the clearing. It was amazing and totally worth the time to hike in.

Amazingly, the boys hiked the entire way in and out with very little complaining. It was awesome to see that we are getting into an easier stage of life to get out and about! A highlight was running across a deer that was probably less than 70 yards away. It was a little nervous around us, but stuck around for quite some time. I got very blurry pictures of it- so they aren't on here!

A Picnic for Two

Over the weekend while Grandma Sheryl was visiting, Little Brother set up a little picnic for the two of them. He set out towels and pillows and food. He also put freezing cold ice packs under the towels to sit on. Who knows why! Grandma Sheryl, being the good sport she always is, went along with it and made a fun memory for Little Brother as well!

Berry Patch Farm

Recently, Grandma Sheryl came to visit for a long weekend. It's our fall tradition to pick blackberries, raspberries, and apples at a farm. This year, I stumbled across a different farm that offered strawberries and raspberries. It is also fairly close to the airport, so we picked up Grandma and headed to the farm!

This farm is called Berry Patch Farms and is an all organic farm in Brighton, Colorado. They had so much space and so many berries. There were even school field trips there and we never came close to them. It was a great farm and we'll definitely be heading back next year.

We were greeted by this enormous pig, who ironically is named "Bacon Bits". There is nothing "bitty" about this pig!

Then, we headed out to pick strawberries first. Then, we filled our baskets with red raspberries and golden raspberries.

I'd never even heard of golden raspberries, but they are delicious. You have to get them when they are more golden than light yellow. They fall right off the stem and melt in your mouth!

I found a strawberry in the shape of a heart. Big Brother really wanted to eat it. I thought it was too cool to eat, but after Daddy saw it the boys split it in half. At least I got a photo (okay 3 photos) of it!

There were more animals around the farm, plenty of grasshoppers, a snake, and huge spiders. This one was spinning it's web around it's dinner. Kind of cool- mostly creepy!

Another look at the enormous pig (I am starting to feel like this farm had a lot in common with Charlotte's Web at this point!)

They had more to pick at the farm, (flowers, basil, cucumbers, carrots)  but the boys were tired. As you can see in the photo above Little Brother had nothing left in him- so we headed out for lunch.

If you can believe it, these were gone in 3 days! The kids (and adults) chowed down on berries all weekend long. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful memory. They were the sweetest, best tasting strawberries we've ever had.

Picnic at Turquoise Lake: Leadville, CO

This is a long overdue conclusion to our trip to Leadville and the train ride we took. After the train, we headed over to Turquoise Lake for a picnic lunch. We found an area that was just perfect for skipping rocks and eating lunch. Many other people must have found this spot in the past because as soon as we walked away from our food, two birds were eating our sandwiches we had left out.

The boys enjoyed skipping rocks and exploring around. It was a beautiful setting and a great lunch. Much better than any restaurant around (that is if you don't mind lurking birds waiting to attack your sandwich!)

The view of Turquoise Lake

A self-timer shot of the family

 The boys skipping rocks

This must have taken someone quite a bit of time. We {heart} Turqoise Lake, too!

The Leadville Train

 Even though we've had temperatures in the high 80's, it's officially fall. Fall in Colorado is beautiful with the yellow aspens and the evergreens. So, we headed up to the mountains in search of beauty. We read about an old historic train in Leadville. We were shocked to have snow on our drive up and pretty cold temperatures. We stayed a night in a hotel, bought ice cream at the Safeway for a midnight (well 9 o'clock) treat and headed to the train early Sunday morning.

The train went 11 miles up and the same 11 miles back. It took 3 hours with a quick break to get off and take a look around at the old water pump. It was COLD and we were grateful for our indoor seats, but as the morning went on we ventured out to see the mountain side. It was fun, and as I suspected, just a little too long to hold their attention, but a nice day nonetheless.

We missed the aspens peak color by about a week, but it was still a new place and a new adventure for us all.