Monument Park

On Tuesday the girls and I went down to Monument Park in Colorado Springs. It's a great big city park with a little creek on one side and the railroad tracks and I-25 on the other, but in between there are parks and pools and who knows what else. We met some moms from GentleChristianMothers.com at one of the playgrounds. As we were coming up to the park on the path, Abby said with awe in her voice, "Mama, what is that spinning thing?!" I told her it was a little merry-go-round that you turned yourself. "Can I ride on it?" she asked, and I told her of course. Well, she ended up spending about 80% of our morning on it and loved it, as evidenced by this great picture--one of the few we have of her smiling!

PJ gave it a whirl (ha-ha) as well, but was not as enaored.

This is (NOT!) a test of the Emergency Broadcast System

There are few things as startling and eery as the Emergency Broadcast System alert. Growing up in California, there was virtually nothing the system could alert us to before it was too late. Storms that would warrant an alert were few and very far between. The only real danger in our neck of the woods was earthquakes, and there's not much use warning people about those - before you know what's going on, the damage is done. EBS alerts were never anything more than tests. However, now we live in Colorado.

We've been here close to a month now and I bet we haven't had more than four days without incredible lightning storms and not many more than that without at least a little rain. There have been a few big storms here and there, but nothing too remarkable. Tonight was a different story.

The lightning was doing it's thing off north and east of us. Nothing unusual there. I was watching a little TV when all of a sudden the Emergency Broadcast System broke in. The familiar yet spooky tones, like some possessed old school modem, filled the room and I immediately focussed. Sure enough, severe thunder storms were raging all around Denver, complete with potential tornados.

The heart of it all seemed to be just north and west of the city and it was moving south-east at about 20-mph. I listened intently as potentially endangered cities were listed off one by one. Fort Collins, Boulder....ya ya...Golden, Morrison...closer...Denver....uh huh....Littleton and Englewood. Littleton and Englewood. That's about 20 minutes north of me. OK. The recording went on to say that the storm was heading southeast. Getting out my maps, weather Web sites and all that, it looked like the brunt of the storm would pass well north of us. Ali and I watched the distant show from the upstairs guestroom and then she headed to bed.

About 15 minutes later, the thunder crashed and lightning lit up the sky and the sound of the rain pounding the windows was deafening. I ran down to the basement to grab more power-failure supplies and when I got back up Alison met me at the top of the stairs. We headed back to the guestroom to wait it out.

We sat in awe of the power and majesty of nature, and in quiet fear of the unpredictability of it all. She talked about her experiences growing up in the Chicago area, where she had been through her share of tornado warnings and worse. We talked about what we could do to be more prepared and we both wondered if we could get the basement finished just enough to have a good, solid saferoom down there. The rain subsided and a sense of calm set in. Then that blasted Emergency Broadcast System alert started blaring again!

We ran out to the stair rail and listened intently to what was just a Colorado Rockies replay (We Won!). Now it was a tornado warning for ... Perry Park and Larkspur? Both of these towns are not north and east of us, but about 10 miles directly south of us! As far as I can tell, the tornado that the Denver Metro area was warned of and that was supposed to travel well north and east of us, was now directly below us, which means that the tornado-strength storm was most likely what we just watched - and felt - go over our house. That's a bit scary.

But, it was gone now. Ali headed to her office to check a few weather sites and I went to mine to catch up with my brother on the chat. Then Ali pasted me this quote which she got from wunderground.com:

At 1139 PM MDT... trained weather spotters reported a tornado. This
storm was located near Perry Park... or 30 miles north of Colorado Springs. This storm was moving southeast at 20 mph.

I wonder if it was really moving southeast this time. Springs better keep an eye out.

Ali headed to bed, again, and Andrew asked me if I had my weather radio dialed in. "What weather radio?" I asked. "Don't you have some mediocre one in your emergency kit?" he said.

"Oh, that one. Oh ya." So, just in the nick of time (LOL), I dug it out of a box and turned it on. Channel 3 came in clear and told me all sorts of things that would have been nice to hear about 30 minutes ago. Oh well. I guess there are much worse ways to be reminded of the need to keep your tools and supplies handy. I think I will sign off for now and start shopping around for another radio or two.

Don't forget the batteries.

Elizabeth Celtic Festival

Elizabeth is a tiny tiny little town about 20 miles away from us. This weekend they had their annual Celtic Festival, which looked like a huge to-do on their website but turned out to be not that big a deal once we got there. But regardless, we had some fun!

They had a few athletic competitions, including rugby, haggis toss, and some kind of weight throwing (pictured above). There were a number of merchants selling kilts, jewelry, period costumes (some beautiful outfits!), and the like, as well as some random and decided un-Celtic goods like Arbonne and jewelry for your pets. :) Down another lane were the clan booths--we found ours, the Robertson clan, and they gave Abby and PJ little containers of bubbles, which of course made Abby's day.

The Children's Fairy Glen had a bunch of craft-y things for them to do, and Abby made a crown and a shield while Penny alternately climbed on the table and scribbled on the table with markers that she somehow managed to open herself.

There was a parade of clans led by a piping band...

...but the highlight, for Abby anyway, was seeing the Irish dancing.

It's so funny--Abby is usually so shy (though she is coming out of her shell a little more these days), and hates having attention drawn to herself, and yet with every new performer that took the stage she asked us if she could go dance with them. She wanted to get up there and dance so badly! And at one point she asked when she could learn how to dance like that. I really hope I hear back from the Irish Dancing School guy soon about classes that supposedly start in August; I need to get this girl enrolled!

Conversations with Abby

Setting: Driving around downtown Denver, before picking up Alison from her author's convention. Tall buildings, shops and apartments surround us.

Abby: There sure are a lot of schools around here.

Daddy: Schools? Where?

Abby: All over. Everywhere.

Daddy: These aren't schools, honey. They're shops and businesses and apartments.

Abby: No, they're schools.

Daddy: No, they're not, dear.

Abby: Yes, they are.

(about 5 minutes of silence)

Abby: Daddy, when I say things are schools, you better listen.

Daddy: Yes dear.

Update on the girls

Dan and I were just talking about how much the girls are growing, and it made me think I ought to post a quick note about how each of them are doing.


Abigail
Three-and-a-half is a tough age. There's a lot of whining. A lot of complaining. (Her new favorite phrase--"Why is this taking so long?") A lot of stubbornness. But with it comes a mind-boggling capacity for imaginative play, ever-growing independence, and glimpses of a grown girl living life with the quirks and habits she inherited from her parents.

I try not to use the phrase "big girl" with her, because, though she is getting big, an compared to PJ she *is* big, the truth is that she's still only three! I don't want to put any pressure on her, make her hate being a "big girl" because apparently that means she can't do certain things anymore because "big girls don't do that." So tonight I told her she was my big girl who is still my baby. She laughed and said, "Mommy, I'm not a baby. I'm a kid!" And I had to laugh because yes, she really *is* a kid now. She can buckle herself into her carseat and dress herself almost entirely. She rides her bike and her scooter like it's her job. And her face...there are times I'll catch her looking like a child model--slight pout, intense stare. She's got the most amazing eyes.

She's starting to come out of her shell, too! She's talking to kids when she meets them at the park, telling them her name, asking theirs, and actually having conversations with them. She'll even talk to adults now and then, though she usually ducks behind me and murmurs, "I'm shy" after blurting something out to them.

I'm trying to get her into the Irish step dancing classes in town, but they still haven't returned my email. :P Looks like I may have to actually *gasp* use the phone.

Still no closer to losing the paci or the diapers, though. I'm trying not to get frustrated about that. We're trying to limit the paci, but she sure puts up a fight for it when she insists it's necessary and we don't agree!



Penelope Jane

The changes are coming fast and furious with PJ...

New Words:
wa-wa = water

hiiieee = "give me your hand so you can help me with this"

bow-bow = Blue's Clues

ohhhh-pikuh! = hokey pokey :)

New Skills:
kissing = she'll just come up to you with her little head thrust forward and her lips pressed together and lay one on you. It's so cute.

climbing = okay, not an entirely new skill, but she does it so much--like, ALL THE TIME--that it's worth mentioning. And she's getting scary-good at it. *And* has no fear. Not a good combination.

dancing = oh so cute. Little fists waving, bobbing up and down, big ol' grin on her face. She usually does it during Blue's Clues, when Steve sings one of the songs.

New Signs:
finger pointing in the air = "pick me up"

She's still not swallowing food or taking bottles/sippy cups of anything but water, which sucks. I'm making an appointment this week to have her evaluated to see what's going on and what we can do about it. I'm starting to get just a teensy bit panicked because I'll be gone for four days (home at night, though) in mid-September, and seeing as she nurses every 3 minutes these days, that could end up being hugely disastrous. If you think of it, please say a prayer that whatever the evaluation uncovers is quickly remedied. She's more and more interested in trying to eat these days, so I'm thinking once she has the swallowing thing down she'll really take off.

A Few Young Bucks

Came home this evening to find three bucks grazing and playing in the field behind our house. This family of deer makes their way down to our fence regularly and can be seen early in the morning or around dusk. They are beautiful creatures and watching them never gets old.

Watching my film, on the other hand, might get old quick. I'm still learning how to use this thing and keeping this "inexpensive" camera steady is always a chore. That said, I'm starting to enjoy taking these little videos and I'm thinking about getting a proper tripod that I can comfortably swivel the camera on. Who knows. One day I might even splurge for a device with image stabilization.

I hope you enjoy not only the deer, but my first crack at iMovie on the Mac (or any video editing, for that matter). I added a some "DAN" at the end - including my own version of, "Sit Ubu, Sit. Good Dog." Be sure to have the volume turned up at the very end and remember that you can scroll back through the footage if the credits roll a bit too fast to read.

Cheers!

Lights in the Sky

On July 3rd, while leaving the Super Target up the highway, I noticed what at first I mistook for a firework show off in the distance. Once I realized that the lights were spanning an area upwards of 50 miles wide, I started to doubt my hypothesis, but still had a hard time believing it could have been lightning. However, about 20 minutes in, I finally saw an actual bolt peek out from behind the clouds and the doubts were gone.

Last night, July 10, it happened again. It had probably been going on for at least 15 or 20 minutes by the time I hit record. Over two hours later, it was still going strong in the east. I failed to check my settings, or make any adjustments, nor would it have made much of a difference, since I hardly know how to use this new camera of mine. I need to get out the instructions.

So, forgive the poor quality and use your imagination. Realize that for every flash of light or bolt of lightning you see, there were at least 3x-4x that much happening all around me, in greater clarity, detail and vibrance. I've read that Colorado ranks third in the country when it comes to lightning strikes. In the two or three weeks we've been here, I can think of maybe tw days that we haven't had lightning. It makes me wonder what it must be like in the top two states.

Cow Appreciation Day

Today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A--"dress like a cow, get free chicken!" (If you dressed up fully, you got a free meal.) Abby saw the posters for this when we first moved here, and she wanted to participate, so yesterday we made a costume using one of Daddy's t-shirts and a cow mask printout I found online.



She had a great time playing with the other kids that were there (and there were lots of them, as you can imagine) and enjoyed her free meal.




Penny Jane got in on the playland action as well.


They have little containers of Cheerios for the too-young-for-chicken set. PJ appreciates this gesture--as does Abby, who often steals half of them when PJ isn't looking.

Chatfield Reservoir!

So it turns out there's a beach not too far away! We went there this morning with our new playgroup, which is made up of moms from the Colorado Attachment Parenting forum that I'm on--we all live south of Denver, and while only two of us are as far south as Castle Rock, the others aren't that far away, probably 15-30 minutes depending on the person. And the reservoir--where you can bike and camp and swim and water ski and winter camp and hot-air balloon, among other things--is only about 45 minutes away. Not bad!



Abby surprised me by making a beeline for the water's edge and joining in with the other kids as they built sand castles. She's losing her shyness bit by bit, we're so proud of her! And Penny Jane, fearless little thing that she is, took off for the water and would have walked in who knows how far had I not snatched her back.



The only bummer about the lake is the geese. There are many of them. Many. And, sadly, they leave their little offerings everywhere, especially down by the water. So that was kind of gross, and sort of ruined some of the fun since you were constantly dodging piles of poop as you walked.



It was the first time the play group had gone there, and we all agreed that we probably wouldn't be going back any time soon. But regardless, Abby said she had a really fun day, and PJ seemed to enjoy herself. :)

No bunnies were harmed in the writing of this post

Woke up to something new today. As I started to come downstairs, Alison looked up and told me that there was a baby rabbit in one of our basement window wells. YAY! Funny enough, I was just talking about this possibility with my father-in-law the night before. We have covers over each of the wells, but the one under the deck got us this time.

You see, the deck is about two feet off the ground. The window well ends at ground level. Unfortunately, the grate is on the deck level, meaning that there is about 2 feet of space for little critters to make their way under the deck and into the abyss of doom (I’m serious. We noticed at least two corpses, a pile of bones and a skull down there - an actual skull! Looks like a cow skull in the desert. Can’t wait to clean that out!). And that’s just what one cute little baby rabbit did. I hope they are as oblivious as some people make them out to be, because I would hate to think what was going through this poor bunny’s mind - stuck in a deep hole with no way out and the remains of relatives surrounding him.

Well, Alison and I managed to maneuver a box this way and that while using a pole to coax the little guy in and out to safety. Next stop: Home Depot.

I ran in, bought some metal wire netting, a staple gun (mine is in a box somewhere), and some tin snips. When I got home I promptly shredded my hands in about eight places - three of which seemed to really enjoy bleeding - and eventually cut and shaped some extremely sharp (and mean!) wire mesh in such a way that it should keep out the critters.

While I know many of you enjoy the photos we usually post, you will thank me for sparing you this time. Know anyone who cleans out rotted corpses, skulls and bones? YECH!

Fourth of July!

Saturday morning began with a trip to Home Depot for their monthly kids' project. We'd never done this before, but one one of our many visits last week we saw the project for the month displayed and Abby wanted to make one.

Every kid gets an apron, which they bring back every month so they can adorn it with more project pins (the pins show the project you just made--very cool!). You pick a spot at the work table, grab the goggles (if you can get your kid to wear them--I couldn't) and the hammer, and break into the shrink-wrapped project kit that contains all the pieces and instructions you need. They have folks wandering around to help if you need it, but we're smart girls and figured it out. :)

Here is Abby honest-to-goodness hammering--she pounded in every nail I started for her!


The completed project: a tool box for her many....flowers.




After working up our appetites, we went home for a snack and waited for Gigi and Boppa to come so we could go join the neighborhood festivities. Our neighborhood held a very last-minute parade and party at the little community park down the street from us. We went to the park to watch the parade approach and to play and hang out with folks afterward, and we really didn't think the parade would amount to much. But it turns out a lot of families participated, and there was mention made of doing this every year, so I'm looking forward to decorating the stroller/tricycle/whatever wheels the girls have next year.














Once the parade arrived, they had some food and games, but we didn't stay all that long because the girls (and the adults) were getting antsy for lunch. Abby did do the balloon toss a few times, then smuggled a water balloon home as a pet (which is now sitting in my sink waiting for a time when she's not around so I can pop it), and we got to check out a big fire engine, too. We also met Leslie and her labradoodle, Riggs. Sweet dog!

Never thought I'd say, "Help your sister off the waffle..."

We went to Cherry Creek Mall with my parents on Friday. We were looking for somewhere new to go that also sported a decent place for the girls to run around. Dan and I took the girls here back in January, but it was more fun this time since PJ could actually play! Check out the play "equipment"--it's all giant breakfast foods.


Hanging out on the bacon slide.



Not sure what possessed Abby to do this, but whatever--that's Abby for ya.



I think these are supposed to be giant shredded wheats.

It was funny--Abby took off to play when we got there, and PJ stood in the middle of the room, stock still, in the same position, for five minutes before moving. I've never seen her that observant and unsure of herself! Usually she's the one diving in to things while Abby hangs back. Once she warmed up, though, she was all over the place, as usual, making friends with the other little ones there.

Of course, Abby has asked every day since when we're going back.

Oh deer...

According to the previous owners, there's a family of deer that live in the field behind our house. The day after we found this out, Abby spotted this little guy from our loft window as he was chowing down on his breakfast.






























He was out there for about 5 minutes before trotting off over the top of the hill. I hope we get the chance to meet some more of his relative soon!

Unclear on the concept

When we saw the sign for the bears, Abby wanted to know what it was. I explained that a bear had been seen around our neighborhood, so they were letting everyone know so they could be on the lookout. Apparently I didn't convey enough concern about this sighting, because now every time we drive near where we saw the sign, she asks with a hopeful voice, "Is the panda out today?"

It's official!!!

Papers were signed, money was paid, and it is now official--this house is ours!!!

It was supposed to be ours, oh, 2 weeks ago? And actually it was supposed to be ours 2 weeks before that. We made sure the second lien holder (the one causing all the problems) didn't know we were moving despite not actually owning the house yet, and arranged to rent back from the owners until we finally closed. We haven't drilled any holes in the walls, or put up the fancy (and super-adhesive) door handle thingies that keep the kids from opening them, in the off-off-off chance that something awful happened and we didn't get the place at all. But now we can! Woot!

One Book Castle Rock

Castle Rock has begun a program called "One Book Castle Rock," taken from a trend in various countries where a single book is picked for all the children to read. This year the book was The Great Fuzz Frenzy, and while we hadn't read it yet, we went to the book party last Saturday to listen to the author and participate in the festivities.



This is the author, Janet Stevens, displaying one of the original illustrations from the book. She was funny, and a decent speaker, though the program went a little long for the girls. It was really geared more towards 5-7 year olds, I'd say. The girls got a little restless, but I gave them my purse and then they were fine.



Afterward they had games and activities. It was close to lunch, so we didn't stick around for too long, but we did stay long enough for Abby to make a prairie dog pop-up card.



The library is nice--maybe a touch bigger than RSM's, but with a completely enclosed (like, with double doors) children's section, which is awesome. I got a library card and we checked out a few books, one of which PJ has already gnawed. Swell.

Not lions or tigers but...

Oh my.

This was at the exit from our subdivision yesterday, along with pamphlets you could take called, "Living With Bears." Pretty interesting stuff, actually. The sign wasn't there today, so apparently s/he has moved on, but it answered for us the question we had wondered aloud the day before--"What kind of wildlife lives around here?"

Move over, Stewart Copeland

Thanks to the old owners, Abby can now pursue her musical aspirations....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_wnC_rCzWw (Sorry it's not a hotlink, Blogger hates me right now and won't make it clickable.)

(And believe it or not, whenever we've asked her in the past what instrument she'd like to learn to play, she's *always* said drums! It's fate!)