Steamboat Skiing

At the beginning of March we got to go spend almost a week in Steamboat with my parents.  We were able to stay in a fabulous townhouse that some friends own.  It is really close and has a free shuttle that picks you up at your door and takes you right to the gondola (and back), anytime.  We inherited little skis and boots from my cousin, so we decided it was a great time to start Zach skiing.  He was excited and did pretty well.  His first day he got to ski with Cal and my parents, while Austin and I came to watch the first couple of runs from the bottom.  It was snowing pretty hard, but the conditions were nice.

(the pictures are out of order, but I'm too lazy to fix that)

Trying to learn "the pie" with Nana.

Wearing Cal's old goggles.

First time getting on a ski lift.  He did great!

Austin watching with me and saying, "Good job Zachie!" and clapping his mittened hands.

Getting tired of standing at the bottom in the cold.

Hitching a ride with Daddy.

I spent one morning skiing with my parents, and Cal and Zach and Austin met up with us.  I got to ski with Zach for a couple of runs before switching and Cal skiing with him and me taking Austin back to the townhouse.  I was a bit nervous about being able to get him on the lift and helping him, but my parents helped and it was not as hard as I had imagined.  It was fun to ski with him!  It made me feel old to have a kid old enough to ski, and excited too for the fun years ahead.

(My Dad took most of these pictures)

With Cal

This day was a true spring skiing day- it seemed hot at the bottom!  By the end of his second day Zach was catching on more and finding his balance.  He made lots of runs both days he got to ski and had a lot of fun.

Giving Austin a ride, he loved it and laughed pretty hard.

That morning when I skied with my parents, it was crusty from a warm day the day before, so we had to stick to the groomer runs (we never do that!  I can't remember the last time I skied groomed runs with them- we love moguls).  It was strange to ski that with my parents, but we had a lot of fun.

My Mom and I ski exactly alike.  We have a series of pictures where we look identical!  Too funny.

The day Cal and I got to go was pretty stormy and snowed really hard.  The snow was AMAZING.  "Champagne powder."  I have honestly never skied in snow that good before.  It was powder up to about my knees, but was so light that it was easy to ski in.  It was so so fun!

Cal.  We skied mostly in the trees.  It was perfect.

An example of how hard it was snowing, plus a little fog.  It was tricky to see for awhile.

I'm so happy that we got some skiing in this year!  We loved it and wanted to get up again, at least to take Zach, but then the season was over.  Next year...

Zach aka Aquaman

I figure I'd better get a Zach post up, since I got that monstrous Austin post up.  Zach is our funny boy.  He can be the sweetest, most fun, most tender, and loving boy, or such a challenge!  Of course we love him either way! 

He usually avoids me taking pictures of him these days, so it has gotten really hard to get much...  But here are a few for fun.

He has had a huge growth spurt in the last few months.  I'm just holding out on buying new clothes for the warmer spring weather.  Come on pants, hang in there.  He seems crazy big to me.  But he is still my Mama's boy and still likes my hair and his thumb when he gets a chance.  He is so snuggly and sweet.

He is all about silly faces.  (and fort and tower building and jumping)

Miles bear is still around.

Hiding from the camera.

 He has become obsessed with coloring!  He is suddenly quite good at it and we do a ton of coloring around here.  I love it.

Along with his coloring taking off, his reading and writing skills have taken off as well.  I am so so impressed with him!  He can read a significant part of Hop On Pop by himself and is really getting sounding out words..  He is just soaking up every little tidbit of information.  I am excited for school for him next fall because I think he will love it.  (though I'm not sure that I'm entirely ready for it myself!)

Super Zach.  Or actually "Aquaman."  One morning he woke up and said, still half asleep, "Mom, I'm Aquaman.  I surf the waves.  I jet pack with my surfboard and I jet pack FAR!  I get the bad guys.  You don't have to worry."  Since then he has been Aquaman.  And he has named Austin "Aquababy."

Awesome.

A few more fun Zach qoutes from the past couple of months (that I managed to get written down and then found again):

"Dracula is a good guy really, Mom.  He's a superhero, actually!  He only sucks the bad guys' blood.  I've seen him before and he didn't suck my blood. Because I'm a good guy!  He lives in a desert, too.  Everyone who's a nice guy doesn't get sucked their blood.  And everyone who's a bad guy gets sucked their blood."  -Jan. 16, 2012

(I'm not sure how he knows about Dracula, but I think maybe from his friend's older brother, who I've seen dressed like Dracula occasionally since Halloween)

"Guys, I think when Jesus was born, Peter Pan was a little boy!"  -Jan. 20, 2012

"Dinosaurs, Cars (from the movies), Incredibles, and Dracula all live on the other side of the earth.  Reeeaaaalllly far away."  Feb. 2012  (he is convinced that dinosaurs are still alive, just far away!)

"Big foot is alive!  And he has 2 big feets."  -Feb. 15, 2012

The UPS truck= "GPS truck"

And a few old ones worth sharing that I found while looking for my scraps of paper...

"Mom, when I grow up I'm going to be a man.  I'm going to take your keys and I'm going to drive your car.  I'm gonna go SUPERFAST!"  -late August 2011  (Ha!  Great...)

"Energy gives me super powers!  I've got to stop the rain.  It just keeps on coming.  I can do it!" -Oct. 2011

"Why does everyone smile at me?  I'm the cutest boy in the world!" -Oct. 2011

"I'm growing so big!" -Oct. 2011

 

Museum

We love the Denver Museum of Nature and Science!

Austin likes it, but Zach is really getting into it.  He is a great age for it. 

Dinosaurs

 Discovery Zone (kids play area)

Zach of course was into the art area and drew a cute little stegosaurus.

Zach was playing with the foam blocks when they were closing.  He insisted on cleaning them all up before we left! 

Gems and Minerals section (it had some mining stuff)

Space.  Austin loves the buttons in this play area and they are both obsessed with the grabbers (they grab "moon rocks").

A Whole Lot of Austin

Okay, so I guess it's time for me to do some more updates.  I have been working on photo books for the boys for the last year (I am behind!), so I have been working on photos a lot and not getting to this...

Here are a lot of fun pictures of Austin from February that I haven't gotten up.  He is really changing and growing up fast right now (slow down!!).  I also wanted to write some things down before everything changes again and I forget!  I guess we can call this an early 2nd birthday report.  It is seriously a lot, but they are just so Austin right now.

One of his favorite things to do right now is jump into his bed with just a diaper on.  He snuggles in with his blankets and animals and rolls around and laughs.  Notice all of the animals and blankets.  He keeps hoarding more into his bed.  All of his plus some of Zach's that he has taken over.  I try to sneak some out, but they end up right back in within a day or two.

He loves to "hide" under his blanket.

He still is obsessed with books.  He could read them for hours.  I still often find him in the chair in his room with his blanket, lion, blankie, and books.  He loves to sit and "read" them to himself now.  Like Zach, he seems to be a good memorizer and knows a lot of the stories enough to get a lot right.  Some of his favorites right now are Roadwork, I Am A Child of God, Ten Friendly Fish, Big Red Barn, and Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb.

I can't remember how I made him laugh here.  I must be hilarious.

One of Austin's favorite toys right now is the kitchen.  He loves to "cook."  Lion often helps us cook, too, and Austin hold it's paw and pretends lion is doing things.. 

Sometimes lion gets cooked in to "lion pie," or "lion soup," as Austin says.

I thought Zach loved to be outside, but Austin loves it even more.  Here he is saying "go out!!" on a really windy day.  Breezes we can handle, but 50-70 mph, no thanks!

Downward dog.  What is a day without yoga?

A few more tidbits, so I don't forget...

Austin is loving going to the bathroom on the toilet.  He often asks for it during the day and always goes before bath.  I'm going to give potty training a shot as soon as we have a reasonably calm chunk of time.

He is just now (in the past couple of weeks) starting to get that 2 year old attitude.  He gets mad if I try to put his shoes on him (he wants to do it himself).  And a whole lot of "I do it!" and general stubborness, mixed in with a few tantrums.  So far this time around it seems a lot more funny than when Zach was hitting this stage.

He seems more independent than Zach.  Maybe that has something to do with being the second child, but also some of his personality.

He is a really impressive talker.  He talks in complete sentences a lot of the time, or at the very least phrases of 3-6 words.  He uses lots of big words and will repeat things you say to him.  He is good at saying please and thank you, and sorry, often without being prompted. 

He knows all of his body parts.  He is pretty good with colors and some shapes.  He can stack blocks pretty well.  He can count to 3, sometimes more.  He can sing a slurred abc song, and likes to sing it in the car (so I can never record it).  He gets chunks of it right every time.  He loves to dance anytime he hears music.

He is a generally happy boy and quick to smile and laugh. He loves Zach and Zach loves him.

I can't believe he will be 2 in a couple of weeks!

Zach Skiing at Steamboat

Zach Skiing at Steamboat, originally uploaded by ersphotography.

Zach's first skiing adventure had great ski conditions. The first day he had lots of fresh snow as it was lightly snowing all day and he got some fresh powder. On his second day he had a blue bird day with temperatures in the 40's. Little to no wind to speak of either day. Zach had so much fun the first day that the next morning he asked "when are we going skiing again?" We decided to stay up in Steamboat another day (Thank you Ropers) so we could get another day of skiing in. Zach likes to head down hill with speed and loves to keep his legs close together (which casued a fair number of falls). On his second day he was about one run shy of skiing until the lifts closed.