All in a Day.

Many have wondered, few have asked; What do we do all day with no malls, movie theaters or restaurants?

Well, when we're not snowboarding or hiking, we're...

still sledding a few miles from the house,

kicking back, just plain relaxing,

playing in the sandbox,

or climbing fences.

Sometimes we, climb vertically with Jake's own version of a safety rope

and MAKE IT to the top!

Or we practice using a whip,

walk the balance beam,

and why not play a little baseball?

Some afternoons we sit by the shore,

patiently,

waiting for a bite.

The Mountain Man chops wood,

we fill up our bottles with the FRESHEST, best tasting water

from the mountain spring a block from our house

or...we just plain look cute in the headband mommy croched! LOL

It's Warming Up

I love my bear.

Teasing sissy with her beloved bun-bun...you can see she doesn't fall for it! And look at the hair!
Don't ask!?!

(Yes, she's dancing...as always)

Delta Jake ready on his walkie talkie.

(Notice the munchkin in the background? He wanted his walkie talkie on first!)

I hit the ball way out there, over the fence!

Look at those faces, what are they up to?

Thanks for the outfit, Cousin Leighton!

Well, the weather here in Como, CO is warming up quite nicely. Nick and I have been gathering and organizing all of our camping gear so we'll be set to head out for our first camping trip as soon as the weather stays predictably warmer. We found a bunch of great spots to camp with running water and plenty of fish to catch and fill our bellies. We told the boys, "It'll be salmon for breakfast, trout for lunch and pike for dinner!" LOL

We are also excited for the Aspen pines surrounding our house, to get their leaves back and for everything to turn green and bright with wild flowers. We are beginning to see a hue of green across the rolling hills. And we have heard that Aspen pines make a beautiful sound when their leaves come back in late spring. Can't wait for that!

The kids have been really enjoying the warmer weather since it means golfing and wiffle ball in the backyard and loads of hiking. The boys all hiked out our backyard into the national forest, over the mountain and through the woods, as far as their legs could make it...and still, our walkie talkies were working. Our little troopers hiked nearly 2 hours away with daddy...it was amazing. Joss and I sat on the deck and watched them as far as the naked eye could, then we caught them with our binoculars in the thick of the trees and then lost sight of them when they went over the other side of the mountain. All the while chatting with them via the walkies-Ts. We have had so much fun with the set of 6 walkie talkies. Their range has, thus far, been endless...that's an impressive product, Motorola! Until now, we have used whistles on the kids with different blowing codes for distress, etc. But the walkie talkies are even better! And Daddy taught everyone the propper lingo, "Roger that!", "Over and out!", "Delta Jake to Command (Mom)", etc! What FUN!

Another Fab 5 Family Fun Day

Near the top of the waterfall.
Boys were determined to make it to the tip, top.
(And they DID!)

Looking for fish.

A little help from dad.

They rock hopped the river.

Good job, guys!

Braving the walk across the ice to chat with the fishermen.

Mom liked it when everyone was close to shore!

Nick cuts the wood...kids wait to load it up.

What's gonna work?..."Team work!"

(What cartoon is that from, mommies?)

From hiking a water fall to learning to ice-fish...we had a great, great day. None of us knew that the air bubbles under the ice made the lake groan and creek. It was an eerie sound to all of us! Nonetheless, Nick and the kids ventured out onto the ice and found out that the ice was 9 inches deep (plenty deep to be walking on). The kind ice fishermen even gave the kids a lesson and pointed us in the direction of a nearby waterfall.

Nick and the boys rock hopped and hiked all the way to the waterfall while Josslyn and I tried to catch a few fish in an unconventional way...by throwing rocks at them. We still have to wait a couple more weeks to gain residency and then get our (for residents) incredibly cheap fishing licenses.

In all, we saw more animals than we saw at the Phoenix zoo last time we went! We saw antelope, bison, elk, deer, alpakas, buffalo, llamas, ducks, trout, pike, coyotes, bunnies and probably some animals that I am forgetting. It was a wonderful day. It was our goal to pick out a few nearby camping locations to gear up for our fun-filled summer of camping. We will make the treck to the Estes and other great CO camping locations, but most of our camping will be right here, within 30 minutes of our house. We are so lucky.

Happy 2nd Birthday, JossLynnie!

My little doll, all dolled up!


The typical Joss smile!

SuperStar!

Striking a pose!

Cheesy smile with cheesecake frosting!

One of my new shirts. I love Deer.

Opening presents.

Opening some more presents.

Joss LOVES her homemade Octopus.

I put the headband on all by myself!

Oh my goodness, it's a doll house!

Check out my doll house. Thanks, Nana and Pop!

I predict HOURS upon HOURS of entertainment!

What an exciting birthday. Josslyn is really growing into a brilliant little beauty. She and her girlfriend, Sophia, had a blast together doing all things girly while the boys ran around shooting guns and webs. And the day ended with a doctored up Snow White Carrot cake, baked at 10,000ft elevation!

Josslyn was so excited to see her daddy. It was the best birthday gift she got, said Jake. When we arrived home from picking up daddy from the airport, Joss opened her gifts. She got some very cute clothes, some money for her education, a pink camoflouge sleeping bag, a camping chair with her very own sun shade, stuff for pretend play and a fantastic doll house from Nana and Pop! We can't seem to pry her away from the doll house. She even woke up this morning and skipped breakfast with the boys to play with her "baby house". And Gail made her an adorable Octopus that the birthday girl just adores. "Dank you"...says Joss.

Random Pix

Since it has been so long since he have posted, here are a bunch of posts covering the last couple weeks. These pix are just ones I thought were funny and pretty much sum up our happy little family. Life has never been better for us. We are still enjoying every moment of our life in CO.

I started crocheting...you might spot some of my newest creations: Nick, Tye, Jake and my neckwarmer, my hat, Joss's headband/ear warmer, etc. It's SO fun. Yes, it's like I'm 80 but, hey..I totally enjoy it.

And Nick and I are going to climb all 53 of CO's 14ers! We will start with the easiest ones late this spring. Can't wait!

And we are all looking forward to Josslyn's little birthday party this weekend. Hard to believe she is almost 2! She is quite a crazy little girl. So much fun. And she LOVES to dance, dance dance! Just now I came down from my runs on the mountain and she was dancing on the sidewalk with a crowd of people around her watching...some even dancing right along with her to the music from the car....too funny.

More Pix from Mom and Dad's Trip

Here are a few pictures from my camera from my parent's visit. Again, it was a great time had by all!

Snow Cat Skiing

Nick and John Smiesz. had a great time together on the slopes. They took the snowcat up to the peaks of Keystone and then hiked to get to the freshed snow. You can see how deep the snow was because you can't even see Nick's board on his feet! What a blast they had!