Back home in Crested Butte

June 5, 2010:
It may be one of the craziest things we've ever done, but buying a home in Crested Butte has been an amazing experience for us already.  We just love it up there and every time we catch site of "our" mountain, our hearts just fill up and we feel so happy!  We just want to be there as often as we can! 

In early June we headed up to CB for a quick weekend gettaway, which we felt was much needed.  It's amazing what a little change in scenery can do!  And what scenery we had!  The streams were overflowing with the runoff from the quick warm up of the still snow-capped mountains.  Flowers were popping up around small snow banks, and under the newly green branches of tall aspen trees.  We went on two hikes over the weekend, one where we got quite a workout only walking 3 miles, but through collapsing snowpack and cold mountain streams, and one where we more wisely chose some higher and sunnier ground where we were warm and dry the whole time.  Jake also managed a run towards his training for his first 1/2 Ironman coming up in early Fall!

June 22, 2010: We returned to CB just 2 weeks later to work with the Fossums and all our HOA neighbors to paint the exterior of the townhomes.  Xander really got into it!  I mean it- he dumped half a can of paint all over himself!  He had to be hosed off immediately (so we didn't get a photo, but you can just imagine, right?). Getting hosed off was lots of fun for him until he realized just how cold that snow-melt fed spicket water really was!  Luckily, a proper warm bath came right afterwards.  Yikes!  Xander has no fear at all of climbing- he climbed right up the ladder to see what Jake was up to!  Who taught the kid to climb ladders??  Stairs, sure, but ladders?

We stayed an extra few days this time, and got to do more hiking and biking.  Jake even went to Meridian Lake, aka Long Lake, which is *perfect* for open water training, since it is probably a mile long or better, and has a nice shallow the entire way down the shore.  Xander and I went along to cheer him on, and dip our toes in the cold water.  Some other time Jake and I want to come back and take advantage of the kayak and canoe that are left there for the public.

Jake, looking particularly athletic!

Yes, Tha't me with the wonky hair letting my kid eat lake weeds.... not very tasty, said Xander.

Learning to use chopsticks

May 22, 2010: So now we ar all the way back up to May (if you missed it, go back to some of the posts we managed to get posted closer to real time).  In May, Xander learned a very important 1 year old's skill: chopsticks!

My father, Grandpa Charles, assures me that from the photo evidence Xander did quite well, and comparable to any one year old in the far east.  Well done Xander!  Next up, peas with chopsticks?

Xander's inner artist shines through

April 22, 2010:
There is a local buziness here which has a simple premise and a loyal following- create one big play room for kids 7 and under with bouncy houses, basketball, jungle gyms, music and art areas, and make sure to serve yummy gormet coffee and tea for the grown-ups.  Little Monkey Buziness!

(Apparently there is another branch geared for even older kids, Monkey Buziness, which some of you might want to check out but we won't be ready for for many years yet.)

Anyway, back in April Xander and I met Sarah and Leah there and had a blast, here are a few pictures that I couldn't resist sharing, even if they are 3 months old! (Yes, we will eventually get to the more recent stuff, I promisse!)

Think we can get these kids rock climbing next year?  I do!

Xander had never looked better!

Xander is growing up

So you already know that Xander is walking, but we never did get to show you all how fast the transition went from assisted standing unassisted standing, to assisted walking, to walking (and now, occasionally, running!).

Here are photos from April 16, when I caught Xander standing on his own- as long as he thought he was holding on to something- in this case, the big 5 gallon water jug for the dogs.

By early May he was getting really good at walking around holding on to things, or "cruising"

By June 5 he was walking!

But of course, sometimes his feet were just a little too big for him and the whole walking thing didn't always go as planned; there were a few bumps and bruises.... this was his best battle wound:

But he didn't seem to phase him much.  Mom was more upset than baby!

And now, in July, he would rather walk exclusively- crawling is for babies!  Little Leah, 6 months older, was enjoying "pretending" to be Xander by crawling, and is a little surprised to see him walking so well  now!

Time to catch up?

Goodness gracious it has been a long time since we have properly updated and maintained our blog.  We have been traveling as a family quite a lot, and Jake has had additional travel for work.  We should all be home, and hopefully healthy, for the next few weeks.  Jake and I have promised each other, and you, our faithful readers, that we will catch you up on all the wonderful adventures we've had.  So, the next several blogs are going to be a bit of a time warp- they'll be postmarked as they are written, but we'll include the event dates at the top... ready?  Here we go!

A Perfect Day

(subtitled: Look out world!)

What a perfect, amazing, incredible day!  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at one of our favorite Crested Butte restaurants, met some puppies on the street (Xander insisted, with his ever increasing vocabulary), chatted up some of the locals (with Xander charming everyone) and got some advice on local trail conditions from the Alpineer.  When we got back to the house, Jake and I talked landscaping and painting with neighbors and put together a new gas grill (works great and was a bargain!) while Xander got himself thouroughly dirty playing in the yard.  After a good nap for Xander, we headed out to hike the Elk Creek trail, where we saw an absolute wealth of wildflowers.  We saw glacier lillys and candytuft, lupine and dwarf lupine, corn lilly (known locally as skunk cabbage), bluebells, and a small 5-petaled white flower with 3 pink stripes per petal growing in clumps which we don't yet have a name for.  The water was running high, and there was still snow, so we got a little wet, but we didn't mind at all.  It was lovely!

In the late afternoon, Jake took a run and I got dinner ready.  Then, after dinner, the day just topped itself!

We've been saying for months now, that Xanader is on the brink of walking.... but today he proved that he just needed to do so  in his own time.  He started our his walking career with 10 whole steps on his first try!  There have been hints, but we weren't sure what to expect.  Jake and I were able to watch him together, in utter amazement, jaws down and holding our breaths, trying desperately not to destract him from his triumpant moment and monumental achievement.  When Xander sat down again, we erupted in a loud and spontanteous cheer for our son, our incredible child, who has once again made us the proudest parents on the face of the earth. 

With Xander asking for MORE MORE! we spent the next twenty minutes shuttling him back and forth between the two of us.  Mostly, he walked, but occaisionally he lunged or crawled into our laps, giving us a huge hug each time, and delighting us with his infectious grin.  There is simply no better feeling in the world.

Insinkerator Terminated

An unexpectedly active evening in the Lewis home....

I hate bad engineering.

Uh-oh

When Jake was a tike, he liked to drop things for his Mom to pick up.  Gran told us all about it, and how Jake would say "uh-oh" just as he was doing it... as if it was an accident!  She was tickled by the memory.

Well, the circle of life is a funny thing, and now Jake gets to spend evenings with Xander who has learned the "uh-oh!" game, just like Dad.  It is SO hard not to laugh.

Xander's vocabulary is really improving, and the "uh-oh" is actually a major step, since it is two new vowel sounds that he's starting to incorporate into other words too.  His sign language is also coming along, and he has signs now for Blitz and Otto and Cheese and Orange and Please.  His favorite is definately "cheese."

Getting the Piano tuned.. finally!

It has been ages and ages since I'd had the piano tuned because I was afraid of the amount of work it would need... and it did need more than the usual tune-up.  Luckily, it all went back together beautifully!

Now I just need to find the time to practice....

Planting an Herb Garden

It is spring in Colorado, and some days it is summer.  The garden is coming along nicely and I was finally confident enough that all snow and frost was a memory to plant the more delicate herbs like basil and the (pre-started) tomatos.  As usual, I decided on only one or two tomato plants and bought 4. I also bought a bunch of flowers to really do up the back corner of the garden under the shade tree, since I think that may be a favorite spot this year.  Of course, I took Xander with me and he showed the most interest I've seen from him yet regarding exploring, cruising and *almost* walking along the rows of plants, touching the different colors and textures.   He got filthy!  I feared for the delicate starter plants, but he was generally pretty careful and certainly he had a blast.  While the plants themselves survived nicely, I can't promise all the price sticks ended up in the right pots....

We got everything home and the whole way I was explaining to Xander about how we would spend the afternoon planting our herb garden and flowers.  I'm not sure if he connected the herbs in the pantry (which he plays with and re-arranges for me *all the time* with the "herb garden" but as soon as I turned my back he'd pulled the herbs out and had taken them outside with him and wanted to give them to me!  What a helper!