The Dog Yeller

Actually, she's calling Sunshine, who is just outside the frame, but he doesn't appear to be listening to her.

Sledding with Pumpkin

It was such a pretty day out yesterday that I decided to take Pumpkin and our neighbor's kids sledding at the park behind our house. It was such a spur of the moment decision that we didn't even grab our jackets (though all the kids were at least wearing their gloves since they'd been making snowmen prior to our leaving). Luckily, QT was able to run over from the house to bring me my gloves, a jacket, and a bottle of water to drink (b/c I didn't want to have to resort to eating snow to stay hydrated, haha).

We had lots of fun! Here's a video montage of our sledding adventure:



BTW, I love that youtube now allows us to put borders around our videos. Looks great! Thanks, youtube. :)

p.s. If you'd like to take a look at the original video w/o background music, you can find it here.

Spring Break 2009

Let's rewind a few weeks and review our trip to New Mexico.

We traveled first to Albuquerque, where we spent a day at the Biopark (Zoo, Aquarium, Beach, & Botanic Garden). There's a train that connects all the parks and another train that runs within the Zoo so, naturally, our first order of business was to ride all those trains. Pumpkin was so proud of his wristband, which enables the wearer to unlimited train rides within the Biopark, that he wouldn't even let it get wet whenever he washed his hands, hehe. There's also a G-scale railroad at the Botanic Garden, but unfortunately, we dallied too long with the zebras and camels and didn't get to see the garden railroad that day. Instead, we spent the last hour on our tickets exploring the Children's Fantasy Garden, and we made plans to return another day just to see the garden railroad. Because we'd promised Pumpkin after all...



The next day, we braved the icy roads to get back to Santa Fe because we had tickets to ride the Santa Fe Southern Excursion Train. We arrived at the depot with barely 2 minutes to spare, but as it turned out, all our rushing about was for naught. The outing was canceled due to the snowstorm that had blanketed the area the previous night. Sure, we were bummed that our excursion was canceled, but we were still happier than if we'd delayed our trip like we'd been considering and gotten stuck in Denver instead. As we hung out at the historic depot pondering our next move, what should arrive with a loud blast of air but the New Mexico Rail Runner Express! Turns out, one doesn't even need advance reservations to ride the NMRRE. You simply board and pay during the ride. Sweet!




In a nutshell, we drove to Santa Fe, left our truck at the depot, took the train to Albuquerque, strolled around downtown Albuquerque on foot, took the train back to Santa Fe, picked up our truck, and drove back to Albuquerque, where we had a nice reunion at our hotel with our dog Sunshine. What a crazy day! Believe it or not, we actually had a lot of fun. Pumpkin was beside himself with joy at riding the Rail Runner so that made it all the better for QT and I.

On our last day in Albuquerque, we packed up, checked out of the hotel, and returned to the Biopark. It was such a pretty day (compared to the previous one) that I opted to stay in the truck with Giggles, Sunshine, and a good book while QT and Pumpkin checked out the garden railroad. Dog and baby both napped the entire time so, believe me, fun and relaxation was had by all! After the guys returned, we headed back downtown for a late lunch then walked Sunshine to the park across the street before hitting the road back to Santa Fe, where we planned to spend the night so that we'd be that much closer to Denver when it came time to return home.



The next day, in Santa Fe, we took a quick driving tour of the sights, had some lunch, then hit the park at the Railyard to let Pumpkin and Sunshine work off some energy before heading back to Denver. You can see some pictures from that outing clustered with pictures from our last day in Albuquerque (above).

As usual, we stayed a bit too long at the park and, as a result, didn't roll into our driveway until well past midnight. I don't recommend that! Yuck. We were all exhausted, but it was a great trip regardless.

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What struck me most about both Santa Fe and Albuquerque was the resemblance of their historic districts to that of my hometown of Laredo TX. Laredo, which was once also under Spanish rule, has its own charming plaza complete with a raised bandstand, sidewalk vendors, a really cool historic hotel, and a very old church (now a cathedral). If you walk around the area, you'll even find plenty of those distinct, low-ceilinged shops lining the streets. So, visiting these 2 cities felt more like a homecoming to me than a new discovery, which was still very nice. I definitely plan to return and soak it all in again.

Originally built in 1767; present structure, third on site, dates from 1872. Was elevated to the rank of Cathedral on Aug. 9, 2001. Part of the Webb County Heritage Tour. On San Agustín Plaza in heart of old Spanish section.

Baby's "1st" "Solid" (aka: nearly liquid rice cereal)



Giggles started eating "solids" this week while QT was away for a few days in New Mexico. I had to pass the time somehow while the kiddos and I were on our own so I decided to finally take a few minutes to let Giggles try some rice cereal.

She seemed to really enjoy it! I think, in this respect, she's got Pumpkin beat. I don't recall him taking to cereal as easily as Giggles seems to have done. By the 2nd day, she was already eating all her serving with minimal mess. By the end of the week, she was able to finish double the amount she'd eaten the 1st day.

A Video

All this technology is going to kill me one day. I just can't keep up anymore. I took this short video of Giggles playing in her crib and posted it to facebook, but I just realized that I never posted it here for those of you who don't "facebook." Egads! And it's a cute video too! So, here it is...a bit late but just as cute as the day it was taken. :)

Giggles AFTER



We did it! Lo hicimos!

After some deliberation, I decided to take Giggles to Snip-Its in Parker. I picked them because 1) they don't require an appointment, and 2)I received a coupon from them in the mail, which kinda cinched it for me. This was our first visit to Snip-Its, and it's a nice place. Not as pricey as Lollilocks, though, I suppose it comes out about the same once you account for tolls and gas since Lollilocks is literally a couple of blocks from our house.

Anyway, the stylist was nice, patient. She gave Giggles a bob haircut because it wasn't really long enough after all for much else. For her part, Giggles did great. She didn't appreciate it when we tried to hold her head still for those closer cuts, but other than that, there was hardly any fussing or crying. (Pumpkin's another story altogether, hehe.)

Here, then, are pictures from today's big event. (FYI, I didn't put those little clips on her hair. The stylist did that. ;)





































I haven't quite gotten used to her new, shorter hair. I suppose that will come in time. She's still the cutest thing on wheels, IMO. ;)