Colorado

We went out to Steve’s parent’s place in Colorado for the first week in August.  John is the oldest of 5 siblings and they (along with their spouses) were all out there for a family reunion.  It was a great vacation.

I did not fool myself into thinking the plane flights were going to go well with three kids under the age of 4 and one of them being 14 months old.  Anyone who has had a child that age knows that it is the worst age to travel.  The trip out there goes something like this: drive to the airport, fly from Atlanta to Denver (3 hours), two hour layover in Denver, a 45 minute flight from Denver to Hayden, an hour long car ride to the lodge, and a two hour time difference.  The boys did awesome and I could not have been more proud of how well they followed directions, waited patiently in all of the lines, and sat quietly on the plane(s).  Catelin, however, did not do quite as well.  On the way out there, she did ok (minus the first hour of the flight to Denver when she was all over the place).  On the way back, we had to wake up at 3:30 AM to catch our first flight.  Catelin actually did great until we got on the plane from Denver to Atlanta...the one where we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes with NO air conditioning.  The poor girl was so hot I had to strip her down to her diaper and pour water on her – she cried (and was inconsolable) for what seemed like two hours but apparently it was only 15-20 minutes.  My heart was breaking- I felt so bad for her.  After we took off and the air conditioning came on, she fell asleep for about 20 minutes and woke back up my sweet and very busy little princess.  

Anyway, the trip was great.  It was so fun to watch MJ in his element.  He absolutely loves the outdoors and animals so this was heaven to him.  The first morning we were there he decided to “call” some elk and wake everyone up:




I caught this picture of the boys enjoying the view:




Catelin was obsessed with going up and down the porch steps:




We drove four wheelers around the property and went for hikes along the way... check out my outdoorsmen!

 

MJ was “Gate Boy” and loved it:

 One one of our excursions Ty fell right in the mud!







Catelin had so much fun with all of the ladies... Grandma, Aunt Lee, and all of her great aunts took turns walking her around.






She also found her new favorite food….spaghetti!





And I love this picture of her sitting on the mantle:




MJ and Ty were busy looking for deer and wrestling with the “older boys.” 







We went down to the lake to go fishing and MJ caught his very first fish!  (A rainbow trout).  



Mommy also got one:


At one point, Ty looked at me with panic and fear in his eyes and started grabbing at his shirt and screaming.  I ran towards him just in time to see a bee fly out of his shirt – it stung him twice.  My poor little Ty Ty.  Thankfully he is a very tough kid and cried for all of two minutes.





We took Catelin out in the Ranger and she had so much fun. 






We had such a great time visiting with Steve’s aunts and uncles – it was so nice to spend extended time with them (instead of the usual quick weekend for a wedding).  




At Yellow Jacket Ranch the kids (and I) had fun on the swings and in the treehouse:








We also went over to Mike Mitchell’s property to play in the sandbox and check out his cows (they walked right up to our truck)!




The last night we were there we went on a “hayride” and got to see some beautiful views of the mountains and the ranch.

Random Stuff

1. Catelin the climber

My big girl is now officially a climber.  She has been able to climb up stairs for awhile now but it just took her a long time and she wasn’t really interested in it.  Over the past week, however, she has become obsessed…and she gets M.A.D. when I scoop her up and take her away from them.  The baby gates are back up– now the boys just have to remember to close them! 



Ms. Lisa shot a video of her going up and down the slide at the park the other day:

2. Clean those teeth!

We made our visit to the dentist last week.  MJ has been a couple of times now and was an absolute rock star – he jumped right in the chair and opened his mouth big and wide to have his teeth cleaned.  He even let them take x-rays.



This was Ty’s very first visit – I could tell he was scared but he did awesome and didn’t cry or fuss at all.  He did exactly as instructed (sometimes with a little hesitation) and was so excited to pick out a balloon at the end.




3. Vacation Bible School

You have to be four years old to do most of the Bible schools around here in the summer.  There is one that lets three year olds in as well, so I asked very nicely if they would take Ty (even though he doesn’t turn three until the fall) since MJ was going to participate.  They were kind enough to let him in – he cried almost every day we dropped him off but this was short lived and he had a blast.  Here are my little “popes”:




4. The “Honey Do” list.

I think I have only made one of these in the nine years that Steve and I have been married.  We’ve been talking about a whole bunch of things that need to be done around the house for months now, so I finally made a “Honey Do” list.  It’s amazing how much faster things get done when you have the satisfaction of crossing them off of the list…a big thank you to hubs for all he finished this weekend!  (admittedly, the list was quite long!)


5. My little hunter

Ok- so MJ looks just like Steve in this picture..



Another handsome hunter!


6. Speaking of hunting….

We spent the weekend up at my parent’s house last week.  The kids had a wonderful time as always.  (Steve was on his annual “boys only” golf trip).  There is a family of foxes that live in their neighborhood and MJ was obsessed with “hunting” them.  Thankfully, on Saturday morning one came out just across the street and we were able to watch him from the safety of the house.  MJ was beyond thrilled!





7.  The Clouded Leopard

When MJ was two, his favorite animal at the zoo was the alligator(s).  He looked forward to seeing them on the way from the petting zoo to the carousel.  Around the time he turned three, they decided to do away with the alligator exhibit and MJ was crushed.  He decided to picked out a new favorite animal: the clouded leopard.  For those of you not familiar with the Atlanta Zoo, the clouded leopard exhibit is located next to the tiger habitat.  This animal is always hard to find in between the trees and rocks, which I think is one reason MJ liked him so much.  Back in May, we took our first summer trip to the zoo and he couldn’t wait to see the clouded leopard- it was all he talked about.  When we got to the exhibit, all I saw were tigers.  Then I saw this sign:



I was so upset- how was I going to tell my four year old that his favorite animal was shipped back to Asia??  When I explained to MJ what happened, he was devastated – huge crocodile tears ran down his cheeks while he asked why they would take the leopard away.  I decided to buy him a stuffed clouded leopard at the gift shop on our way out and that seemed to heal his wounds.

That night, MJ decided that his new favorite animal at the zoo would be the Red Panda.  We went back to the zoo in early July and from the moment he woke up that morning he kept talking about how he couldn’t wait to see this “beautiful animal.”  So (I’m sure you know where this is headed by now), we get to the exhibit and I saw the dreaded yellow sign:



I almost cried while explaining to him (again) that his favorite animal was no longer at the zoo.  He was upset, but honestly I think at this point he kind of expected it.  I suggested that he not pick out any more obscure animals and stick with the normal, every day zoo animals (lion, tiger, elephant, etc).  Do you know what he picked?  The bush dog.  Have you ever heard of that??  I’m sure it won’t be there the next time we go…why couldn’t he have picked giraffe?!  You have to love that kid.


8. Growing up

On our last trip to the zoo (the one with the red panda incident), my dear friend Meg and her two daughters, Shug and Sybil, joined us.  I snapped this picture of MJ, Ty, and Shug in the wind tunnel: 

 

We talked about how much they have grown up…the following picture was taken over four years ago:

 

Shug (5 months) and MJ (3 months)

 

It really does go by fast.


9. Get your shine on

Eagle Rock is now distributing Climax Moonshine; here is a picture of Steve with Tim Smith (from the show Moonshiners on Discovery).




10.  More videos of the princess

Catelin apparently wants to try out for a role on Duck Dynasty.  She found our duck call yesterday and put it in her mouth thinking she was going to be able to use it properly.  When it didn’t make the sound she expected, she started making the noise with her mouth.  It was too funny.

Catelin is still not walking yet, but she is getting close.  My heart is not ready for her to do it but my poor back is (she is over 27 pounds- yes you read that right).  A few days ago, she decided she wasn’t scared of walking with the walker any more and now I can’t get her to stop! 

Fourth of July and the Beach!

We’ve had a busy past couple of weeks…




Steve and I made a quick trip down to Boca Raton for Camden’s Baptism the last weekend in June.  We are so honored to be his Godparent’s; the whole day was very special. 




We planned to go to the country club for their fourth of July festivities but unfortunately they had to cancel them due to the rain (apparently they are rescheduled for some time in the fall).  So, we decided to take the boys to see Despicable Me 2 at Phipp’s - it was great!



And how cute is Catelin in this outfit?!




We went down to Carillon Beach for a long weekend with our dear friends, the Lorimer’s, and their two children (Mia – 4 and Will – 17 months).  The first day we were there it rained and rained and rained, so we let the “big kids” outside for some fun…



And then we went to an arcade (which was a little shady, but the kids didn’t care) for a few hours that evening.  All of their tickets only got them some fake teeth – but they were thrilled!



Thankfully, the next two days were PERFECT beach days – sunny with a nice breeze so it wasn’t too hot.  We ran into Jim Nichols (one of Steve’s close friends) there on vacation with his entire family and they were kind enough to share their tent and beach toys! 

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Can you believe we got all five of them to sit long enough to get this picture …



Catelin had a ball scooting herself around the beach.  She did not care at all that she was covered in sand (mostly thanks to Ty Ty who kept dumping it on her).  It was adorable.

 

The boys had a great time building sand castles, taking rides on the “boat”, swimming in the ocean, and flying kites. 






We also had fun watching the kids chase and feed the ducks outside our condo. 






The last night we were there they did a fireworks show over the lake that was awesome!  Catelin was asleep and Ty went inside because he was afraid of all of the noise…but MJ and I had a great time watching it.  :)