Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Pixie Hollow! Gabi dressed as Tinkerbell, Bella as the fairy Silvermist (one of Tink's friends), and Katarina as Bumble (a pet bee for another fairy named Lily).



The girls enjoyed handing out candy at our house as much as trick-or-treating around the block.




The weather here in Denver is gorgeous, so most of our neighbors sat out on their front porches to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters.


Poor Daddy got caught at work and missed the trick-or-treating, but he came home in time to see his girls all dressed up with their wings on, and then we video chatted with many family members before bedtime.


Michael carved a pumpkin for each girl last weekend. Kati-Lily especially loved her tiny owl pumpkin!



Only one jack-o-lantern survived the week, though, so we carved another one last night.


Gabi's school had Fall Break this weekend with Friday and Monday off, so their Halloween parade and party was last Thursday.


Halloween parade around the school


Decorating and eating cookies


Making a ghost


Bella joining in the fun at Gabi's school party

Bella's school party was Friday, even though they did have school today.


Bella and her friend Gabriela (as Cinderella)


Bella with her teachers

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Stapleton Markets

On summer and early fall weekends, the Green at the Stapleton town center hosts a flea market on Saturdays and a farmers' market on Sundays (in addition to the outdoor movie nights on Fridays).

Farmers' Market










Sweet William Market


This is my chariot (bike trailer) that carries two kids, plus my purse and goods from the farmers' market!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Outdoor Explorations

Morrison Nature Center
On Thursday mornings, Bella and Kati-Lily and I attend a free preschool education program at the Morrison Nature Center. An indoor presentation focuses on one letter each week, with interactive questions for the kids to ask the different animal (and plant!) puppets. Then we hike outside on a nature hunt, looking for the sights (or sounds) that they just learned about. The nature center also has plenty of hands-on activities and displays for the kids to explore and learn on their own.


Looking at a real bird up close


Bella dressed as a daisy


Kati wrapped in a rattlesnake pillow


Bluff Lake Nature Camp
The week before school started, Gabi attended a camp at Bluff Lake Nature Center to learn about the importance of water to all animals and how to conserve water.




Central Park
Stapleton has numerous parks and playgrounds for the kids, including this Dr. Seuss-like playground at Central Park. In this first picture, Gabi is sitting on a seat that moves down (or up) the pole as she twists around.





Skate Park
This skate park is in the Greenway right next to Gabi's elementary school.


Colorado Rockies Baseball
And, of course, we head downtown to Coors Field to watch the Rockies play baseball! This weekend back in August, Joe joined us from Boulder (although now he has moved to Germany).


Gabi took this picture of me with Joe!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Picture Storage

I added five new pictures to the previous post (Labor Day at Winter Park). I had to use Michael's account to do that, as it turns out that I have reached the storage limit on my account. Hmm... perhaps it is time to find another image server.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Labor Day in Winter Park

Mid-October has brought beautiful fall weather to Colorado; however, the weather was still warm in these pictures at Winter Park from Labor Day (Monday, September 5th). We brought light jackets for our morning hike along the top of the mountain, but quickly shed them as the sun came out.



The girls were very excited to ride a chair lift up the mountain! I was happy to give them some experience with the chair lift before we begin ski lessons this winter.


Even Kati enjoyed the view from the chair lift (although it was difficult to take a picture while sitting right next to her).


Gabi and Bella tried out the zip line, which they enjoyed enough to repeat several times.




Perhaps the highlight of the trip was the Alpine Slide! Katarina wasn't big enough to ride this year, so Michael and I took turns staying at the base with her and riding with the bigger girls.




We also tried the bungee jump trampoline. Michael and I did flips, and we were very glad we jumped before lunch.





Another favorite activity was the human maze, where we searched for the letters M, A, Z, and E and raced the clock back to the finish. The kids got to select a small prize based on how quickly they completed the maze. On our second or third trip through the maze, we helped another little girl whose father was attempting to guide her from the watch tower -- but she was too short for him to see behind the walls (and, really, you couldn't see the entire maze from the watch tower, anyway).



Bella took this picture of our family (minus her, of course) by the little creek:


Kati-Lily spent most of the day playing on a little playground at the bottom of the main slope, as she wasn't old enough for the more structured activities. She did attempt putting for one hole of minigolf, and she enjoyed watching her big sisters jump in the bouncy castle. She found some musical bells to play, too. Mostly, she loved individual attention from each parent in turn.







Just before we left, we stopped at this playground near the entrance to Winter Park resort.




We arrived at Winter Park about half an hour after the resort opened and stayed all day. Once the grounds closed, we drove into the village of Winter Park to eat dinner before heading home. The girls loved this exhausting day trip and have been asking to return. I wonder if they'd recognize it if I took them now to see all the snow in the mountains?