Julian skiing

Ski Season

Audrey and Julian started getting used to their equipment as soon as we got it home from the rental shop back in October.

The we took it outside to the front yard when the snow started falling.  Here I am grooming the slope.

Julian was fearless on the ski runs, so much so that a launch off the side of the cat track didn't shake him up much.  So he went on the the Rough Rider Basin where you ski past the jail and through the tipis and trading post.

A grown up ski outing to celebrate our buddy's birthday

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Lovely horse-drawn sleigh ride.  The driver said it was the first time he had 5 across the front up there with him.

Here's a bit of unstable snow that Chris and pals saw after they decided not to ski a similar near-by pitch.  Way to go Safe Skiers!

And here is Audrey getting set to do her first ski "race": the Soda Pop Slalom.  She was mostly in it for the goodie bag and was giving herself pep talks that "I don't really have to go fast".

Julian was going to do it as well but he is sick and didn't have the energy, as proven when we did a little warm up run and I had to carry him :(
See Audrey's results at the link below.
http://skiracing.nastar.com/index.jsp?pagename=raceresults&race=132535&year=2017


Once in a while we do something in the snow besides ski, here are the kids in a ski fort we constructed

Holidays

Here is a collection of pictures from some of our favorite celebrations over the past handful of months.

Halloween:

We dressed as a Frozen Crew, Chris (taking the picutre) was Kristoff, Audrey is Elsa, I'm Anna (its hard to see in the picture but in person my silver streak in the braid really completed the look) and Julian is a little Olaf, he refused the carrot nose.

Thanksgiving:

We feasted with our buddies, the Urbick family, including the dog, Zoey (the cat  had to stay home.) Everyone loved the bananas.

Christmas:

 The preschool pageant was precious.  Audrey was up front on the mic to sing Silent Night and Julian's sweet little class of lambs looked adorable while the piano played in the background.

 Everyone tried really hard to get Santa to grant our Christmas wishes, and our Elf must have positive reports because we were all happy come Christmas morning.

New Years:

 Kev's Birthday:

Grandpa was very generous with his birthday cake and everyone enjoyed their slice.

Snow angels

These pictures are from back in November, now the snow is piled up as high as the windows.  The blog program has not been cooperating and I'm just now taking the time to figure it out...if this goes well there could be more posts coming soon!

Autumn Beauty

We had a campfire dinner picnic last night just outside of town, sure was pretty

Third birthday

Julian turned three last week, here he is opening some presents while Audrey tries to contain her jealousy.













Here's Julian "lighting" the candles on his dinosaur birthday cake, while his friend Teagan hams it up.









And here's the big boy on a recent family hike.










The biggest advancement by far in Julian's growing-up journey is his speech. Last summer he would only say a handful of words and didn't string any together. A few nights after his third birthday, it's dinnertime, the parent are urging the kids to eat, and Julian half whispers to Audrey "we don't have to do what they say". What?!!

Julian continues to be a physically active, sweet, and shy, little dude. He and Audrey play imaginatively together for hours each day. He loves to go to the library and read books and if he is having a hard time saying goodbye to mama at preschool drop-off his teacher can always ease the separation with a book. He works hard on his smile when he is posing for a picture, but hides his face if someone is saying hello to him.

Cowgirl princess and other things that are said

Audrey got the pink tiara cowgirl hat from her sweet Auntie Ashley and Uncle Brian yesterday (they are trying to convert her into a Texan) and she has not taken it off since.

Audrey's words:

"I'm going to be a cowgirl when I grow up and then I'll know a lot about horses. Now I know that horses say neigh. I know that horses gallops like unicorns and ponies. I know that horses have feet that look kind of funny but the horse feet are just like ponies and unicorns because horses and ponies and unicorns look a lot alike except for the horns on unicorns. That's all I know about horses."


Speaking of words Julian is talking a lot more which is pretty exciting, yesterday he mimicked me perfectly when I called Audrey bossyboots. One of the sweetest things he says is his response when Chris or I tell him I love you, he says "love mama, dada, Audrey" and sometimes throws gampa in too since he just stayed with us for a month.
It seems like Julian's vocalizing really took off when we were in Nicaragua a few months ago. One night we were sitting at the table a couple hundred yards from the ocean, eating some fish that we bought at the fish market next to the port. When he put this together it must have blown his mind because throughout the meal he repeatedly pointed to the fish on the plate and out to the ocean and repeated fish water fish water.

Julian on Lake Nicaragua

Kiddies enjoying grandpa story time last month