CO Trip Days 3 - 5: Denver to Leadville to Salida

On Saturday morning we went to a gorgeous community center in one of the burbs outside of the city for a dragon boat team practice that Aaron found. While he was paddling in a boat held stationery in a pool, Saul and I went for a very crisp morning walk and then ended up playing on the playground at the center. It was a great way to burn off some energy before sitting in the car for a while.

Dry air = static electricity + bright sun = hair-lo (halo)

Fortunately, we had room for Saul in the car! This is his one nap of the day while driving from Denver to Leadville. We experienced a brief snow storm cloud and beautiful but very cold weather on the drive. So amazing and such beautiful mountains.

Saul sleeping while surrounded by luggage.

By the last few days he would say, "Move bag. No bag!" (Also notice the winter sweater.)

Salida is one of the towns we visited on our honeymoon. We fondly remember the pizza and brew pub and the rose quartz location. It really hadn't changed that much in the historic area off the main highway. We had coffee and explored the little shops on a quiet Sunday morning, also letting Saul burn off some energy before the drive to the Sand Dunes.

The next few are at Sand Dunes National Park. It was really cold and ended up snowing on our hike back to the car. Saul was NOT pleased with this, was tired, and generally was ready to be done. However, on the way up and while exploring the dunes during Aaron's 33 minute hike up and 6 minutes down, Saul definitely had fun walking in the sand with bare feet.

Fussy cold face.

"Go this way," he would tell me.

I'm not sure what his directional sense was telling him,

but he definitely knew which way he wanted to go.

CO Travels Days 1 through 3: Denver

We had the opportunity to meet Aaron in Denver at the end of April and drive home as a family. This was great for a number of reasons: (1) We really, really needed a family vacation; (2) We'd wanted to get back to some places in CO for some time, as we hadn't been since our honeymoon - nearly 13 years ago!; (3) We have a little guy that we love to spend time with and want to introduce him to the joys of travel and exploration. Off we went!

Saul experienced his first plan trip. It was a breeze! He's so interested in life and people and his surroundings! At the airport at the gate while we were waiting to board, he entertained everyone around him with his activities and communication about them. "See planes. See big planes. Get down. Go see baby. Little, little baby. Come see mamma. More planes. Lady sit down." I really don't think it stopped.

Below are pics from the first few days.

Saul giving a fist bump to the mamma bear statue outside the Denver REI and right along the gorgeous pathways around the city river rapids.

Baby bears get fist bumps, too!
The new "smile" on command. Showing off his whole teeth and fabulous cheeks.

I really don't know, but it's so opposite his personality, it just makes me laugh!

A Fun Morning with Grammy Barbara and Papa Tom

First, I still can't keep track of how to spell Grammy or Papa. Double consonants or not? More importantly, Saul loves his Grammy Barbara and Papa Tom. One Sunday at the of February, Aaron had a full day paddling clinic so Saul and I planned to spend time with Grammy and Papa. As always, Barbara prepared a yummy breakfast and Saul enjoyed and ate plenty (as did Tom and I). It was a beautiful Sunday. Tom and Saul played for a little while and then we joined Barbara for her morning walk around the block with Haley before we headed for OMSI. While at OMSI, I realized a few things:

1. We hadn't been to OMSI since one of the hottest days last summer when we had no AC in the car.
2. Saul will definitely enjoy a sandbox in our backyad. Now we just need to find one.
3. There's more germ sharing at OMSI than at many other places.

Some pictures from our day:

Saul and Papa Tom ('Pata Pom') soaking up some sun before we leave for OMSI.

Playing in the sand.
Scoping out the water area with Grammy before running to get wet.

Watering his feet.

Telling the fox and OMSI goodbye.

Some February pics

Just some fun pics from February (yes, it's the end of March.)

Saul wearing his "narf" made by Aaron's aunt Seckin (pronounced Sechkin).

Saul wearing the hat that obviously goes with the scarf.
Playing in the tunnel "Onta Koz" gave him.

A little cuddle with his Grammy Beth.

Waiting for 'dada" to finish dragonboat practice on a Saturday morning.

Bath time and cuddling with babies

Saul loves bath time and is having more and more fun with his "dada". Some nights he'll request that "dada coming" to bathtime. The cup is used for rinshing him off. However, he also likes to drink out of it. To keep him from drinking bubble bath water, we turn the faucet on really low with cold water, rinse the bubbles out and fill a bit with water. The northern European in Saul appears to like taking a few sips and then dumping the remainder of the cold water on his own belly. He always inhales from the shock of it and asks for more.


The next few shots are Saul with his baby dolls. Santa Clause got him the doll on his left (right side of the pic) and Auntie Julie and family got him the bigger doll on his right. When Nanny Vicky asked Saul one day in late January if big baby had a name Saul replied, "Nini". And Vicky suggested that maybe the little doll could be Bobby. And that's the way it is.

Saul's taken to cuddling with Nini, Bobby or both, depending on the evening and whether we can easily locate them.

Pointing to Nini.

Cuddling his babies.

Park time

The disadvantage of having Facebook and a blog is that sometimes one is overlooked in favor of the other. Here are some fun pictures of a trip Saul and I took to the "dog park". One of the best parts of being in Portland is the number of parks available to us. And Saul has named each of his favorites according to some major element that sticks with him.

The 'Mona' park is Grant Park. Children's book author Beverly Cleary grew up in the area and her Ramona books take place around Grant Park. In tribute, there are three statues - one of Ramona, one of Henry and one of Ribsy. These are very important to Saul. He'll often hug Ramona, tell Henry "hi" and he gets to ride on Ribsy. Pretty cute.

The bunny park has a bunny that the kids can climb up on and then rock. It's sort of like a rocking horse, but not.

The dog park is walking distance from the house. It has fun play structures especially now that the kids (Claire being included here) are older. They each have favorite things but it's fun to watch how much they like to run around now. It is also where Mom walked with Jeff and me and the kids one decent day while she was in town for the holidays. The pictures below are from the first trip back to the park, which was probably about three weeks later (based upon the weather). As Saul was playing he would say, "Grammie Susie, park." It took me a minute to realize that he was remembering the good time he'd had with my mom!

Step 1: Getting ready to climb through the tunnel.

Step 2: Crawling through the tunnel.

Step 3: Through the tunnel and going down the slide!

Step 4: At the bottom. Time to do it again!

Some cute pics

Here are some favorite pics from January. They're just random around the house and having fun.

Telling us it's almost time for bed.

One pacifier in the mouth and the other in hand.

Posing for the camera. He wanted to look a picture of himself in the screen and "see Saul."

For some reason, these pictures of him where the shot is looking down a bit
are amongst my favorites. Such a happy guy.
"Smile!"

They won't be able to share the chair much longer.