Sunday, December 8, 2013
Thanksgiving Day
We had a great day at Mom's house with some of their friends and then other aunts and uncles came for dessert. Aaron was at home sick so I did not get a lot of pictures; I was on kid duty. =)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Long overdue update
This post is in response to some grief I have recently gotten from the long silence on this blog. (This person shall remain nameless.) So to recap:
 |
| This is Elizabeth. She is 10 |
 |
| This is Hannah with the pie from her 8th birthday |
 |
| Paul is 6.5 and is now a Tiger Scout like his cousin BJC. Here he is after a map project he did at his den meeting. |
 |
| And Roo. She's 4.5 |
Over that weekend the girls made me breakfast in bed. Not too shabby! That was after they ate pumpkin pie..for their breakfast while I slept. Who cares! Girls weekend!
Over my high school reunion weekend I saw my goddaughter Madison and took her for ice cream.
Here is the lone shot from my reunion weekend =) It was a great time!
And some time with Grandma and Grandpa. I have no idea what Paul is doing. Maybe he can smell his own feet.
There were many Monopoly games throughout the stay. Grandma sure has interesting rules! =)
We will be at the ND/Air Force game this coming weekend with Brian Dominic (and family), Sean Hynes, Joe Villinski, and Brian Anderson this weekend. We'll leave Fri midday and return Sunday. Looking forward to the getaway. Will definitely post some of that craziness =)
 |
| Ready for...bed? |
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Hannah's 8th Birthday
Someone has a birthday today! Yes, it was exactly 8 years ago today that Hannah's entrance into the world made us a family of four (for a while).
On Sunday, Hannah's friend Estha spend the afternoon with us and stayed for dinner.
This morning Dad made special "H" pancakes on the Special Plate and she loved her very special card from Aunt Sara that sparkles (big time).
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
First Day of School 2013-14
It's the first day of school! Hip Hip Hooray!
Last night Elizabeth was so excited that she ironed all her outfits for the week. Hannah decided to do the same.
Here they are, ready to start heading to the classrooms one by one.
 |
| Mr. P in Mrs. Jhones 1st grade class (sitting in the same desk Hannah did) |
 |
| Hanner Danner starting 2nd grade with Mrs. Schmidberger |
 |
| And ERS in her last year of elementary school, starting 5th grade with Mr. Lorenzen |
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Horseback Ride with Dad
On Sunday my Dad and I did a 3 hour ride inside the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a perfect overcast day and it was just us on the ride with a knowledgeable guide. He has a degree in forestry from Ohio State so we learned a lot about trees. (Emil, you two would have had a lot to talk about =)
At the end of the ride (50 feet from the barn) we had quite a scare when Dad's horse bucked him off. He fell at least 8 feet and thank God, not onto the partially exposed rocks that were in front of and behind him on the trail. He has recovered almost fully since Sunday from some severe internal bruising, but did not break or crack any ribs or other bones. We are so thankful nothing worse happened and that the horse did not hurt him worse after the fall or otherwise. It shook us a bit.
Although we didn't see any wildlife on our ride, we saw amazing wildlife on the drive down the mountain, which is at the end of the post. Happy 70th, Dad!
Did you know that the Aspen Tree is the largest organism in the world after the coral reef? All the roots of the trees (within close proximity like below) are from one singular root system underground. At one point on the trail we saw 1 and 2 foot aspen trees sprouting, clearly the shoots of its neighboring adult trees.
We saw a lot of beetle killed trees. The rangers come up and cut them down, then stack them into these huge piles. When it snows, they come up and burn the piles. In some areas we saw 8-10 of these piles scattered.
After a drink at the Stanley Hotel (where "The Shining" was written), we decided at the last minute to take the back way down the mountain just to see different things. What a good choice! This enormous male elk was grazing near the road as we drove down.
And here is a beautiful Ram grazing near the road just a few miles from the elk.
At the end of the ride (50 feet from the barn) we had quite a scare when Dad's horse bucked him off. He fell at least 8 feet and thank God, not onto the partially exposed rocks that were in front of and behind him on the trail. He has recovered almost fully since Sunday from some severe internal bruising, but did not break or crack any ribs or other bones. We are so thankful nothing worse happened and that the horse did not hurt him worse after the fall or otherwise. It shook us a bit.
Although we didn't see any wildlife on our ride, we saw amazing wildlife on the drive down the mountain, which is at the end of the post. Happy 70th, Dad!
Did you know that the Aspen Tree is the largest organism in the world after the coral reef? All the roots of the trees (within close proximity like below) are from one singular root system underground. At one point on the trail we saw 1 and 2 foot aspen trees sprouting, clearly the shoots of its neighboring adult trees.
We saw a lot of beetle killed trees. The rangers come up and cut them down, then stack them into these huge piles. When it snows, they come up and burn the piles. In some areas we saw 8-10 of these piles scattered.
After a drink at the Stanley Hotel (where "The Shining" was written), we decided at the last minute to take the back way down the mountain just to see different things. What a good choice! This enormous male elk was grazing near the road as we drove down.
 |
| Holy antlers! |
 |
| This is the mascot for Colorado State University |
Raptor Center Open House
I'm late getting this post up, but I did take Paul to the Open House last Saturday. It was very worthwhile. I talked with the Bird Man (Kevin) and asked him, "So when Paul is 12 and is able to volunteer here, what exactly will he do?" He said the first thing they do is ... clean the cages of the birds. The second thing often prevents volunteers from moving up the ranks. The next thing Paul would have to do is learn to cut up the meat for the birds. The uncooked, raw rabbits, mice, and other meats that come to the center for the birds to eat. Yikes. But wow would he love to interact with these animals and teach people all about birds! 6 more years to go.
One of the first things we saw was the world's smallest kestrel, which is a type of falcon. See the black feathers coming down from his eyes? That "sunglasses strategy" is where football players got the idea to use the black stripes under their eyes during games. Fighter jets are also designed after the beaks of these fast flying birds.
This great-horned owl was an amazing sight to behold. I have always wanted to see an owl in the wild so this was the highlight for me without doubt. This is the look he gave me as I walked up the hill where he was being held. His eyes are mesmerizing. They are a very bright glowing yellow, it is like looking at the parking lights of a car.
He gave us a view of his wingspan as the volunteers changed hands.
He is "panting" here because of the heat; his beak is open and the white feathers near his neck would move in and out to help reduce his body heat. He is an educational bird and was not able to go back to the wild because he has poor eyesight. He failed "the mouse test" - this is where, in a huge two story building used to re-train the recovered birds how to hunt (or see if they still can), they let prey loose for the birds. This guy couldn't find the mouse so he is now used to educate the public and volunteers.
This beautiful and small (about 8 inches tall) barn owl sat inside a small box at the entrance. So different from the great horned, with a facial disk easy to identify.
One of the first things we saw was the world's smallest kestrel, which is a type of falcon. See the black feathers coming down from his eyes? That "sunglasses strategy" is where football players got the idea to use the black stripes under their eyes during games. Fighter jets are also designed after the beaks of these fast flying birds.
This great-horned owl was an amazing sight to behold. I have always wanted to see an owl in the wild so this was the highlight for me without doubt. This is the look he gave me as I walked up the hill where he was being held. His eyes are mesmerizing. They are a very bright glowing yellow, it is like looking at the parking lights of a car.
He gave us a view of his wingspan as the volunteers changed hands.
He is "panting" here because of the heat; his beak is open and the white feathers near his neck would move in and out to help reduce his body heat. He is an educational bird and was not able to go back to the wild because he has poor eyesight. He failed "the mouse test" - this is where, in a huge two story building used to re-train the recovered birds how to hunt (or see if they still can), they let prey loose for the birds. This guy couldn't find the mouse so he is now used to educate the public and volunteers.
This beautiful and small (about 8 inches tall) barn owl sat inside a small box at the entrance. So different from the great horned, with a facial disk easy to identify.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)