Castlewood Canyon

We have a state park pass that is about to expire so we decided to head to a nearby state park on Saturday to take advantage of it while we can.  Just wanted to post a few pics from our adventures...

Easter egg hunt

Caleb got to do his first Easter egg hunt this year.  It was a beautiful and fairly hot morning.  Here we are waiting for the start...

This is the square area that was roped off for Caleb's age group.  It was filled with little toys and candy, including foil-wrapped chocolate that had been sitting in the hot sun for a while.

Caleb was a little overwhelmed by the chaos and not so crazy about the messiness.  But he found some good things to put in his "Easter basket."

Caleb's chocolate-covered toes after the hunt.

Enjoying some of his loot...

weekend at the cabin

Our friends, Nikki and Ryan, invited us to spend a weekend with them at their family's cabin in Leadville.  They have two kids, Zeb and Jaya.  Zeb is just a month and a half younger than Caleb and they are buddies!!  It was so much fun to go up to the mountains and spend a couple of days at the cabin with them.  Here's a little taste of our weekend...

Hiking to the cabin (It wasn't that far, but look at all that snow!):

The boys got to go ice fishing...

and Zeb caught his first fish!!

Caleb got to ride on a snowmobile, which he LOVED.

And there may have been a dance party or two...these boys both love to dance!

If you'd like to see for yourself...

little drummer boy

It all started when we were at my sister's in Atlanta for Christmas.  Caleb got to play his cousin's drums and loved them.  My brother-in-law thought he showed promise and insisted they send us the other drum set that they had since they didn't need a second drum set and Caleb would clearly enjoy it.  So they did just that.  Here are a few pictures of how excited he was when we brought it down to give it to him...

And here are a couple of videos of what followed.  The first is of Caleb's excitement as we opened up the box to put the drum set together.  The second is of him actually playing.  He wasn't a fan of the pedal, so he improvised...

Christmas in Atlanta

We got to go to Atlanta for Christmas this year and meet our new nephew/cousin, Sebastian Oliver, who was born on November 30th.

 Caleb and Nathaniel got in some good cousin time.

And it even snowed!  So of course we headed outside for a snowball fight...

fresh photo shoot

In November, we had the chance to get some professional family photos taken, in part inspired by the plan to send out Christmas cards, and in part just because it had been so long.  We were only expecting to get 10 photos out of the deal, but we ended up with a whole cd full!  Thanks Fresh Photography!  Here are some of our favorites:

breck

We got to spend part of a weekend up in Breckenridge (a mountain town in CO) in early November with Jodie (my childhood friend) and Dan (her husband).  Of course, I don't have any pictures with them, but here are a few that I did get...
 

Caleb will hardly ever fall asleep in the car...especially when we're really hoping he does.  But as we drove home from Breck he just couldn't fight it...

family resemblences

When Caleb was born, almost everyone said he looked like Jason. These days, the usual comment is that he's a good combination of both of us. When we were visiting my parents back in September, we were looking at some pictures of me when I was a kid and couldn't help but notice how much Caleb looks like me in some of them. Here are a couple of favorites. I'll let you be the judge...

children's museum

This was our second visit to the Children's museum.  So fun.  Check out my little bubble scientist...

And a few other random pics...

 

fall fun

Just a few photos from the pumpkin festival that we went to, and one of Caleb in his Halloween costume.
 

trip to NC

In September, we got to take a trip to NC to visit my parents for a week. My sister and her family also came to spend a few days with us. Time with my family is extra special because it doesn't happen that often these days.  It was such a fun trip! (Note: you can click on the photos below to see them bigger.)

Caleb got to play in the ocean for the first time and loved it! He had fun jumping and splashing in the waves and playing in the sand...

We also got to go to the pool where Caleb got more comfortable in the water and tried out swimmies for the first time... 

On one day, we took a ferry to a small island where we went to a cool aquarium...

We also just spent time hanging around my parents' house and entertaining ourselves there. Caleb enjoyed playing golf with the new golf set that MorMor and MorFar got him. He also managed to break two of the three golf clubs in the set by the time we left. He's not the gentlest of golfers...

After my sister's family arrived, Caleb had a blast with his cousin Nathaniel. It's so much fun to get the two of them together!

And we finished off the trip with dinner out on my parents' anniversary. It was nice of them to share their celebration with all of us and a fun way to spend our last night there...

birthday gifts: a video review

Caleb got this cool dump truck from his relatives in Las Vegas. It was the very first present that he got to open on the morning of his birthday.

After nap on his birthday, we did a webcam with my parents (MorMor and MorFar to Caleb). He opened the presents that they got him, a football that makes sounds upon impact, and a tricycle. Here's a video of just how excited he got about the football. To this day, whenever he brings out the football, he makes it play music and runs around in circles. It's pretty funny. Here's a glimpse of his craziness during the webcam when he got the football:

And finally, Jason's parents got him a car racing toy that was the hit of his birthday party. Here's a video of some after-party car racing fun. He was laughing a lot, but by the time I got the camera on him, his laugh had become a little fake and exaggerated. Still funny though...

open gym

Oftentimes after Jason gets home from work, Caleb will tell him about his day. It's really fun to listen to. I've been wanting to get a good video of it, but I rarely think to grab the camera. Here's one time I did get. It's not the best, but better than nothing. He's telling Jason about his time at the open gymnastics hour he went to at a nearby rec center.

talking on the phone

In case you can't understand, he says, "Hi! How's it going?" "How's it going, Mama?" "I went to a bookstore." "Maybe next time."

lollipop!

Caleb got his first ever lollipop after getting his hair cut a few weeks ago. He didn't even know what to do with it at first and I was tempted not to tell him. But then I decided that was a little cruel...that some day soon he'd see his friends sucking on lollipops and think, "Ohhhh, that's what you do with those...Mama didn't tell me!" So I gave in and told him. It was pretty adorable watching him taste it for the first time. He put in it his mouth and then had the cutest look of surprise and excitement on his face. I didn't think to video it at first, but I did get a little video while he was still enjoying the lollipop...