A wet Spring

Warm Springs are fun, but so are wet ones! Can't use cool rain boots in a dry Spring, that's for sure. Well...Chloe's weren't exactly meant for the rain, but you know...can't just stand by and watch!

And we're back!

Sitting here in my kitchen at home with the windows open, feeling the cool breeze and listening to our neighbor mow the lawn. Ahhhhh.......

Our trip is over, we're glad to be home! Day two of Estes was filled with more "do whatever" shenanigans. Sleeping in (heavenly), eating the AMAZING breakfast the hotel put on each morning again (still drooling over the yogurt parfaits they served, they were incredible!), attempting to walk downtown again without the rain this time, peeking in all the cool shops, making fun of all the Estes paraphernalia you can buy (and all the Estes people who sell it...there's a reason they hide people like that in the mountains! ha ha...), eating ice cream for lunch...that's right, I said ice cream for lunch, walking down the river path, wasting our money on a go-cart ride ($14 for 5 min.??? what were we thinking?), seeing another movie (PIRATES!!! It was great!), going downtown again and finding a hidden scrapbooking store AND a yarn store (how lucky could we get?? Except I didn't buy anything because it was way overpriced, however it was almost just as satisfying looking at it), eating at Mama Rosa's (we thought that place was the bee's knees when we went there on our honeymoon...our return trip was not as satisfying a) because they weren't seating people outside when we got there and b)...we must have been too blissfully happy on our honeymoon to notice how much we were PAYING for the food last time...half portions all around this time and a lovely cold glass of water...), eating more ice cream at the same place we went to for lunch (it was good), walking around the grounds at the hotel at sunset, getting the stink eye from an evil wild turkey who kept following us around while we were walking, snuggling up and watching a movie together back at the hotel in our room (they had a whole selection of DVDs you could chose from and "check out" to your room), and then the next morning packing up and heading out. :-)
Here are a couple more pictures:

This is the balcony of our room as seen from below- the lady serving breakfast each morning kept telling us it's the best room because the view is the best from that balcony than any other room (see previous post).

On our "sunset walk". :-) Yes, this is a timer shot. Only shot we got of both of us there because I didn't trust any strangers with my camera!
Evil turkey. It's been a while since I've seen a real turkey, but they actually gobble. This guy was singing his heart out the whole time. A lot of people get married at the place we stayed at and I kept thinking, what if he came gobbling about during a wedding?? How rude.
Dreamy little creek running through the grounds.

The cliff that up-scales the parking area and hotel. You could hear the wind rushing down it really loud- it was cool.

Elk! Everywhere! This guy was right next to a stop sign, I had to whip out my camera for a candid shot. Actually, though, it's not a guy. No horns. Right.

This shop was cool, this guy blows glass ornaments and makes all sorts of beautiful things out of glass! We got to watch him make a couple ornaments. I asked him if I could take pictures and he was like "Sure!", then a little anxiously added, "well...I can't stop to smile through the whole thing so you'll have to wait until when I'm not doing anything to take pictures." I assured him he didn't have to pose. Here is is actually blowing the glass into an ornament.
Rolling it in water to cool it down.

One of the finished products hanging in his window, they're beautiful!
Down by the river.

Anyway, it was a great trip and we're glad we took the time to do it. Now I'm back home in my pajamas at 2 in the afternoon with piles of laundry all over my living room. First official day on the "new job." :-)

Sweet Escape

This is the view from our balcony in our room. It's quiet. It's secluded. It's perfect.



And what am I doing? Thinking about the kids. Not that I don't love being here with my best friend in the whole world. Because I do! But I also consider this a jump start when I get home to giving my kids all the love and attention that they can possibly handle. All the time. Should work, right?

Right now we're watching the Rockie's game. Relaxing.

Today we enjoyed some put-put golfing (Craig won, humbly), walking downtown, dodging lightning downtown, ducking in Penelope's burger place to get out of the rain...and then staying for lunch, getting lost trying to find Chipper's Lanes, then finding it and bowling three games (total of the three games for me, a whopping 214, for Craig, a more manly 350...beforewhich I was bragging to Craig at how decent of a bowler I was...yeah, I'm not), playing a couple of games of pool, walking around Safeway to waste time (and waste time we certainly did), walk around the shops near Safeway and talk to crazy lady in an art gallery, spending an inordinate amount of time at a wannabe Stanley Hotel Museum, but also being impressed with Chansonetta Stanley....something or other's photography, getting movie tickets to Thor 45 min. early and watching the same 12 Estes Park commercials over and over again until the movie started, stayed until the end of the credits after the movie was over to watch the "secret" clip at the end and not really understanding it (that's the point of secret clips, though, right?), hitting the pizza place beneath the theatre for dinner and talking about how annoying we think Natalie Portman is and watching the beginning of the Rockies game. I wanted to take my camera to most of the above said activities, but Craig wouldn't let me. Some things are probably better enjoyed when I'm not mentally thinking about how to blog each picture later. :-) And now we're back at the hotel, already ate our complimentary cookies, and I'm thinking about jumping in the jacuzzi here in a bit.
Estes is really a pretty place! The mountains are all beautifully dusted with snow and then everything below is green and lush. Seen about a bazillion Elk around town...and even though they're everywhere I keep gasping and pointing them out each time I see them.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to be brave and go to the actual Stanley Hotel's ghost tour (me and spooky things don't mix so well, but I think it would be interesting), go back downtown, maybe see Pirates (just because we can!), take some walks if it's not raining again, take some more pictures of pretty things, and eat at our all time favorite Italian restaurant, Mama Rosa's.
...Wonder how the kids are doing...missing Odell's little cherub cheeks and Chloe and Linus's giggles...

What happens the morning before my last day at work

A tall and mysterious princess brushes back her bristly blond hair and grips the rope in her hand a little tighter. Her palms are sweating and her heart beats loudly. She squints her eyes and curls her lip. The clock echoes in the other room one deafening tick at a time. One wrong step and her life could be on the line. This is the moment she's been waiting for.
Quickly, she peeks around the corner. There's a tall, dark bookshelf in the way, but one snatching glance past that and she catches a brief glimpse. There, sitting by the chair, reading, no doubt, an evil sketch on the wicked ways of the world, is the witch. Her appearances would fool you in a heartbeat. Caring, motherly eyes, arms full of warmth and fun, but underneath that tenderness is a heart of stone. Scheming and plotting, she is unaware of her immediate and impending doom. The ticking grows louder, the weight of the world in anticipation crushing each second onward. Now is the time. The princess inhales and grips the rope again.
"We going to get her," a voice speaks from the dark behind her.
"Yes. We will," the princess affirms. The prince, lurking in the shadows, is as breathless as the princess beside him. His thick brow, blond as his sister's, arches in intense emotion, and he poises himself to strike.
The anticipation shatters in one blasting call. "GET HER!!!"
The princess launches herself around the corner, the prince a breath behind her. The steps seem to happen in slow motion as she pushes the ground underneath her towards the woman by the chair. The witch does not flinch as they draw nearer and success seems immanent for the royal brother and sister...
...until at the last moment the witch shoots her arm out and with almost unearthly ease snatches the young boy and girl off their feet into the air, flying, soaring, and then crashing together on the floor in those deceptive arms. No time to think, the witch begins enacting her most lethal attack...
The prince and princess are suffocating, air being blasted from their lungs, together they are helpless as the witch sneers her most vicious laugh. "You thought you could defeat me?? You thought you could tie me with this pathetic rope? No one escapes the witch! You shall now suffer... death by tickling!!!"


"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!! Okay okay you win! Don't tickle us anymore, we can't breathe!!!!!"

Evil witch: 1. Pathetic princess and prince: zippo. Mwa ha ha ha!

Linus is FREE!!

And by "free" he means "three". He's so cute when he holds his fingers so carefully to show people how old he is now. "IIIIIIIIII'mmmmmmm.....DIS many!!!" he says, trapping down his little pinkie finger so the other three crooked fingers can pop out. Adorableness wrapped in a smudgey, rascally little three year old boy.
After a very busy week and a very busy weekend, I barely got time to whip this slideshow together, as well as his birthday dinner and cake. Thankfully his birthday was on Sunday so I had all afternoon to put the food together (thanks to my amazing husband who had the cake ready and made for me so I could just frost it RIGHT when I needed it...husbands think of everything...). We had some of our favorite finger foods, presents, cake and ice cream, and of course the world premiere of his third year slideshow.
Happy Birthday Linus!

Oh dear! Your toes fell down!

Says Chloe to Odell as she sits in the high chair, fascinated with all her little "mothering" she does for her and listening to her jab away about absolutely nothing.
It's a rainy, cozy morning here at chez Ellingson. I'm feeling quite at peace with the world and cherishing every drop of precipitation that hits the roof of our house. Last Friday I felt completely opposite of this with 5 musical performances and a choir concert looming over my head...but now that I am past that (with flying colors, the kids did great!) I sort of melted into a puddle of contentment and I'm going to ride that till school is out next week.
To help the anticipation of school getting out, Craig and I scheduled a romantic weekday getaway to celebrate Craig getting done at Aimes/me being done with work/ celebrating our five year anniversary a year late because I was on bed rest last year. We splurged and are headed up to the decadent Della Terra in Estes Park for three whole days the week after school gets out. Kid free. The last time we tried to get away together was when I was pregnant with Chloe, first trimester- we got an "affordable" hotel room in Estes (meaning hole in the wall joint) and the next morning we had to wait forever at the breakfast place we went to eat and I got sick from waiting so long without eating. Like couldn't keep anything down sick. We had a whole day planned out, but we had to come home early (I somehow made it through all the twisty turns back through the mountains back to the front range, and then lost it when we were pulling into Windsor- I distinctly remember pulling over into the Safeway parking lot and Craig stopped just in time for me to grab a bag and open the door...right in front of a suburban full of soccer kids, I'm sure that was a real treat). We are so grateful that we have family close by to help watch the kids, every couple needs to get away alone together! Heck, I'll watch anyone's kids for them anytime y'all want to make a trip with your hubbies, it's so worth it. Really. In the meantime, though, the thought of what is to come after school gets out is making the time slow down too much...but anticipation is half the fun sometimes I think. :-)
Quick update on the kids. Chloe has had bifocal lenses for a couple of weeks that are supposed to help her eyes. If this doesn't work, then they are going to go to surgery to fix her crosseyes- although that is what they told me the last few appointments we went to and Dr. Arnold kept seeing just enough improvement to try something else before going to surgery. But with another $300 pair of lenses we had to get to fix her perscription again, I think I would rather them just do the surgery and get it over with! But she seems to be getting better, so that's all that matters. Linus is maturing a little more every day. When I have him by himself without sisters to torture and be tortured by, he is a pleasant, helpful, sweet little boy. It's nice to see that he at least has a nice side to him! :-) Odell is growing like a weed...well, more like a pumpkin, or watermelon, she is just a little butterball. She's been really congested the last couple of weeks- really snotty, coughing, and you can hear her rattling when she breathes. She hasn't been sick, she's still this pleasant little cherub that sits there and stares and coos at everyone, she just has snot running down her face all day too. :-) I'm thinking it's allergies, but she has her nine month checkup next week so unless she gets worse I'll just wait until then. She's figured out how to open and close her fingers in a "waving" motion and clap her hands, as well as sit up on her own finally. No crawling yet. No qualms with that in this house! :-)
No pictures this time, sorry. Got Photoshop CS5 from my wonderful family for mother's day (Craig wanted to get it while he was still a student at Aimes and could get it WAY cheaper then at price) and I haven't installed it yet, so pictures are waiting on my camera to be downloaded. Stay tuned for Linus's birthday this weekend and other fun and likely outdoor shenanigans (except for today...rain, you know...).

Mahna Mahna for Linus

My brother in law Michael made this for Linus when he was almost 2. Linus liked, and still does like, food. And lots of it. He had a universal word for a lot of things back then, and "numanum" was the universal word for "food". It came out of his mouth a lot. :-) Thanks Michael!!!