Colorado - Part 1

Happy Belated Independence Day. My plan was to blog all week last week and catch you up on all of our greatest adventures. It's safe to say, that I am a bit behind. HOWEVER, here is a look at what we did on our first part of our trip to Colorado.

The first part of our 10 days in the Mile High area were shared with David, Shannon and Kiefer (who flew on the same flight with us out of Columbus) and also brought in my brother Patrick (who lives in Tucson). Not sure if you knew this, but my Dad and Suzann live in the Lafayette area and my sister Kimm and her lovely family (Paul, Oscar and August) live in Boulder.

The above is a mealtime shared by cousins. Kiefer (1.5) is in front left in the booster, the Olivia (6), the Oscar (3.5) across from her and then Alessandra. You would have thought they were together all of the time.

We spent some time over and Auntie Kimm and Uncle Paul's house. They have a great trampoline that wore out the girls many times over. Here are my jumping beans.

I forgot to turn this photo to the side (I will try and correct it later) but it was super cute of Olivia and Oscar

Alessandra's MO throughout this trip to Colorado was to get into the bath with whomever was bathing at the time (she does love the water). Here she is on a visit over to Kimm and Paul's during Oscar's bath time. Apparently it is just way more fun to bathe with others. (maybe it is just that they have cooler toys than we do).

What would a trip to Denver be without a trip to the Denver Zoo? We hit the zoo with the whole family. It was a lot of fun and if you are ever in the area - check it out!

Olivia, Alessandra and Oscar (with Kimm) checking out the chimps.

We took the train around the zoo area (a short ride, but for our transportation buffs in the family, a trip to the zoo would not be complete without it). Oscar and Olivia are in the back seat, Susu (Suzann) and Kimm next, Alessandra (with space for me) and David and Kiefer in the forefront. Good times.

Oscar and Olivia

Alessandra on the train (with her monkey kids meal lunch box)

The girls and I outside of the zoo with their purple/pink monkey's Uncle Dave got for them.

The best part about being with family is just being together. Here is Uncle Dave helping Alessandra with a glider.

Here is a photo of Susu with August (the youngest of the crew at 1) and Olivia (who adores her job in this family of being eldest cousin)

Here is Grandpa with Alessandra making funny faces.

A little shot of driving on the road towards Boulder... lovely.

Uncle Paul reading to the gang one afternoon/evening.

OH YES, and what would a trip be without a trip the the Urgent Care (Olivia has visited one everywhere we have been to). Her visit this time was for a bout with Strep Throat. Here we are goofing around in the exam room waiting for the test results.

Test results: Positive = 2 shots of antibiotics in the heiney. Which equals 1 Popsicle and 1 ice cream.

Here are some shot with Uncle Pat!

Uncle Pat, Susu and Grandpa (or Suzann and Dick as their names might actually be)

A little family shot. Pat, Kelly, David and Shannon (in the back)

Alessandra, Olivia and Kiefer in the front.

Tune back soon for more of our adventures in Colorado. We saw Jennifer and Connor and had more fun!

The Ice Cream Saga

So in preparation for our trip to Colorado, David (my bro) and I decided that we would "need" to take our dad some Graeter's Ice Cream. (Graeters is the best ice cream EVER and it started in my dad's hometown of Cincinnati). He checked into the airlines regulations on Dry Ice and we decided to take the plunge.

Equipped with 6 pints of fantastic ice cream we made our way to the airport. Feeling good about it, I popped my cooler up on the counter where the nice lady told me "you can't take this on the plane" - to which I exclaimed "WHAT??, I HAVE to" She proceeded to tell me that Dry Ice was allowed, but it needed to be in a vented cooler.

We asked if we could vent the Styrofoam with holes (the answer was no) and other ideas. Feeling grumpy about it, we checked our baggage and I headed to the USO (one nice perk about being military). The nice lady there tried to help us, but we realized quickly that the post office and local Fed Ex were already closed (it was Saturday afternoon). SO, after a long process we decided to leave the ice cream with the USO. (and I made sure to mention that the guy in there that had just gotten back from Iraq got first dibs).

All in all, the outcome was good, but still sad we never made it to Colorado with the hometown treat. :)

Columbus Zoo 1

One of the highlights of being in Columbus for me is always taking a visit to the Columbus Zoo (I heart Jack Hannah). This year we made it a family affair. Kiefer (and his parents) joined Nana, Poppi, the girls and I for a fun filled day of animals.

The girls and Kiefer, likely discussing something very important.

Part of our clan at the end of the day - enjoying lifesaver popcicles. mmmmm.

Olivia with Nana

Alessandra enjoying her popcicle

Dave and Shannon (parents of Kiefer)

Kiefer (a kid with a really bad attitude, as you can plainly see)

The whole group (minus me)

Me and Kiefer beefer (he is clearly holding an "L" for loser auntie up to his head..

A hot, but wonderful day at the zoo.

Hayden Falls 1

Right down the road from my moms house is a little park that has a little walking trail and water fall. Poppi and I took the girls one hot afternoon for a little woodsy entertainment.

Poppi walking with the girls

Olivia posing in front of the falls.

Alessandra getting a little help from Poppi - she loved all of the rocks and water.

And of course - lots of rock throwing

Alessandra throwing rocks also

Poppi and the girls

Heading down by the river

At the end we were told (by Olivia) that it was a great adventure, but next time it needs to be much longer. :)

The first few days and lots of Kiefer

So, the first few days in Ohio were good. Rough goings with the jet lag process, but the 3rd day in we all slept until 1:00pm so it worked out well.

Here is Olivia and Alessandra with Nana (Poppi in the background) while I am pulling out of the driveway for a visit with my college girls friends.

Alessandra and Kiefer in the Corvette. Kiefer didn't want to get out of the drivers seat.

Olivia spent the mornings at hoseback riding camp, so that left Alessandra as the eldest cousin. She took her roll and made Kiefer pull (or rather push) her around in the wagon.

One morning at breakfast while the television was on. Instant quiet. (and I just thought it was so funny that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse called this much attention.

And the obligatory silly shot. Olivia (of course)

Adorable Kiefer

and my other goofball Alessandra.

And off we go....

And we are off....

Here is Alessandra on our first flight of 3. Okinawa - Tokyo. The beginning of many lollipops and extensive snack treats.

Checking out the island from in the air...

Goodbye little island - see you in a few weeks!

Last Day of School

Feeling a little behind on blogging as of late... leave it to the fantastic bout of extensive travel! :) Here is Olivia on her lsat day of school (we left the day before school got out)

Here is Olivia with Ms. Byrom - her teacher.

Olivia with 2 of her friends (Genisis and Alexa) and Alessandra also hopped in the photo.