Raising Cubs in a Campground

I don't know what I was thinking signing the babies up for a 9:00 Early Childhood class. Grant was able to squeeze in a morning snooze because he woke up at 5:30, but Julia slept until 7:00. She was very good during class - stealing everyone's hearts as usual. I didn't realize it was a separating class where we left the room completely. I didn't leave Sam until he was almost 2! Both babies did great though, but were happy to see me return. Julia was asleep in her carseat before I even had Sam buckled in. Julia's new friend Aaron. He really liked her. The Bang-Bang song! We know that one!

Not blogging during the day has put me behind in my posts. In an effort to catch up quickly I'm going to lump our weekend together rather than break stuff up. I also still have two more days in Denver to write about when I can find the time. You can read about why I'm not blogging as much in the comments of this post . I am also busy cleaning out our house. The clutter is overtaking our home and with some "new" furniture coming in it's a good time to purge of extra things to make room for the upgrades. We have already switched out the entertainment center and my desk. Now I get to blog from my Grandfather's desk. It's huge and for the moment not littered with papers. The only reason it isn't buried under eight inches of clutter is that the stuff from my old desk is "neatly" sorted into various grocery bags scattered around the house. I'm definitely in the stage where I'm making more of a mess before I make any noticeable pro...

She especially likes to play this when she's eating. The result - food smeared from ear to ear and from her chin to her curls.

This is the first strawberry Sam grew in his garden this summer. He was kind enough to let me have a taste. It was soooooo juicy and very yummy!!! All this heat and wind is drying out our container garden very quickly. It takes Sam 4 trips with his little watering can 2 times a day to drench his thirsty plants. Maybe I shouldn't have sold my watering can at the garage sale. I am in awe of how fast everything is growing. The pumpkin in the 5 gallon bucket has doubled in size just since we left for vacation. The lettuce that Sam planted has already been used in a few BLTs.

I had envisioned doing a slide show of some of my best Brian -with-the-kids shots, but that would keep me away from my family even longer so I'm keeping this short and sweet. This Indian legend give me goosebumps every time and hits home what a loving heavenly Father we all have. The legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage His father takes him into the forest.... blindfolded....and leaves him....alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night, and not take off the blindfold until the sun shines through it. He is all by himself. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience. Each lad must come into his own manhood. The boy was terrified...could hear all kinds of noise...Beasts were all around him. Maybe even some human would hurt him. The wind blew the grass and earth...and it shook his stump. But he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only ...

What a way to start the day!!! Our hotel had waffle irons available for guests to make themselves fresh waffles every morning. Yum! Julia's safe from her brother in here. Her happy place or has Sharon calls it - JoJo Jail. "Now THIS is my happy place. Thanks for springing me from my jail Sharon!" It was too nice out to sit in the hotel waiting for the reception to start so we drove around until we found a park. Lisa and Olen got married in St. Thomas back in March. Then on June 9th in Arvada, Colorado they hosted the most family friendly wedding reception I've ever been to. Julia went to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel, but Sam still had enough energy left in him to take a dip in the hotel's heated pool. Brrrrr! It was cold when we got out! Better get to bed Sam! There's more fun in store for Day 4.

This is the site I was greeted with when I went into Julia's room this morning. How could I not smile back? It's a good thing she's cute because she kept us up from 3-5 early this morning. I've heard that when babies learn something new they sometimes won't sleep well because they want to keep practicing that new skill. Julia is proving that to be true. I caught Julia sitting up on her knees with the video monitor yesterday. Two seconds later I was upstairs retrieving her from this dangerous situation and making a mental note to lower her crib before bedtime. She's one determined little girl! Why do kids want the dog food anyway??? Things on my to-do list for today: 1. Julia-proof the house 2. Order mesh crib bumper so Julia's legs won't get stuck anymore

This is how day two of our vacation started - with a long car ride to Colorado Springs. We took full advantage though, and for the first three days all the kids naps were taken in the car. See that snow capped mountain in the distance? That's where Brian's parents and sister were headed. They rode a cogwheel train to the top of Pike's Peak . If you look at their website and scroll down a ways you'll see in bold letters BE CAREFUL! ESPECIALLY WITH SMALL CHILDREN. That is why Brian and I skipped that attraction and spent the morning at Garden of the Gods instead. After a quick stop back at the hotel we were off to the Bride and Groom's house for dinner. We tucked the kids in by 9 (a full two hours later than normal) and got some much needed rest ourselves. (I love staying in hotels and getting a bed all to myself!) The whole point of the trip - the wedding reception - was scheduled for the next day.....

13 recent happening in the Pauly household: 1. Julia can get into a sitting position by herself. 2. Her 6 th tooth popped through this morning. 3. Sam ate his first strawberry from his garden. 4. He is now consistently telling us when he needs to sit on the potty. On vacation of all places he started staying dry all day. 5. and it only got better - He did his first #2 on the potty in Denver. Today he's told me three times that he needed to go. Maybe that's my cue to lay off the fruit for a bit. 6. Our Christmas tree is FINALLY out of our front yard. (How pathetic is that?) 7. Our luggage arrived from Denver so.... 8. Let the laundry begin (it wasn't lost - just riding home in the van with Brian's parents) 9. Julia had her first taste of Brewer's Yeast and cherries (yes, I know I'm not suppose to do more than one thing every four days, but sometimes I get too impatient) 10. Julia is starting to put her butt up in the air and rocking back and forth...

Sam came upstairs with me to get Grant up from his morning nap and leaning over the pack-n-play said, "Hello Mr. Grant." I think he's too tiny to be a Mister quite yet.

We left for the airport at 4:30 and had a great flight. We got to ride the train to baggage claim. Bonus! I love how Julia is holding on like the recording said to. We were all super excited to see Daddy!! Together at last. We spent 4 hours at the Denver Zoo. Boy is that a cool place! The weather was perfect! My first ride on a Merry-Go-Round animal in decades . The best part of going to the zoo is seeing it through the eyes of my children. Bonding with Grandma Yummy Ice Cream!!! Where's mine? I love this one of Sam and Grandma on the train. These were some of our favorite animals: As expected we were exhausted by the end of the day and went to the hotel to check in and hopefully get a good nights rest. Mission accomplished! The kids both went to sleep well and slept through the night. Good thing too because the next day was just as busy......