Sunday, January 31, 2016

Cold Colorado

Second Daughter found a great deal on flights to Colorado, so she and I and her two kids went to Denver to visit my sister!  Of all my siblings, this sister is the one who enjoys being with family the most.....and typically, she is the one who lives furthest away from our family home of Mesa.  She occasionally moans a bit that we never visit, so we decided to invade her home.   
Granddaughter J had never seen snow fall.  Colorado granted her wish in a generous way.  We enjoyed two full days of falling snow, and she was able to catch a snow flake on her tongue, which was her primary goal!  I am afraid is wasn't quite as amazing as she anticipated, but playing in the snow was Great!
 
 

They couldn't find buckets so cups substituted.

A lovely snow castle was made

These cousins got to meet too.  I suspect our troupes  were a bit over whelming for them.
After the snow slowed down the first day, I came out and J discovered the joy of making a snow man...or woman.
It was perfect snow for snow man construction.  She was surprised at how the little ball grew just from being rolled around.

It's heavy too!

"We're going to need help here to stack the balls!"

It was fun to hang out with another cousin, although this one has been down to visit AZ.

Behold our snow lady... with leafy hair

Cute ladies!

Some cousins can be pests though! (They really got along wonderfully!  It was just too cute a photo to skip!)

Brother took possession of the jumping ball!
On Sat. we went down to Colo. Springs for a baby shower!  It was lots of fun, but even better was going to Liana's house.  Her place has hills just right for very young first time sledders. It was a blast!

The first challenge was walking in the snow!

Then they had to learn to get on the sled and push off.




This grin never stopped from there!  Love at first slide!



I took way too many photos, but you can see why!
To begin with, Mom hauled the sleds back up the hill.


Very quickly independence asserted itself and adults just watched.




And joined in!




We kept joking that the baby would slide right out.....



Oh what fun was had by all!

A snow angel appeared!
 Then our AZ kids were introduced to a snow ball fight!  What rapture!  You were Allowed to throw these things at adults and they didn't get mad, just threw balls Back at you!

Getting hit was almost as fun as hitting someone else...at least to M.


Grammy is a bad shot and kept catching him in the face but he Loved it!




Eating snow was forbidden to her....lots of dogs live in the complex, you understand, but Mom said it was okay off of the bushes!

We tried to get a group photo...too many moving parts!


The best we got!

I had to get one of the fake and real icicles!
The joke was on us....That baby came that evening!
Such fun!

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Cowboy Castillos...a family photo picnic

The tradition continues!  It appears that the best time to get our family together is during the holidays.  Out-of-towners visit family so it is less a special trip although this year Todd drove up from Tucson so we could have representatives from his family even though his wife was not feeling well. The theme was 'cowboy' so we had the photos at Usery Pass Park.  That was especially fitting.  Usery Pass is where Rod proposed to me and we agreed to begin this amazing family!  Get him to tell you the story one day! 

We don't have the official portrait yet but these are the candid shots I took of the picnic part!
(disclaimer:  I reserve the right to post way toooo many photos!  These kids are just so cute, I can't resist)



As you can see, the adults mostly sat, ate and visited!  The kids, however, thoroughly enjoyed the park and playing with each other.
 
 

Getting into the theme?

Ahh, that's better!

The Wach men did it up Right!

Uncle Eric always remembers to bring the best toy!  The kids cheerfully took turns and pulled/pushed each other around on this 'trike' nonstop!

Real He-men!

climbing was another popular activity


This is so you can see it really was up quite high!



Weston was a chief mover of the trike, pushing almost everyone

and pulling!







Finally, a cactus you can touch!

 
 


 These girls know how to pose! So photogenic!


Uncle Eric got a ride too!  It's only just!

Penny was a popular person to hold!


Uncle Todd took special advantage of the chance to play with kids he doesn't see often...."the adults know and remember me but I have to make special memories with these little ones"




Guess you can tell who the fun uncles are!

Siblings!

She knows how to grab my heart!

Love those busy little darlings!


We so loved getting to spend time together.  I am glad we had a photo just for the time together it gave us!

Till next time!