I hope you were sitting down

It's true! It's an updated post...more than a year overdue. I wanted to post some pictures of our trip to Colorado over the Christmas break. We had so much fun with Corey's family. We had a little trouble getting there after a big snow storm hit Kansas City and Kansas State pretty hard. We ended up staying a night in Hays because they actually closed down I-70. Well it was closed until right after we checked into our hotel, if we would have kept driving we would have been fine. But we didn't know, and it's much better to be safe and warm in a hotel with an indoor pool than to chance being stuck on the highway in sub freezing temps.

I was so proud and thankful at how well Sydney took to skiing. We put her in ski lessons the first day at a place called Ski Cooper. It's a smaller place about 30 minutes from Beaver Creek and half the cost of lessons there. Syd was right at the pace I like to go when we skied at Beaver Creek the following two days...sticking to the Greens, taking on a easy Blue now and then. I think she will probably leave me in her snow spray next time we go. Which is fine with me, Sydney loved skiing and I'm glad that Corey has someone who can share his love for of it. I'll schedule myself a massage next time and meet them at the bottom of the slopes with hot cocoa and a beer. :)

Hannah loved spending her days with cousin Cullen, Grammy and Aunt Julie. We all met back at the end of each day to have dinner prepared by a different family each night and fun games afterward. There were 11 adults and 3 kids total in 3 different condos. The rooms were Candy and Terry's Christmas gift to all of us this year and what a wonderful gift it was. We will keep those memories with us for a long time.

We laughed until we cried playing games most nights and one particular night when we were playing Catch Phrase, guys against girls, it was down to the last clue and you knew it was the last clue 'cause the timer was beeping so fast. Corey was delivering the clues and not having much luck, "Another name for Big Foot, Big hairy monster, Hairy creature", he was getting some guesses but none were the one he needed. The girls thought we had this round in the bag then Andrew, who been in the bathroom, throws open the bathroom door with his pants half buttoned, yelling "Sasquatch! Sasquatch!", just as the buzzer went off. Needless to say the boys ended up winning that round, but we will take the loss for that one. It's a moment that will deliver side splitting laughter years to come...just at the word "Sasquatch!".

Z is for Zoo!

Friday Sydney had the day out for school so we used the afternoon to take some time off work and take the girls to the zoo. It was a great day to go, it wasn't too crowded, the weather couldn't have been better and because it was so nice all the animals were out too. Hannah loved feeding the giraffes...and Sydney liked it. The raccoons were very excited to see us and we thought it must be because somehow they knew Sydney's soccer team was called the Maroon Raccoons, but we found out that is was almost dinner time when we walked up and they probably thought we were there to bring food. The best part of the day was when we ran into a friend who I grew up with at church who now works at the zoo. She let the girls come right up to the fence of the deer and feed them a whole bag of carrots. We then got to go over to the Mountain Lion cage and Sydney got to pet a Mountain Lion. It was through the fence, she wasn't actually in the cage with them. They would rub up against the fence like a cat does against your leg and Sydney would put her hand right up against the fence to pet it as it walked by. Hannah didn't stick around for that part though. When the girls first got up close to the fence the male and female Mountain Lions had a few words with each other because the didn't want to share the attention. Hannah decided she didn't like that and quickly changed her mind about being that close to a big kitty kitty.

A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon

Sunday afternoon, after church and after naps, we headed out to the new Ruteledge-Wilson Farm. We hadn't been out there before and we were impressed with all the things to do. They have lots of farm animals to look at including two HUGE pigs and some roosters and chickens. Hannah was a fan of all the animals especially the rooster. She started to get a little too close to the fence and I was afraid she might get pecked at and then she and the rooster would no longer be friends, luckily that didn't happen. Sydney was very proud of the frame she made with the fall flowers glued to it. We then headed to the play ground and let the girls run around for a while. The only problem with the afternoon was that I think everyone else in Springfield had the same idea as us and the place was very crowded, we will pick another day and try to go back again hopefully when everyone else doesn't have the same idea.

What a fun weekend!

Saturday morning started with Sydney's soccer game after my run. Aunt Missy was in town so she and Hannah got to watch the game from the sidelines with Grandma and Papa. After the game Corey and Hannah went home for a nap and Sydney and I went to Michael's to make a free jeweled American Girl t-shirt for her American Girl doll. Saturday night was the big event, Sydney and I went to see High School Musical at the Springfield Little Theatre. I'm always impressed with the productions they have there. We really enjoyed ourselves and the show. I think the most memorable part of the show was when a little girl in front of us, probably around 5, farted around an unusually quite time in the show. I think everyone in the balcony heard it. Sydney looked at me and smiled, but we had a good laugh about it when we got in the car after the show.

Sunday after church we went to Grandma and Papa's for lunch before Mis left and after lunch we went down to the dock at the lake to feed the fish. That's always fun, there are these HUGE fish, maybe Carp, and there are so many of them and they are so big and they create a layer of sucking lips across the top of the water that ducks can walk across. It's really pretty weird looking and I do have fear of falling into the water and being sucked to my death.