First Halloween!

Sam and I are not generally big fans of Halloween, but when you have a kiddo, suddenly it's easy to get excited about the costumes and candy and such. It all started when my mom sent Ryan a musical card:

It plays "Purple People Eater", which is a song I used to LOVE when I was little (we had it on a little 45, how old am I?!). Ryan likes to open the card just long enough to hear the first line, then close it again. Then he opens it, listens to the first line, then closes it again. And on and on and on. He's actually only heard the "one-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater" line a couple of times!

I decided to dress Ryan as a cowboy for Halloween, mainly because it was easy. I found the boots at Wal-mart, the shirt at Children's Place. I already had the bandanna, but where to get a pint-sized cowboy hat? Why, Build-A-Bear Workshop, of course! I never did find an enormous belt buckle... but he did have a pony!

Belmar, the local outdoor shopping area, hosted a Trick or Treat Street this afternoon. You go around to all the stores and get candy, coupons, balloons, etc. (oh, yes, we got a balloon!).

We met up with that wildcat MacKenzie...

and tried on part of her costume...


but we like our hat better...


Ooh, sepia... like those Olde Tyme Photos at Silver Dollar City...


David and his parents joined in the festivities, too...

One of the stops was a restaurant called - you'll never guess - Elephant Bar. Go figure, they have a giant elephant in the lobby.

We bellied up to the bar at Las Margaritas to say hi to a friend of MacKenzie's daddy...

And that was how we celebrated Halloween 2009...

We actually intended to take Ryan around our cul-de-sac this evening to show him off/meet the neighbors, but he hasn't been feeling well the last couple of days (ear infection and sniffles) so we stayed in and passed out candy.

October Snowstorm & Giggly Ryan

While it's not rare to get snow in Colorado before Halloween (indeed, "you know you're from Colorado when your Halloween costume is designed to fit over a parka"), this much is unusual:

Wednesday at 3 pm

Thursday at 8 am

We took Ryan out to play in the snowdrifts (here you can see Ryan's new top tooth!).

Neighbors Lyndsay and Ali

We're doing all right and staying warm - Ryan is pretty easy to amuse, as these two videos attest:

Hut Trippin'

This weekend we took Ryan on his very first hut trip. Colorado has a series of backcountry cabins up in the central mountains that you access by hiking (or skiing/snowshoeing) in. We've done some real ugly hikes (7 miles in single digit temperature blizzard conditions) on hut trips before, so when we started talking about taking the kiddos on one, I looked for a "family-friendly" cabin.

From huts.org: While located far enough from paved roads to keep a backcountry mood, the cabins of Shrine Mountain Inn are perhaps the least difficult 10th Mountain "ski in" huts to access. An ideal first hut trip, these cabins are 2.7 miles from Interstate Highway 70, Vail Pass Trailhead.

Indeed, we could see and hear I-70 for the first 3/4 mile of the trail.

Here's Sam getting Ryan all togged out in his cold weather gear. Yes, there was snow on the ground, but nothing major... not at first, anyway!

Snug as a bug in the Kelty backpack - no, his arm isn't twisted, we didn't put his thumb in the thumb part of the mitten! You can't tell from the photo, but he really did enjoy riding in the carrier - he only fussed once but that stopped as soon as we caught up to the other kids.

Shrine Mountain Inn consists of three cabins, each big enough for 12 people. We were in Walter's cabin with the Wedlakes and their 3 year old daughter Sophia and 5 year old Luke and the McGraths with 5 year old Evan and 7 year old Megan.

Kidpile on top of Kevin and Shannon McGrath, with (from left) Megan, Luke, Sophia (in pink, hidden), Evan and Ryan.

Inside, looking out (or is it outside, looking in?)

The Haces (with baby Will), Max and Suzy, and Chris and Katya with 13 mo old Nicole were downstairs at Chuck's.

Heidi and Will resting after the hike in

These are certainly the least rustic huts we've been in - our room even had an antique Singer sewing machine as a bedside table. With hot running water and flush toilets, they are my new favorites!

The hike in was tough for the 3 and 5 year olds - Sophia and Evan got a few shoulder rides from Max and Sam. We figure Paul and Kevin will reciprocate when Ryan is that age! It snowed on us for a 1/2 hour or so, but it still wasn't too cold.

The huts have open floor plans with lots of room to gather for group meals. This the upstairs of Walter's cabin. You can kinda see the snow that had started to fall (fortunately, after we were all safely in for the night!).

Here we are eating breakfast on Sunday morning. Not sure how the flags fit into the rustic decor, but there they were.

My bed-head boys

I was a little nervous about how much snow had fallen overnight, but we decided to hike back along the road instead of the trail. HELLO? There's a road that goes RIGHT up to the cabins? We could have driven to the cabins? Why didn't anyone tell me that earlier?!

It was sunny and not too cold, which definitely made for an easier trek. The bruises on my shoulders and hips have almost faded (hey, that kid's not light!), and we've already started talking about next year's trip!

[thanks to Suzy for most of the pictures!]

Family Photos

Last weekend we headed up to Green Mountain again, this time with Beth Wedlake for some professional family photos. She is a wizard with the camera!

Check out the slideshow - in a couple of shots you can see Ryan's new upper tooth!

Playin' Around

It is impossible not to have fun with Ryan - he's almost always giddily happy. On Saturday night, Ryan and Sam babysat MacKenzie while her parents went out and I attended a work function.

Oh, Kenz, you're such a card!

On Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Festival with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Nancy. It was almost 80 degrees that day!

Ryan found a soft spot in this pumpkin and enjoyed poking his fingers in it.

It was so hot we headed for the shade and the cool spring water.

Ryan loves waterfalls!

On Monday evening I came home from work to discover that Ryan has begun channeling Clapton. Today - Lakewood; tomorrow - Madison Square Garden!

The weather was still nice so we took a walk down to our neighborhood elementary school to try out this "sliding" thing. There were three different heights - one he could go down with me spotting him, one he rode on my lap, and one he rode with Daddy. He gave it two thumbs up!

99 Red Balloons

Actually, just one red balloon. Ryan went grocery shopping with me this morning, and they give out free helium balloons. Here's more proof that the best toys are free (and have no batteries!):

"Oh, there's that pretzel I was chipmunking..."

Changing Seasons

So it snowed here over the weekend, and was beastly cold. Quite a change from the 85 degrees we experienced in Kauai mere days ago... We hunkered down at home, moving summer clothes to storage and turning on the fireplace. Today was [slightly] warmer, so I bundled Ryan up and we headed up to Green Mountain to scout locations for a future photo shoot with Beth Wedlake.

Kauai Dreamin'

We came back to cool weather and the leaves changing colors. I am not ready for fall, so I keep going back to our pictures from Kauai. You can see the full album here.

Ryan at Anini Beach