Fun in Shreveport

We had a lot of fun on the 4th of July complete with matching bathing suits, lots of pool time, and a ton of food!

  The girl cousins were treated to an afternoon of dress up courtesy of JP's stepsister, Karis.  She has a closet full of fun stuff that the girls loved and they looked great . . . ready for their first Chi-O formal.   

Happy 4th of July

Have a Berry Good Day!

Our week in Colorado was filled with many adventures as it was best to get out of the condo every day. I brought many activities for a rainy day but luckily (or unluckily since we had hoped for it) we never had a rainy day. Pagosa Springs is about an hour east of Durango and it's about another 1/2 an hour on to Mesa Verde from there. We took a day trip to Mesa Verde and toured Spruce Tree House where Bubba went into a reconstructed Kiva. He also received his Junior Ranger badge of course.

Mostly we took drives and hikes to see various waterfalls. The one below is Treasure Falls . . . .


JP also climbed Wolf Creek Pass on his bike while I kept the kids strapped in the van and drove up. At the top there was a little creek where the kids were able to play while we waited on him to finish. We then drove up a little further to an overlook where there was still some snow which was a big hit (until Bubba realized it was really cold on his incorrect choice of shoes).
We had a great time and most of all enjoyed the beauty of just being in the mountains and we learned that the easiest form of entertainment for restless children is to find some rocks and water!

8 Weeks Old

I am 8 weeks old today and have slept through the night the last two nights!  My Mommy & Daddy are really impressed and pleased with this development.  I try to be easy-going and am good at "going with the flow" or at least that is what they tell me.  I have really enjoyed being in Shreveport as I did not have to get in my car seat for two whole days!

Update

Hey Y'all (and yes I did say y'all . . . I'm in Louisiana now),
We arrived in Shreveport on Tuesday by way of Oklahoma and we should be around here or central Louisiana for a couple of weeks.  I'll be sure to share stories and pictures from all of our adventures in Colorado as soon as I can, but I'll provide a quick update this morning.

Luckily the folks at Wyndham Pagosa were able to move us to a larger unit in Colorado; everyone there was so accommodating and wonderful! Bedtime got a little easier the last couple of days and JP and I were able to sleep in a bed instead of the fold-out couch.  This also meant the kids were moved from their lush king size bed to a double which was interesting but it worked and I think everyone was happy with the move.

To get to Louisiana from Pagosa Springs meant we had to spend a night in a hotel but we determined that the gain for dollars spent on a hotel would be 0 and we were better losing sleep while driving rather than losing sleep while spending money.  Therefore we packed the car and loaded up at 4:30am to start driving when we left last Sunday with a pit stop destination of Edmond, OK.  We spent two nights there with longtime friends of the family and also got to visit with JP's grandmother.  Camp Kinaz was a lot of fun as they have granddaughters and the kids were happy to be around some new toys as well as a swimming pool!

Here in Shreveport we have spent two solid days swimming, eating, and visiting which is exactly what we came here to do.  We are looking forward to having more fun this weekend especially celebrating the 4th with the family.

Sleep

Since arriving in Pagosa sleep has become a prized commodity.  Before leaving on this trip Pickle was a challenge at bed time and it has only gotten worse being out of her element.  In our current configuration we have the elder kids sleeping in the bedroom while we are on the sofa bed but we can't put them in bed at the same time because Pickle keeps her brother awake.  We have tried different scenarios where we put one down and then the other and then tried the reverse order the next night, but the end result is they have both been awake most nights until 9:00.  The picture below shows how darn cute they are sleeping in the big bed together, but it does not reflect how long and how stressful it was to get them to that point.  In fairness Bubba will just go in there with his flashlight and read until he decides to go to sleep . . . we could even put him in the same room with the baby and all would be fine, but Pickle is just too distracted by anything and anyone in general!  If anyone out there has some advice as to how to get a 2 1/2 year old to stay in bed and go to sleep, please let us know!

  Since sleep has been short at night they both crash pretty quickly once we get in the car for any length of time.  The pictures below are during the return trip from Mesa Verde on Tuesday.  For a bit we had all 3 asleep at the same time but Baby Sissa woke up hungry and disturbed the older two . . . payback for sure!

Denver Leg

So our sojourn in the van took us up to Denver where some good friends of ours moved from Phoenix a few years back.  This was our first chance to visit them and they were kind enough to house and feed us during our travels.  Their son is a year and a half younger than our son and their daughter is about 6 weeks older than Pickle so it was a lot of fun for the kids to have some playmates and toys to entertain them.  We did many things but most involved neighborhood parks and bike riding.  Their neighborhood is very kid friendly and in the evenings after dinner they are often found riding the alleys while the adults socialize.

On Saturday we drove just outside of the city to Tiny Town which is a cute little park made up of tiny houses - many replicas of real Colorado buildings - and a small train for riding.

  All in all it was a great trip and boys and girls all had fun.  Pickle made a great friend and they had big fun having tea parties in the bathroom when parents weren't watching.