Tuesday, December 16, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!















Last night we took Carter to see Santa! We knew it would not go as well and as quietly as it did last year, but we did it anyway! We waited for about 30 minutes and it was finally our turn to visit! As we got closer to him, I felt the hold get tighter and by the time we were upon him, I was being choked! She got a bit upset with me when I put her in his lap and looked at us like we were absolutely crazy! It was that silent cry for about 5 seconds, where you know the next noise is going to break some windows when it finally gets out! We got the picture and she is all better now! We got home and let her open her gifts from mommy and daddy! All 2 of them! She was so excited to rip the paper! She got a Noah's Ark Little People set with all of the animals.
We leave on Thursday night at midnight to fly home for Christmas for 13 days! Wish us luck with the all night flight! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

San Francisco Treat!































We visited San Francisco last week! It was a blast! We got there on Thursday and stayed our first night at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Half Moon Bay, about 30 minutes from the city. Our room faced the ocean with a fire pit on the patio of our room. The hotel sat on a huge cliff that dropped into the ocean. It was super cool, but a bit fancy for us! And we felt a little out of place with a 16 month old running in circles around us! Carter got to run on the beach and play! It was her first trip to the beach ever! She was a bit intimidated for about the first 5 seconds, then she was ready to dive in! On Friday we drove to San Francisco and stayed at Fisherman's Warf. We had our first cable car ride that night!! Carter held on tight like she was a pro at cable cars! Brad had a conference to go to a couple of days, so Carter and I shopped til we dropped! And what a place to shop--6 story Macy's and 8 story malls! It was pretty cool shopping! We took Carter to visit the Macy's holiday window a few times! They had small houses set up with cats and dogs for adoption in the windows! She LOVED it! She would shout "DOG! DOG!" when she saw them. On Sunday we saw Ghirardelli Square! mmmmmm...and had a big butterscotch and caramel sundae. On Monday we (well it was kinda my idea that I regret now!) went to the Haight and Ashbury area. It is where the hippie movement began! My guess is that it hasn't changed much since the 60's! It was quite frightening for my southern sheltered self! We quickly boarded a bus soon after arriving there and headed back to "our part of the town!" We went to Pier 39 and had lunch and got a ticket for the boat ride under the Golden Gate Bridge and around the island of Alcatraz! That was really fun to see the bridge that close and go under it. We saw the sea lions at the pier and Carter learned what a sea lion says! "Arrr, Arrr!" We rode the cable car again that night to eat and on the way back to the hotel, Carter was yelling at people walking across the street "HEY! HEY! HIEEE!" It was pretty funny! We really had a good time there, but I am sure glad we don't live there!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

















We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Breckenridge with most of Brad's family (14 of them). We rented a big log cabin close to the base of the ski slopes. Carter sledded for the first time (she laughed the whole time!) and Brad and I went skiing! We got about 10 inches of snow in 2 days. It was pretty fun, until the drive home! It is about 76 miles to Breckenridge, but it took 6 hours to get back to Denver. 3 hours into the trip home, we had made it about 8 miles! The snow was blowing and traffic was at a stand still. We sat outside of the Eisenhower tunnel (about 11,000 ft) for about 2 hours waiting to get through! We were oxygen deprived and feeling a bit nauseated! But it was a pretty fun time!
The cabin had a juke box! Carter LOVED it!! We turned it on and she danced like a wild woman! Her favorite song was Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier!" She now goes around saying "ay ay ay, ay yayaya!" It is pretty funny!