Thanksgiving in Colorado

We travelled to Colorado for our annual Thanksgiving trip and spent the whole week there. The trip west was easy since we bought seats for Isaac and Caitlin and they both slept for a good part of the flight. Isaac is so excited at the prospect of all the modes of transportation -- taxi, plane, train, and then usually bus to the rental car -- that he considers the travel the best part of the trip. Here's Isaac on the airport train. Caitlin just goes with the flow, but picks the most inopportune times to poop (usually during takeoff or landing). In any event, choosing a naptime flight was a great idea and Bill and I actually had some time to relax and read! We got to Colorado and headed straight to Boulder for a couple of days with Alli and Chad, which were great. Isaac especially loved playing with Uncle Chad's guitar and painting on his easel. Because Alli and Chad were gracious enough to lend us their car for the week, Isaac did not get to ride the rental car bus from the airport -- much to his dismay. So to make it up to him, we hopped on the city bus in Boulder and headed down to Pearl Street to walk around. He was appeased. Unfortunately we didn't take any good pics at Aunt Alli and Uncle Chad's house (we were generally awful about pics this trip -- the only ones we have are from my phone!).

This is the first big trip where Isaac didn't sleep in a pack-n-play, but we didn't bring his toddler air mattress because Grandma had a sleeping bag/air mattress for him. Well, since it didn't have the raised sides, we spent most of the first night picking Isaac up off the floor from wherever he rolled -- including all the way under the bed so only his feet were sticking out! Needless to say, the rest of the nights we blocked him in with pillows and whatever else we could find :)
Since we were on east coast time, our family was up earlier than our hosts, so we headed out early in the morning the first few days, to breakfast and to the local library. Let's just say the Boulder library is a LOT nicer than DC's. We even stuck around for story-time, which both kids loved. Here are some pics at the library -- Isaac and Caitlin walking around like they own the place and Alli helping Cate pick out a book.

Next stop was Uncle Evan and Aunt Adrienne's house (also in Boulder) where we had a great time making a feast, playing at the park with the dogs, making "milk-shakers", and banging on the piano keys to make great music.

Finally, we headed to Denver for the remainder of the trip so the kids could play with their cousins and Grandma, and we could prepare for the Thanksgiving feast. Aunt Jen's house is nirvana for kids with a gazillion toys, lots of soft carpet, and the ability to play out front without the fear of getting run over by a garbage truck. The kids had a great time together over the next few days eating together, playing at the park, having "sleep-overs" in each other's rooms, and getting spoiled by Grandma. We all had fun watching them too, and even got some cute pictures of all of them together. Since we had more time than usual in Denver (normally we head to Vail for Thanksgiving) we explored lots of kid activities and had a great time at the awesome Denver Kids Museum and at Monkey Business where the kids get to jump and play until they are exhausted.

I don't have any pictures of the actual Thanksgiving feast, but here are the kids all dressed up and ready to chow at Jen's sister-in-law's house. The food was amazing and the kids did great, even though we kept them up super-late.

Now, the most exciting part of the trip -- Isaac went skiing!! Bill, Evan and Adrienne took Isaac up to Loveland, got him all geared up, and hit the Green Slopes with him (and a very handy harness). They were prepared to get him all suited up and have to head back if he was scared, but he was a total trooper and did AWESOME! Because they had a harness, they could grab him for the chair lift and help guide him on the skis, which totally prevented a LOT of falls. Bill and Evan took turns skiing backwards in front of him, and by the end, he was totally doing it on his own. They were so proud of him and they all had a great day.

This video is long, but we have no clue how to edit it. If you skip ahead to about 45 seconds in, you see Isaac skiing on his own.

Overall, a hectic but wonderful trip. We also got in good QT with Aunt Kristin and the Kruse family, but unfortunately I have no pictures :(

Of course the kids were totally adjusted to Colorado time by the time we headed back east, which made for some rough mornings getting us all up and out the door, but it was worth it!

Puerto Rico and Camp Garcia

Bill and I escaped to Puerto Rico for 3 days for my 35th birthday, which was WONDERFUL. We had a very relaxing and fun trip with lots of downtime on the beach, uninterrupted conversation, and SLEEP!! Don't we look relaxed?

Meanwhile, the kids had their own vacation at la Casa Garcia (Cesi's house). Coincidentally, Lusa's parents were away also, so they basically had a 3 day stint at sleepaway camp with Isaac, Caitlin, Lusa, Mae and Cesi's niece and nephew. No clue how they all fit, but it sounds like they did lots of laughing and playing and all was well when we returned. These are a few pics Cesi sent us of all the kids playing and feasting and (not) sleeping :)

We took full advantage of the WIFI at the St. Regis and used our Ipad to video-chat with Caitlin from the beach. We definitely got some funny looks from the others at the bar when I started singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider", but a Mom will do anything to make her baby smile, right?? This is the picture we snapped of the video-chat (not very flattering, but you get the point).

Overall a great (and much-needed) vacation for us, and a fun weekend for the kids. We were all definitely happy to see each other at the end of it though. I think 3 days is just enough...for now.

Halloween

Halloween was on a Monday this year, which meant I got to spend the day with the kids and didn't have to rush home to get them ready. Isaac stayed home from school because he was fighting off a bug, but Bill and I didn't have the heart to cancel trick or treating, so we decided to let him go but try to keep it short. Isaac was psyched to dress up as Lightning McQueen (from Cars) and while Caitlin liked her dress, she wasn't too keen on wearing the Abby Cadabby (from Sesame Street) wings or hair for Halloween (although Cesi got her to wear them the next day!).

Once they were dressed up and Bill got home, we headed to "Hilloween" at Eastern Market to meet up with friends and jump around in the bouncy houses before heading to East Capitol for some speed trick-or-treating. Isaac was a pro, running straight to the door and saying the magic words before grabbing some candy. Caitlin tried to keep up (although she still struggles with stairs) and got her fair share too. They were both troopers, but a few houses in, we decided to call it a night to get the kids out of the cold and give them a chance to give out candy.

This is the greeting that the trick-or-treaters got -- Isaac, Caitlin, and Wilson fighting to be the first to the door and then Isaac and Caitlin fighting over who got to give out the candy. Hopefully the recipients weren't too upset to find that most of the candy had bite marks as a result of our dear children's enthusiasm :)

I don't have many pictures, but Kristin came to spend time with us the weekend leading up to Halloween. She spoiled them both during a "toy run" to Target, and won both kids over easily with the charm she used on Jen, Alli and I almost 30 years ago when she was our babysitter!

Unfortunately, the "bug" Isaac was fighting off turned into a 104 degree fever with a horrible cough that led to a day-long doctor's appointment, chest x-ray, and ultimately bronchitis. After a week of nebulizer treatments and prednisone he recovered well --and generously passed it on to Caitlin. These are pictures of the two of them dutifully sitting through their nebulizer treatments.

Fortunately, they are both pretty much recovered and back to running wild around our house.

Schrutts Take DC

Jen, Jaden, Talia and Arielle flew in from Colorado to spend a long weekend in DC, and Isaac and Caitlin couldn't have been more excited to have so much time to hang with their cousins. As a bonus, Papa Rich and Mom-Mom came in for one of the nights (one was enough for them!). We packed a lot into the weekend, including an adventure on the metro, the Natural History Museum, Eastern Market, and lots of playtime at our house and on the playground. The kids all got along great, and it was awesome to have them staying right downstairs in our basement. It was total chaos and total fun, and we can't wait to see them again for Thanksgiving.