Updates through pictures.

We were lucky enough to get Carole for a whole week out here and we managed to sneak out for an afternoon and head up to the aquarium in Denver.

We ate lunch at the seafood restaurant in the aquarium first (which I think is the most backwards thing I have ever heard of, but the food was good and the giant aquarium at our table that even included a Mermaid show was awesome).

Look at the trepidation in Austin wanting to touch the mermaids hands but not quite being sure if it's a good idea.

Look at this ham-bone attempting to smile at me. :-) 

And this one with her true "Crystal smile". 

This was Tyler's facial expression the whole time, kind of tired...kind of scared.

Austin making friends with the turtle.

They even have a tiger at the aquarium.

Marmee taking pictures of the fish and the girls mesmerized by her.

It's not a great picture due to the glare but since sharks are my favorite animal I had to include this picture.

And of course there was a bounce house outside that we had to jump in.

Oh yeah and look what followed us home from Denver on Saturday...poor big beast needed a good home. :-)



And the perfect spot for...

And the reading nook happens to just be the perfect spot for the hanging mobile that Kimberly sent from Turkey.

Girls weekend

Joe was in Vegas this weekend so we had a girls weekend with just us hanging out.  I took it as a great time to do some crafts with the girls.  Everyone asked what my plans were this weekend, you know since I would have the house all to myself...I of course laughed at this because number one I am never alone and number two days broken up by snacks and naps fly by in the blink of an eye.  :-D

Look at how big Tyler is, she can sit on the couch with her sister and watch a movie for minutes. :-)  I used to think they didn't look anything alike but now I see the resemblance more and more everyday.

We made these garden turtles, Austin handed me each jewel so I could glue them on...you can imagine what a time commitment that was.

We have had some torrential rain the last couple of days, here's Lake DiFabio in the back yard.  Yep that's not my camera being blurry all of that grey grass is standing in close to a foot of water.

We constructed a reading nook complete with fuzzy pillows and Christmas lights.  You can laugh now because yes Austin is wearing snow pants that she found in storage...why wouldn't see be, duh! :-)

Updates from Colorado

First to update about the fire, we are now at 95% containment and 346 homes destroyed, two lives lost and it burned 18,247 acres.  Here are some pictures of what used to be homes.

I think the best part about this fire has been the support of the city, sometimes...unfortunately....it takes an event like this to have people stand together.  The firefighters work 16 hour days and head up to the fire in caravans once in the morning and once at night.  Every day there is a giant crowd gathered to bid them farewell and another giant crowd to welcome them home.  100's upon 1,000's of people line the streets waving and holding up signs thanking them for their work.  There isn't a day when you can open the paper and not read about a truly inspirational story of hope and perseverance.  Our food bank just hit the 1 million pound mark for donations and all over the city there has been benefits and fund raising.  Personally I can't wait until they open the burn area back up so we as a city can start replanting our forest.

We had BIG day in our little world the other day.  Little Sister is finally big enough to sit in the "special" carts with Austin at the grocery store.  Holy cow the excitement in the air was palpable from both of them.

For the 4th of July we went and spent the day with my folks on their boat.  I am absolutely positive of the fact that both girls are "boat people" they love the water, the wind in their hair and zooming along the wake.