Friday, April 30, 2010

sylvi's turn


it would only be fair, considering tomorrow is dance recital day, to give sylvi her time in the tutu spotlight! nanny brought this tutu for sylvi when she came to visit, so we figured it was a good enough reason to let her dance around and take some pictures. especially after seeing isa trying on her recital costume, and carrying around one of her leotards all afternoon, sylvi was ready for her own show!

happy eighteen months sylvi!

guess who is officially a year and half old? hard to believe huh? it's been so busy around here that we forgot to add a special sylvi post on wednesday, but here it is now! the fact that she is eighteen months old is crazy to us-- seems like just yesterday that we brought her home. cliche but true.
sylvi at eighteen months is alot of fun. alot of energy. alot to keep up. just a whole lot of sylvi in general! she is really hard to keep up with these days and it only takes a second for her to be out of sight and getting into trouble. she is a big climber, so we have to keep an eye on her for that, especially when it comes to tables and chairs (i.e. up in the chair and then on top of the table). need less to say, she keeps us on our toes. she is also in the "running away is fun" stage and gets alot of enjoyment out of taking off, full speed, whenever she has the chance. we are starting to see more of the little attitude as well. granted, it's pretty minor compared to a certain preschooler, but it's attitude none the less! she is particularly well versed at giving you "the look" anytime you do something she doesn't approve of.
as we expected, she is even more enamored with isa and wants to do every thing that isa does. this is actually pretty useful because if isa is around, sylvi is totally entertained and usually happy to immitate and tag along. she calls her sister "Issie" (sounds like E-see) and gets really excited when she sees her after preschool or naptime or any time they've been apart for more than ten minutes! luckily isa is pretty amenable to this, atleast for now, and we are glad for that.
you can't see it in these pictures, but sylvi is working on a mouth full of teeth! ouch! she has three that have just come through the skin and another on the way, so that makes eight teeth total-- six of which have come in since last month. thank goodness for advil.
so there you have it, the roo at eighteen months! happy half birthday roo, we love you!!!
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

the show goes on

despite all the craziness that is our life at the moment, life continues to go on as normal as well. for isa this means ballet every week and her first recital this saturday. wow! her little costume has been hanging in her closet for a few weeks and while she asks atleast once a day to take it out and play with it, she's been really patient! she's been looking forward to dancing on stage in a costume since we went to the Nutcracker last winter, so she's pretty excited about her class' performance on saturday. and she's doubly excited that Nanny is here to watch her too! rest assured we will be armed with camera, video, cellphone, you name it... this first will not go undocumented!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

poor sad neglected ole blog

yep, that describes it well these days. as you can tell, we're on a bit of a blog hiatus-- not because we want to be, but because we need to be. as we mentioned previously, this house business is all consuming. and then there's kids and jobs and businesses and everyday life in general. and nanny is visiting too, which always seems to be an excuse to pack in as much as possible in a weeks' time.

so, as much as i hate to say it, the ole blog is going to be slow for the next few weeks. there will still be some activity here and there, but just not the usual. we will be up and running again like normal as soon as possible, we promise :)

Friday, April 23, 2010

a whole lotta crazy


did you think we had disappeared? well, no we have not. but as the title says, it's been a whole lotta crazy around here in the last week! really, a whole lotta. the short story is that we are trying to buy a house (we have it under contract) and have put this house on the market to sell. it's all gone something like this: thursday we notice that there is a new house on the market. we look at it friday morning. place an offer on it saturday. find out monday the offer was accepted and tuesday put this house up for sale. since advertising it on tuesday afternoon, we've shown it three times already. here's hoping sells and it sells fast. did you follow all that? yeah, me neither! it's been nuts, hence the lack of blogging.
but to make up for the quiet blog, here are some few sweet flaskback photos from last summer! they seemed to be just what the doctor ordered on this very chilly, very wet, very windy spring day. i look forward to more sun and green grass and short sleeves soon. in the meantime, happy friday!
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, April 18, 2010

dead horse point state park



the last day of the trip entailed driving back north, through moab, and into the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. as many times as we'd been to this area, neither phil nor i had been in this section of the park. it's known for it's incredible views, or so we had heard, and we were certainly not let down! most of the roads and shorter hikes are up high, so the view is phenomenal! the river down there is the Colorado, which winds it's way through the park before it meets up with the Green River. we actually ended up camping in Dead Horse Point State Park, as the camp sites are easier to get and the views are just as good or better! since we were pretty tired by this point, we took it easy on the last day and just went to check out the overlooks and played in camp. speaking of playing in camp, the Easter Bunny made a surprise appearance at our last camp sight. more on that later!
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, April 15, 2010

evening in the desert




need less to say, by the end of the day, we were all thoroughly exhausted! and even though it was still pretty light out at sylvi's bedtime, she had NO problem going to sleep. after dinner we put on jammies, grabbed blankie and paci, and snuggled in the tent for about three whole minutes before roo was fast asleep. unfortunately the wind, cold temps, and new teeth meant that sylvi didn't sleep through the night but that was pretty understandable. by about midnight, after the first time she woke, we'd just put her in bed with us and she'd sleep well there until morning. as for isa, she passed out within a few minutes of getting in her sleeping bag and snored through the night without a care in the world. she was definitely the last one to get up in the morning and probably would have slept in longer if there weren't a sqeauky little sister tickling and poking her to wake up already!
being that isa usually goes to bed about a half hour after sylvi, there was some nice hang out time before it was her turn to go to bed. of course there were stories with daddy (spectacular views included), some hanging out around camp, an evening stroll, and even a trip down to hear a Ranger program about native peoples one night. isa thought this was awesome and was really entertained by the presentation, not to mention she got to stay up late and see the stars too. good times, good times.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

speaking of hiking...



the second day in the park was probably the best, as that's how adventures usually go-- it's the unexpected things that you remember the most! according to our map, we were going on a 4 mile hike up one canyon and down the next, but in reality it was actually an 8 mile hike with a bit more altitude gain than we were expecting... right! it made for a long day, especially considering that we needed to go up and over to get from one canyon to the next, but it was well worth it. phil said he felt like he was back to his instructor days, as carrying isa with water, food, and layers is just about as heavy as a NOLS pack. ugh. lucky for me, sylvi is about ten pounds lighter, though the carrier is not quite as cushy as the backpack! we decided that if we plan on hiking that far on the next trip, we will be borrowing a second backpack!
all of that aside, it was a really amazing hike. isa had a blast looking for scat (we saw bear poop) and learning new plants. after a nice nap, sylvi was mainly along for the ride and would chatter about this and that when she wasn't snoozing. luckily we still made good time and were back in camp by just after lunch, so we took it easy and lounged around for the rest of the day. that night turned out to be the coldest (27F), but even so, we all fell asleep fast and slept hard!
Posted by Picasa

a hiking we will go...




our first full day in canyonlands was still pretty windy (and therefore a little chilly) but we were still able to get out and do a short hike along some slickrock with really amazing views. isa got introduced to cairns (those rock stacks you see in the last picture), which are often used to mark trails in rocky areas, and had alot of fun finding each new one along the way. this was also sylvi's introduction to napping while we walked, and she got pretty good at it! if the timing was right, it didn't take long at all for her to sack out in the carrier. it actually worked out beautifully, as we knew she would have a hard time winding down in the tent during the day, and we were able to get out and hike while she got a nice, long nap. it was a definite win-win situation. happy parents, happy kids-- can't ask for much more than that. this day turned out to be a warm up for the next day's hike, which turned out to be alot longer than we planned!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

in camp



after a long two days of wind, we packed up and headed south to the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park. phil and i had both been here on separate occasions over the years and were really looking forward to seeing it again. of all the parks in the lower 48, this has to be one of the most wild and remote. it is in the middle of nowhere, even for utah! and even in the busiest time of the year, it seemed like there was no one there, especially once you got off the road and onto a trail. after the noisy moab campground, this place seemed like heaven! we even got lucky and scored a great campsite with an amazing view and lots of space for the girls to roam and check things out.
speaking of camp, this was one of the biggest challenges to camping with two small kids-- what to do with them, how to entertain them or keep an eye on them when the camp chores needed to be done. luckily they both cooperated, for the most part, and either "helped" with what needed to be done or stayed withing eyesight and played. there were a few mornings, particularly the coldest ones, that we sat them in the car with some snacks and a sesame street dvd for a few minutes in order to get things packed up (and get them nice and warm), get hot water going on the stove, or get things ready for a hike. in general though, it went well and while keeping up with a toddler and a preschooler on a cold canyon morning was a new challenge, it was certainly worth it in the end!
Posted by Picasa

isa naturalista

yucca

rabbit brush

indian paintbrush

prickly pear
isa really enjoyed checking out all of her surroundings on this trip. she was particularly interested in the names of plants and wanted to photograph everything she could identify! so these are pictures she took (unedited) of some of her favorites. among the others she could identify were: mormon tea, sage, pinon pine, juniper, barrel cactus, cryptobiotic soil (i.e. crypto), willow, holly, and a few more that i am forgetting at the moment. since she seems to have a knack for it, we told her what a Naturalist was and asked her if she'd like to be one when she grew up-- but she declined and said she'd rather be an artist instead!

Posted by Picasa

Monday, April 12, 2010

arches national park (two)



after some fun at the visitor's center, we got back in the car and headed into the heart of the park. arches is one of my most favorite parks, and it had been almost ten years since i had been there, so we were really excited to check it out. for anyone who hasn't been there-- GO! even if you don't get far from your car, the scenery is incredible! we knew that with the weather as it was, and most of the hikes being really exposed to the wind, that we wouldn't be venturing far. so after a little driving, we decided to check out the North and South Windows and have a picnic under one of the arches. it was a really easy, short, and developed hike, so isa was able to keep up and check things out on her own. she had already learned a few plants and was excited to see, identify, and take pictures of more of them along the way (more on that later). for her part, sylvi just hung out and watched, trying not to fall asleep in the backpack (more on that later too!). unfortunately this was about all we were able to do in arches and we headed back to town shortly thereafter, and then down to canyonlands early the next morning. maybe next time the weather gods will throw us a bone and we'll be able to enjoy it a little bit more!
Posted by Picasa

arches national park (one)




after the long trip down the day before, and a fitful night's sleep with the wind, we woke up early and headed up to the park for our first morning out. arches has built a beautiful new welcome center in recent years and neither phil nor i had seen it yet-- it was really impressive! the girls loved every part of it and we spent a while checking out the bronze animals outside, as well as some really awesome exhibits inside, and picked up some new books at the bookstore. we knew that with the wind and clouds, we probably wouldn't get out for a long hike, so it was nice to do something entertaining in the morning before we headed into the park and stretched our legs.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, April 11, 2010

for starters...



...we thought it was windy in wyoming? well, apparently it gets windy in canyon country too! these pictures were taken in the calm between the storms. that would be storms plural. despite the fact that the girls are in their jammies (and lounging in the tent) these pictures were taken in the mid-afternoon, after we finally rolled into moab last sunday afternoon. we left lander at 3:30am, thinking of getting on the road while the girls would theoretically sleep in the car. unfortunately we left in what turned out to be one heckavu snowstorm and it threw a big kink in our travel plans. to make a long story short, closed roads and a super slick I-80 made for a really long day of travel. the normal 8 hours of driving turned into 13 hours by the time we got to moab. so instead of driving another hour and half down to canyonlands national park, as planned, we set up camp in a developed campground in moab. and then the wind started blowing... and blowing and blowing and blowing some more! we still managed to get out and hike around in arches national park the next day, but our cheeks are still pink from all that wind! after two days of 45mph gusts (and very little sleep in that big ole LOUD tent) we packed up and headed south. luckily the wind didn't follow us! more to come...
Posted by Picasa

home sweet home




it's hard to beat the feeling of coming home after a long trip! we are officially back and mostly unpacked and ready for our return to the real world. of course there are piles upon piles of very dirty laundry to be cleaned, more gear to be put away, 300 photos to sort and edit, and so on and so forth. but we enjoyed the trip immensely, even the 1550 miles spent in the car! so stay tuned for more stories and photos to come, we'll be rolling them out here as the week progresses and we get back to normal at home. in the meantime, here are a few favorite photos to enjoy :)
Posted by Picasa