Color Saturday

Powderhorn Ski Resort hosts a yearly "Color Sunday" with entertainment, free rides up the ski lift and other events during the weekend forecasted to be the peak of fall colors on the Grand Mesa. We've never made it on an actual Sunday. Maybe next year. We enjoyed the colors this year, but on Saturday.

The aspens are at their prime right now. I think this is the best I've seen while living in CO. In years past we've either gone too early or too late. This weekend was perfectThe air was quite crisp up there. Down in the valley we're still been simmering around 80 degrees. After a couple of weeks in nice fall weather in Michigan I've had a hard time readjusting to wearing shorts, tank-tops and sunscreen.

Cora understands what it means when we say "smile!" She will usually give us either a cute, sweet smile or a big cheesy smile when we ask her to smile. She doesn't quite like to look at the camera for a picture, but she understands that she gets to see a picture of her self on the screen afterward and she loves to look at the pictures!

Plane trip home

I forgot to mention that the flights home also went well. I'm grateful for that beyond words. I can't imagine dealing with cancelled or missed flights while flying by myself with Cora.

Cora did well on all the flights, although she only slept 20 minutes the whole day and didn't fall asleep until she was home in her crib at 8 pm (which to her body would be 10 pm)!

Before this trip I was envisioning people being impatient and annoyed that I was traveling with a toddler but I found just the opposite to be true. Cora turned on the charm playing peek-a-boo and saying HI to anybody who glanced in her direction. That probably helped ease people's anxiety about having a toddler on the flight. She did give me a little bit of grief on the long flight to Denver, but I didn't get any nasty looks from anyone, thankfully. Her attention span was SO short that day, and thankfully that was also true for her moods. When she got upset it only lasted a minute and she was easily distracted by something else! Another blessing.

Flying, in general, seems to make me more anxious than it did when I was a teenager. Adding a toddler to the mix doesn't help. On the flight out of GR I was seated next to a man going to a Christian Bloggers convention. The take-off was quite rough and I heard myself deep-breathing and telling him that I was nervous and if he could keep talking to me a little bit it would really help! I couldn't believe I had said that to a total stranger, but I guess I figured it was obvious that I was uncomfortable with the bumpy, windy take-off, so why not? He was kind and understanding; I think it was comforting to know I was sitting next to a Christian, too. Soon after take-off the flight smoothed out and a man seated near us offered to switch seats with me since he had an empty seat next to him. It was nice to have the extra seat for the toddler gear - snacks, books, sippy cup, stickers, napkins, etc...

It was a long day, but one in which I felt so blessed through circumstances and people. As much as I love to travel and visit family, I hope it's a long time before I fly again!

Melancholy at Home

Cora and I are back home. It's wonderful to be reunited with Brad and friends here, but I'm feeling rather melancholic. Perhaps it's withdrawal...

I thoroughly enjoyed our time in MI. Cora became very comfortable with Grandma and Grandpa - so much that I think Grandma put Cora to bed for naps and night time almost the whole last week. I enjoyed letting Grandma do that, too.

Cora definitely loved being the big Cousin. She often woke up from naps asking where Baby Leyton was! I'm not sure if she actually wanted to know where he was or just his carseat. She spent more time playing with his carseat buckles than any toy in her whole life, I think! Thanks, Deb, for being so gracious with that...

It blessed me so much to spend time with Mom, Dad and Deb (and Eric, when he was available) and some good friends, Laura, Sarah, Beth, Sue and Deone. Sadly, I never remember to take pictures of me with my friends even though I always bring my camera and intend to.

I'm incredibly frustrated by the slowness of my computer right now so I'm not even attempting to upload any photos. New pictures were added a while ago to the facebook album linked to the first Holland post if you want to see more!

Holland: part 3

What a wonderful week! On Monday, Laura and her son and Cora and I went to Crazy Bounce and had a blast! The kiddos were a little unsure at the beginning but got used to bouncing around and it was a lot of fun!
Another day we had brunch with the ladies on my mom's side of the family. We also attempted to pick Honey Crisp apples at a nearby orchard but had been misinformed and got there too late! So we picked delicious raspberries in the rain, instead.

We've had a couple rainy days and some nice ones. Cora is intrigued with the rain and one day I let her play in it. She got soaked to the core and loved it! She found the drips coming off of the roof and would stick her head under it and get her hair wet, and then turn her face up and try to catch the stream in her mouth!

We also enjoyed an evening at the Holland Aquatic Center playing in the Splash Zone. That was awesome! How I wish GJ would learn some things from Holland! Or maybe I just haven't learned all the good spots in our town yet.

I would never describe Cora as fearful or even timid, but here's how we often start out in a new experience, which we've had a lot of this week. Cora grabs hold of my finger (or Grandma or Grandpa's has been good, too) and walks me around to where she wants to go and what she wants to do. She doesn't leave me or let me go too far for the first 10 minutes or so. She'll let go of me when necessary - to climb stairs, for example. But if I try to go to the sidelines and just watch, she comes and gets me. Maybe Cora thinks I'm timid and she's trying to encourage me to go play!!! :) But after the first 10 minutes or so, she's ready to go off on her own. She's always curious about what other kids are doing and is drawn to them, but she remains quiet even while playing with them, not saying much or making much sound, until the very end or sometimes the whole time. She often has a serious look on her face, which some call a scowl. I know that she is happy and comfortable, but not totally relaxed enough in her new environment to let loose and be goofy, but she's enjoying herself none-the-less. I think she gets this part of her personality from her mama.

Holland: part 2

We have been having a blast in MI! As I've already said Leyton is so sweet. Deb is able to spend a lot of time with us so we're enjoying having both of them around, and Eric when he is able, too.

Saturday we went to Holland State Park for a bit in the afternoon. The newspaper had said the water temperature was supposed to be 73, and the air was 72. We didn't dare take swimsuits, anyway, and when we got there the park had posted the water temp as 54...quite a difference! We put our toes in but that was it! Cora loved playing in the sand and throwing handfuls of wet sand into the waves. She would actually wait until the wave came all the way up before throwing the sand - I think she liked the splashing effect. She chased a duck, too, and despite her determination the duck got away easily just by swimming away. Cora turned around with a look that said "That's not fair! How'd he do that?"

Click here for a link to more pictures on facebook.

Made it to MI

Leyton is adorable! I was in Auntie-heaven last night, holding and soothing him for a bit. Cora is in cousin-heaven, too. She is very interested in Leyton and curious about all things baby. She's been very gentle around him so far and observant as to how to care for him. We caught Cora trying to rock Leyton's carseat with her foot like she saw Grandpa do! We definitely need to keep an eye on her even more when Leyton is around - she doesn't understand that he wouldn't appreciate a big clunky toddler toy dumped on top of him, even in the good spirit of sharing.

Our flights both went so well yesterday. Thank you for your prayers and encouraging words! The flights were on-time, smooth and not too full, so I was able to get an empty seat next to me on both flights and that was very helpful. Cora was pretty entranced on the first flight to Denver looking out the window at trees and trucks and water and clouds. We actually were able to see a herd of either deer or elk on the Mesa, too.

Some things that were helpful for us and will maybe be good ideas for someone else: I waited until the very last minute to board the plane even though they offer early boarding for children; ask a flight attendant (if they don't offer) to switch next to an empty seat; raisins in a box were the best snack to keep her busy for a while; books and the Skymall Magazine kept her interest for quite a while; the window shade, reading lights and seat belt were fascinating toys that I didn't have to bring with me!; I wrapped a couple new toys and books for her to open on the plane and we actually only needed to open one (a magnadoodle - the joy of coloring without the hassle of falling and rolling crayons) so I'll save the rest for the flights home; and I borrowed a mini-dvd player and we watched one Baby Einstein video. It was extra gear to carry on the plane, but it bought me 20 or 30 minutes of Cora sitting contentedly on my lap at the end of the last flight when she was tired and just about frustrated.

Cora didn't sleep a wink on the plane but as soon as she was buckled in the car she fell asleep - even before we were out of the airport parking lot!

Thanks for all your prayers, again, for safe and smooth flights!

Something that was cute: in GJ we watched the truck filling up the plane with gas and talked about it. Well, on the plane we were seated right next to wing and since it's a puddle jumper we could see under the wing and the wheel. So I think because she could see the wheel, Cora kept saying "kuck" (truck). Then we could see the propellers start up and she would say "round, round, round". Then the more I reminded her we were in an airplane she started saying "air-pane" with great enthusiasm!