Aspen Part 3 - Maroon Bells, and an addendum

It's been so long since the actual Aspen trip it seems silly to still post about it, but there was one more really cool thing we did, so for completeness sake I'm blogging it anyways. We went to this really cool park up in the mountains called Maroon Bells.

C'mon, tell me this isn't gorgeous. This is postcard stuff, right? Look at the reflections in the lake! We Californians get impressed just seeing this much water in one place without a golf course around it, but this is pretty darn spectacular in it's own right.







Here we are, taking the obligatory family shot against the dramatic mountainous background. Not bad for a camera on self-timer balanced on a rock!





Credit where it's due, we almost didn't go here...having gone up the other mountain, there were those who said why bother with another one. But Cathy campaigned successfully, and we're really glad she did. Everybody really enjoyed the wide open spaces, and of course the boys enjoyed following their little cousin Lily as she toddled around, exploring.





Hey, is there someone behind me?







We also had a bit of excitement while we were there...some other hikers told us they had spotted a BEAR on the other side of the lake. Yikes! Now, in this sort of situation, with a large, possibly carnivorous animal prowling in your immediate area, what would the most logical response be?

That's right...stand around and try and take it's picture.



We did eventually spot him and get a shot (albeit quite distant, as you can see) but it was still very cool to see a real live bear out in the wild. Also slightly nervous-making though, as this big lake narrows to a tiny stream, and the bear was headed in the same general direction as our parking lot. So we got out of there, but we're very happy we went! One more family pic for the road:

Oh, and one last thing - remember how I said the little girls were following Lily around the pool like a bunch of ducklings? Well, I had only gotten one little bit of video of it, and it wouldn't copy because the memory card had run out during filming, but I figured out how to recover it (using the in-camera edit function). So here it is!

Defiance

This video was taken a few days after Thanksgiving. The terrible twos starting early?

A Christmas quickie

Yes, yes, I'm VERY behind on blogging. I actually hope to rectify that this upcoming week...HP is still on shutdown, and I'm getting relatively healthy (knock on wood) so hopefully I can catch up. Expect a 3rd Aspen entry, Lily's first Disney visit, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and perhaps some other things as well.

For now though, a Christmas quickie...Pinky's friend Cherry visited us at Nono and Nana's place, and brought Lily some very nice presents, including some books, a cute Dora purse, and these cool fur-lined Crocs. Later that night, Lily decided to wear them, albeit in a somewhat non-traditional fashion.

Thanks, Cherry! I figured, as our only Minnesota subscriber, I owed you one.

A historic moment

I know I'm still behind on things like vacations, visiting grandparents, and other Lily-centered cuteness, but I wanted to pause and acknowledge the moment.

Wow.

Whatever your personal politics, I hope we can all recognize that this is a proud moment for us as a country. I know Pinky and I feel honored to have been a part of it.

And apparently, so does Lily. Clap clap!

(C'mon, you didn't think we'd make it thru a WHOLE blog without Lily cuteness, did you?)

Halloween 2008 - Costumeophobia

Well, it's just after 11PM on Halloween night...didn't go exactly as expected, but we get a good story out of it!

So, let me start at the beginning, which is actually a week ago. Lily's carefully selected costume was to be Ming-Ming of the Wonder Pets, her favorite TV show. We figured it'd be perfect! Lily absolutely LOVES Ming Ming - she asks to see "Pets!" every day, and calls Ming Ming "baby!" So we were all excited to get her a costume that would be so tied into something she enjoys.

Here's the costume itself. Cute, right?

So the idea was, she would wear the costume to this party/open house at her daycare last Friday. Dada had a singing performance that same evening, so Mama was going to take Lily to the party for a little while then join him later. Which they did, but sans costume. Turns out, Lily HATED the costume...poor thing cried and cried! Our theory at the time was that maybe she thought it was Ming Ming's pelt.

Tonight, though, we found out that it's a more generalized costume anxiety.

Here, you see a selection of the costumes Lily rejected this evening. Ming Ming, Cinderella, Chargers cheerleader (although the last one is understandable, the Chargers are pretty bad this season)...all deemed totally unacceptable by our Lily. We can't figure out what it is, but she really doesn't seem to like costumes. We began to despair that we would find anything she'd be willing to wear.

Our last chance was to try these Chinese pajamas Dada bought Lily in Singapore. We figured, pajamas, right? She wears pajamas all the time, should be no problem, right?

Except, not so much. As you can see, Lily is not fooled. We thought she'd be okay with it once it was on, but it didn't play out that way. I'll admit, it was actually kind of cute watching her try to get out of it, but we quickly relented and let her take the top back off.

Oddly enough, with just the pants, she was perfectly happy. See? In fact, she's sleeping in them right now! And you know, dressed like that, with her hair all messed up, she reminds me of someone...wait! I've got it!

Problem solved! Happy Halloween, everybody!

What does Lily look like when she's blogging?

Funny you should ask...

When you have a lot of typing to do, it's important that you find someplace comfortable and ergonomic to sit. Lily finds that dada is quite cushy. And, fully adjustable!

'Tis the season for...pumpkins!

You may remember Lily's report from the pumpkin patch last year. Since Halloween is approaching yet again, we figured it would be fun to go to a pumpkin patch again. But this time, we went all out! From talking to our friends, the consensus seems to be that the best pumpkin patch experience in town can be found at Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center.


We actually went twice...once a couple weeks ago, and then again this past weekend. Here's some pictures from the first trip. Behold pumpkins!

This place is pretty cool...as the name implies, it's a working nut farm, but they also grow corn (as you can see), have a bunch of animals, and of course, pumpkins! This day, they had this big craft fair going on, but in general they have pony rides, hayrides, corn mazes, and all sorts of fun stuff. We didn't mess with any of that other stuff, though...we're here for pumpkins!






Here we have mama and Lily lounging amidst pumpkiny splendor.







Lily plays the pumpkin bongos with dada.








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As a hapy coincidence, we ran into our friends the Heistumann's. Here you see Lily and baby Alexandra regarding each other across a sea of orange.

What's going on? Do pumpkins make Lily sneeze?

Unfortunately, Lily wasn't really feeling that well...she'd had yet another bout of fever over the previous few days. We'd brought her here figuring a bit of fresh air would do her good, and she did have fun, but as you can see, she also got pretty tuckered out. So we kept this trip relatively short, but resolved that we would come back again before the Halloween season was over.

So this past weekend, Nono, Nana, Toto Kevin and Uncle John came to visit, so it seemed like a perfect time to go back to the farm. As our first stop, mama and Lily sit down for a photo op in a grove of squash...

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...but Lily quickly demonstrates that, unlike last time, she doesn't want to just sit around, and starts climbing across the squash in search of REAL pumpkins. So we turned her loose in the field with the REALLY big pumpkins in it. Go get 'em, Lily!

Yeah, definitely less tired...

Eventually, as she did last year, Lily began to commune with the pumpkins. But this time, it seemed to have almost religious overtones. Here you see her praying with a pumpkin.

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Later, as mama looks on, she gives a benediction to another...

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Eventually, she starts preaching, as a crowd of pumpkins gather...

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We figured this was getting a bit out of hand, so we pulled her out of the crowd and gave her a chance to come back to her senses. As you can see, Lily was understandably chagrined at having let all the pumpkin adulation go to her head.

After a quick snack. we wandered over to the petting zoo area to check out the animals. Here you see Lily facing off with a donkey, trying to prove who is more stubborn. Lily won, of course.

We weren't allowed to feed the donkeys, but all these kids were feeding the goats. Seeing Lily gazing so wistfully, one of the little girls (conicidentally, named Lily! Lilys have to stick together) gave her some leaves to try feeding one herself. Check it out!

Alas, all good things must come to an end! But we all had a terrific time, and we'll be sure to go again!

Aspen Part 2 - swimming

OK, on to more of Aspen. Lily says I can write this one so long as I don't mess it up or dawdle for weeks. :-)

One of the best parts of the resort we stayed at was the swimming pool area. We ended up going there several times. There was a lap pool for Gung Gung to swim in, an adult pool where Po Po could swim umolested by crazy kids (both seen in the background of this picture here). There was also a nice shallow kiddie pool, at least in theory, but apparently the heater was broken and it was cooooollllllddd! But that's cool, we hung out in the big kid pool.

Here's Dada and Lily checking out the shallow end. There were these really nice, long steps, so there were places where Lily could stand if she wanted to. And yes, if you're wondering, Dada is fishbelly white. One of the things that has gone away with Lily coming into our lives is any appreciable amount of suntanning.

At the other end, they had this cool lagoon with stepping stones and a waterfall.Lily liked this section a lot because she could walk around and stick her hands into the waterfall. We liked it because it was relatively contained and fairly safe. Although we soon discovered that not only can Lily easily climb out of this lagoon, she cheerfully walks straight off the edge of the pool assuming someone will catch her. Brave girl!

Here's a video of here splashing around a bit in the lagoon, and then transitioning into the big pool. Dada catch!

After a swim, we retire to the hot tub to warm up again. Once warm, process repeats from start. :-)

One thing that was especially fun about the pool is that the little girls LOVED Lily. Actually, this was a common theme throughout the trip. Little girls want to pick up Lily. For example, the one sitting here in this picture of Lily flashing Mama. Picked her right up! But it gets better: as Lily started wandering around the pool area, as you can see, she developed quite the little entourage. It was really cute! Like a mama duck and her ducklings (except in this case, the mama duck is the baby!)

"Hey, are you guys following me?"

OK, one more entry to go! Stay tuned!

At the Hop

This one is for Toto Kevin. Back at Easter, he got Lily this rabbit, frog, and two chicks ensemble that sings "At the Hop" when you squeeze the rabbit's foot. Lily has recently rediscovered this toy, and loudly proclaims "HOP!" when she wants you to make it sing. (also, she will grab your finger to make you push the button if you are insufficiently prompt)

Listening to At the Hop is far from a passive activity, however:

Mama will probably kill me for posting this video, but I felt the public had a right to see. Besides, mama has very cute legs, so I don't see the problem.

ABC's

Thought I'd do one or two quickies while Lily is working on part two of the Aspen report. (See, Lily? It's harder than it looks!)



This video was taken at the home of our good friends Jackie and Dennis (and of course her BBFF Zoe). You may remember them from this entry almost a year ago. But I digress: they had this cool alphabet magnet thing on their fridge, and as you can see, Lily was inspired to new levels of scholarship.

We thought this was so cute, we got the same alphabet gadget for our house. Unfortunately, since our fridge is wood paneled, Lily has to play with it on the kitchen garbage can. How undignified!

Fine, I'LL do it...Aspen, part 1

Hey, Lily here. Since it's becoming increasingly obvious that Dada is not going to get his act together to ever blog about our Aspen trip, I'm taking matters into my own hands. After all, I'm doing all this interesting and cute stuff practically every day, and none of it gets blogged 'cause Dada's all writers-blocked. Move over, Dada, make room for a Lily!


So it all goes back several months, when Aunty Cathy was trying to figure out where we could all meet up for a vacation. Aunty Cathy's family wanted to go somewhere that wasn't too hot, and Mama and Dada wanted to go somewhere that was a direct flight from San Diego or LA because apparently I can be "challenging" on long trips. Dada, challenging is good, right? Anyways, turns out Aspen, Colorado is a direct flight from LAX, so we all decided to go there. I was soooo excited, because I got to see all my east coast peeps...Aunty Cathy, Uncle Paul, Tyler, Joshy, Po Po and Gung Gung. I practiced saying ALL their names for weeks so I could do them just right.


Anyways, on Friday, August 15th, after an uneventful flight (ahem...Dada, take note), we arrived in Aspen! We even got to see Aunty Cathy and family in the airport. It was pretty late by the time we got there, and kinda cold! Dada said it felt like winter, but I think that's wrong because winter just means the temperature stays below 80, right? But nevermind, we pretty much went back to the condos and went to bed (after saying goodnight to Po Po and Gung Gung, who had arrived earlier). But the NEXT day, play play play!


About the condos we stayed in, they were super nice! Aunty Cathy found this great resort in Snowmass. You can see our building in the background of this picture here. I really liked where we stayed because there was lots and lots of nature right outside for us to play in. See those little people in the background? That's Po Po and Gung Gung on the porch, and Aunty Cathy walking towards me, Dada, Tyler and Joshy. See how far away they are? Good thing I have a Dada to carry me if I get tired.





Here's the view from the upstairs condo. Cool, huh? Now I'M the one who's far away! That's me, mama, dada, Tyler, Joshy, and these nice people from Texas we met. Actually, people in general were super friendly here, lots of folks would come up and talk to us, and little girls would even want to pick me up. More on that later.









Anyways, I spent a lot of time over the course of the trip playing outside with my cousins Tyler and Josh. For me, that was the best part! There's nothing better than having cool cousins to play with!










Dada found me this beach ball in a thicket of prickly plants, which he bravely retrieved for me. This became my most loved toy for the remainder of the trip (after lovey, of course, but lovey is not nearly so satisfying to kick around on the grass).










That night, to celebrate Po Po's birthday, we went to this restaurant called Krabloonik. Seriously. Krabloonik. You can Google it. It's actually pretty famous, not just for the food but for DOGSLEDDING, of all things. I guess you can come dogsled in the winter! Unfortunately, since it was summertime there was no snow, and hence no dogsledding, but I still got to see doggies so it's all good. Here you see dada looking on while I commune with one of my doggie brothers. Woof! Dinner was very yummy, and don't worry, they don't serve dog food in the restaurant.

Here we all are chillin' in the condo after dinner.







Here's mama and me at breakfast the next day. Check out my threads! And the view ain't bad either!





After breakfast, we went into the town of Aspen, and then took a gondola up the mountain! Cool! I've never been up a mountain before!









Here we are on top of the mountain. Wow. That's a long way down. Geez.







On the way back down with mama and my cousins. See the other gondola behind us? That PROVES we're in Aspen!





Safely back on solid ground, we all went to lunch. Hey, are you guys asleep?

After lunch, we wandered around town, eventually finding this great park area with this faux rock playset. Cousin Tyler helped me go for a slide. Wheee! We had to use these cardboard boxes because apparently, when they designed this playset, they neglected to notice that faux rock is not that slippery. But leave it to kids to find a way! Everybody just used these cardboard scraps, and it worked just fine!





That night, we ate in...Uncle Paul cooked us steaks in their condo. Yummy! While the grownups cooked, they boys and I hung out and practiced our heat vision.

Wow, that's just the first two days. No wonder dada was procrastinating. More to come!


-Lily