Table for Two

August photos from J & G's birthday bash.

Our version of a kids' table.

Someone is napping in Sydney's chair.

Back Blogged: Prophetstown State Park Visit in May

Photos from our May trip to Prophetstown State Park. This park is 10 minutes from our house, and it's a great place for us to hike and run.

Alice Tree

Theresa and Dick planted a tree in honor of my Mom after she died. Sydney got to see the Grandma Alice tree.

Sydney, whose middle name is for my Mom, has been paying particular attention to the name Alice now. I often tell her stories when putting her to bed. I ask her what kind of animal she wants to hear about and what name should we give the animal. Lately, her request has been a frog named Alice :) Tonight's story was about Alice the frog who likes to visit Target with bulldozers.

RMNP: Emerald Lake hike

Emerald Lake hike in Rocky Mt Natl Park. Elevation at trailhead: 9,475. The elevation gain took us to 10,080 ft. 3.6 miles roundtrip. Miss Sydney hiked the 1.8 miles up by herself. She insisted on walking and she did a fine job.


Early morning start.


She moved pretty slow at times because she wanted to sit/climb on each rock. A game of hide and seek kept her moving.


Must climb every rock ...


Not to mention all the rocks she carried.



Taking a look at Nymph Lake.

Lilly pads at Nymph Lake.

Sydney and ground squirrel.

Scenery.

I believe this photo was taken near Dream Lake.

View from a switchback.

Emerald Lake. Breathtaking.

Tighter view of the rock with melting snow.

Family photo on the descent at Nymph Lake.

Rocky Mtn National Park

Some photos from our first day in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Walking the trail by Lake Irene.

Lake Irene

Alpine Visitor Center, Trail Ridge Road at 11,796 feet about sea level. We didn't stay long :) The dramatic heights did not deter Sydney who tried climbing the railings then through a fit when we wouldn't let her climb over another to go see the snow.
It's been a few years since I've driven the entire road, but I was in awe of the scenery ... not to mention the heights.

Some Colorado photos

Sydney playing on the main street playground in Breckenridge.

Love her natural smile.

Her signature smile : the pirate wink. She has done this ever since she has understood what 'smile' meant. Maybe she'll go to prom with a pirate.

Big shoes to fill

Sydney likes to wear our shoes around the house. She even can manage my heels pretty well. Actually, she walks better in them than I do.

Photos from June: Sydney struts her stuff in Daddy's boats.

I can't remember the last time that I have tied a pair of shoes. My running shoes are trail running shoes that have a 'fastener' (I have no idea what it is called.) I never worry about shoelaces unravling during a run. My Skechers are slip-ons, so I don't have to tie them.

I seriously don't remember how to tie shoes ... I think my method was odd anyway. I hope someone teaches Sydney at school. (Brian's not crazy about tying shoes either)

I bought her a new pair of kicks today. Velcro, of course.

Wild Nights: Part 2

See the post below if interested in the bedtime routine at our house.

Sydney, also known as "Sticky Fingers," swiped a tube of Aveda foot cream from my room and smuggled it into her room. As I climbed the stairs one evening that lovely Aveda smell started to suffocate me. Never thought I would be sick of it, but Sydney had emptied almost the entire bottle of foot cream. She had a thick, white coat on her legs and her hair, well, just check out the photos below. She also shared and coated Webster (her frog). The clean-up was just as bad as the night she coated herself in Vaseline.

There is a reason why her nickname is Sid Vicious.

Wild nights

The kid experts recommend that we have a bedtime routine. We do. We change Sydney, read to her (Amy), sing ABCs (Brian), then tuck her in and rub her back. Phase 2 of the routine is Sydney empties the contents of dresser, pulls all books out of the book case and tries to empty any jars, tubes or bottles of any substance. We keep a constant vigil to make sure stuff is not left in Syd's room.

She often pulls together different ensembles. These are her shorts.

A couple nights ago she put a winter hat on and different socks on each hand. She told Brian and I that she was going to space.

Back bLogged: Beautify America. Wear a hat!

Sydney's idea of spring cleaning this past April was to put on a fashion show.

Back bLogged: Waiting

Brian sent this photo to me in December. He called it "Mommy" because Sydney is waiting for me at the front door.

It won't be long and we'll be the ones waiting at the front door for her.

Sydney just asked recently why I go to work. I explained what I do, but I'm pretty sure she thinks I just stare at the cool construction projects on campus, play with the fun toys at the Speech lab, run on the trails and eat at the cereal bar all day. My guess is she thinks Brian goes to Mackey just to climb on the arena's steps, then walk around the football stadium's concourse.

There are a few days when Syd suggests I don't need to go to work. I remind her that I need to go help people. One day, Brian explained to her that I go to work to make sure we have extra money to pay for her "My Friends Pooh and Tigger" TV show. Sydney thought about it, then said, "What about food?" Smart kid.

Back bLogged: Hi Kitty

This photo is from March. It looks like Sydney is finishing her masterpiece but really she was starting to dissemble. She did hand me the pieces when I put it together.

Sydney's vocabulary and pronunciation are solid, but she does have some quirks. Just until recently, she called "Hello Kitty" ... "Hi Kitty." :)

Road Runners

Sydney has participated in two 5Ks this spring. Her and Brian 'walked' a Purdue 5k in April. She had a blast, and continues to bring up her first race every time we past where the event started and finished.

These photos are from her second race. We 'ran' the JCM5k in May. Long story, but sometimes you just have to work with what you've got ... hence why were running with our baby stroller and not my cool, all-terrain jogging stroller.

It was quite chilly and very windy during the race.

The expression on Sydney's face is a good indicator that she is having a blast.

And yes, Sydney did beat me :) (Actually, the race announcer said we were first to finish in the 'stroller category' but I'm not sure if that's official.)

Now that the weather is warmer and I am not taking classes any more, I'm able to really get back to running. I ran a 10K two weekends ago, and this is my first week of formal training for a mini-marathon that I'm running in August. So far so good. I'm just looking forward to being outdoors ... and running something called the Hog Jog as part of my training.

Four months later

My blog slacking means I've been remiss about celebrating my new nephew.

Bennett will be four months old this week. What an amazing and sweet little boy. Of course, he has the most wonderful parents. (More info here: http://thepeellefamily.blogspot.com/)

Here are some photos from their first West Lafayette visit.

Sydney chats with the professional Mommy about the best way to care for an infant.

This image is pretty obvious. Sydney is making Jackie smell Baby Nora to see if she needs a diaper change. (Sydney's twin baby dolls, Nick and Nora, are named for Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man movies)

Sydney follows Jackie's lead on proper swaddling technique.

Yes, we are all smitten with the little guy.

According to Sydney, anything baby-related means it's Bennett-related. Sydney does well with Bennett, but it does make her anxious when I hold him.

Fountain of Youth

We rarely ate out while I was growing up. My Mom was an above-and-beyond gourmet cook (seriously, she would easily bake a half dozen cakes for the school carnival cake walk), so fine dining took place at home.

However, we did have a favorite Mexican restaurant, Ramones, that we would eat at when we went out. I remember always getting a side of shredded cheese for my tacos, I remember the decor (much fancier than the local Mexican places we eat at now) and I remember the fountain in the lobby. I remember the fountain the most. There were three lights that rotated in the base of the fountain. We would stare at it for what seemed like hours while we waited for a table, or Mom and Dad would let us visit while we were waiting for our food. I have lots of memories from that restaurant. I remember that my father took Julie and I there the night we were going to see my Mom and meet our new baby sister Jackie in the hospital. I remember the last time I was there with my family: we were with Jackie and some of her friends, including the Prybella family. The kids had just had an event (maybe, OM?) and we were all celebrating.

The first time I took Brian to Colorado I wanted to be sure we ate at Ramones. And, he won't ever let me forget it. We went for lunch, and the restaurant was completely empty. Chip refills were a $1 (what Mexican restaurant charges for chips refils?). And my favorite, when we asked for Coke refills, the waitress brought one glass, and split it between us. Ramones wasn't the same, and I think it even closed the following year.

I thought about all of this on Saturday night while Brian, Syd and I ate dinner at Panini Deli. We had an early dinner, and we were able to sit right next to their fountain. Of course, Sydney was ecstatic and talked about the fountain non-stop. It made me think of Ramones.

"I don't do fashion, I am fashion." Coco Chanel

It only took us 90 minutes to leave the house on Saturday morning to meet a friend at the 'Round the Fountain Art Fair. A pile of clean laundry inspired Sydney to experiment. And who am I to interfere with an artist?

Of course, despite the 90-minute prep period, we only spent 9 minutes at the Art Fair :) At least we got to meet our friend Christy for strawberries.