Colorado spring

One day it is beautiful and the next day there is 6 inches of snow on the ground. We are in a pattern right now. It is kind of fun but I don't love all the mud I've been cleaning off tiny tennis shoes.

We play outside as much as possible on the warm days and then tuck in when its snowing out.

Jace peeks out at the snow from his favorite spot in the window.

Daddy and Jace build a snowman.

Even a snowman sometimes needs a Binky.

Papa's Birthday - March 18th

A very Happy Birthday to Gary, a.k.a. Papa.We celebrated over a few different days because Gary was traveling and arrived home late in the evening on his birthday. My parents were in town to see Mary Poppins at the Beull theatre. It was the best show we have seen in a while. Disney had thrown some serious money at this stage production and it really showed. It was beautiful and fun. It had just the right combination of favorite moments from the film mixed with new scenes based on the original stories. The songs were familiar but altered from the movie just enough that I had to bring home the soundtrack and learn some new lyrics to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". I can't wait to see Jace dance around the living room to "Step in Time".
Before the show we took Jace on a long walk near Palmer's house. It is so nice to have some warm days and get him outside. He picked dried flowers, said Hi to the horses, rode on Grandad's shoulders (more than in the stroller), and got as close as he could to every bit of water that he saw. This picture was taken a second after Jace threw the flower he was carrying into the stream. He immediately regretted the action (tears). We had a laugh about it and found him a new flower a few minutes later.

Brophy Card Party

The weekend after our return from Florida was the big card party weekend. This year Jace was big enough to appreciate the wide open space of the gym and the beautiful weather on the playground. He ran all over the place. He took special interest in the girls doing their Irish dancing. He climbed up and down the bleachers. He probably ate half a dozen cookies and he played with lots of cousins (especially Bailey). I spent the whole time following him trying to keep him from running under people's feet (especially the dancers) or falling on his head off the bleachers or eating any of the cookies that might have milk in them. I failed to get pictures!

Thankfully, our plan to leave early and put Jace down for a nap worked brilliantly. He slept a couple hours and then did very well at 4th and Main with the extended family for dinner. He put on quite a show there bossing Grandad around and yelling for "Bay-ee" to come over to him. It was nice to spend a little time with my Dad's family.

One of the only pictures I got: Jace and Uncle Todd having a discussion. I can only assume it is a political debate of some kind. (And yes Jace is standing on a folding chair next to several full glasses of green beer while his Dad looks the other way and his Mom takes pictures.)

Home from Dan & Becky's

Another long travel day was a test to all of us. Jace did pretty well on the flight but was a total zombie by the time we made it to baggage claim at DIA. He was a trooper. He finally passed out in the car on the drive home from the airport. Joel carried him in and laid him down on the couch. He never even wiggled.

The next day he was cranky and needed an early nap but after that things settled back into a normal routine around here.

visiting Dan & Becky day 4

We have been home from Orlando for almost two weeks now. Dan and Becky have been busy hosting other guests but I think, mentally, I'm still on the beach. It has been hard to get motivated to sit down and write about what we are doing now. Every time I look at the beach pictures I loose focus.

We spent the last full day of our Orlando vacation in a search for "Mouse" as Jace calls Mickey Mouse. We got a late start on our day because of the late Oscar night. The day at Animal Kingdom was fun. With Dan and Becky in Orlando, Joel and I have gotten Disney savvy over the last few years but I am continually amazed by the crowds. There are so many visitors in the parks (and Magic Kingdom is always the busiest of the 4 parks). Weaving our way through the sea of people and strollers we were able to take in a few of the park's highlights. We toured the Dinosaur dig site playground, saw a live bird show, rode the train, watched Jace chase the back end of a goat, saw lots of exotic animals while Jace napped in the stroller, enjoyed a Nemo stage show and parked Jace front-and-center for the parade. I think we did pretty well.

Jace napped in the stroller the whole time we were camped out at the edge of the parade route. When the parade started the noise woke him. He was starting to fuss and be grumpy, then he opened his eyes. "Ohhhh", he perked up when he saw the first of the dancers and floats. He spent the parade wide eyed and waving, especially at "Mouse".

visiting Dan & Becky day 3

Beach Day meets Oscar Night

It sounds like the perfect combination of two things that I love. Right? It ended up being a super fun day that was way to long.

We packed up the rented minivan and headed out to Cocoa Beach. It was a nice day. A little breezy and the water was cold enough that Joel and Jace were the only ones that got anything more than their toes wet.

In the few hours that we spent at the beach Jace managed to get completely covered with sand. He snacked on pretzels and sandwich with his sandy hands. I haven't eaten food with so much sand in it since we tried to grill steaks in a sandstorm at lake McCanaughy. Crunchy. Jace learned how to chase the crashing waves as they slid off the sand and then run up the beach as the next wave came in. At first he was definitely nervous about the water but he got a lot braver as the afternoon wore on. Eventually he was so soggy and sandy there was nothing we could do but but strip him down and run him under the shower. He and several others napped on the drive back to Orlando.

Another Oscar night without a party. That's the third year in a row! We printed ballots and made popcorn and drinks but that was as festive as we got. It was sooooooooo late by the time Hurt Locker won Best Picture. I was so tired I didn't even get to enjoy the James Cameron snub. I think next time I spend Oscar night in a different time zone I'll pick Pacific.

On Raglan Road by Patrick Kavanagh

On Raglan Road by Patrick Kavanagh

visiting Dan & Becky day 2

We had a crazy full, fun day at SeaWorld. None of us can believe how well Jace did. We (not Mom and Jace but the rest of us) tried out the new roller coaster Manta. It was awesome. I want to go again! With all the amazing sights to see, Jace would have been perfectly happy to chase squirrels and birds all day long. This squirrel thought Jace was going to feed him so he kept circling around the stroller. Jace also thought he was going to give the squirrel a treat. He kept trying to give the squirrel a leaf. When I told Jace that the squirrel didn't want a leaf he wanted a peanut, Jace looked at the leaf in his hand, held it out to the squirrel and said, "peanut".We enjoyed the Killer Whale show and the Dolphin Adventure show. Jace was practically asleep with his eyes open during the dolphin show. Also, he seemed more interested in the airplanes and helicopters flying in the distance than the amazing water show happening right in front of him. The small indoor aquarium area had a tank in the floor and one up above. Jace joined other kids playing on the floor over the fish. Uncle Dan helped Jace up to see one of the other tanks in the aquarium. On the way out of the aquarium, through the gift shop, Jace adopted a stuffed toy shark.

Dan wore a pedometer all day. He says we walked over 5 miles. It feels like it.

We topped off the day with the unbelievable bread pudding at Raglan Road.

Hopefully, we will all sleep well and be ready for another fun day tomorrow.

Jace resting on the foot of the statue of Patrick Kavanagh outside the restaurant.

Visiting Dan & Becky day 1

Our flight to Florida last night went great. If it was a 40 minute shorter flight it would have been perfect. At first the novelty of the airplane and the new video player kept Jace entertained. When he needed to move around, he started playing with Grandad and Grandma Joy in the seats right behind ours. He went back and forth over the seat several times. There were stories and games and new people to smile at. The last bit of the flight got long. Several times Jace told us that he was all done.

Getting settled on the airplane before take off.

It was a relief to get to Dan and Becky's and get settled for the night. Jace didn't make a peep all night.

Today we took it easy. Joel got to go for a long run, Grandad, Jace and I took a long walk around the small neighborhood. Jace insisted on Grandad taking him down the hill to the "water" drainage pond. He is so fascinated with the water that we have seen that I started jokingly calling him "gator bait".

Dan was able to spend most of the day with us while Becky had to go to work. We had a yummy lunch including fried pickles and a huge dessert plate at a cute place called TooJays. Jace took a little nap. We explored a beautiful nearby playground. Jace made some new friends. He got a little bloody nose when he and Joel were playing on one of the slides. He bumped his nose and cried a little but soon he was back down and digging in the sandbox.

Gator wrestling in the sandbox.

Tonight we had another delicious meal with everyone out together. Jace finished before the rest of us so Joel and I took him outside where there was another little boy, just a few months older, playing and dancing. The two chased each other around while Joel and I and the other boy's grandma kept them out of trouble.

Jace was exhausted tonight. We all are.

Tomorrow we are off on another adventure.

Relaxin' at the house.

A change of play

It's the little things that illustrate leaps in development.
Jace used to "help" unload the dishwasher by pulling out the silverware and banging it against the washer door. Last night he pulled out two plates and few pieces of silverware and to pretended to eat off the plates with the forks. He made little slurping sounds and said "yummy". He even offered me a bite by holding up the fork and saying, "Mommy".

Today, we are doing the frantic, last minute packing and organizing, getting ready for our flight this afternoon. Jace is hopefully going to rest for a little while before our airport adventure. Wish us luck.

Please, just nap already!

I'm trying to be a quiet as possible while I wait for Jace to settle down and take a nap. We had a busy morning. We visited Joel and Gary at the SRA ski show at the Convention Center. They have been there this week with a booth set up. It is a show for retailers to come and check out the products. It was cool to see all the other booths. Jace loved running all over the huge space. He yelled for Papa to follow him as he made his rounds. When he returned to our booth he had several stickers that other vendors had given him stuck to his jacket. He made friends with a little girl (probably about 5 years old) who was cruising around on roller skates. When I say he made friends I mean he watched her for a while then started following her around and then finally got what he really wanted when she sat down on the floor and let him touch the wheels of her skates. Jace was super tired when we left the show but managed to stay awake until we were half a mile from home. I woke him up so that we could have lunch then tried to put him down for his normal afternoon nap. He has been talking, dancing and throwing things out of the crib for half an hour now. I really need him to rest so that I can start packing for tomorrow but until I know he is asleep I'm afraid to make any noise. So here I am, trapped at the computer.

While I'm here I'll post a couple photos from the last few days.

Monday nights at Palmer's house are always fun. Our Dancing with the Stars nights have turned into Dancing with Jace nights. Jace dances to "round" (Right Round by Flo Rida) every night as part of his bed time routine. Monday, Janae and Alyssa joined in and taught Jace some new moves.

Saturday we spent the morning running errands to get ready for our trip. We bought a new, smaller, collapsible stroller and a portable DVD player. We are hoping that both items will make traveling with the little man more enjoyable. We took the Jeep out on our shopping trip because the car seat was already in it and Jace loves to ride in the Jeep. The stroller in its box barely fit in the Jeep. Jace also had a couple of temper tantrums when we wouldn't let him drive and instead insisted on strapping him into his car seat. He was in tears in the back seat yelling "drive" and "wheel" over and over again. When we got home we let him play in the driver's seat. I think from the photo it is pretty clear why we don't want him driving anytime soon.

Sounds like he's sleeping. I better get moving.