Sunday, July 27, 2008

Summer Vacation 2008


COLORADO



We just finished spending a week in Colorado for our summer vacation. Get ready for an adventure!

This is how I spent the first 8 hours - driving in the car. A guy can never get enough of TONKA trucks!


This is mom and me standing in front of a pink dinosaur - she has assured me there really are not pink dinos out there. Whooooo - what a relief!

Believe it or not . . . this is my first time fishing.












Look at the whopper I caught. Fortunately there's no picture of my tantrum when daddy decided to practice "catch and release" without my permission. And yes - I'm kissing my fish!


We also got to swim - in a BIG BIG pool. Talk about fun!

The next day we went for a train ride. I LOVE trains! They're big; they rumble; and they makes lots of noise!


Here is evidence that I actually got to ride on the train. ALL ABOARD!


The train went over a HUGE bridge. I loved looking down in to the river but mommy closed her eyes while we went over the bridge. What a wimp!!!



After the train ride I got to walk around and see all the other engines. I pretended that I was one. Choo Choo!


Oh - and I got to swim again. What a lucky guy I am!






We got to go hiking a bunch in Rocky Mountain National Park.

We saw rivers and a waterfall and beaver ponds and BIG mountains.



Oh yeah - we got to swim again.



During our vacation we saw lots of wild animals. If you know my daddy - seeing wildlife is the whole purpose of any trip. The really cool animal that we got to see was a BEAR - yes, you read that right - a BEAR! We didn't get a picture of it though. He got scared of us and ran away before we could get the camera out.



We saw small animals - like this cool catepillar that I got to play with.

We also got to see some pretty geese.

Have you ever seen a muskrat? I have - it lived in the pond right by the place that we stayed.

We found this "cute" little dear hiding while we were hiking one day. (Yes - I use the word cute, all the time even though it makes daddy cringe.)


We found a big herd of elk - lots of baby and mommy elk.


We even got to see a baby elk having lunch. We also saw a bunch of bull elk as well, but it was too dark for a picture of them.

We ran into a group of 4 bull moose which mommy says are her favorite. These two were HUGE!

You guessed it - we went swimming some more.


For a little guy, I sure wasn't even remotely interested in sleeping on vacation. Every once in awhile, mommy and daddy would catch me with my eyes closed - I promise I was just checking my eyelids for holes.

If you are a Mason's Memos fan, you know that I love cars under appliances. No trip would be complete without some car fishing!



Oh yeah - I almost forgot - we got to swim some more.

Here I am driving the luggage cart. I'm so good that I never hit a wall. Daddy can vouch for me - and no, when I shared my ice cream, that was not a bribe.

This is me on the car ride home - I think my lack of sleep - - or as I like to think of it . . . abundance of fun - - caught up with me. Happy trails until our next adventure!





WAIT A SECOND - Don't go . . . this is a "SAM ALERT". . . finally, Mason fell asleep and now I can show you better pictures of our vacation that Mason conveniently left off.

Here is a picture of the handsome one in the family (no offense dad).


Here I am with mommy on our train ride. Trust me - we're on the train, but mom wouldn't let me out of her bear hug as we went over the bridge.


Here we are on one of our hikes to Adam's Falls.

And you guessed it - we spent some time at the pool. And trust me, I didn't pee in the pool - at least as far as anyone knows.



And finally, this is me on our drive home - who needs a nap??? Not me - I've learned to pace myself.

Be on the lookout for more "SAM ALERTS"!

Friday, July 18, 2008

"MORE AGAIN"

More Again is the famous (or is it infamous?) phrase that I say when I really, really enjoy something and want to do it over and over and over and over and over again. This has been a week full of More Agains.

On Monday, mommy took Samuel and me to Thanksgiving Point to the Farm Country. What a blast! They had cows, horses, goats, guanacos, ducks, chickens, roosters, donkeys, and other fun animals. I got to pet them, feed them, and ride them. Look carefully at the collage of photos below and count the number of different horses that I got to ride. Yes - that is three!!! I loved it! I was sad that we had to finally go home and woke up every morning asking for "more again farm"? Mommy says yes - soon! You can bet I'm not going to let her forget!

Then we tried to go to the Living Planet Aquarium the other day, but they were closing just as we got there, so we found a fun park to play at. Daddy took this really cool photo. Park again?
Can a 2 year old really ever get enough of slides?
Thursday night is lawn care night. My parents really do work me hard! But I actually quite enjoyed myself because I have my very own lawn mower (thanks Aunt Jen Jen!). My mower has its own parking spot in the shed next to daddy's mower. I know I get to mow again next week!

By the way - a huge CONGRATULATIONS to my daddy! He is officially done with his Master's degree today! I finally get to spend even more time with him now that his classes are done. Yeah daddy - we're proud of you!!!

And for those "Mason's Memos" fans out there that have been asking for more pictures of baby Sam - here is an up close and personal picture from this week. Samuel is smiling and trying so hard to talk. He sure has a lot to say - wonder what it means? I bet he's trying to steal my phrase - - more again!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Days of the Week

So this post is a tribute to the days of the week. This is how I spent my week - see if you notice any kind of pattern:

MONDAY:
Playing outside in my pool













TUESDAY:
Playing outside in my pool


















WEDNESDAY:
Feeding the ducks - this was super fun!
Mommy said this is the place where she and daddy got married - sure is pretty!



THURSDAY: Riding my teeter totter outside
Who knew baby Sam could ride a teeter totter?













FRIDAY: Enjoying a baseball game and meeting Bumble (again)! Mommy's work had a night with the Bees - on the shady side of the ballpark



















SATURDAY: Playing outside in my pool
Watering mommy's flowers


















SUNDAY: Ok - so this one actually might need an explanation - - - This is me with my snow boots on after church today - - wishing for snow outside

Eating dinner outside on the patio with the family
Playing outside... did you spot the pattern?

OUTSIDE - what a way to spend a great week!