Missing

I'm sorry for the pause in posting recently. I (Julie) am in Pittsburgh visiting friends and family, while the boys hold down the fort at Nana & Grandpa's house. I'll be home tomorrow, and I'm sure that when we get settled again there will be lots to write about and maybe even some pictures to post. Elijah has reportedly done very well without his mamma this week, but I will sure be glad to see him!

Quiz

I saw this little quiz on my friend Nancy's blog and had to try it out. I have to agree that my "western" accent is almost (but not quite) neutral - which I am both proud of and also kind of sad about (accents are pretty cool) ... what's yours?

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Western Western is kind of neutral, but not quite since it's still possible to tell where you're from. So you might not actually be from the West (but you probably are). If you really want to sound "neutral," learn how to say "stock" and "stalk" differently.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Fun at the park

Elijah and I were out running errands today when we came across a cool park. It was such a nice day that we had to stop and check it out. Elijah enjoyed the swings, played in the sand, and even went down the baby slide (with some help). How fun!

Beer Fest!

Well, as luck would have it, Denver is the annual host of the nation's largest beer festival each fall. I volunteered to pour beer at this event last year (because it is so expensive to get in) and really enjoyed myself. This is Patrick writing if you haven't noticed. Anyway, I volunteered again this year, as did my folks. They actually attended one night too, as I had earned passes by volunteering last year.

It is a great time, lots of people to watch, lots of great beers to taste (1 ounce at a time), crazy shirts and outfits that people wear. It is a true event with lots to see. I do enjoy lots of beers, so this is a nice time to get out and experience a little more than Coors Light. I enjoy a CL Smoothy every once in a while, but I know that there is much more out there - American Style Barleywine beers (without too much hops), porters and stouts (rich in the malt), winter brews, summer ales, sweet beers, sour beers, beers that literally made me shiver as I stood there! I get to meet lots of people, and I will actually be an Assistant Brew Crew Captain next year! I do enjoy myself, and it is a time to just relax and have fun (not as much fun as those folks on Saturday night who have been drinking one ounce samples for four hours straight).

Here is a picture of me and my folks after we came home from Friday night's session.

Autumn leaves

Yesterday, Elijah and I went for a walk, looking for a good pile of leaves to play in. The trees here are nearly bare, and the weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse this weekend, so I thought I ought to introduce little E to the fun of fall before all the nice, dry leaves get snowed on. We found these in the common-area lawn near our house. The wind was chilly enough that both our noses were running after a while, but we had fun.

And some more pictures

Elijah enjoyed watching the geese on the golf course (the view from our back door) at Pagosa Springs

Elijah has been working on a new skill - sitting in his chair

More pictures - grandparents

Here are a few pictures of Elijah's two weeks with Bobbi and Papa.

Eating ramen noodles (since that was what all the sick grownups were eating) - don't worry, I gave him some without the MSG "flavoring"!

Noodles are fun, but tricky...

Reading with Papa

Reading with Bobbi

Elijah with both of his grandmas

More pictures from Pagosa Springs

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful scenery that we saw on our trip:

Elijah Walks!

Elijah gave us and his grandparents a big surprise while we were in Pagosa - he started to walk! We were all very excited. I think it was nice of him to save his first steps until Bobbi and Papa were here. Here's a little video of his first day. He's getting really good at it already! I'll try to get more video of him walking now that he's more confident.

Choo-choo!

Elijah got a close-up view of a steam engine when we visited Silverton last week. It was big and loud, but fantastic! Getting to actually see and the train and hear the sounds was well worth standing out in the cold for a few minutes. Here are some of the pictures, and a short video for those of you who love that chug-a-chug-a sound as much as Elijah does!

Home again, home again ...

Patrick's parents have come to visit us, so last week we all went out to Pagosa Springs, CO. It was beautiful and we really enjoyed ... most of it. We got to visit Durango and Silverton while we were out there too. The aspen trees were beautiful and the we had nice weather for most of the trip.

We also all got sick. Not fun. On Monday, Elijah threw up everything he ate or drank. Otherwise, he seemed to be feeling fine however, and he got up on Tuesday happy and hungry and we thought it was over. Then on Tuesday I got sick. Then Patrick and Jim on Tuesday night. Then Wednesday, when I started to feel a little better, Barb got sick. At least it was staggered enough that there was always someone well enough to take care of Elijah! So we lost a couple of days of our vacation while we were all sitting around eating dry toast and ramen noodles, but it was still a good week.

I will post more pictures and stories of our adventures as I have time - we're still visiting this week around here. I have to say, I love going to the mountains, but I also love coming home and sleeping in my own bed. It's nice to be back!