summer book club - 3 & 4

Dinosaur Museum, Cross Road Orchards and Children's Museum-
The entire Grand Valley is apparently a dino graveyard and there's a nifty museum that Joachim was a bit young for. The robotic dinosaurs were almost too much for him, especially the one that "spit" water at standersby. Below some of our boys are waiting to be "spit" on.There was sort of a digging pit that Anna really dug, (he he he). It was made entirely of crushed walnut hulls, a very interesting texture quite unlike sand.At the history museum there was an old train and as far as extinct goes, they had the largest collection of old and rotting tractors I've ever seen. As Corey put it, "I assume to climb on and play with."
Good ole Trist crankin' the engine.
And Joachim not far behind.
Another of our outtings was to the Children's Museum, a neat little hands on, crafty, dress-up, experiment, takes things apart and play pretend place.

All of these neat things to do and my son spent the entire time in the "space shuttle". It was difficult for me as a parent to not try to coerce, bribe or even threaten him into trying something else. In my effort to encourage him to try different things it's difficult for me to let him choose his own activities. I suppose there's a balance, but it's not a matter of me finding it I already know I'm too pushy.Here Joachim is sitting in the cockpit of the space shuttle under an irritating blacklight, thoroughly enjoying himself. I couldn't even coax him out with the excitement of playing with Tristen who was trying on every costume, delivering long narrations and asking to be fully documented.

dino movies

You can see it was quite gruesome as the rex lifted its head, chewing on the head of another large beast with entrails hanging out.

This was a bit more fun, we did the earthquake simulator again and again and again.

summer book club - 2

Day at Confluence lake-
The overall goal was to alternate free activities with paid activities. Fortunately, there were enough kids that we often qualified for a group rate.
Here's Tristen, who is often in my pictures. He's quite a different temperament than Joachim which is probably why Joachim lights up when Tristen arrives. Tristen is a couple years older and Joachim is one of his great admirers. Tristen tells me that if he doesn't marry baby Anna then one of his brothers will, so there you have it Anna.On our way to the lake we saw the carnival was in town. Joachim has a standing love affair with ferris wheels, I think from a Thomas movie or a book, I don't know, but I just had to take him.

After some pressure Ben caved and let us go just to ride the ferris wheel (although after we got there I begged two more rides on Joachim's behalf). I didn't mention in the circus entry that these sort of things attract a slice of Delta that is... well odd, I'm sorry.

Interestingly we went to the exact same carnival 2 months later in a hippie town 45 minutes away. It was a completely different vibe, much more festive, uplifting and positive. It's interesting to me the energy different crowds create.
Anyway, here's Delta with the Grand Mesa in the background.

summer book club - 1

For the last two years I've met regularly with a handful of moms in an informal book club. This summer we planned out weekly activities and it's been fun looking forward to each gathering since most of the places and museums are new to me. It helped me realize that even though I live in a small, somewhat isolated town, there are still plenty of opportunities.

Our first adventure was on the Grand Mesa, it was early June so there was still snow, but since it was already hot in Delta, it was nice to get up higher and cool off.
Roasting marshmallows. You should ask Ben about my S'mores obsession this summer.
The best part has been watching my son emerge as a social being, making friends and trying new things.

circus

I serendipitously, acquired some circus tickets. I'd gone down to the Federal Credit Union to check out their grand opening, get some free grub, load Joachim up with balloons and other freebies and stumbled on the country music station giving out family passes to the circus (a $45 dollar value for us). It was a small town circus that hit four cities around here in 4 nights. It had mostly retired animals from bigger circuses and second class acts, but it was fun in the same way it's fun to go to minor league baseball games. The performers all gave it their best and we came home dusty, but happy.

new and old

I got distracted sorting through pictures and I started looking up pictures of Joachim at the same age Anna is now. Here is a good Joachim on top and Anna below. And this is my strolling dream and that every time I use I thank Corey for "handing-around" to me. If you live in Delta you could find me anywhere with it, the coffee shop, library, consignment shop, any one of the parks and best of all we can walk to and from church now. I love, love love it!

love birds

A couple of years ago I declared to Ben I wanted to start collecting something. I think he envisioned our house overtaken by cows or little bears, but I'd already decided on bird because they make me feel cheery. Above is our "we've moved/Anna is born" announcement he did for me (which, by the way, if you still need our new address please let me know).
Below are the little glass birds I stole from my mom for the top of our wedding cake... this was the beginning.
This is a bird he got me for valentine's day.
These are a Christmas present (salt & pepper). Also featured are peonies, but not just any peonies. Ben's parents drove over buckets of these peonies for our wedding. They came from Susan's garden. Susan, who is now Anna's godmother and our neighbor two blocks away, gives us a bouquet for our anniversary every year.
This year Ben bought me this bird ring from etsy for our 4 year anniversary. I love them and all they represent to me.Finally, while I'm on the sentimental string, Ben's mom presented us with this plant. Almost 5 years ago when I first met Ben I gave him a tiny house plant to go in his very bachelor pad. Not long after that he visited me in the Springs and the little plant froze in the unheated apartment. He left it for dead at his mom's house and we never thought about it again. We'll, she nursed it along all those years and here it is alive and thriving! I only hope I can keep it going.

new life

I have so many things I never get to share, so suffice it to say I'm loving living in our very own house.
Joachim got on a Julia Child kick so Ben checked out her early cooking videos and we watched them in the evening. Since we moved "into the city" we actually lost TV channels and now only have two and those don't even come in reliably... it was unfortunate to lose our PBS stations, but who needs TV anyway, when you can watch hours of Julia Child for free from the library? Joachim's favorite episode is the lobster one, followed by the chicken episode. We discovered his love for cooking shows when he watched an entire Martha Stewart completely engrossed at a friend's house.

A bigger house

The advantage to a bigger house is more space for expending energy.

philly memories

These are a few pictures Mhari took when we visited in November, what a fabulous time we had.

pregnancy

Mhari not only did our wedding photography, but she did some maternity photography when we visited in the fall. We had a wonderful photo shoot and I only wish she could have done baby pictures of Anna also, I can't help but be a little greedy, her work is so awesome.