Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Who is That?

I took Kyle and Reed to visit their new preschool this morning.
(They'll be going T/TH mornings.)

The kids got to play while the parents (notice I didn't say 'moms'... this is Durango, there's always more dads than moms) had a little meeting with the teacher.

One of their activity stations is a work bench...with real tools. (Yikes!)
And guess who was in love with it? 

Not who you'd think.

That's a real nail, real hammer, and not a drop of pink anywhere in sight!
Okay-Okay, so he does have his hat tipped to the side quite stylishly.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Max and Ruby (And Reed)

We're big Max and Ruby fans in this house.
(You can see my Can't Sit Up Slug reference here.)

Bunny Cakes has been in the top 10 of the Ingy Bedtime Story Favorites for a solid 7 years.
(It still even has the Chinese price tag on the back.  I paid 36 RMB, about $4, for it. )


If you're not familiar with Bunny Cakes, I'll give you the lowdown:
Max continuously spills Ruby's cake ingredients, so he has to keep going back to the store with a list of food items. 
(Max isn't old enough to talk, but can run errands alone.)  
Max wants some 'Red-Hot Marshmallow Squirters', so he adds them to the list each time.
 But, alas, the grocer can't read his handwriting.  Finally, Max draws a picture of the RHMS, and the grocer knows what he wants.

All that back story to show you the results of Reed's self taught name writing practice.

 
 
Which I just love since  'Reed' looks so much like Max's 'Red-Hot Marshmallow Squirters'.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Doin' DGO Like a TXN

It's very Durangoy to ride bikes down on the river trail.
And being good little Durangoans we did just that.

Here was my view (labeled for your convenience).

But since we're not true Durangoans and really just a pack o' Texans, we rode our bikes to go eat BBQ.

And like any true Texan, Kyle needed a mini siesta before the BBQ arrived.


 The BBQ wasn't really enough for us after all that physical activity.  We needed to make another stop.

Kyle and Reed have lived in Durango longer than Texas, so they took the healthy route and asked for 'Kiss Stars'. 

And if you're thinking, 'I've never heard of a DQ Kiss Star?'
 Don't worry. You haven't.

But the award for "Shortest Amount of Time in Durango, but most Durangoan of the Day" goes to Cassidy.

She rode the entire BMX track with Knox in the babyseat.

Guess I'll have to go back with Hunter in the babyseat to beat that!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Guess They Learned This Last Weekend

So I thought we had dodged a bullet when Steven's jeep didn't flip over last weekend in Moab.
And, of course, I was wrong.

Jason and I were sitting outside watching the kids play when I heard small amounts of whimpering. 
(I don't investigate unless I hear full on hysterics.)
Thankfully, Super Dad did because the next thing I heard was, "Oh no! They're upside down in the ditch!"

Here's what I found when I arrived on the scene.
Jason beat me there by a few seconds and found them both still underneath the jeep.
Before he could even help them, they both popped out from underneath without a care in the world.

Maybe a few scrapes on Reed, not that I could see them since the only real 'injury' was that he was covered in mud.


They thought the ditch jeep flip was awesome and were ready to ride again.  So with our amazing parenting wits about us, told them Kyle had to drive (since Reed was the flipper).
And off they went.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

New Pics

Cassidy and I took the kids to the River Trail to snap some pictures of them the other day.
We may or may not have promised them McD's if they posed for us.

(Which had they know McD's were either out of or finished with Smurf Happy Meal toys, I'm sure we wouldn't have gotten one smile.  It's amazing how quickly 3 year-olds can turn bitter sans Smurf.)

Smurf or no Smurf, these were my favorites:





As you can see from the previous pictures, I really don't understand lighting. So although this next picture was one of my favorites, the shadows all over the kids' faces was ruining it.  Luckily, turning it to a sepia-ish color seemed to hide my mistakes.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Jeep Attack

So before I tell our tales of jeeping in Moab, I'll give you the short, short version for those of you under a time constraint. 

This pictures sums up the whole day.

Me holding on for dear life. (The arrow is pointing to my hand in full on death grip.)
And Jason smiling from ear to ear.


All kidding aside, the boys loved it!

Last weekend Steven organized a trip with 15 of us.
And Reed was immediately thankful that the group included hot, shirtless high school girls.


And besides cute high school girls, the kids also enjoyed plenty of jeeps doing things like this.

And this
(No, that's not a wolf in the foreground.  One of the couples brought their dog who, like me, would rather walk along side the jeeps than actually ride.)


And then Steven (with Liz in the passenger seat) did this and I almost had a heart attack.


While I wasn't hyperventilating, I did have some time to take in the spectacular scenery.


That's Reed still working on bringing home a new babysitter.




The best family picture we could get.
I'm smiling since there aren't 4 (or sometimes 3!) wheels under my feet.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Rundown

I wasn't allowed to take a picture of JR as he got off the bus, but I did get a small synopsis of the day:
  • He sat by TC in his class and at lunch. (TC's mom is my friend, Kylie.)
  • His teacher (a man!) is nice, and when he called roll and said "John", JR had to tell him he goes by JR.  His teacher then jokingly asked "How do you spell that?", which JR thought was funny.
  • They had PE and math.
  • It's okay he only brought 10 pencils. (They asked for the 24 pack of a very specific kind of pencil; it was sold out so I sent JR with 10.  He was concerned.)
And that's all I got.

We had our traditional first day of school bake-off when JR got home. 
(He had all the ingredients out and ready to go before I had hardly walked in the house.)


JR wanted to make a cake.


Reed made cupcakes.


Kyle just wanted to eat.

Monday, August 22, 2011

It's Here!

Yippee-Ya-Whoooo!
It's the first day of school!

JR seriously cracks me up.
He chose to go with formal wear since it's a special day.


He had me walk him to his class, but then quickly dismissed me when he hooked up with some of his friends.

I'll update later on how the day went.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Buzz Word

There's a certain buzz word I hear all the time in these parts.
"Hiking."
And best I can tell, it's pretty much the exact same thing as what we Texans call "goin' for a walk".

But, when in Rome...


Reed and the big kids all did their best to hike like the Coloradoans do:

throwing rocks

bouldering

and getting as dirty as possible.


Kyle, of course, has a hiking style similar to mine.

hat, sunglasses, a spot in the shade, and most importantly....a cute purse!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Fashion Fabulous Friday




I thought I was raising a bunch of monkeys, but I guess barnyard chic is in these days.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Can't Call it a 'Vacay' Without Adam Richmond

Surely you didn't think we could go to Phoenix without checking out an Adam Richmond restaurant?
I really appreciate it when restaurants go all out in advertising that Adam was there. 
(Two places we've visited didn't even acknowledge he'd been on the premises.)
Chompie's did not disappoint.

Thankfully, they shamelessly plug Adam Richmond/Man V. Food any chance they can.


The restaurant is decorated to pay homage to New York, and we were seated in the subway section.

JR really wanted Mr. Brad (Cassidy's husband and fellow Man V Food fan) to do the challenge.  I think Brad would have done it had the menu not been filled with so many yummy options we wanted to try.  And when I say 'many', I mean the menu was like a book!


JR and Mr. Brad decided to go with 3 sliders each.

You might have noticed they're called "Original Jewish Sliders".
 I guess the Presbyterians aren't much on sliders because, unfortunately, my German Jew Presbyterian mother has never made me one.

And if all Jewish food is as delicious as Chompie's, I think I just might have to go kosher!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Lazy Liver

We Ingersolls love a good lazy river.
(Jason's dad loves the one at Schlitterbahn so much he says he wants to build one in his backyard.)

We spent a good portion of our time in our Phoenix hotel's lazy river, which Reed kept calling the 'lazy liver'.

It had everything we needed:
Water depth low enough to walk

but high enough to get comfy.


It had pretty scenery.

And "fun" scenery
The boys wanted to pose in front of the jail since my amazing parenting techniques include telling them the police are going to "come arrest them and put them in Baby Jail if they take off their seat belts."
They're always asking where Baby Jail is.
(And in an effort to try and redeem myself, I didn't start out with the Baby Jail seat belt story.  It's just the only one that worked!)

 
We could watch the mini golfers while tube-side.

 
And the best part...big hats allowed!