Denver Woods

family photo

2009-06-12T17:35:00.005-06:00

Our time spent at Kiddie Kandids wasn't pure torture...

but I'm not sure Allison would agree.

This is the most pleasant expression of hers that we were able to capture. To be honest, she has worn than expression often, but I promise you, she does smile!

Samantha did great, though, despite falling off the stage and tripping over the step stool a few times.

Why didn't we pack it in, you ask? Becase we were taking a family photo with my parents and grandparents. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get everybody together? And smiling? At the same time? After that experience, I wanted to leave and never return, so I took what I could get.

Its been a while...

2009-05-12T15:59:00.003-06:00

...and we've been busy. : )

Here is Samatha with her little sister, Allison. Aren't they sweet??!?

School Pix

2007-11-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here are Samantha's pre-school pictures.
She looks like such a big kid!
Time is marching on... : )

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T16:07:00.001-06:00

Samantha had two costumes:

one for inside fun...

... and one for out-door fun.

It was a nippy 30 degrees on Halloween night, so the unicorn outfit was just right.

She wore the genie costume to pre-school and to a local high school's "Trick-or-Treat Street" carnival shin-dig.

Pre-K

2007-08-27T13:24:00.000-06:00

Samantha started pre-school last week. How can that be???

We've been prepping her for a while. "I'll bring you to school and drop you off. Then I'll leave for a while, and you'll stay with your teachers and the other students. Then I'll come back and pick you up and we'll go home." She was ready.

...maybe too ready. I wanted one more picture but she told me it was time for me to leave. : )

Summer Fun

2007-08-27T13:19:00.000-06:00

We squeezed a few more play dates in before the school year began.

The hammock was a big hit,

and so were the ice-pops.

Baby Boogie

2007-07-01T19:44:00.000-06:00

Arvada club dNote hosts a Baby Boogie every Sunday from 3-6pm. The pizza is awesome, and the stage is just right for li'l tykes to play instruments and dance.

Samantha's favorites are the popcorn and new friends. We love the kid-friendly music, the Nirvana dessert pizza, and the multi-cultural mix of families.

Father's Day

2007-07-01T19:25:00.001-06:00

On Father's Day, we headed out to Karen's barn to visit the horses. We escorted Samantha as she rode a pony; then she joined Karen on Waltz!

It was a hot day, so the cloud cover was quite welcome, if not kind to our photos.

See all of the photos here. (I edited the link so you don't need a password to view the photos.)

the cape

2007-06-19T17:33:00.000-06:00

We celebrated our anniversary with a vacation to Cape Cod. (click for more pix)

We visited the Plimoth Plantation Museum in Plymouth, which boasts working replicas of an English settlers' village (the Pilgrims), a Wampanoag homesite (the Indians) and the Mayflower.

We toured Boston and visited my friend Cindy and her family in Quincy, and we visited the Breakers Mansion in Newport. We hung out at the beach (even though it was cool and overcast) and explored the cape. I ate the best omelette of my life at Grumpy's in Dennis, and we fell in love with charming homes in Brewster and Chatham. sigh... Good times!

Our flight was delayed 4 hours on the way home. I'm glad we were in the Pittsburgh airport and not on a plane sitting on the tarmac. What a great airport! It has a mall! We shopped, lapped the slide-walks about 50 times, and zipped Sammy around on the makeshift car-seat/umbrella-stroller. It's good to be home. : )

happy anniversary

2007-05-31T16:48:00.000-06:00

We celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary on June 1...

Sammy is 3 years old!! (click here for pix)

2007-05-05T16:17:00.000-06:00

Click on the title bar of this post to see pictures from Samantha's birthday bash - a fairy tea party - we held earlier today.

Here are a few pictures from her actual birthday, yesterday. We celebrated with her buddies Cha-Cha and Lee-Lee.

The day before, Samantha visited the butterfly habitat without me, thank goodness. You'll see why I was glad to miss this trip.

Yes, she held a screaming cockroach and a tarantula spider. I've got shivers just typing those words!

Springtime in the suburbs

2007-04-16T17:33:00.000-06:00

Last night our peaceful evening at home was interrupted by a loud humming/buzzing/vibrating sound. What could it be?? We searched the family room, testing all the electrical equipment. It wasn't the tv, cable box, receiver, DVD player, or lamps. We checked the basement. We peered outside into the darkness. I put my ear up to the wall. In exasperation, we opened the sliding glass door and turned on the deck light to inspect the yard. It became immediately clear the offending sound was our neighbor's hot tub. We giggled at ourselves and scurried back into the house.

Happy Easter Everybody!

2007-04-08T22:39:00.000-06:00

It snowed this weekend, so we hid eggs indoors. We would have had to anyway, because the foxes came back.

She had a riot, but stopped to pose every time we took out the camera. After searching for eggs, Sammy cried out "Happy Easter Everbody!!" with glee.

Last weekend, we want to an egg-hunt hosted by our homeowner's association. She LOVED seeing, following, and hugging the easter bunny. Several times.

buddies

2007-04-07T08:50:00.000-06:00

Sammy loves playing with Emma

petite fleur

2007-04-05T14:20:00.000-06:00

She went to a princess party... perfect!

She likes to play dress up,

and she loves to wear

bobble-thingy headbands!

Christmas in Florida

2007-01-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

We visited Samantha's great-grandparents (GG and Casey) in Melbourne, FL for Christmas. It was a glorious respite from the blizzards in Colorado!

Sammy enjoyed picking oranges and grapefruits from the trees in the yard for some fresh-squeezed yummy goodness.

We visited the beach, the zoo, and took many walks around the neighborhood. She loved picking up broken palm tree branches and using them as "fishing poles" in the puddles.

She loved being surrounded by family, and so did we. : )

snowbound 12-21-06

2006-12-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

It stopped snowing around 3pm;
I guess it's time to clear the driveway...

But first let's have some fun!

Mmmm, fresh snow...

The sun finally came out around 3:30 - shine on and melt the snow!!

December 2006 Blizzard

2006-12-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

What a day!

Last night, Rob got home from a business trip to find his car had been stolen, taken for a ride, dumped in another town, and towed to yet another town. When we called the tow company, the guy said the car had been set on fire or something because it was covered in fire-retardent stuff. "Its really dirty." He also said that the location is closed by 4:00 pm because "it's too dangerous after dark."

We planned to pick it up today. Today Denver (the whole state, really, and a few neigboring states as well) got hit with a blizzard.

We both got to go home at noon today, but road conditions were already terrible. I had planned our trip using mapquest to find every back/side road possibe, so we avoided a lot of traffic, but encountered unplowed streets. No worries, though, because we were in the Subaru. (I will drive a Subaru as long as I live in a snow-fall State.)

The tow lot hadn't been cleared, so we had great fun freeing the Saturn from it's snowy grave. Thank goodness it had brand new tires!! We couldn't see any evidence of fire, but the interior was covered with a fine, sooty, ashy powder that fluffed into your mouth and nose. We'll post pictures later, after we dig out the Saturn again.

Rob took the car home, and I took the Subaru to pick up Samantha from daycare. The suburban neighborhood roads were so much worse; I felt like a cowboy bronco-busting my way home, but I made it all the way into our garage. The Saturn got stuck in a drfit at the entrance of our cul-du-sac.

Here's an idea of how bad visibility was after we picked up the car. Sometimes, when the wind blew the drift sideways accross the road, I couldn't see more than 2 feet. We were all safely home by 5:00.

We plan to stay home tomorrow!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

To your family from ours!

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-12-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

Sammy is thankful for her family and friends.
Here she's with "Auntie" Marcie and "Uncle" Russ.

At the pumpkin patch...

2006-11-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

We visited the Rock Creek Pumpkin Patch, where you go to the field and cut your pumpkins righ toff the vine. We were joined by our friends Laurie and Amanda. The girls loved running through the field, but not so much tripping over the vines. As you can see, the field was pretty picked-over by the time our schedules allowed for the trip. Good fun, though!

A cool autumn day in Colorado.

2006-11-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

We have an enormous tree in our back yard that sheds these long, heavy, dark brown pods. When they fall off the tree, they make a loud, thunking sound on the deck. Sammy prefers the pods piles to the leaves piles because the pods are louder and crunchier.

SLC/Park City, Utah vacation 2006

2006-10-20T22:50:00.000-06:00

Recently, we took some time for a family vacation to visit Park City, Utah (9/30-10/7/2006). We got to see my friend Marcie and her hubby Russ a few times, since they live in Provo and work in Salt Lake. A highlight for sure!

The Rocky Mountains stretch into Northern Utah, which explains why Park City reminded me so much of Colorado mountain towns like Breckenridge, Georgetown, and Idaho Springs. It was familiar and new at the same time.

Needless to say, anything kid-friendly in Utah is 10-times better than Denver's kid-friendly stuff. Those Mormons know a thing or two about keeping groups of toddlers happy!

We rode the Historic Heber Valley Railroad's "Heber Creeper" and met a nice young family. Sammy bonded with Anna while eating cookies.

Next we visited Thanksgiving Point in Salt Lake City. Wow! It has all kinds of kid-pleasing stuff...

Like pony rides, stockades...

... and giant insect sculptures to climb in!

It also has a working farm, a petting zoo, a dinosaur museum, a golf course (enjoyed by Daddy and Russ) and gardens with caves, waterfalls, ponds with sculpture-fountains and windows for fish-watching, hedge-high mazes, and smooth, wide, paved paths to accommodate even the most tricked-out strollers you've ever seen.

Poor Samantha got a stomach bug that night, so the rest of our vacation was pretty low key. We did eat lunch next to Design Star's Vern Yip at Dodo's in SLC. I changes seats at our table to avoid watching him the whole time. Samantha provided plenty of distraction, so I have nothing else to report about the fabulous Mr. Yip.

Colorado Day/Tiny Town/Bike

2006-08-08T14:56:00.000-06:00

We went to the Colorado History Museum on Colorado Day a few weeks ago. We had lots of fun with our friends Natalie, Julianne, Capri, Caitlin, Bianca, and Reagan. Sammy's favorite exhibit was the darkened lava-trail hallway adorned with stars on the ceiling. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it in all the excitement. Here is what I did manage to capture.

The following week we went to Tiny Town -- a replica of a small mountain town scaled to 1/6 of the original size. Some buildings are hollow to allow exploration, and others are tricked out with dolls and sets. Lotsa fun!

And we got a bike seat for Sammy to ride with Daddy. They both LOVE this arrangement. : )

tetano

2006-07-27T13:26:00.000-06:00

Samantha has the gift of gab, and she'd like to share it with you...

...so don't be surprised when you receive a "tetano" call from her. : )

Where has the time gone?

2006-07-12T11:20:00.000-06:00

We've been exploring space...

...riding worms...

...swimming...

...meeting new friends...

...and smelling the flowers.

Happy Birthday!

2006-05-05T15:21:00.000-06:00

the von Wood family band

2006-05-05T14:48:00.000-06:00

And so little Samantha's tutelage begins
in the storage room.

She knows how to work the room,

and she loves to finish with
an alphabet song/twinkle, twinkle, little star medley.

Practice - Practice - Practice

2006-04-09T23:27:00.000-06:00

Rob's family is pretty competitive for the Easter Egg hunt, so we let Samantha practice a week early. Here we are at a local playground. Wait for it... wait for it... GO!!

She picked up a few eggs and made a b-line for the swings.

BTW, this outfit was a gift last Easter. It was still too big by the end of last summer, but it fits now! : )

Wild Kingdom

2006-04-09T22:44:00.000-06:00

The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Here's the mama...

...and three of her six kits.

They've set up house - burrowed a den - below our deck. Needless to say, we're very popular with our pet-loving neighbors. Our red state is very pro-environment; not a single government agency
will relocate the adorable vulpes vulpes. (Don't ask how much it costs for a private sector company to do it.)

A few facts, courtesy of http://www.ozfoxes.com/aafoxes.htm:

A fox can hit 35mph running flat out.
Since it is the vixen who decides where she will raise her next family, it is not uncommon for one of the daughters to return home if Momma is gone, continuing the cycle in a familiar environment.
Foxes will defend their homes if they have kits and if a child is too persistent in hanging around the den. (My personal favorite, especially since we just purchased a swing set.)

We have a theory that the previous owners of our lovely home played host in the past. One of the fence pickets is sawed off at the bottom, as if to encourage the migration of kits. Problem is, the vixen wants to lead the kits over the fence on the opposite side of the yard. Also, we can't find any excavated dirt. The fox holes don't appear to be new... they were just hidden under rocks and landscaping cloth.

Update: The foxes are gone! We tried a combination of mothballs and loudness. When we saw the vixen in the yard, we'd open windows and say "scram" or "shoo" and Rob went out into the yard. She got the message!

Isn't She Pretty...

2006-03-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

...Truly the angel’s best / Rob, I’m so happy / We have been heaven blessed / I can’t believe what God has done / Through us he’s given life to one / But isn’t she lovely made from love!

Play Date

2006-03-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

Samantha playing with her friends
(L to R) Sebastian, Tess, and Simon.

Samantha is in LOVE with Simon.
He seems to be charmed by her as well. :)

Chuck E. Cheese

2006-03-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Samantha's first visit. We checked out all the rides and slides, and were wowed by the song and dance show.

She ate about 1/8 of one slice of pizza (I finished the other 7/8, 'natch), and we gave most of our tokens away to a friend's older child. Fun, though!

The Great Sam-teeny

2006-03-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

This experienced pilot has logged hours of flight time in craft such as laundry baskets, empty Legos tubs, and her daddy's arms. Wait - it's only sweet until you realize he's helping her kamikaze-crash into Elmo - then it's downright hysterical!

Idolizing

2006-03-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Maybe she fancies Ryan Seacrest, or maybe she dreams of winning Idol 20...
all I know is this girl loves to sing along with the contestants of American Idol.

Out and About

2006-03-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Samantha is cruising Flatirons Mall with her buddies Emma and Morgan, giggling and snacking on Mrs. Field's cookies.

Of course, first they had a healthy lunch and then played in the super-cushy mall playground. Next, we visited the pet store where the girls pet a miniature greyhound before washing their hands.

Now they're heavy-lidded, heading for their car seats and nap time.

Go Avs!

2006-02-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

Sammy LOVES hockey! We got seats to the game-day morning skate, courtesy of our friend Marcie and the Swiss Fan Club (officially known as THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL DAVID AEBISCHER FAN CLUB). Of course, our little mover and shaker didn't want to actually sit in the seats... the aisle is so much more fun.

Hi-yaaah!

2006-02-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

If you look closely, you'll see the lid to the sugar bowl flying through the air. Samantha has created a new contact sport combining tea time, camping, and ninja moves. Not to mention transforming our once chic living room into her play palace. She's so creative! : )

Chistmas morning 2005

2006-02-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

The Tubby-tuft, where Sammy likes to sit to watch the Teletubbies (weekday mornings at 8:30, or anytime OnDemand). We've since broken the habit of starting EVERY day with an episode, but Christmas morning was no time to lay down the law.

Thanksgiving 2005

2006-02-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

Samantha napped on our way up to Grandma's house. I don't think she cared for the main meal, so she feasted upon goldfish and cheese instead.

Fresh Start

2006-02-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks for following us to our new blog-gome, blogger! Our previous entries are still available at denverwoods.blog.com, for those of you interested in the past 6 months.

Samantha's newest passion is her little gym class. I mean, MY newest passion is Sammy's little gym class (Samantha's passions remain: bubbles, Elmo, and balloons). Watching those little kiddos, running around the mats, chasing balls and bubbles, makes my heart feel younger and my body feel older. I love it! I spend the whole time running around with her that I haven't managed to snag any photos yet.

We've moved

2005-08-23T16:46:00.000-06:00

Hey! Finaly a new post.

We moved August 1, 2005. What a day! The movers called us while we were sitting at the closing table, buying our house, to say there had been an accident and they wouldn't be able to move us. After many calls placed by me and our realtor, we found another moving company ready, willing, and able to move us on such short notice: Two Men and a Truck (303) 344-9911. They actually sent 3 fast, curteous, and carefull guys.