New Year New Post

Well it has been almost two months since my last post and I started the last one out saying I might slow down a tad.  I guess I lied, slowing down meant stopping.  I do have a good reason though, in addition to getting back into school to complete my bachelor's degree I also took a new job at work as the Director of Information Technology.  This was very exciting for me as I have been working toward this position, but now that I have it I am feeling the pain of growth.   Boohoo I know.

Sarah's photography business is doing well with lots of fun themed shoots about the holidays.  The other night she was getting the props all setup and wanted to test it all out.  We both went downstairs leaving the boys upstairs while we prepared the shoot for the boys.  While we were in the basement suddenly Sarah noticed water pouring out of the top of the basement window sill.  Instantly we both thought a pipe had burst so I ran up stairs and outside to check but all looked well.  We were puzzled as the water just stopped pouring from the ceiling.  So we finished setting up the shoot and I went to get the boys from upstairs.  I grabbed Ridge and found his pants were soaked, it was then I remembered that as I started coming back up from the basement I seen a piece of evidence.

This lead me to the idea that there is a heating vent in the kitchen that is located directly above the window with the leak.  I grabbed exhibit A and went to the vent but it was totally dry no signs of water.  I looked into the laundry room and found exhibit B.

Which lead me to the crime scene.

Ridge had dumped the entire bowl of dog water down the heater vent in the laundry room which must slope down toward the basement window where all of the water escaped into the basement.  Fun times.

In addition we also we discovered we have rats in our house....Well one rat to be specific, it weighs about 20 Lbs and goes by the name of Ridge.  He finds his way into the pantry periodically and eats his way into our packaged foods.

 Anyway aside from the water mystery last year ended well with many trips to Costco we celebrated Thanksgiving here in Colorado with my mom and dad.  We took the kids to the Denver Museum of Natural History and hung out there for a couple of hours.  That was a lot of fun and really entertaining for the kids.  I think the Dinosaur exhibit is what really caught all of our attention.  That and the discovery zone which, was a whole bunch of cool gadgets and features for the kids to play in; like a giant water area and a wall of tracks they could send balls through yanking levers and what not to manipulate its path.

Little bear's dad.

Fun with sand

My little paleontologists.

Really cool water exhibit.

Tanner loved turning this crank that sent the balls up to the top of the track.

Tanner hated waiting for a turn.

We also made a trip up to Red Rocks which was a new destination to my parents and myself.  If you have never been to Red Rocks it is a trip worth venturing.  Just outside of Morrison Colorado it is a massive rock formation that was made into an amphitheater and now holds concerts and shows.  It overlooks Denver which is a fantastic view, one day I would like to go to a concert and see it at night.

Hitchin a ride

More Stairs!

More more stairs

Then of course there are all of the Christmasy fun things to do....

Erie Santa and Mrs. Clause

Is she threatening me?

Oh maybe she just really likes fist bumps...

Uhhhh to much sugar!

Yum! Ridge did not get very far on his house before devouring it.

Letters to Santa (didn't we just see him?)

Selfies after the company Christmas party in downtown Boulder.

Another big event for us was Weston turning 9 years old.  This year we opted for a birthday party at a local bowling ally which was a blast for the kids.  Weston was nice and invited 3 of his friends who had younger brothers the same age as Tanner who were also invited.  It was a fun day for both boys.

Weston...The Bowling King!

Bowling ally + hands in your mouth = Flu

Tanner bracing Weston

Tanner likes candles I guess.

Well I guess that is it for now, I will try to get more up more often.  I hope everyone out there had a great Holiday season and a happy new year.

Halloween

Once again it has been a bit since my last post, my deepest apologies...get used to it.  Blogs might start rolling out a tad slower than usual as I am about to get back into college to complete my Bachelors degree which should take about ten months to complete if I can maintain the pace of the schedule....we shall see.

It is Halloween again, well it was, and as always it was a fun holiday.  We start out at the local pumpkin patch to select the perfect, OK not so perfect pumpkin.  This year after much debate we decided to take the boys to a nearby pumpkin patch were we could let them run through a hail bail maze, a corn maze, and pay waaaaaay too much for the same darn pumpkins they sell at Wally World for a fraction of the price.  It is a little nursery that went out of business long ago and now is owned by the City of Boulder that gets leases out to another farm that opens it up on holidays to see pumpkins, trees, and a few other seasonal items.  It was great because we did not have to pay to get in unlike most other pumpkin patches nearby, but they still have a fair amount of fun activities.  The boys really liked both of the mazes; even Ridge walked the corn maze for the most part.

Brotherly love

Ridge will pose every once and a while

Pre-maze

Sarah shooting Ridge, but I liked Weston in the background

What is Tanner doing?

All three boys pooping out pumpkins well I am not sure what Ridge is doing with his...

It is really hard to fit 5 people into 1 selfie (I need a longer arm)

Cruisen

The Patch

Next up was fall fest at Weston and Tanners school.  It is just a small fund raiser put on by the PTA with games for the kids, and bake sell, face painting, and a pie toss.  We usually just stick to the games but someday I am sure we will venture off to throws pies at the principle or buy some goodies as long as we get there early enough; the good stuff goes fast.  This year we brought along our friends kids as they were just closing on their new home and wanted to try and get things set up a bit so they could be moved in enough to start sleeping there.  Unfortunately, Ridge was not cooperating this year so Sarah took the babies home while I hung with the big kids.

Just decorating for Halloween

So serious before fall fest

Dillon as Yoda 

Tanner before fall fest (yeah he looks happy here)

The next day we spent a small amount of time with our friends helping them move.  We did not get to stay very long due to other commitments, but I was very proud of Tanner and Weston as they tried to be as helpful as possible in moving boxes to their respective locations in the house.

Working hard or hardly working

Later the boys embarked on some artsy fartsy adventures that Sarah provided for them.  While she was not home to conduct the creativity I took the wheels and did the best I could to help them create there Halloween ornaments.  After the creativity fest was over we went out front for some good old fall fun by raking the leaves into a pile then playing in it.  Good times.

Look what we found

Halloween Ornaments?

Tanner's face

Scury

These pumpkins grew in our yard AWESOME!

Tanner working hard

Or not

Halloween night was fun but as usually our kids get tired after about a block then call it quits.  I do not get them at all.  When I was a kid mom and dad had to drag me back to the house, my kids check out after a street.  Kids today have no ambition.

Swat

Ninja (or as Tanner says it "Minja!)

Skeleton (he glows in the dark!)

The odd group of hero's