Croca-gators!

Bet 'cha didn't know Colorado grew alligators too!  A few miles away from us live the Colorado 'gators.  There is a natural thermal hot spring and fish farm. The alligators eat the waste. It's now a tourist attraction.

The place has taken on adopting unwanted, undesirable 'pets'. So there is a fun selections of snakes, lizards, gators, crocs, birds, farm animals, etc for little boys to run around looking at. They also have the gator from the movie Happy Gilmore here, living out his retirement with a girlfriend.

Wyatt and I went with his buddies-in-crime and their mother Saturday. It was fun and Wy couldn't stop talking about the 'croca-gators' all weekend!

We also darn near had to adopt this mini-donkey. He was so gentle and FUZZY!  Wyatt fed him skittles (after I checked to see how gentle he would take food of course!), and then had the little guy following him all over like a dog.

Look What We've Been Doing!

Doesn't happen in strange places, and he really likes to have his "reading" material too...lol

Easter Started Early

We almost never have spring break fall during Easter, so this year we took advantage of it.

First we had a play date dying eggs

Then we took the Easter Express Train to the park to meet the Easter Bunny and go on an Egg Hunt

Easter day was full of egg hunts and farm fun at a friend's!

Wyatt was a bit shy of the Easter Bunny when he first saw him...not at all like the stalking he did of Santa Claus, and continues to do with any guy he sees with a beard. But after a few minutes he was pretty pumped about high fives and 'knuckles'!  Then he started to stalk him too...

Been Awhile...

Since starting a second job as the Rio Grande County Tourism Board assistant in working on marketing and advertising - I haven't had two seconds to myself.  It's been wild.  I also am in charge of all the social networking, and since I do not facebook or twitter it's been a bit of a challenge to get people to view the sites.  If anybody reading wants to check out what I have rolling and give suggestions, or like, or follow...please do!
www.facebook.com/riocountry
twitter: @riocountry
pinterest: www.pinterest.com/riograndeco

It's spring break - actually it's about over. It really was a mild winter, and it started warming up in February, so we've played outside as much as possible. Wyatt and I headed to Denver with some buddies to explore for a few days - this was the result:

Wyatt chillin' with the mermaids - couldn't stop asking me to "find her" once they were gone. He panned for gold, fed the stingrays and got a tattoo of a shark too!

Chuck-e-Cheese, swimming and playing with his balloon dragon at IHOP. Went on a roller-coaster simulator and had a blast!

The Wildlife Experience Museum - very cool for little ones. Ran through a maze, pet hissing cockroaches, went fishing and even caught a 3D movie on baby animals!

This place is a ZOO!  Awesome ideas and fantastic for little ones - but run on the premise that parents will interact and 'police' their own children....not so much.  Even Wyatt had sensory overload with all the craziness and screaming and kept putting his hands over his ears. Obviously I wasn't impressed.  I wish the staff would get it organized because the whole idea is so cool for hands on play and discovery - if your kid gets the chance. Despite that Wyatt had a good time exploring each station and didn't let the bigger kids push him around.

Sledding and Four Wheeling

We are taking advantage of the snow!  Since we don't have any sledding hills, we make due with pulling a sled behind a 4-wheeler.  

Chuck E. Cheese

Yes - we visited the Big Cheese.  I think the adults were more involved in racking up tickets than THE KID.  But it was fun and the Pizza was good!

Yes - I Managed to Find a Box

Part Four: Santa Came!

And this concludes the events leading up to The Major Event.

We unwrapped presents from nine in the morning until seven at night. Everything had to be played with immediately!

Part Three: Trains

Little boys like trains. Need I say more? 

 The day after the Polar Express Wyatt spent the day driving his train around the tracks.

Part Two: The Polar Express

Our local railway offers a Polar Express train during the weekends leading up to Christmas.  Travelers are encouraged to wear their PJs!  Once you've been loaded up, the elves serve you hot chocolate and cookies while the conductor comes around and stamps your initials on your tickets!  The whole time the train is headed into the mountain foothills to the North Pole where Santa is standing outside waiting for a ride and waving to all the passengers.  While we traveled we sang Christmas Carols. Once we came up on North Pole Town,  I put the window down for Wyatt who hung all the way out waving and yelling, "Stop! Stop! Sanna! Hi Sanna!"

Once Santa was on board he came around and gave all the kids a Christmas Bell!

Then we headed back to the Depot for pictures!

Wyatt loves Santa.  He is shy with strangers at first, but not with 'Ol Saint Nick!  No matter where we were this Christmas season, Wyatt had to go see Santa - which sometimes was an issue as he was at Walmart and I needed to get shopping done, and he wanted to stay. Or when he chased him down the aisle of the train, or waiting in line...you get the picture.

Christmas Catch-Up: Part 1 - Gingerbread Crack House

Since I have crappy internet at home I do apologize for not staying more up to date...as usual. The next few posts will be catching you up with the events leading up to...and after Santa's Big Visit.

Once I was free from school, the first thing we did was make a gingerbread house!!!

This is what it should have looked like (yes, it was a modular. I just had to put it together):

Instead this was how it ended up -
 

 I like the tweaked out gingerbread man's eyes...

Polish Slippers

The best thing I brought back from Poland for Wyatt - slippers!!!

Everything's a Hat

Winter Has Finally Arrived

Since it was 50, 60 and 70 degrees through November and part of December (seriously, I wore sandals and flipflops to school until the second week of November) - it was a nice change to finally have some cooler temps and snow!  We needed the moisture pretty bad, and Mother Nature is delivering.  Normally we don't get a lot of snow here - a dusting in winter and wet snow in spring - but this feels like a Midwestern Christmas with sun and warmer temps!  Love it!

So does everything , and everybody, else! Notice our matching Lion pride! We cheer, kinda, from a distance.

Cookies With Wyatt

Central and Eastern Europe

I know I never really reflected on my trip - and honestly, I've had to think a lot about this one because it was so profound on so many levels.

When a colleague from another school suggested we travel through those areas I got super excited as everyone always wants to head to the popular Western European countries. Our travels were also going to bring us though some of the major areas I teach specifically about during our Holocaust unit.

I didn't really think about how significant these areas had become due to teaching year after year about them.  It was easy to teach about a place you've never been to without having an emotional attachment to the area or the things that happened there.

Things changed over the time I spent traveling through parts of Germany, The Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Reminders of WWII, the Holocaust and the Iron Curtain are still very much alive, the economy is still very much affected, and I strongly believe the people are not the same people they were before the these events rolled over them. I found the people to be very friendly and helpful, but they hesitated to engage in conversation unless spoken to first.  This was very different than Western Europe where it seems everyone is vying for your attention - and money.

Berlin was disturbing.  A beautiful, edgy city, overshadowed by the Nazi party buildings and constant reminders of the communist regime; including stark, empty, abandoned buildings - and the wall.   Monuments to people who attempted to assassinate Hitler, died under his rule, tried to escape by climbing the wall, and to the Holocaust dot the city as daily reminders of what people believed could never happen.  It was sad. It was disturbing. It was fascinating   I was happy to leave the city, but could visit again and learn so much more.

Dresden was a peaceful contrast, until we found out that all the rebuilding we saw was due to the horrific civilian bombing at the end of WWII.  It was a beautiful and sad city.

Prague and Krakow were awesome. Again, reminders everywhere, but the original artistry and beauty of the cities remain.  I especially loved Krakow and would love to spend a lot more time there.

Budapest was chic and ancient and way cool all wrapped into one. I would have loved to have seen more of the city.   As it was, I explored the castle and the Christmas markets - and needed to see so much more.

For details and pictures see the link to the left.

Know How I Said I Loved Pinterest?

I found myself walking out of the house today with no less than three different applications of things I had learned on Pinterest.

1) The ONE sock, NO HEAT, 5 MINUTE hair curling technique. OMG WORKS! (Fun Stylin')
2) Boot socks...or are they? Cheat using old sweater cuffs from Goodwill stores!
3) Skinny Jeans?  Roll your regular jeans into boots without the "muffin top" (Duds)

Want to know how to do it all?  Visit my Pinterest boards!

It's That Time of Year Again!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Central Europe

Leaving for Europe today. Follow our trip through the link to the left!

Shooting Rockets

Bison Roundup

The beginning of November marked another year of bison roundup at the Zapata/Medano Ranch.  This time it only lasted three days as around 1400 head were brought in via a cake truck and four-wheelers. It called for a much less stressful gather, however it wasn't quiet as exciting as previous years...

See Ya!

I thought a two year old couldn't steer. Yeah right...

Happy Halloween!

The weekend before Halloween we spent the afternoon carving the many pumpkins we brought back from the patch; including a massive pumpkin the dogs could fit inside of!

Everyone went as a dragon since the movie, How to Train Your Dragon, is rather popular in the house right now. Wyatt and Wrigley matched! Even Berlin had a set of wings!

Notice our subtle tribute to the Tigers even though The Series was well over...

Oh yes, and the cats have received the names: Toothless and Astrid. Go figure. Guess which is which?

Weeeeeeeeeee!

We picked up an old swing set from a friend! Yeah!

Cleaned the Shed!!!

Ok - I have become addicted to Pinterest.  I love it. Great idea for EVERYTHING!!!  However, I have found that I unable to do most things unless I get my house and yard together. There is just so little space...

It was a beautiful weekend so I decided to move the storage bins in the shed to the new shed and turn the old shed into a good place for feed and yard supplies.  I could not walk from the front to the back of the shed before.

As we also had two little kitties dropped off so they now have a safe place to live until they grow (I'm not sure why Wyatt looks like he has a huge noggin in these pics, but they were too precious to leave out! I especially like where he and the black kitty are touching noses!).

I'm feeling motivated!

Any ideas for kitty names?

Pumpkin-riffic!

Drove up to Canon City Sunday with my friend and her two boys to hit up Diane's Pumpkin Patch for a day of fun!  We picked pumpkins, went down a giant slide onto a straw covered mattress, played in a giant bin of kernel corn, got lost in the 8 acre corn maze, rode the hay wagon, picked pumpkins, pet animals....it was exhausting...for the moms who had to chase the little buggers down! We also hauled home giant pumpkins as well as the ones the kids got to pick in the field.

I'm still tired thinking about it all!

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Last weekend we headed down to Albuquerque to stay with a friend for the International Balloon Festival.  This is a crazy week as people come from ALL OVER THE WORLD to show their balloons, see balloons and compete is a cross-country balloon race. The park opens each day at 4 am and doesn't close until after dark.

On Saturday we woke early and went to the Park and Ride at 5:40 to catch a bus to watch the mass ascension of the balloons.  After waiting in line until almost 7:00, the ascension was canceled due to high, high winds. So even though it was calm on the ground it was windy "up there".  We headed back to my friend's house to take a nap after breakfast and then headed out to the Aquarium and Botanical gardens.  Wyatt thought the rays were 'waving' to him as they swam by so he had to re-visit every tank window to wave back to all of them!

Afterwards we headed to the Balloon Park to shop and watch the evening Balloon Glow and Firework show.  Then we headed to the movie theatre for Wyatt to see his first big screen show:  NEMO IN 3D !!! He sat through the whole thing and LOVED it!

Sunday we woke at 4am and was to the Park and Ride by 4:50. We were on a bus by 5:00 and at the park soon after to watch the Dawn Patrol (a dozen or so balloons that head up in the pre-dawn to check the safety of the weather for the rest of the balloon).  Since it was deemed safe, by 7:00 the balloons began lifting off.  There were wave after wave of hundreds and hundreds of balloons rising into the morning sky until almost 11:00.  We parked ourselves next to a group of Midwestern balloon owners and chatted a bit with them as they set up their balloons.  It was cool to be right amongst the balloons as they filled and lifted off.  Wyatt had to wave to everyone!

Autumn Has Arrived

My Child: The Daredevil

I swear this kid is always marking himself up in some way. It doesn't seem to inhibit his days in any way...just makes his parents have brief coronaries on a regular basis.

Exhibit 1:  Hair cut and watermelon seed spitting contest. Notice the angry red cut down his right cheek. Didn't slow him down any but he still has a nice scar that is slowly fading away. Not sure how this happened, but it involved the deck.

Exhibit 2: I get a phone call last week from the babysitter. I need to some over and make a decision because Wyatt hit his head.  Great. Evidently he was running to jump on the couch and tripped, flying headlong in to the bottom six inches of the couch and bruising his entire forehead.  We thought concussion for sure, but nope, he came back to school with me and taught my class during my lecture as well as teaching my neighbor how to count.  

                                     

 Notice the bruising peaking from under his bangs.  Stinkin' kid!