Extreme Sledding Part 2

Dylan prefers to do down on his bottom. No sled needed.

Extreme Sledding Part 1

Holli sledding behind our house. We have several fun sledding hills.

No children were harmed in the making of this video.

Train Ride to KC

The kids and I recently took a train ride from La Junta, CO to Lawrence, KS. I've had several people ask how it was so I thought I'd do a little post. The drive from Durango to La Junta is 5 1/2 hours and we did have some bad weather. The train ride itself was great! We rode the train overnight and slept most of the way. On the way home we had a couple hours of daylight in the morning. This allowed us to do some exploring on the train. We had a nice breakfast in the dining car and spent some time in the lounge looking out the big windows. This was way better than driving with 2 kids and we will definitely be doing it again.

Getting off the train in La Junta. On the way to KC we were in lower level but we rode up top on the way back.

Goofballs hanging out in their seats. The train wasn't full so we each got to spread out on two seats to sleep.

Playing in the lounge.

Driving home to Durango. The conditions were pretty bad but we made it.

Merry Christmas from Timmerman Zoo

More KC fun

We've had a fun couple of days in Kansas City. After spending the day at Kaleidescope cousin Aliyah came over to play and have a sleepover. We drove down to the plaza to see the lights and went for a ride in Cinderella's carriage. I've always seen the carriages around the plaza but never rode one before. We all had so much fun. Our horse was a 1,200 pound Clydesdale named Gerdie.

Cinderella's carriage on the Plaza.

Plaza lights

Dylan, Aliyah and Holli having a sleepover.

Decorating sugar cookies.

Another train ride

Saturday night the kids and I rode a train from La Junta, CO to Kansas City. Southwest Colorado had a big snowstorm on Saturday so the drive to La Junta was a bit scary and slow going. Once we got on the train it was easy travels. It was an overnight train ride so we slept and woke up in Kansas City. What a great way to travel.

Sunday was a busy day. Holli and I went to the KC Museum with our good friends, the Fickenschers, to see the Fairy Princess. The Fair Princess has been a Kansas City Tradition since 1935. A very magical experience for little girls.

Later on Sunday we had all of our friends over and had a special visit from the big man... Santa Claus. Santa talked with all the kids and handed out some goody bags. Lots of fun for everyone!

To the North Pole!

Last night we rode on the Polar Express. We had a a great time. It was magical. We are so fortunate to have this available here in Durango.

Before you board the train they do a skit with the conductor and the little boy. Just like the movie.

All you can drink hot cocoa and whipped cream. Yummy!

The conductor came around and punched our tickets, just like the movie.

Each car had 2 chefs. Ours was so entertaining. She LOVED to sing.

Holli took this photo of Drew and I. She did a good job!

Visiting Santa. He was SO NICE. He spent so much time talking to each child. Look how brave Dylan is! This is the first time Dylan has sat on Santa's lap. Last year he stood next to Santa.

The professional photo.

A couple of updates

Over the weekend Drew went to Colorado Springs to visit his brother, Deron, who is in the Army. Deron just received a promotion and was honored at a ceremony on Friday. I'm glad Drew was able to go and support his brother. I think the sign on the door is funny...have gun will travel. Not something you see everywhere.

Yesterday, Dylan and I made these bird seed ornaments. They were really easy and inexpensive! We let them dry overnight and hung them in the backyard this morning. Hopefully the birds will find them soon.

Christmas in Durango

Last night I took the kids to see the Bar D Wrangler's Christmas Program at The River Church in Durango. These guys are so entertaining. You can't help but smile when you listen to them sing. The Bar D Wranglers are one of several reasons Durango is on the list of top 10 Christmas Towns in the United States.

9 Lives

It's a good thing cats have 9 lives because our cat, Oliver, lost at least one of those lives last night. Holli was taking a bath and wanted her towel warmed up. I threw the towel in the dryer, set the heat to high and turned it on. About 5 minutes later Drew opened up the dryer and Oliver was in there! The poor guy was in really rough shape... throwing up blood, panting very hard and pupils unevenly dilated. I called the Emergency vet and explained what happened. Oliver was over heated and probably had a head injury. We took him outside to cool off and were instructed to just keep an eye on him. There's nothing the vet can do for a head injury but it is not unusual for a cat to completely recover from a head injury. The kids were so upset. We explained that he may not make it through the night. It was a very sleepless night for me. I didn't want the kids to wake up and find him so I kept waking up to see if he was okay. Much to our surprise and delight he seems okay this morning. He is moving really slow and has been quiet (he usually meows a lot in the morning because he wants to eat or go outside) but he is walking around and eating. His eyes look normal,too. The vet said things can change in the next 48 hours but I think he's going to be okay. I doubt he'll be napping in the dryer anymore and I will definitely look before closing the dryer door from now on.

Christmas Branches

The kids have some friends who have their very own Christmas trees in their bedrooms. You know we have to keep up so we went out to our backyard and cut a couple of branches off one of our trees. We now have Christmas trees for the kids bedrooms! We made homemade dough ornaments and strung pom poms. I think they're really cute and the kids love them.

Making ornaments

Painting the ornaments

Holli with her tree

Dylan with his tree

Frosty is Here

This weekend we went to the train museum to see all of the decorated Christmas trees on display. Later on Frosty the Snowman came to visit us! I love this time of year.

(no)sleepover

I'm not sure whey they call it a sleepover because you don't get any sleep. Holli had a friend spend the night last night and we played hard starting at 3pm until 10:30p when we put on a movie. I'm not sure what time they actually fell asleep because I went to bed. The kids were then wide awake at 5:30am!

Dylan says he's going to marry Addy!

Winnie's got the right idea!

Big pancake breakfast!

Dylanism

"Mom, we need to lock all the doors so no rubbers come in"

"My cereal is foggy, I don't want to eat it anymore"

Look alike

My Mom just sent me this photo of my Dad in the 3rd grade. Below is one of Dylan at 4 years old. Dylan looks so much like his Grandpa! When I showed the photo to Dylan he thought it was a photo of himself.

Grandpa in 3rd Grade

Dylan 4 years old

Shoot em up

One of things we did in Kansas City was go to a shooting range. We went to The Bullet Hole and shot Randy's 40 Caliber Smith and Wessen and my Dad's .22 Rifle. Randy's gun looked like this and was pretty intimidating. We all did pretty well. Grandma is a very good shot. I think she's been practicing without telling anyone.

Grandma, the expert shooter.

Randy shooting the hand gun.

No idea why I look like this.

Drew shooting the hand gun.

This may be a new Thanksgiving tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving

We've been travelling for the past 6 days so I haven't had a chance to write. So far we've visited Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Springfield, St. Louis and now Kansas City. We are in KC for the final couple of days. It's been great to see all of our families and a few friends. I always love coming home to the house I grew up in. It's feels so cozy and relaxing.

We have had a bit of excitement... Holli's lost 2 teeth on this trip! She was worried the Tooth Fairy wouldn't be able to find her since we were not at home. Her solution was to put a sign on the front door so the Tooth Fairy would know she was there. It worked! The Tooth Fairy found her and her teeth!

Here is Holli with no bottom teeth and Tyler with no top teeth.

While we were in St. Louis we visited the City Museum. This place is so strange and so fun. I highly recomment going if you're ever in St. Louis.

Holli climbing up a tunnel. This is on the roof of the Museum so when you reach the top you really feel like you're on top of the world.

Holli and Tyler building towers out of sponges.

The kids were BEAT after spending the day at the Museum.

Holli and Ethan playing in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

Holli played hair stylist to Aliyah and Kelsey. She gave them each the same hairstyle.

Dylan ate too much turkey.

Online Art

Holli's school has started to display the students artwork online. The art teacher has only uploaded one per student so far. Hopefully they'll be adding more soon. You can go here to view Holli's artwork, leave a comment, become a fan, etc. Enjoy.

Poor Dylan doesn't have an online gallery so here is one of his recent creations.

Target Practice

Winnie makes a good snowball target...

I think Winnie enjoys it as much as the kids.