Fiesta Days

Durango seems to have a lot of festivals. Along with each festival is a parade. When you have a parade there is a lot of candy. This week was Fiesta Days. This morning the kids and I headed into town to watch the parade. The kids were prepared with their candy buckets and were not disappointed.

Spiderman ????

I'm not really sure what to even say about this. It's a rainy day and we're inside. Dylan wanted to be Spiderman so Holli got the markers and went to town on his face. If he had horns he would look a like Darth Maul.

On another note, DW seems to have made a full recovery. His ear has a little tear but other than that he appears healthy.

Bad Dogs

Poor Dark White had a rough morning. The kids and I came home from a bike ride and found that his cage had been broken in to and he was missing. We eventually found him 2 floors lower, soaking wet hiding behind the TV. I think that Chewy was responsible but Winnie was very likely an accomplice. The reason I believe Chewy was the main culprit is because she tried to eat him once before when I was holding him on my lap. I realize that Dark White really isn't much different than a mouse so we just have to be very careful. He's back in his cage resting now. Hopefully he'll be okay.

Dylan Rides his bike!

We are so proud of Dylan! Today he learned to ride his bike with no training wheels! Just a couple of weeks ago he told me that he was going to leave his training wheels on until he was 56 years old! Last week Drew took off the cranks, pedals and training wheels so Dylan could learn to balance. He was doing so well that we decided to put the cranks and pedals back on this morning and he just took off! Wow!

Fickenschers Visit

We had a great visit with the Fickenschers from Overland Park, KS. Thanks so much for making the trip to Durango. We all had a really nice time.

Dark White

One of Dylan's birthday gifts was a Hamster from Holli. Dylan named him Dark White. He first named him Dark after "Dark Vader" and then added the White because the hamster has some white on him. Dark White has been a hit with everyone, including the dogs and Oliver.

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

We just finished up a very nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa. We were sad to see them leave this morning. Here are some of our highlights from the visit.

Celebrating Dylans 4th Birthday. He requested a Darth Vader cake. We did our best but it turned out looking more like an 80's rock star. He liked it and it tasted good!

Dylan got a new Spiderman bike for his birthday.

Grandpa got a ride in a Glider Plane for his birthday.

On Saturday we went to Pagosa Springs for the 1st annual Pirate and Renaissance fair. The kids spent a lot of time making shields.

Holli dressed up up for the fair and got to sit in the Queens chair.


After the fair we cooled off in the San Juan River. There is a very nice spot where the river meets the hot springs. The water is very nice but a bit swift.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DYLAN!

Our little guy is 4 years old today! Dylan is our sweet comedian whose always making us laugh. Happy Birthday, Dylan, we love you!

Mom needs a shower

I took the kids to Wal-Mart this morning so we could get some supplies for Dylan's birthday tomorrow. He picked out all Star Wars themed items... plates, napkins, cups and a tablecloth. When we were driving home he was studying the plates and this is the conversation that followed...

Dylan - "I'm going to give a plate to Holli, I'm going to give a plate to Grandma, I'm going to give a plate to Grandpa, I'm going to give a plate to Daddy and I'm going to give a plate to Oliver. I'm not giving a plate to Mom"

Me - "Dylan, that makes me sad. Why do I not get a plate"?

Dylan - "I don't like your smell"

Well, I guess it could be worse. I'll go take a shower and see if he changes his mind.

Surprise Visitors

We were so happy to get a call from our friends, the D'Amatos, from Overland Park yesterday. They were passing through Durango as part of their National Parks tour. We met up for some ice cream and got to chat for a bit. It was really great to see them all. Holli loved playing with her friend, Devyn.

At 4am this morning we had a different type of visitor. Drew and I were woken by some loud noises outside. It sounded like something banging on our trash barrel. There's only one animal that does that... a bear. We went down and watched from the garage window for several minutes. That bear sure wanted that trash barrel open. He banged, bit, knocked it over and stood on top of it. I'm glad we pay the extra $2 a month for a bear proof trash can. If not, we would have had quite a mess to clean up. After a few minutes a car drove by and scared the bear off. He went trotting off through our back yard and into the woods. The kids were pretty excited when we told them we had a bear in the night. Below is a picture of some bite marks on the trash barrel.

BP Coffee Spill

NPR was talking about this video yesterday. It's pretty good! This is what happens when BP spills coffee!

Epic Ride

The kids and I went for a great bike ride today. We rode the Animas River Trail starting at the Humane Society and ending at the Fish Hatchery. It was 10 miles all together and Holli rode the entire way. Dylan caught a ride on the back of my bike.

Dylan posing next to this very large Black bear at the fish hatchery museum. The bear was hit by a car last year. The Dept of Wildlife decided to stuff him and put him in the museum because he was so big. He looks more like a Grizzly than a Black bear.

After our ride we cooled off in the river. Holli found a dead fish and took him home for Oliver to eat. Ever since we went fishing in Florida she's been asking to catch a fish for Oliver. I'm glad she finally got one. She hasn't given it to Oliver yet. She's waiting for Drew to get home so he can see the big event. Unfortunately, this was the last photo I took before I dropped the camera in the river. Ooops! Hopefully it will dry out and come back to life. Sorry, Drew!

On a positive note, we did get a free fishing pole. DOW was giving away fishing poles!

River of Tears

Holli, Drew and I had a great time on the river today. Poor Dylan didn't enjoy it so much and spent most of the time crying. Holli and I were in an inner tube and Drew and Dylan were in our 3 person raft. The little raft was a bit too scary for Dylan. He prefers the large 16 ft raft that we were on last weekend. Our little raft is a lot bumpier and you get a lot more wet. The water is very cold but you get used to it. The rest of us had a great time. Here are a few pictures from our river trip.

Here Dylan is very excited before we even got started.

Holli and Dylan checking out the water.


Drew and Dylan in their little raft.

Abby and Holli cruisin' in the inner tube.

Happy 4th of July

I hope that everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July. We have a busy day planned ... BBQ with friends, parade on main street followed by a street dance and finally fireworks. I predict that we'll all be exhausted by the end of the day.

Black Paint and Scissors

We seem to always have more trouble coming up with birthday gift ideas for Dylan than we do for Holli. This evening I asked Dylan what he wants for his birthday. He replied "my very own black paint and my very own scissors". What a goofball!