Camping at Rocky Mountain National Park- Take 2

On the last weekend in August we headed back to Rocky Mountain National Park for another fun weekend of camping. This time we were staying at the Glacier Basin Campground with Natalia, Barry, & Alba. We had two great campsites with amazing views right next to each other so that the girls (and us) could easily move back and forth between the campsites.

View from our campfire area

We had planned on doing a hike with the girls and Dave suggested a hike that he and I had done backpacking 9 years ago. I remembered the hike as being beautiful and not that bad (after all we were carrying 30-40 pound packs then). Well, the 4.5 mile hike up to Sandbeach Lake was tougher than either of us remembered and the almost 2,000 feet of elevation gain was not kind to us. The boys were champs and carried both girls all the way up to the lake. Unfortunately we arrived at the top at the same time as the thunderstorm. We quickly ate our lunch and enjoyed the lake for 10 minutes before taking a group photo.

Seconds after this photo was taken, lighting struck the lake in one of the most amazing flashes of light I have ever seen and hope never to see again. Dave and Natalia ran for cover with the girls and Barry and I grabbed the bags. We set a pretty fast pace down in the rain, but it still took us more than three hours to descend. On the way down, Natalia and I helped out and carried the girls. The were both troopers, despite the rain they seemed to have a great time.

Claire and Alba in their rain gear back at the bottom of the hike

The whole gang in front of the trail head, post hike. Look at all t

hose smiles, we were proud of doing 9 miles with the girls!

Back at camp, we all hung out around the fire and enjoyed a great meal of lentils and rice prepared by Barry before snacking on some S'Mores made in the campfire. The girls enjoyed the campfire and seemed to understand that it was hot and pretty much stayed away. They were both adorable in their head lamps!

On the last day we returned to the picturesque (and flat) Sprague Lake to enjoy a walk and lunch before heading back to the real world. We feel very lucky to have such a great family to spend time with and that Claire is blessed with a great friend like Alba.

USA Pro Cycling Challenge - Colorado 2010

This summer we bent our rules on Claire and TV during the month of July and let Claire watch some of the Tour de France. We never anticipated that we would create a bike junkie. Claire loved watching the bike race and we would find her holding the remote and asking for bikes. On some of the teething nights, bikes would be the only thing that would calm her down and get her to sleep.

The whole family was excited this August as the USA Pro Cycling Challenge was here in Colorado - with many of our favorite riders from the Tour de France. We took a day off from work and school and watched the Prologue from the beautiful Garden of the Gods. We arrived early in the day in order to secure our amazing spot on the road (we were in a tight corner and when we stood on that side of the road, the bikes came amazing close to you) and to check out the team warm up area. Claire was on top of the world throughout the day as she watched a motorcycle come roaring by, followed by a bike, followed by a car with bikes on top - over and over again throughout the afternoon- all of this with a helicopter flying overhead.

Dave and Claire in front of the HTC Highroad team bus, sadly this team is ending this year.

The warm up board and bikes of team BMC

The broom wagon, which is suppose to sweep up riders that are not going to make the time cut for the day- luckily no one was "swept up" on day one.

Cadel Evans (Team BMC)

Camping at Rocky Mountain National Park- Take 1

We took a long weekend and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park to join Dave's family for a fun and exciting weekend of camping! The first day was spent setting up camping and enjoying a yummy taco dinner prepared by Dave's mom. Claire fell asleep quickly in her sleeping bag, but unfortunately awoke a short time later and required a drive under the stars to calm down and fall back asleep. Luckily for us the drive worked wonders and eased Claire back to sleep in no time and she remained asleep for the rest of the night.

Claire woke up ready to go out and explore the park (and with very pretty hair).

We gathered the troops and headed to the shuttle ready to hike up to Emerald Lake. Claire had been so busy around camp that morning that she required a nap and fell asleep on the shuttle and remained asleep until after we had passed the first lake- Nymph Lake (she did get to see it on the way down)

Nymph Lake with all of the beautiful yellow flowers and lily pads

At the second lake- Dream Lake we took advantage of the beautiful views to eat lunch and enjoy watching the fish swim through the crystal clear water. Claire especially loved this part of the hike and had a blast calling out "ISH" every time she spotted a fish. If not held onto tightly we were sure that Claire would have been in there swimming with them.

Uncle John, Dave, Claire & Grandpa Byron at Dream Lake

Because of the heavy rainfall and large snowpack the park was filled with beautiful waterfalls, including many that we passed as we hiked.

The last lake of the day was Emerald Lake, with it's clear waters we could not resist putting our feet & in Claire's case most of her body in. Claire even met a friend whose name was Aspen Claire.

Claire and Aspen enjoying the lake together

Uncle John and Miss Stacie at Emerald Lake

Looking tired on the way down, this was shortly before she feel asleep.

After a long day of hiking we all retired back to camp where thanks to the wonders of RV living we were all able to take showers before enjoying a lovely shrimp curry that Dave prepared on the camp stove and S'mores by the campfire.

Claire enjoying her camp chair

Dinner with Grandma Gibbons

We also felt the need to take Ladder Golf to a new level and play by headlamp (Stacy and Melissa won as they always do).

On the last day we enjoyed a yummy breakfast of blueberry pancakes before heading out with the Grandparents for a walk around Sprague Lake.

Claire and Grandpa Byron taking in the morning view

Walking around Sprague Lake on our last day with Grandma & Grandpa Gibbons

Checking out a stream with Grandma Gibbons & Mommy

Sprague Lake Family Photo entitled "In the Wind"

Checking out the view from the top - included in the view was a herd of elk

Walking along the tundra trail at the top of Trail Ridge Road on the way home.

Amazing Grace

Grace Lucile Gibbons Cline

February 13, 1908- July 8, 2011

Dave, Carol, Claire, Grace, & Byron in 2010

On July 8th, Dave's Great Aunt Grace passed away at the young age of 103. To celebrate her life we attended a memorial service on July 23, 2011 in Ogden, Utah. The memorial service was officiated by Elder Donna McGill and attended by friends and family and included songs that remind us of Grace, including Amazing Grace and Home on the Range. It also included Grace's Great Niece Amy reading a poem written by her brother Mark in honor of Grace's 100th birthday as well as a reading of Mary Frye's "Do not stand at my grave and weep" by Dave.

We have many fond memories of Grace and the fun times that were spent with the Gibbons Family visiting her. Grace's had been the place that we all came together. Sadly, part of the weekend was spent cleaning out the house decorated in pink and fancy light switches as it will be placed for sale in the near future. We feel fortunate to have many fond memories to look back on of Grace and our time with her. Grace we hope that you are at peace and have been reunited with your love, Leon.

Melissa, Claire and Dave after the Memorial Service

Carol, Chris, Byron, & Dave in front of the tree at Grace's house where family photos have been taken for many years

Picking raspberries in Grace's backyard, Grace made yummy jam from these raspberry bushes

Claire sitting in her favorite spot at Grace's - the front patio

Claire at 18 months!

We can hardly believe that Claire is 18 months old! We have been a little scattered with our posts lately as Claire has kept us very busy. We feel that it is time to provide an update on all that Claire can do now bothfor your enjoyment and our memories as this blog is doubling as our baby book for Claire.

Growth and Health: At Claire's 18 month checkup she weighed in at almost 20 lbs. On the WHO charts she is at the 15th%tile for height and weight and the 50th%tile for head circumference. We have really seen her grow a lot over the last few months and she is now almost as tall as some of her friends. She is still a light weight, but since she continues to love all different types of food and is following her own curve we have no concerns. We have been lucky that she is an adventurous eater and has tried most things that we have put in front of her including Thai and Vietnamese.

(Eating at our favorite Thai place & her unofficial measurement at the zoo)

She has also been back on her reflux medication for about 2 months now as she was having problems with coughing at night and with spitting up. The medicine has worked wonders and she is no longer coughing herself awake at night.

School- Claire is in the young toddler room at school with many of the friends that she has had since she first started at Primrose. We have a class photo at home and Claire can point to all of her friends as we name them. She continues to be the youngest in the class and we feel that it is helping speed along her development as she watches all the older kids do things. Sometimes this is not always a good thing, recently she decided to try out the biting that she had seen (and felt) the other kids do. Luckily she only has two teeth so she can't do a lot of damage but we are working on curbing this habit quickly.

Developmentally, Claire seems to learn something new everyday. She is walking, running, walking up and down steps with a railing, and she climbs onto anything she can swing those little legs up on. Two weeks ago we transitioned Claire to a toddler bed- bye bye crib! She loves being able to climb up into her bed all on her own.

(Sleeping in her toddler bed for the first time)

Her vocabulary is also growing daily and we arenow more cautious about what we say in front of her as she loves to repeat. She has about 30-40 words and they range from "No" which she says in an adorable way to "breakfast" which she just learned.

We also did a brief stint of potty training where she was really into it for about a week and we enjoyed that week of not changing dirty diapers, but she has decided that the potty is not for her right now so back to diapers we go for awhile longer. It will all come in good time.

Some things that Claire enjoys right now are reading books, learning to use her balance bike, playing in the river and fountains at our local park, walking Sparky, pushing her baby in the stroller, feeding her doggy bank Rufus, coloring, bubbles, slides and swings, cooking in her kitchen, helping us "clean" by sweeping and helping with laundry, her tumbling class, hiking, laughing, and dancing to Michael Jackson and others (I think that the reason she loves music and dancing so much is all those weddings she attended in utero -thanks to all that were married in 2009!).

(Reading, Playing with bubbles, showing off her bike, hiking on Father's Day with friends)

We continue to be amazed by Claire daily and feel very blessed to have a healthy and happy child.Thank you to everyone who has shared in Claire's life so far, we are thankful that she has amazing people all around her.

(Dancing at the Greek Festival & Our Family on Dave's 32nd Birthday)

New England Trip for Reunion Weekend!

Over Memorial Day Weekend we headed back to New England for a 10 day vacation which included lots of time with family and friends. We kicked off the weekend with a BBQ at the Borish Home with fellow members of the Noble Class of 1997 (Melissa's high school friends). It was a blast to catch up with everyone, to celebrate two pregnancies, and to have all the kids run around the yard and play in the bouncy house. Here is a photo from the end of the night

(Alexis, Claire, Luke, Abby, Brandon)

We spent a lot of time on the farm with Melissa's family enjoying the company of Claire's grandparents, great grandparents, uncle & aunt, and her cousins. Claire's favorite part of the farm was the three sheep that her Papa had bought for her. She would command that we go see them with the simple instruction of "BAA BAA GO GO" and running to the door.

We also celebrated Memorial Day with two parades, the first one Melissa's nephew Tyler marched with the band in and the second one Melissa's grandfather (Papa to Claire) rode in. After the parades we packed up everyone and headed to have a picnic at HIlton Head Park.

We spent our 3rd wedding anniversary at the beach, walking the Marginal Way, enjoying lobster rolls and spending lots of time on the beach where Claire loved to chase birds, while yelling BIRDS and splashing through the tidal pools. It was so much fun that we returned the next day with my grandparents!

We were also lucky enough to have some time with Pete, Theresa Isabella, Martha, and Pascal at a BBQ at the Huang Home on Memorial Day evening and then Pete, Theresa, and Isabella introduced us to this great hole in the wall seafood place in Kittery on our anniversary. We enjoyed clam rolls, lobster rolls, calamari, lobster quesadilla and chowders.

(Claire and Isabella at dinner)

On Thursday we headed down to Boston to kick off reunion weekend at Simmons and MIT, but our first stop was the New England Aquarium. We had fun running around the giant fish tank and catching the sea lion show.

On Friday we headed out to Drumlin Farm by Walden Pond with Kerry, Grace, Jen, and Autumn. It was a blast watching the kids enjoy the chickens, sheep, pigs, cows, and goats!

Later that night we headed over to Simmons for tea in Dix Hall with the ladies and then to the Welcome Dinner with the whole crew. It was great to be back on campus and see all the changes that have occurred.

(Possibly the future generation of Dix Chics- Grace Fagan, Claire, and Autumn Shapiro)

On Saturday we spent the day at MIT, where Dave listened to lectures, Claire played in the kids area (Check out the face and arm paintings), we took a walk around the halls of MIT, toured the wind tunnel, and took part in the Tech Challenge Games (building paper air planes, building a contraption to launch angry birds, a Pi race were all part of the fun ). All in all it was a great day!

We capped off the weekend with brunch with the Simmons Ladies and their wonderful families! Hard to believe that it has been 10 years since we all roamed Boston together and now there is a future generation of strong girls that may go on to become strong Simmons Women (or MIT geeks)