Happy Halloween

Claire's 2nd Halloweeen was filled with fun times with friends and family. It all kicked off with a trip to the Fall Festival with Amy, Olivia, and Timmy. Claire enjoyed planting a spider plant and hanging out in the pumpkin patch.

Next it was on to the Halloween Party & Parade at Primrose on Friday afternoon before Halloween. It is always fun to see the class all dressed up and this year the teachers made some very yummmy snacks including peanut butter eyeballs.

On Saturday after a fun tumbling class in costume it was off to meet Jessica Hooks who was in town for Boo at the Zoo! At the zoo we enjoyed seeing the animal, collecting some candy and meeting up with Claire's friends Alba, Siddharth, Livi and Timmy. We were very lucky to have great fall weather instead of the traditional snowny Colorado Halloween.

On Sunday we spent some time with the Lindeke's Tebowing at brunch before the adults headed out to the Bronco's game. At the game we had the chance to hang out on the sidelines during warmups with Jessica and her friend Erin. It was pretty cool to be that close to the players! We then headed up to our awesome seats and enjoyed the first few minutes of the game before the Bronco's self destructed and lost big time to the Lions. After the game we had the chance to head back down onto the field and exit through the players tunnel and tailgate in the players/coaches lot. It was truly a once in a lifetime chance and we are very thankful to Jessica, Erin and Renee for bringing us along!

On Monday night it was time to trick or treat. We took our little German Girl to Dave's parent's neighboorhood where she charmed lots of neighbors into giving her extra pieces of chocolate. We started out the night with her whispering "trick or treat" and ended with her boldly asking "chocolate please".

It was a fun filled weekend and as always it amazes us to see how much she has changed in just one year.

Fall Follies

We had our first scary phone call from school this month when on a Friday afternoon we received a call that Claire had fallen at school and that she was not moving her arm and seemed to be in pain. Needless to say we both dashed out of work and tried to reach her as quickly as possible as we conference called out pediatrician to find out what to do as it was close to the end of the day. Dave picked Claire up and took her to the pediatrician's office and I was able to meet them there. Poor Claire seemed out of it and definitely was not using her arm at all. After meeting with a few nurses and nurse practitioners we were sent down to X-Ray. I think that we all experienced pain with the X-Ray as Claire was completely freaked out by the X-Ray machine and was screaming while I was holding her and Dave was waiting outside the room and could only hear what is going on. It sucked to say the least, but a good thing happened during the scream fest and that was that Claire or the X-ray technician fixed her arm. It turned out that she had nursemaids elbow and it needed to be popped back into place. We were very happy to learn that it was not broken and that her recovery took basically as long as it took to walk back upstairs to the clinic room. By the time we were back in the room she was eating, drinking, playing, and charming the nurses. While we hope that this is the biggest injury Claire will ever experience we know that this is probably the first of many emergency trips in our future.

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)