Heather's House - Denver

Luis and I spent Wednesday (7/9) with my friend Heather Kenney (now Opland) and her family outside of Denver - before flying home the next day. Heather and I worked together in Phoenix for Habitat (ten years ago!!) and haven't seen each other in more than 5 years. Heather now has two children - Sophia (almost 3 years) and Miles (8 months). We had a fantastic day doing all of Luis's favorites - playing outside with chalk, bubbles, the sprinkler, the swings, the baby pool and their dog, Henry.

Colorado

Last Friday (7/4), Luis and I flew out to Denver, CO for a family reunion of Mom's family. We spent Friday night in Boulder with my cousin Rusty and his new bride Joanne (and 15 more in our extended family). Luis did pretty well on the flight to Denver, but didn't afternoon nap. So we passed on the fireworks and went to bed early.

Saturday, we all headed up to the YMCA camp at Snow Mountain Ranch, detouring through Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a gorgeous day and we all loved being outside. We lunched next to Bear Lake (where Dodie made about 100 chicken salad sandwiches with only a small plastic baby spoon; when the chicken salad ran out, we ate butter and jam sandwiches) and then took the scenic drive through the park. We got up to an elevation over 9300 feet and crossed the continental divide. The temperature change through the elevation change was a bit startling. After 9 months in Bombay and a month in Florida, it was a great treat to feel such cool air.

Saturday night, ~32 Schweickarts/Whitfields/McDows and their spouses & children descended on the Timberline Cabin. It technically sleeps 27. (And for anyone who works at Snow Mountain Ranch, that is exactly how many people we had there.) With Luis and Solomon in pack-n-plays and two air mattresses, everyone had a bed. The kitchen was almost perfectly equipped with 2 fridges, 2 stoves, 2 microwaves and 2 coffee pots. Unfortunately, there was only 1 dishwashere - which ran almost continuously.

The next four days (as long as Luis and I were there - some people stayed 8 days) were a whirlwind of games and funny stories and hiking and singing and eating and rafting and horseback riding and crafts and playing. It was GREAT! The most amazing part for me was how sweet and loving and kind (and watchful) everyone was with Luis. It was fantastic having so many people to help watch Luis. And being as Luis hardly stopped moving (except for when he was asleep) it was really helpful. Unfortunately, I only have these three pictures - Luis & my cousin Diana; Luis, my cousin Vicky and her daughter Camille, and Luis and Joanne.

Here is a picture of the morning view from our cabin: This is Luis on his way back from a long day at the salt mines:

Alison, Franklin & Solomon:

More Bubbles

Luis continues to love the bubbles. And this week, Diego taught Luis to blow them himself.

Stay Tuned

Luis and I returned yesterday from a Whitfield/Schweickart/McDow reunion in Winter Park, CO. We had a wonderful time out west with our family and meeting up with old friends. When we got home, our friend Heather was already here in Satellite Beach. Today, our friend Mark arrives. It will take me a day or two to get pictures uploaded and posted. So stay tuned for lots of pics and stories from our adventures....

The Zoo!

Yesterday, Luis and I met Stacey (Bliss) Densberger and her children Connor (4 yr) and Ethan (3 yr) at the Brevard County Zoo. Stacey is my oldest non-family friend; we met in 10th grade in Orange Park, FL (in 1989 -almost 20 years ago!).

It was a typical hot, humid Florida day and we were sweaty about 3 minutes after entering the park! The zoo was small, but was lots of fun. As Stacey said, zoos of our childhood were concrete jungles with animals trapped in small exhibits. But the Brevard County Zoo was like a walk through the jungle/forest. Animals were close up but all seemed to be in their natural habitat.

We saw about a dozen zoo-workers out on the paths, holding animals for children to see up close. Unfortunately, they mostly had snakes (which I don't care for at all). None the less, I encouraged Luis to get up close to the snakes and pet them. He seemed intrigued by their texture and the way they moved. There were also a few lizards/iguanas (is the second a subset of the first?), but Luis wasn't so interested in those.

There were about 6 places where you could feed the animals The very best was feeding crackers to the giraffes. It was mostly kids who fed the crackers to the giraffes - and most of them were afraid of the tongue (which can extend beyond the teeth something like 18"!). Luis, however, had no fear. He seemed to delight in feeding the crackers to the giraffes. At $1 per cracker, the zoo, I'm sure, delighted in Luis's delight as well.

They also have a small train ride that lets you see some animals (gazelle, ostrich, rhino, giraffe, and some birds) much closer than the fences allow. Luis has not been bitten by the train craze and was only mildly interested in it.

Just before we stopped for lunch, Luis threw the biggest tantrum of his short 18-month-life. I suspect it was brought on by hunger, heat and tiredness. But in the end, all I could do was sit next to him as he cried and flailed on the concrete walk in front of the snack bar. I felt really bad for Luis who seemed unable to express his feelings or explain his needs. And I was frustrated by not being able to help. But my main memory of that torturous 20 minutes was the kind, sympathetic looks and comments I got from other moms - not a single judgemental stare.

Luis crashed as soon as we got back in the car -about 1:30. He slept all the way home. We eventually woke him up at 4:30.

Luis vs. Rug. Rug Wins

Luis & Daddy

The Terreris Visit

This weekend, our friend Jason, Cara, Evan (2 years) and Grant (2 months) came for a visit. Jason, like Diego is an FIT grad. We met them when we were all living up in Virigina. Now, they live in Peachtree City, GA. (You can check them out at their blog, In The Moment).

The Terreri's fit right in to our hectic schedule of playing at the beach, playing in the pool, and playing in the front yard with chalk, bubbles an the baby pool. Jason and Diego also got in two rounds of golf.

Evan and Luis had a good time together. Luis really seems to enjoy having other kids around. Evan didn't seem sure what to do with all of Luis's affection. Luis would walk up to Evan and hug him while Evan was in the middle of doing something. Once, when Luis was hugging Evan, Evan said, "Be careful." Turns out it was good advice as they both fell over shortly there after.

Despite only being 2 months old and having few parlor tricks, Grant was a BIG hit. Luis must have said "Baby" a thousand times over the weekend. It was the first thing he asked about when he woke up and the last thing he wanted to see before bed. He gave Grant hundreds of hugs and kisses. Yesterday, Luis even stated his love for Grant.

Catch & Release

On Friday afternoon, Luis caught his first lizard. It was living in our bathroom. It's a little hard to tell if Luis or Diego was more excited. Me, I'm just impressed he didn't squish the little lizzard!

Bub-ba

"Bub-ba" is Luis's word for almost all things water related. It started with bubbles in the tub. Then it was the tub, the water in the tub, taking a bath, etc. When we got here, the pool was lumped under the general category of bub-ba. Then, there are bubbles that you blow. While I would think it a bit confusing that bubbles are also the things that you can blow with the soap-water and a wand, Luis didn't mind adding another definition to bub-ba. Luis really enjoys blowing bubbles. So much so, that we spend a little time everyday in the front yard blowing bubbles. Inspired by some cool bubble paraphanalia that my mom has, I bought this thing that makes really, really big bub-bas. Here, you can see Luis chasing after one (it's just to the left and a little above his head).

Though an exciting development for Luis happened on Friday. We went over to Steve & Marianne's house. Luis got out into their back yard and said "Poo". Which means pool. He sometimes still calls the pool "bub-ba" but mostly it's poo. Pretty cool, we think.

Luis's Pool

Luis isn't enjoying the big pool as much as we'd hoped. I'm not sure if he's afraid or if he just doesn't like the fact that he can't play in it with his toys the way he can in his little pool. Whatever the story, yesterday we inflated his little pool from Mumbai. And he loved it.

Brought out the hose, and it felt like old times (except here, he has to wear a bathing suit while the pool is in the front yard).

The "fog" on this picture is the condensation on my lens from bringing the camera outside and taking a picture immediately. It's kinda humid here...

We Miss You, Pauline

Yesterday, I showed Luis some pictures from Mumbai. When I showed him this one, he said - un-prompted "Pa-Ine". I cried. Big tears. Luis looked at me and then at the computer screen again. Pa-Ine. Then he made the "I love you sign". I told him that Pauline loves him too. If only he could have told her before we left.

Getting Our Exercise

One thing Diego and I both wanted to do in Florida was to exercise daily. And so far, we've done really well. I walk and Diego runs or bikes (he got his tri-bike back from Jason). Luis almost always accompanies the walker/runner. The canopy provides shade well, but it doesn't help much with the glare. Diego bought Luis this batman hat that does help. Luis also wears it to the beach.

Water Safety

Diego bought Luis this Personal Flotation Device. Luis loves it. Well, he loves fastening the clips. He isn't so keen on wearing it. Details, minor details. At least it fits and it works (we tested it out in the pool today)

More Beach (Slow Internet)