September Part 2

The last week in September we visited Duane's sister and her family in Durango, Colorado.  Durango is one of my favorite cities in the US.   If you have never been there, you need to add it to your list.  We have visited Durango in the summer and winter many times but have never been there in the fall to see the aspen trees turn.  The first day we went to Silverton and drove Engineer Pass.

ski resort

Molas Pass

top of Engineer Pass

The second day we went to Telluride. 

Wouldn't you love to live here????

or here???

we rode the gondola from town to the ski village

Telluride

Do you see the airstrip in the distance?  I read that Tom Cruise and Kati Holmes' house is up the hill from the airstrip. 

Ophir Pass

at the durango rec center while daddy and uncle jay ride dirt bikes

got to hear my niece sing the national anthem at a HS volleyball game!  Proud Aunt!   The black arrow is pointing to her.  Watch the video. 

Brynlee lived outside the entire week

 This was taken the day she started walking

One of the first videos of her walking.  Since she cruised for soooo long she was walking really well.  I love how proud she is of herself and how she looks back to see if anyone is looking at her.  So cute! 

Brynlee has been afraid of dogs for quite awile.  It was great that she spent a week with Boomer who is very sweet.  I think she is over being scared.  She is still a little unsure about them but she will now pet them.  I don't want her to be afraid of dogs.  She really did like Boomer.  She would always point to him and squeal. 

Thanks for a wonderful visit.  We love and miss you guys!  Hope to see you soon.

San Francisco Part 3

The last thing we did in the San Fran area was visit a winery.  We went to the Sonoma/Napa Valley area.  I was amazed how beautiful it was.  The fields and fields of grapes were stunning.  Our first stop was the Beringer winery in Napa.  The tour was about how their wine is made, what type of grapes they use, and how the wine is stored and bottled.  We got to sample a few wines.  One wine we sampled had a slight hint of coffee flavor.  I didn't believe the tour guide when we told us that.  I was like, "whatever".   He was totally right though and it blew my mind.  It was like they added coffee to the wine.  All the wine flavors come from the grapes and the fermenting process.  The grapes get their flavor from the earth.  How in the world does it taste like coffee?  So strange. 

We also tasted a wine that was REALLY sweet.  He served it with a piece of dark chocolate to balance it out.  It was good with the chocolate...alone, not so much. 

Here are the old barrels they stored the wine in a long time ago. 

Grapes

This is how they store the wine now. 

This little room is where a scene from A Walk in the Clouds was filmed.  Some other scenes were filmed on the property as well. 

The original homestead.  Obviously remodeled. 

The stained glass was amazing.

The black and white stained glass inside the circles is very rare and valuable.  So beautiful. 

We also visited a winery called Peju. 

It is a small winery where 90 percent of their wine stays local.  We went there because someone told us it was pretty.  We had a nice tasting there too.   

That sums up our San Fran trip.  I had a great time but couldn't wait to see this little monkey!

18 Months

Brynlee Bear you are now a year and a half.   I am so thankful you are growing up healthy and strong but sad you are no longer a baby...you are now a toddler.  You started walking a week before you turned 17 months.  That was a long time a comin'!  You are pretty much running now and I think you love your new found independence.  Here are some things you are doing right now:

• You love to re-arrange our house.  Now that you are walking you carry things all over the place. 
• You play chase/find daddy with Daddy every night while I clean up from dinner
• You wear a size 4 diaper
• you weigh 22 1/2 pounds
• you open my kitchen drawers and stand on your tippy toes to get out whatever you can feel.  This is part of the re-arranging issues I wrote about above
• you always want to drink out of my glass
• your favorite foods are any kind of fruit, chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, steamed carrots, ice cream, mac and cheese from Louie's, grilled cheese, honey maple turkey and avocado
• you love your new kitchen Nanny and Poppa gave you
• you LOVE to sit in bed with daddy and watch Backyardigans
• Elmo is still your favorite on Sesame Street
• You go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleep until 8:00.  Last week I even got a few 7:30-8:30 days.  You take a 3 hour nap everyday.  
•  On command you can kick your feet, shake your head, scrunch up your nose like a pig, dance, wave, say bye-bye
• you are so good natured (we haven't had our first fit yet)  :)
• you say ball "ba" when you throw a ball
• You aren't saying many words but babble constantly Your 5 words are momma, dada, ba (ball), bye-bye, and juice
• since you don't talk you point and grunt at whatever you want. 
• nicknames - B, Brynlee Bear, Boo Boo, Boo Bear
• I spend about 5 minutes rocking you every night.  I sing You Are My Sunshine, you kiss me through the entire song, we pray, and then snuggle.  It all comes to an end when you point to your bed. :(
• if you hear a plane outside you always look up to try and find it
• you will bring me your matching shoes from your closet.  That mean you want to go outside.
• you love to bang a spoon in a pan...we call this "cookin"
• you love to color with anything that will write and you are VERY intense about it. I'll have to post a video soon.  It is really funny!
• you think it is funny when you toot or hear someone else toot. 
• You are very social and wave at everyone when we go out to eat.  I think it tickles you to have everyone paying attention to you. 

Happy 1/2 Birthday baby girl! 

 We were surprised that the park referenced the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde.  We went there 5 years ago while visiting Duane's sister in Durango. 

 looking up

 This was one of the biggest trees in the park. 

 the trail

 the first two miles looked like this

 the view at the top...it wasn't as great as I expected

 the trail coming down



San Francisco...Part 1

I almost forgot about our San Francisco trip.  Duane had to go there for a VMWorld conference.  It was a big one...17,000 people!  Needless to say, it was CROWDED!!!  We still had a great time though.  Brynlee was busy back at home giving the stomach bug to my parents.  (Sorry Mom and Dad)  Duane's parents somehow escaped it.  I enjoyed my time away but I was chomping at the bit to get home to my Boo Bear! 

I enjoyed sitting in the coffee shop relaxing and shopping at every store on the planet.  Seriously, not once did I say, "hum...I was _____ was here.  I'm still kicking myself that I didn't make it over to Tiffany.  There were several things we didn't get to do so we plan on going back someday.  I wasn't prepared for all the homeless people there.  I found it better to just ignore then as sad as that seems.  Some of them were scary and a little unpredictable.  It just made me sad!  Here is part one of our trip. 

About to ride the trolley

 Check out this hill!  I can't believe my friend Jen ran a marathon here just a few weeks ago.  She's amazing! 

 Yum!

 Us with Alcatraz in the background.  Didn't get to take the tour this trip. 

 Pier 39..not much to see.

 Golden Gate

Well, I am off to bed.   I have MOPS in the morning so I have to be up and ready before Brynlee wakes up.