Kool-Aid Playdough

We don't drink Kool-Aid at my house, but we do keep a couple of packets on hand for my girls' favorite, yummy-smelling playdough. (They like to sneak bites of it too, though I don't recommend it). Not only does it smell good, but it also has a much nicer texture than the standard recipe.

Kool-Aid Playdough
2 cups flour (you'll have to experiment with this amount)
1 pkg Kool-Aid
1/4 cup salt
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 T oil

Boil the water, then add the oil. Combine the flour, Kool-Aid and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the water mixture and stir. My recipe originally only called for 1 1/4 cups of flour, but it is never enough. Once the dough comes together, knead it on your counter top, adding more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Store in refrigerator in a sealed bag. Enjoy!

Brown Guy

Disclaimer: This post is in no way a political statement of any kind. Neither is it intended to represent any racial bias whatsoever. This statement was made by a four-year old.

So in the middle of listening to some church music, a devotional presentation began on the LDS music station. I was in the midst of making dinner and didn't want to stop, wash my hands and change the channel. Kristen was eating lunch at the bar and asked, "Who is that talking?" I didn't know and responded as such. She then asked, "Is it that brown guy?" "Brown guy?" I asked with a quizzical look. "You know, the leader guy?" I thought for a moment. "President Obama?" "Yeah, Obama. Hah, that is a funny name." It made me chuckle, and frankly I was impressed that she had a thought-process at some point to remember the president of the United States.

Crying

I love to listen to LDS music on Sunday mornings. Right now we are listening to a song from "Legacy" and Kristen says, "I'm going to cry at this music."

I'm The Only Mom

I was shopping with Kristen at her favorite store--Target--the other day. I had an item to return and then wanted to check out the girls' clothing section. Both the Customer Service desk and the girls' section were on the opposite side of the store from the Bakery, which offers the real reason why Kristen loves to go to Target--cookies. When Kristen realized that I was headed toward the clothes section and not the bakery, she began to ask, "Please, can we go get a cookie?"

Since I had to find a few things in the grocery side, I agreed. She enthusiastically proclaimed, "You're the best Mom I ever had." A guy walking about five feet in front of us thought my daughter's comment was so funny, he turned around and laughed just as I responded, "I'm the only Mom you've ever had."

A Little More Weight

Kristen came up with an ingenious way to use the stapler all. by. herself.

Misha Learned Some New Words

We were driving into Longmont for the Artlink (it was lame), when I heard Misha make this statement, "It was a retardical question. It means that they don't expect an answer." I chuckled for a second and said, "Did you mean to say 'rhetorical'?, impressed that she knew the definition even though she had forgotten the pronunciation. Chris piped in, "Yeah, a retardical question is just when people ask stupid questions."

Tote for Misha

I had a couple hours of kid-free time this morning while the girls were in school and Kristen was at her playgroup. Misha has been asking for a scripture tote since she got her new scriptures for her 8th birthday. She loves red, and frankly, the decision-makers in the clothing and accessory industry for little girls don't use red much. They focus on pinks and purples. That's where the challenge comes in: buying for Misha's style while still keeping it cute, red and feminine. Even fabric falls victim to the pink and purple leanings, so it was a challenge finding colors that Misha might like. I think I just might have hit a home run.

Sensitive Nose Strikes Again

Kristen doesn't really care for the smell of my stir-fried sweet red peppers. I had a momentary memory lapse in regards to her sensitive little smeller and set the serving bowl in front of her as I cleared the table. I continued cleaning up the kitchen and putting food away when I heard, "I don't like that smell. Move it over by Misha!" all the while she was plugging her nose and waving her other hand to try and waft the smell away.

My New Car

My husband bought me this fabulous new car. It is so much fun to drive.

Ok, really it is his car. I just like it.

I'm a Mean Mother

So Kristen was outside playing and all I could hear was screaming. I figured it was just the freedom of being in wide open space and having a little fun at the neighbors' expense. It kept going on and on though, so I finally checked on her to tell her enough screaming already. Her hair was stuck in the trampoline net zipper. I ran out to free her and noticed that she wasn't stuck in the teeth of the zipper, but in the little loop where the pully-thing hangs. I said, "I don't suppose you'd hold on a minute while I go get the camera?" Her immediate response: "No!" Being the kind mom that I am, I ran for it anyway. Somehow she had extricated her hair by the time I got back.

Picture Day

Picture Day at school this morning. We only changed one outfit and stuck another shirt in the dryer. Just after I said, "Don't spill" to Kristen this morning, she promptly spilled juice down her front. Chris rinsed the shirt and stuck it in the dryer. Kristen thought she had to go to school naked. But...they all left the house looking cute (and not naked).

Kristen has preschool Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so we went early for her to have her picture taken. Always a challenge to get a cute smile out of her. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Sensitive Kid

My Kristen has one of the most sensitive sniffers I've ever come across--and she has no comprehension of propriety when it comes to expressing her dismay and disgust. I've been in many situations with her where we are standing by someone who has a less than pleasant odor and always hear, "Do you smell that?" while pinching her nose. These were a few pictures while we were in Colorado Springs this past weekend.

The giraffes at the zoo:



The monkey house at the zoo:



The horse trail in Garden of the Gods:



There were plenty more opportunities of her nose-plugging moments at the zoo, but you only need so many pictures of that. She doesn't even like to go to a plant nursery--too many overwhelming smells there.

I will apologize in advance if she is ever standing beside you and you hear, "Did you smell that?"; she's just a sensitive child.

Gladiations

Kristen's new word of the week--gladiations--for...can you guess?

So I Have to Ask....

Who do I know in Alaska?

Colorado Springs for Labor Day Weekend

There are a few benefits to Chris' traveling with his new job: 1) the girls and I get to par-tay, I mean, he gets lots of frequent flyer miles; and 2) he accrues points at hotels. We took advantage of the hotel points and booked a weekend in Colorado Springs. The girls were pretty excited, because we signed them out of school early on Friday afternoon and headed out. 'Course they had to like the clothes I chose because they didn't do any of the packing.

The traffic wasn't too bad at all through Denver, but once we got past Castle Rock and the road narrowed to two lanes, it bogged down completely. It would be frustrating to drive in those conditions every day. We stopped for dinner at Texas Roadhouse in Monument. The girls loooove steak--they get that from Chris. I think their baked potatoes are the best!

After dinner, we inched our way along the freeway until our turnoff in Colorado Springs. Sheesh talk about frustrating. We spotted our hotel--Homewood Suites--not too far off the freeway. The girls were pretty excited about spending the next few nights in a hotel. Something magical about it. Amy and Misha got the pullout couch and Kristen slept on cushions on the floor in her Barbie sleeping bag. Having separate sleeping quarters with a tv in both areas was nice. We could watch tv after the girls went to bed and they could watch tv in the morning when they woke up too early. It worked out great.

After a continental breakfast Saturday morning at the hotel, we headed to the Air Force Academy. They had their first football game of the season and the traffic was fairly heavy. We wanted to make a stop at the Visitor Center and the chapel before heading back to the football stadium to experience the "flyover". Our first stop was to check out the B-52 displayed at the entrance to the academy. The girls were impressed with its magnitude and eager to learn more about it.







Okay, maybe Kristen wasn't so eager....







The Visitor Center wasn't too busy at all though there were a lot of parents and families buying AF paraphernalia in the gift shop. Amy and Misha were pretty interested in learning about the planes, the cadets, the history, and Chris was only too happy to oblige. We impressed upon the girls some of the qualities of the cadets, such as honor and integrity.





We followed the path from the Visitors Center to the Chapel. Beautiful.





Please read and obey all posted signs:



One of my favorite Misha pictures for the weekend:



The girls were able to explore the chapel for a little bit. We needed to be back outside the stadium around noon for the start of the football game. I told Chris we should become Air Force fans just to experience the flyover again and again--the Air Force knows not only how to put on a good show but also how to inspire patriotism.






Next stop, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

After a quick lunch, we headed to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Kristen has only been to the zoo as an infant, and Misha and Amy not for four years. They were all excited about the prospect. We saw a multitude of giraffes as we entered the zoo. Seriously, this zoo has 21 giraffes--if you're a male giraffe, you've got to be liking the odds since there are only five among the 21! No commentary on the following picture:



We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the zoo. They have the proverbial "lions, tigers and bears" (and a couple of grizzlies no less) as well as hippos, penguins, a Komodo dragon, a python, leopards, Wallabies, budgies (parakeets), frogs, monkeys, lizards, elephants, mountain tapirs, okapi, lemurs (who can see a lemur without thinking of King Julian from Madagascar, "Which one of you is attracted to me?"), mangabeys, gibbons, orangutans, lowland gorillas, macaques and Siamangs, Rocky Mountain goats, a moose, river otters, lynx, porcupines and bald eagles. I am sure I missed a few animals, but we completely wore our girls out.







When we were viewing the orangutans, they were being really friendly. I turned around to grab the camera and heard, "Ahhhhh, that was so cute" from all the people around me. Kristen had leaned up to the window by the orangutans face and he gave her a kiss through the glass. You should have been there, I heard it was amazingly cute.



The girls were exhausted by the time we left the zoo. We put on a movie in the van just so they wouldn't fall asleep so late in the day. Next stop, The Airplane Restaurant. We achieved parent sainthood.

The Airplane Restaurant

As I was doing a little research before we left for The Springs, I came across this cool restaurant. We told the girls about it in the days before our trip, and they were pretty excited. The Airplane Restaurant is exactly that. A restaurant inside an old airplane. One side of the wings of the plane extends into "the terminal" where you enter and extra seating is offered. The staff are dressed in uniforms and our "flight attendant" was our waitress. The plane is fitted with booths along each side--one side a four-person booth and the other side has booths just for two. When I called for reservations, I was asked if we would mind having two booths for two: Chris and I in one booth and the girls in the other. Sitting on their own was part of the fun for them. We waited and waited for our server to come and finally asked one of the waitresses as she passed by if she knew who our waiter was. She replied that she didn't but would take our order herself.



We were seated across from a crazy birthday party group that was pretty noisy and another family that acted rather entitled. One of the young boys was amazingly demanding and rude. And our order took forever. Our waitress finally brought our meals apologizing for the long wait and offered us a free dessert. The wait WAS long but the girls were having so much fun playing in the cockpit that they didn't notice, and we didn't mind too much. They proclaimed that it was the best restaurant ever!

Waterfall and "I just saw a bear!"

Before we arrived at The Airplane Restaurant, we had a little time to spare and drove up along the foothills of Colorado Springs. If you have a picture in your mind of what Colorado is supposed to look like, The Springs is probably closest to that picture. When you land at Denver International Airport for the first time, you'll likely think, "This is Colorado?" There is a lot of flat land and the mountains aren't too close. But I digress. We stopped at a little waterfall called Bruin Inn. Amy was too pooped to get out of the van so the rest of us hiked a short way.

Pretend that my eyes are not mostly closed in this picture, because I really like it otherwise.







We drove further along the foothills, some of it on this supposed two-lane dirt road (I didn't appreciate it much) and as we were driving along, I happened to look down a long driveway and saw this big black animal. In a matter of seconds, I rationalized in my mind, "That must have been a dog. But no, it walked like a bear." I finally blurted out, "I just saw a bear!" I urged Chris to turn around and sure enough there went a black bear lumbering across the road. It must have seen us coming, because it had disappeared into the brush by the time we reached it.

Sunday in Colorado Springs

You'd think with as much as we wore our children out on Saturday, they would have slept longer on Sunday morning. It's the whole magic of being in a hotel thing. One of the mornings I heard Kristen at 6:15 whispering to her sisters, "Wake up. It's morning time now."

We found a church meeting at 9 am just a short drive from our hotel on Sunday morning. We stayed for the Sacrament Meeting and then decided to drive through the Garden of the Gods and up to Pikes Peak for the day. Check out the link for more information on this 14,000 plus mountain. The girls weren't too keen on the drive up to Pikes Peak, but when it started raining, it seemed to be the better option than walking around the Garden of the Gods in the rain without rain jackets.

Beware of what you might see on this road though:



We stopped at Crystal Reservoir (I think that's the name) and the girls did a little sluicing and rock tossing. Lots of people were fishing, so we had to stay far away to avoid their wrath.





We finally reached the top of the 19-mile ascent--in first gear. It was a tad bit chilly--November-type weather--but we took a little time to enjoy the view. This is where Katherine Lee Bates was inspired with the words to "America the Beautiful".





Our descent was equally slow. We were behind a rather cautious, brake-riding Jaguar driver. Half way down the mountain, park staff check your brakes to make sure they aren't over heating. If they are, you are required to pull over and let them rest for 30 minutes. Mrs. Jag driver had to pull over. Boohoo for her, but we were finally glad to go a little faster.

By the time we reached the base of the mountain, the rain had stopped for a short while, and we decided to go back to the Garden of the Gods. Whine, whine, whine. You can imagine it. "We just want to go back and watch tv." Tough.

Garden of the Gods

So chronologically, this post intermingles with Pikes Peak. Before heading up to Pikes Peak, we stopped at a picnic spot in the Garden of the Gods to have lunch. One of the park's tag lines is, "Where else can you eat inside a postcard?" It is an amazingly beautiful place. Sadly, we were just finishing up our lunch when the rain started to poor. Rats! That's when we decided to head up to Pikes Peak.

On our way back down from Pikes, we drove back into the park and our first stop was the Balancing Rock. Our girls, as you just read, were whining. It happens. I'd like to offer the Balancing Rock as an antidote to whining. It worked for us. The girls had a great time climbing and jumping on the rocks. There are always seem to be willing people to take a family's picture.





I had fun snapping pictures of my girls' antics:





And they always want me to take pictures of them jumping:





It's all fun and games until someone gets their knee scraped.

Garden of the Gods II

We returned to the Garden of the Gods Labor Day morning. The weather was perfect, and it was early enough in the day that it wasn't too crowded...yet. We planned to take some easy walks through the park and lots of pictures. The girls were adamantly opposed to hiking, but Chris and I were hoping for a little exercise for all of us. You know, wear those kids out. We found a short hike that took us up to more cool rock formations; we continued to follow the path until we eventually came to some horse trails. This was Kristen for the entire time we were on that particular trail:



Finally I wanted off the trail after dodging poop for 1/2 a mile. We began hiking back up to what we thought was the original rock formations. We couldn't figure out where the trail met up with the old trail. Amy was nervous and kept saying, "I don't like this. I don't like being off the trail." After listening to this for about fifteen minutes, I mentioned to Chris that it was similar to the choices we make in life and whether or not we choose to stay on the straight and narrow path or whether we choose to veer off the path in sin, distancing ourselves from our Father in Heaven and setting our path in the wrong direction. We had the girls find a shady spot (we were all happy for a rest) and had an impromptu spiritual meeting with them explaining the importance of choices we make in life. When is a better time to impress upon them the importance of a lesson than when we are right in the middle of experiencing it and feeling lost?

We finally found a trail that took us in the opposite direction we wanted to go, but it led down to the road which we could follow back to our car. We were not lost in the sense that it was some remote area with no help around. There were other people on the trail, we were just not able to find the trail that would have allowed us easier access to our car--and afforded us less whining from our children about how hot and tired they were.

We finally reached the van, AND we all were pooped. Our girls may not like hiking, but they are becoming more fit because of it. We were more than happy to be on our way home. It is wonderful to have such a treasure close enough to make a short weekend trip out of it.