Water 2 Wine(o's): Part 1

To celebrate my dad's 60th birthday, the Jansen children got together and purchased an evening at Water 2 Wine. This is a local wine bar near my parents' house. They have monthly tastings, happy hours, and make-your-own-wine packages.
Last night we completed Part 1 of making our own wine. Brad and Jayne are in town for the week so it was perfect timing. We started with a little happy hour and tasted a few of the different options we could make. Preggo Jayne had sparkling peach juice.
The birthday boy decided on a cabernet, so we headed into the "Chemistry Lab" to begin turning water into wine.
Mark and Brad added reverse osmosis water...
Wes added oak chips...
And Jayne made us official vintners with the addition of the yeast...
And this is where our five gallon bucket filled with six gallons of wine will sit for the next forty-five days...
In the meantime, we will create our own wine name and labels. Stay tuned for Part 2. We will go back to bottle, label, cork, and of course, taste twenty-nine bottles of our creation.

Payton and Brady...Future Gymnasts?!

We have enjoyed a relaxing week at home for Spring Break and have done a few fun things each day. Yesterday we returned to the new-new-new Jumping Place (The Hop) with Debbie (an Arapahoe friend) and her kids McKenna and Keegan. Here are some highlights...
Brady's favorite activity is still batting practice off of the levitating ball.Payton and McKenna showed off their basketball dunking skills.And all four kiddos battled each other in air hockey.
We also spent some time jumping and doing gymnastics in one of the blow up castles. McKenna takes after her mom and dad and is a tremendous gymnast. She has been in classes since she was one and has already mastered a back handspring. She demonstrated this feat, along with seat drops, split kicks, and cart wheels, to all of us. I did not get a video, but click here if you want to see just how good she really is. Her two year old brother Keegan is following right in her tracks. Payton attempted a few of the stunts and then broke down into tears. She asked if we could leave the jumping place immediately to go and sign up for gymnastics...

So...this morning we attended a beginner's gymnastics class for both Payton and Brady. This was their first attempt at anything acrobatic (besides climbing on bunk beds and their father), and I had an absolute blast watching from behind the glass. (that's why the pictures to follow have a few weird glares). We get a month trial period for free, so they cannot wait for next Tuesday at 5:30 when they get to go again!
Warm up and stretching.Forward rolls on the balance beam.Swinging and flipping on the bar.They did great, although genetics might suggest that they are not exactly built to be Olympic gymnasts :)

It's A Great Day For Church And Bowlin'.

The title of this post is a quote from Brady this morning as we headed out for church. We tried to go bowling last night but missed out on cheap family time, so we promised the kiddos we would go after church this morning. I always assumed that Cosmic Bowling (you know, lights darkened, black lights illuminated, music blaring, and disco balls flashing) only happened late on weekend nights, but we had the pleasure of experiencing it in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Not so great for bowling concentration, but it made for some fun photos!

She's not quite as good in real life as she is on the Wii...but what an incredible sense of style :)
Brady's first time. He did great with the help of the ramp and bumpers, but he was more concerned about the color of ball he chose than how many pins he knocked down.The final score...Wes is victorious, thanks to my big fat choke in the tenth frame.

Stop, Drop, and Roll (and Eat Birthday Cake)

This morning we ventured down to the Denver Firefighters Museum to celebrate Rylan's 3rd birthday. First we ate firetruck birthday cake and opened presents (Brady was not keen on the idea that it was someone else's turn to get spoiled...). Then we headed down into the museum where the kiddos got to dress up like firefighters, drive firetrucks, slide down poles, and anything else firefighter-ish you could imagine. The kids had tons of fun. We'll have to see if this inspires any of their future careers.

Happy Birthday Rylan! You model that hat so well :)
Driving the firetruck...what's scary is that she will have a license in ten years!Sporting the gas mask...a lot like swimming goggles.Sliding down the fire pole.Using the fire hose. If you remember from a previous post, Brady likes to squirt people with water :)

Happy Birthday Brady!

This weekend, we celebrated Brady's 3rd Birthday. The festivities began on Sunday morning with a family trip to the rec center pool. We had fun playing in the fountains, cruising down the water slide, and warming up in the hot tub. Sunday evening we hosted a race-car themed pizza party for family and friends. And finally, on Monday (Brady's actual birthday), we took a trip with Oma and Opa to Chuck E. Cheese. I'd say Brady had an awesome birthday celebration! Here is a video highlighting all of the fun...

Brady, it's hard to believe that you are already three years old. You are smart, athletic, and funny. You are a sweet little brother to Payton. You are quite the charmer and have most of the ladies in your life (your mom, Oma, Grandma Tammy, and Grandma Inge) wrapped around your little finger. You are tough, and we love watching you respond to the challenges, both mental and physical, that you come across. We love you so much and pray God's blessings on year number four.

The New-New-New Jumping Place

Due to what I'm sure is their massive success, "Jumping Places" have popped up everywhere in our surrounding area. They each have their own name...Pump It Up, Monkey Bizness, The Hop...but we just call them all Jumping Places and add new to the one we visit most recently.

We visited the new-new-new jumping place on Friday because I had the day off from school. It's awesome...blow-up baseball, blow-up basketball, blow-up boxing, slides, obstacles courses, and even air hockey and free video games. The kiddos had a blast, and Payton scored yet another hole in the knee of her leggings.

Gwen and Rylan joined us for the fun as well. See her post for their version of the adventure. We'll just say that Rylan wasn't quite as jazzed about the jumping :)

Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee...
Levitating Batting Practice...Brady Could Have Stayed Here All Day!
Yes, Brady Is Beating My Heavy Self Down The Slide.
Air Hockey
Rylan's Favorite Game As Well...
Gwen and Payton Sticking Their Faces In The Air...Instant Face Lift!
Thanks Gwen for the pics!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words...

Sure, Wes will crush Payton in any Wii game nine times out of ten. But, the stars aligned for Payton this morning during a game of bowling...

G. Bruce Jansen's 60!

My lovely father celebrated his 60th birthday last Saturday. We celebrated with an "adults only" 5280 dinner at Trapper's Steakhouse. Between live music, a table overlooking the city, and awesome steak, we all had a wonderful time.

After dinner, we headed to Mark and Abby's house for funfetti cake (the birthday boy's request) and gifts. We love you dad, Happy Birthday!