The Z-O-O

After naptime on Sunday afternoon, we headed down to the Denver Zoo. It was a beautiful fall evening and we stayed until closing. (Wes considered hiding so he could spend the night...) We decided cotton sheets are better than bales of hay, so we headed home to enjoy some pizza.

Look closely to see what Brady and Wes were staring at!
Lizard Kisses
Brady was in awe of the elephant!
Checking out the bears...

Labor Day 2008

With the start of the whirlwind that is school and volleyball upon us, we enjoyed a much needed three day weekend. We found plenty of things to celebrate...here is a video of our adventures.
A few notes:
1) We celebrated Abby's birthday at Sue's house (she had planned a party to celebrate the installation of her underground sprinkler system a few weeks back, but it got rescheduled due to rain. The "insanity" you see in the pictures is a game Sue had planned. Basically, we ran around grabbing flags from sprinkler zones that were turned on. The number of flags decreased each round, the number of costumes increased. Thus the goggles, swim caps, and flippers. Wes ended up winning gold, Ernie a close silver, and Mark took the bronze.
2) The gorilla that Brady is entirely too close to at the aquarium is NOT real! :)
3) Brady received a much needed haircut midway through the weekend. You might notice the decline of his 'fro. Enjoy!

Wes's Best Day Ever (Version: Wes)

Yesterday, my husband enjoyed one of his favorite days of the year (if not his life). Fantasy Football Draft Day. This is now year three of the tradition that began as a simple evening of 12 guys, beer, pizza, and selecting NFL players to pretend football teams. The simple evening has now exploded into a 15 hour festival beginning with a round of morning golf. From there, the gentlemen retire to our house to indulge in the aforementioned activities--pizza, beer, and the hopes that their NFL player selections will earn them a place in the "superbowl" as well as a portion of the pot all 12 players pay in to. But no, it doesn't end there...what night would be complete without a game of poker? Sitting on the patio under the party lights, gambling, and laughing very, very loudly...Wes's little glimpse of heaven. In past years, Wes has drifted into depression upon completion of draft day. Sure, the league is fun (not to mention consuming as he spends several hours each week glued to the internet watching his point total, debating trades, etc.), but draft day is really the best part. This year, the boys decided to keep the celebration going all season long and joined a recreational softball league. We'll have to see if they play ball as well as they coach in the NFL :)
The Results...
The "Coaches" (Dana is the one woman brave enough to jump into the mix)
Brad joined the fun from Cali live via webcam!
Topping off the evening with poker.

Wes's Best Day Ever (Version: Cara & Kids)

Payton, Brady, and I stuck around long enough to see the draft order, then we headed off to dinner and the park with the wives and children of the other coaches in the league...we had a great evening as well.
What happens to 9 month olds when too many moms make silly faces as they attempt to get four children to all smile at the same time!
Mom's love playgrounds too!
Playing in the creek at Aunt Gwen's house...this ended the evening and after a bath, we headed home to check on the dads...

The Birthday Camera Incident

I thought I'd put the picture first on this post so that you have a few seconds to let the wheels start turning...As I stated in my last post, I just got a new camera for my birthday. (Remember my birthday was almost two months ago.) An upgrade from my point-and-shoot, the new Canon is perfect for my love of shooting pics of my family and my new "letter business." Funny I should mention shooting...I actually got my camera shortly after my birthday. About a day or so after it arrived, my husband and his buddies had an evening-o'-fun at our house. As boys will be boys, they decided it would be fun to see if getting hit in the leg with a plastic bb gun would hurt. (Wow, are men and women different!) Yes, they were inside. After a few attempts, they quickly figured out that plastic bb's don't hurt. Kids stuff. They decided to move on to the metal bb's and big air rifle. I think that only one shot had been fired when I came downstairs from putting PR to bed. That quickly ended the indoor fun and we retired to the patio...a few hours later, the evening ended and we were off to bed.

The next morning, everything changed. Wes went downstairs to get the kids breakfast and I heard a "BABE!" errupt from his mouth. As I inquired further, I got a "your not going to be happy about this," and other statements of shock and horror. Lodged in to the upper corner of the LCD screen of my new camera was the ONE metal bb that had been shot in the house. I cannot even begin to caluclate the chances of shooting a bb at someone's thigh, missing, and sending that stupid metal ball in to my camera sitting on the counter five feet away. I also cannot imagine what the guys at the Canon Repair Shop thought when they opened a box with a camera shot by a bb gun inside.

Needless to say, we got the camera repaired and it arrived back into my loving arms a week or two ago. A few final thoughts...1) Wes and I are still happily married :). 2) I had no intention of sharing this story with anyone. It was an accident and Wes felt horrible. He, however, confessed to everyone he knew within an hour of "the incident." As a result, I decided it was fair game to blog about. Lastly (3), I WISH that I had taken a picture of my camera shot by a bb gun (the bb was still lodged in the corner when we sent it off in the mail). I was just a little sensitve about the destruction of my birthday present when it happened, so I didn't think to snap a photo. I guess I'll just leave it up to your imagination...

Snap Shots

I just got my new birthday camera and am enjoying learning how to use it. My birthday was June 28 and I just got the camera this weekend (more on that in a future post). Some snapshots:
Princess P:Brady LOVES his Oma!Brady is chewing on a dive stick we play with at the pool. I had to include this shot because Brady has named these dive stick people "dad." One has red hair and the other wears a baseball hat, so I guess he's not completely off base!

Kids Say The Darndest Things...

Last night at dinner...

Brady: Having a blast ripping his cheese quesadilla into pieces and throwing it on the floor.

Wes, in a stern fatherly voice: Brady, no!

Brady: Showcasing just exactly how stubborn he is, throws the quesadilla on the floor again.

Wes, in an even sterner voice: Your pushing it little monkey...

Brady: oooh, oooh, oooh (making the sound for monkey)

Entire Family: Bursts into giggles.

Discipline moment out the window.