Tuesday in Telluride

Yesterday morning Kate and I went for a walk through town and did a bit of shopping. Then we went to the great town park to play on the swings. The park is great - pool, tennis courts, skate park, big playground, kid's fishing pond, baseball fields, etc. etc. Kate really likes swings, so we hung out there for awhile before heading home for nap time.

After nap and lunch, the three of us went for a hike on the other side of the valley.

Looking towards the bottom of the valley and Bridal Veil Falls:

Yesterday the bike tour of Colorado rolled into town with 2000 riders.  Some of them were camping at the school:

We hiked up away and then stopped for some mucking about. Kate loves to muck about and really enjoyed playing in the mud.
Today I rented a bike and a bike trailer, so this afternoon I'm going to go riding while Graeme takes Kate for a hike.  Yay!

Monday in Telluride

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, so now I'm a day behind. I'll try to get caught up today.

On Monday, Graeme went to his conference and Kate and I went and got groceries in town.  We made it back to the condo just before the daily rainstorm.  Kate had a good nap and then after Graeme got back from lunch, we went for a hike up to Bear Creek Falls.  It's a good first day hike since it's pretty gradual. It's a good way to get acclimatized to the elevation.



A view of the falls:


At the turn around point:

Milestone

Kate just crawled across the living room.  Let the craziness begin.

In Telluride

We arrived in Telluride yesterday just before noon. The town was still chock full of bluegrass festival goers, which made the scene even more hippy than usual. We found out that our condo (condo!) wasn't cleaned yet, so we parked the car and headed to the pizza place for a bit of lunch. While we were sitting on their porch, the lightening and thunder started and before long the skies opened up. It wasn't rain, but it wasn't hail. It was big clumps of really wet snow that melted within a few seconds of hitting the ground. I hadn't seen anything quite like that before.

Post lunch, we stopped at the grocery store for a few supplies before heading back to the condo. (Condo!) Last year when we were here we had hotel room right near the base of the gondola. The location was great, but the room was nothing to blog about. But the condo! is great. Two bedrooms on the lower floor and then the living room/kitchen/dining room on the top floor. And a baby gate already installed at the top of the stairs. It's really nice. Not so close to everything, but there is a nice path along the river to take to get to everything.



After hanging out for a few hours in the condo, we headed back toward the center of things. I wanted to go to the library to try to find some knitting patterns. (the ones I brought aren't quite right for the yarn I brought. Ooops.) The library is new and quite lovely and had a very large selection of knitting books. I photocopied a bunch of patterns and we headed back to main street to hear a bit of the music. We sat in the grass and did some dancing before deciding on an early dinner at the brew pub.

(view from the kitchen window)


Kate headed to bed around 8:30 and Graeme and I enjoyed hanging out in the living room. But then came the worst night ever. I was up with Kate at 10:30, 12:30, 1:30, 3, 4, 5. At 5:15 I sent Graeme in to snuggle with her. At 5:30 I went back in and spent the rest of the night (til 8:30) sleeping with her. At 5:30 I gave her some tylenol because she was crying as if something was definitely wrong (not just tired) and I thought she might have a headache from the altitude. I think now that she might have been cold on her own as well. We will try to make her warmer tonight and see what happens. Unfortunately, she's gotten used to me sleeping with her for the early morning hours since that has happened the past few nights. Not a good habit.

She is now playing on the carpet with her books and eating some Cherios, acting as though nothing happened. While I feel like the living dead.

But here is a view from our front door:

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Yesterday we went for a hike in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I had never heard of this park before I went looking for things to do around here. (Here being Delta - halfway between Grand Junction and Montrose. We couldn't go to Telluride until Sunday because the bluegrass festival means that the town is full up.) It turns out that although it was a national monument since 1933, it only because a national park in 1999. And it's not terribly big - a 17 mile section of river and surrounding land. But there is some amazing scenery in that narrow stretch of land.



We did a three mile hike to the excellently named Exclamation Point.

For most of the walk out to the point, we could hear the river, but not see it.  Not until we got to the point, and fully understood the name.

I got a bit of vertigo taking this picture:

Kate had been a bit cranky on the walk out, so we spent some time playing in the shade.  She loves digging around in the dirt and made quite a good mess of herself.

Thankfully, she fell asleep for the return hike.
Today we're moving to Telluride and our home for the week.  We're looking forward to that.  Here in Delta, you have to drive to absolutely everything.  Totally different than Telluride, where you park your car when you arrive and it stays parked until it's time to leave.

To Colorado

Today begins our month+ of vaca. We're off to Telluride today (well, we'll get there on Sunday. We'll spend Saturday at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park) We're really looking forward to it, since Telluride is so beautiful and the weather is perfect there right now. We found the card reader and we should have an internet connection, so hopefully I'll post nearly daily this week.

We're all packed and Kate is napping right now. The cab will be coming by in about an hour and we'll have time to get a chopped brisket sandwich at The Salt Lick in the airport. Yum.

Visit with the new doctor

We went and saw the new pediatrician today, and I really liked him. He played with Kate, and seemed to genuinely like kids, a sentiment I didn't always get from the previous doctor. Yay.

Happy Father's Day

It's Graeme's first father's day. We haven't decided our plans yet, but we have a few options we're considering.

We had a big milestone yesterday. Graeme put Kate down for her afternoon nap. I'm soooooo excited by this development. So. Excited.

Phriday Photo

What's Cooking Wednesday

I haven't felt like cooking much the last few weeks. Last week, especially. We went out for dinner twice plus we had bacon and eggs for dinner one night. Definitely a sign that I'm not doing much in the kitchen. And now this week Graeme is away, which usually means I eat cereal for dinner. I've been doing a bit better than that this week though. Since Graeme was going to be away, I stocked up on lots of veggies for me to enjoy while he was gone. Including cauliflower, which I seldom buy. And to be honest, after eating a whole head in two nights, I don't think it's a great idea for Kate or I. But it sure was yummy.

I took a photo, but I can't find the card reader, so use your imagination.

Roasted Curried Cauliflower
Trim and cut a head of cauliflower into mid-sized pieces. Wash and set aside.
Mix together 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/2 tsp cumin. (these are all estimates of how much I used)
Pour mixture over cauliflower and stir well to coat completely.
Roast in 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Cover for first half. Stir once or twice.

Really yummy with tziziki or just plain.

Fever update again

Kate's fever hung out around 101 most of the day and now is just below 103. I gave her a dose of ibuprofen and a lukewarm bath. She seems to feel fine, although she just barfed up most of her medicine (the barfing doesn't mean anything. she's a bit of a barfer). I sense another long night ahead. I've been told it's most likely roseola. If it is we probably have another 24 hrs or so of fever Fun fun.

Fever update

It was a rough night. Kate was up every three hours. The first time she was wide awake for about an hour. The rest of them were very short. A bit of nursing and back to sleep. I checked her temperature in the middle of the night and it was still reading 102, although she felt a lot hotter than that to me. This morning it's down to 100, and she seems totally fine. How come she's not exhausted after being up so much, but I am?

A newsy post

I haven't posted in a bunch of days, and lots has happened. Let's see. What all is going on?

On Thursday, Kate had a pediatrician's appointment for her 9 month check up. It was our seventh visit with this doctor, and for the sixth time we waited for more than an hour. (The other one was a mere 45 minutes.) We left after 1 hr 10 minutes before seeing the doctor. I explained to the nurse, who felt very badly. I assured her it wasn't her fault at all, but that it wasn't an isolated incident and that we were leaving. So, now we have to find a new doctor.

Graeme left for California on Sunday morning. He's there for a conference and will be back on Thursday.

Kate has her first fever. 102, but holding steady since early afternoon. No other symptoms - no congestion or cough, good appetite, playing as usual. Maybe a bit clingier, but really nothing other than hot. I hoping that she'll wake up fine and it's just some weirdness.

I guess that's most of the news, or at least the not boring part.

Waiting

I have been meaning to post this video for about a month, but kept forgetting. It is Kate eagerly awaiting her bath. She loves the bath. This makes me laugh every time.

Another day at the pool

On Saturday we loaded up the bikes again and headed back to Deep Eddy pool. As soon as we got down by the pool Kate got very excited. She knew where she was. We went swimming, and then hung out on the grass for awhile. She loved having some outside naked time, since she doesn't get that often enough (way too many mosquitos at our house).

Here she is in her floating toy (thanks to the Andersons for it. Kate loves it.):


Playing with her most favourite toy, her mum:


Kisses:


Happy baby:

The best thing we've ever done