Up the Down Staircase

Both kids learned to climb our slide today, all the way to the top, the first time they've tried. Eiley gave it the first shot and Arya was soon to follow. Arya figured out how to get to the top first. They then both tried to go down the steps that go up to the playhouse. I wasn't nervous with them on the slide, but the steps are steep and they seemed to be having a competition of who could get down faster. If I hadn't been there, there would have been a pile of kid at the bottom of the steps.

In and Out

If one is going up, the other is going down. If one wants out the door, the other wants in. I sat and watched them try to get past each other for awhile today. It was very entertaining for me, not so much for them.

Pretty in Pink

Corky recently pointed out that he always dresses Arya in pink. I hadn't noticed, but I usually do that as well. When I dress Eiley in pink, as I did today, I constantly call her Arya. I know some twin parents dress each of their kids in a particular color. We never planned on doing that, but it's happened. I even catch myself looking at clothes in a store and I know which outfit goes to which kid.

Stop and Stare

While the kids can't sleep in a nice dark, quiet car, they apparently can sleep in a hotel room with all the lights on, a tv blaring and 3 adults getting ready. I had to wake them both up this morning to get going. They did better in the car today, but were very ready to be done by the time we got home. We were all really ready. We made lots of stops along the way. When your kids make faces like these, you know you have to stop very soon.

G2D3

The kids were definitely not as good today as they were on the way out. We left Colorado much later than we probably should have. They were up for over 4 hours before they got a nap. We stopped a lot, but after dinner they were still both in a bad mood. The car was dark and quiet, but neither of them would sleep. I sat between them for 90 minutes before we got to the hotel. It was 90 minutes of my hair being pulled and my arms being pinched as they tried to pull themselves up out of the car seats. I don't know if they or I were crazier by the time we stopped.

Strawberry Springs Forever

We had a wonderful memorial for my cousin Peter today. The weather was beautiful and all of the little kids there behaved so well. We, and many other family members, were unable to attend the service when he first passed. It was very nice to have most of the family together to share the service and spread his ashes.

After the service, we went to a natural hot springs called Strawberry Springs. The kids love swimming so they enjoyed it. We would have loved to stay longer, but our stomachs were rattling and the sun was a bit too intense for babies to be out too long. Sadly, this was out last full day in Colorado. Tomorrow we’ll be headed home after a quick breakfast with family.

Fish Creek

We went hiking today up Fish Creek. It’s about a 10 mile hike, but we didn’t do the whole thing. We turned around when the kids started to lose it. They were in our Ergos and took a great nap, but they can only sleep so long before they let us know they are bored. They got their first fig newton on the way down. They were hungry and we needed a way to try to keep them happy. My shirt was a figgy mess when we were done, but they were happy.