Strange Form of Life

I should not forget to mention that since my November blog it has also been Cale's birthday and I now have one year left in my twenties. Ruby, our beloved pup, shares her birthday with Baby Jesus. Maybe one day Ruby we'll save us all from a burning fire and December 25th will become much more about her than about Christmas. Not that it is about Christmas now. I hope I am not offending anyone by saying so but our family is part of the 15% of Americans that do not have a religious affiliation (and prefer to keep it that way). Still we love Christmas... mostly we love the cold and snow and we all have birthdays in December. One day Ruby will save us all.

All My Days

Today is Maya's birthday. She is four years old and like any good father I hope she stays this old forever.

New Camera! Muy Picturos!

Cale and Butch

Halloween

Two months later...

Ok I admit I'm super lazy and haven't posted for two months. Everyone is probably waiting on Halloween pics but since we forgot our camera keep waiting. Maybe those wonderful in-laws of mine can send over some pics, please.

Well what has happened the last two months? Cale started and finished a season of soccer. Sometimes he tried to run and once or twice a game he actually kicked the ball but I think he had fun.

He is one of the smartest kids in his class and can read most of his books and has excellent handwriting. I also have beautiful handwriting as anyone will tell you.

Maya is mostly just being Maya. She goes to preschool where we think she is fairly quiet. Her and Aden are playing a lot together lately.


Aden is starting to sleep a little better and I'm not up too much in the middle of the night. He loves Dora the Explorer now and his siblings tolerate it for his sake. They would rather be watching MTV or whatever the kids watch these days.


Finally, I feel a great deal of hope for the future and for my children. Reason has finally triumphed over extremism. I realize things will not be perfect but at this moment in history it would seem that things can only get better.

Grandma Skips a Stone!

Well it has been quite some time since I last posted and it is now the Watkins familys' favorite time of year. Summer is just about over and we don't have to worry about oppressive heat for nine more months. Bring on that early season Colorado snow!

In the past month Cale and Maya have started school. Cale started soccer. Maya starts soccer tomorrow! Ruby graduated some sort of obedience training (don't expect great things when you see her next- just slightly better things) Oh and most importantly Grandma skipped a stone at least twice!

To go back to the dog class thing- I find it strange when the instructor calls me "Ruby's dad". Biologically it is impossible, right? And really when you have children I think it puts your pets into a different category. I love Ruby but I'm not her dad. I'm just an accomplice to her stupidity. I am her partner in testing the limits of Carrie's temper. Thats is all. I have no domain over her. Ruby is her own dog.

Some other interesting occurances in our life...

-Cale has already found his way to the principals office. He has a breakdown in PE class.

-Child Protective Services does a lot of good work I'm sure but they need to learn when then have been brought into a situation that warrants no attention.

-Aden still doesn't like to sleep

-Aden may decide to sleep if you vote for his favorite presidential candidate come election day. You'll have to ask him who that is, although I think he might go Nader... go ahead throw away your vote.

-I have sweet new shoes with bright orange laces.

Camping with Cale

They grow uo so fast!

Maya is starting to get facial hair.

The Mid-Summer Blues

Oppressive heat is keeping us down. We don't care for summer. It is too costly to take a drive to the high mountains. Perhaps it is time to follow through with our plan to move to Anchorage or Portland or the Falkland Islands.

However, we aren't just lazing around. Sadie and Ruby are in dog class. There seems to be some progress but it takes a lot of time to train dogs. Maya still has dance class and has a princess party on Friday. She starting preschool August 26. Aden is two now. As a result he can yell twice as loud. Oh.. and his head-butting causes twice the pain. Cale took a planes and locomotion class today. We are still working on the bike riding. We have decided to sign him up for a soccer team and see what he thinks. That will start the same week he starts kindergarten. Cale. Maya, and I will go camping with grandaddy and Joni in a couple weeks.

Speaking of Joni, she'll start working at my place of employment on the 21st. She'll even sit in close proximity to me. Exciting! John and/or Jessica? Want a job?

Carrie hates the heat the most of all of us. She has headed north for a few months and is currently enjoying the benefits of socialized health care and year round ice hockey. See you in October darling!

Happy Birthday Aden!

In Summary

The vacation is now over and even though I didn't actually go anywhere it will be rough to return to work. Maybe next year we can rent a house in the mountains for a week or so and everyone can come!

New Bike!

Cale got a shiny new bike. He is learning to ride it. So is Carrie.

Walking the Dog

Storm

Well today we took a break from floors, lawn work, and dog taming to actually go somewhere. We drove to Rocky Mountain National Park and started to make the drive up Trail Ridge Road. It was obvious from the beginning that we may have picked the wrong week to go. Apparently this is the week for Texans in Suburbans to swarm on the park. I prefer to enjoy my nature as alone as possible (with the exception of a couple friends or family and maybe even a very stupid brown dog). I know it is my own fault for going to this particular destination but I wanted to take my little kids above treeline and this was the quickest way.

The first stop was some waterfall with a short quarter mile hike. The kids enjoyed sticking their feet in the freezing water. As I mentioned before, the entire city of Omaha was visiting this waterfall today but besides that it was enjoyable.

Next stop was on top of the world -somewhere between 11000 and 12000 feet. It was probably in the 50s and windy. We all noticed that is more difficult for even us highlanders to breathe. We found a little patch of snow which Aden fell in so we left. Once again there were a lot of people. I did notice that the Park Service is doing something right. All these people are so scared to step of the set path and damage anything to the point of silliness. This just leaves more places for me.


On the way down we pulled into the Hidden Valley picnic area and for some reason no one was there. I guess there were no spectacular waterfalls or alpine peaks to draw the crowds. Fine by us. We had a very lovely lunch.

Back in Estes Park we stopped at a large store shaped like Noah's Ark that sells stuffed animals. Cale got a flying squirrel, Maya a bear, and Aden a frog.