The Grays

I love the bond that Lilly and Robin share as sisters. Today I was starting dinner when the girls were playing downstairs and I overheard this entirely unprompted mini-conversation between the two that made my heart sing.

Lilly (to Robin): “Are you best friends with me?”

Robin: “Unh-hunh” (yes)

Lilly: “I’m best friends with YOU! But most of all, I love you more than anyone else.”

November 14th – after realizing that Lilly has practically outgrown her Strider bike and is accomplished at balancing on it, I pick up a $15 20″ bike for Lilly just to ‘try it out’ and see if she is ready. We spend 15 or 20 minutes during R’s nap riding up and down the sidewalk and talking about safety rules, but I am helping her at all times.

November 15th – I pick up a slightly smaller bike (12.5″) thinking that it might fit her better. We spend a few minutes riding up and down the sidewalks again. Then Nana and Boppa come over and the first time L is on her bike she takes off! Woohoo!!

After not being enrolled in any classes (aside from school) or swim lessons for some time, we decided to sign Lilly up for private swim lessons with an instructor at CAC for awhile. Bill has been taking her while I spend time with Robin, but last weekend I had the chance to see how Lilly is doing and I was amazed at her progress! She did the backstroke for almost the entire length of the pool (35 meters) while I was there and is also able to do a (very messy) forward crawl for a good 8+ feet. I was exhausted watching her – it is so much work but she enjoyed every minute and had an accomplished smile on her face at the end. Way to go, Lilly!

Okay, so Lilly is four years old and I’m already finding it difficult to answer the many, many questions that she has. She is in a newly intelligent phase of wanting to understand things. Tonight Bill put her to sleep as usual (after reading a book about machines and Curious George) and we were cleaning up when 5 minutes later Lilly calls me in to her room to ask me these questions:

L: “Mommy, what are spiders made of?”

Me: Well, spiders are a living thing so they are made from similar things like you and me…

L: “No, but if there were no spiders in the world, then how did they even get here?”

Me: …pause…okay, say something smart Kristy…blah blah blah something about evolution

L: “And what if there was an animal that only ate spiders but there were no spiders?”

Me: Then that would be really sad because the animal wouldn’t survive since there’s nothing left for it to eat. That’s why we have to take special care of all living things.

L: “Okay, goodnight, Mommy.” (satisfied with my answers for now)

Not only will I not be able to help her with math once she reaches the 3rd or 4th grade (that will be Bill’s territory), but I am finding the ‘simple’ day to day tasks of answering her questions and stimulating her curiosity to be a full time job!

Happy Halloween from our pirate and her parrot (or as Robin calls it, ‘pirate parrot’)! We celebrated last Friday with Bill’s office party, then another amazing Halloween party at Lilly’s school and Blast! on Thursday, and of course Trick or Treating with neighborhood friends. Lilly designed her first pumpkin. Fun had by both of our sweeties (and us)!

For the complete set of photos, click here.

2.5 year check-up

Our baby is 2.5 today! Cannot believe it. Robin is inching out of the ‘terrible two’s’ and amazing us with how sweet and reasonable she can be. She loves gymnastics and meeting new friends and caring for her babies and stuffed animals. One of our favorite parts of the day is when she wakes up and snuggles in bed with us for up to an hour! Happy half birthday, baby girl!

Weight: 30 pounds
Height: 35-3/4″

I just finished my first full marathon! It was a perfect day for me, nice and cool, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but almost the entire run felt GREAT! I had no time expectations and paced myself well – felt the distance around mile 18 but pushed through and then again at mile 25 when there was a pretty mean hill at the end. I ran the entire thing and it felt WONDERFUL to see the finish line. Many thanks to Bill for cheering me on at miles 16, 18, 23, and 26.2! Looking forward to the next one – now I have a time to beat! 😉

I just got back from a much anticipated trip to visit Todd and Jessica in China! Woohoo! I am so so so so glad that I took the plunge and decided to go. It was wonderful to spend time with Todd and Jessica before their baby arrives and see how happy they are. For me, this was a trip that can never be repeated and I will remember it always.

Day by day:

Saturday, September 28: Boppa dropped me off at the airport and I flew DEN – SEA. I was in good spirits in Denver but lost it in Seattle – thanks to a phone call to Mark and a Seattle beer or two I held it together enough to get on the flight, which was just fine (I didn’t sleep but watched many movies).

Sunday: Landed in Shanghai at 6pm and was greeted by T & J! That night is a big of a blur – we went to the downstairs Mexican restaurant for dinner (:)) and after a 14 hour flight and only 3 hours of sleep in 40 hours I was a bit of an emotional train wreck. Asleep at 10pm.

Monday: After a full night’s rest I woke up in great spirits and ready to go! We took a taxi to the Jade Buddha Temple and had lunch at its vegetarian chinese restaurant – my first authentic chinese food experience. Later we walked around People’s Square, went to the shopping district, and drank a beer on the Bund before meeting up with some of their friends for dinner in the French Concession area.

Tuesday: 9am train to Beijing, a 5 hour high speed train (300 km/hr) travelling first class! Took a taxi to our hotel, the Jade Garden Inn, before heading to the Forbidden City. Our walk there was a bit of a culture shock – walking in the opposite direction of thousands of Chinese who were clearly amused by our presence, not a single foreigner to be seen. It was Chinese National Day, one of two national holidays, and the busiest day at the Forbidden City ever. Lots of photos taken of me. It took us a good hour to walk a few blocks back to the hotel because it was so crazy. Finally got dropped off for dinner in a less than optimal area, only to find an amazingly awesome Hutong with a great vegetarian restaurant (The Veggie Table), vampire bar, brewery, etc.

Wednesday: Early car to the Great Wall (Mutianyu). Incredibly gorgeous day, clear blue skies like in Colorado, almost unheard of in Beijing. It was a busy day at the Wall, complete with a visit from Justin Bieber who had a concert that night, but we made it early before the big crowds. So amazing. Toboggan ride down with Todd that I’ll never forget. Great lunch at the bottom. Next we walked around Tiananmen Square, which on a national holiday was actually a bit creepy (really, really felt like we didn’t fit in). Fun night at an AMAZING brewery, Great Leap, in another great Hutong (Dongcheng District), where we drank the night away and noshed on szechuan peanuts and had carry out chinese, yum!

Thursday: Early train back to Shanghai. Quick run on the treadmill followed by dinner at Barbarossa with some of T & J’s friends and The Killers concert at the Mercedes Benz arena. Then down to Tianzifang for drinks.

Friday: Last full day in Shanghai and lots of shopping to do! Went to the fake market and lunch and shopping in Tianzifang. Last bubble tea and red bean paste waffle! Drinks at Glamour Bar with fabulous views of the Bund at night, then a last minute shopping trip at Carfour and carry out Japanese food and a movie. The perfect end to a great vacation!

Saturday: Trip home!

This trip would only have been a dream if not for the help of Judy and Bill, who drove down to CO to help with the girls; Bill, who took off 2.5 days of work and sacrificed his work schedule to be home as much as possible; my parents and brother who convinced me to go and talked me through everything; friends who supported and were excited for me; and of course Todd and Jessica who were the most excellent of hosts and planned everything perfectly! Thank you all!!! xo

For the complete set of photos, click here.

Well, we never thought we’d have to say this but we survived the 100 Year Flood. It all started Wednesday night. I left to get in a training run at the gym because it was raining so hard that I didn’t want to run outside. I didn’t think much of it on the way there but on the way back the rain was coming down really heavily and 30th street was pretty flooded. I couldn’t get over all the cyclists riding their bikes home through the flooded street at 10 at night – it was so dangerous. We went to bed not thinking anything of the rain and were awakened by a flash flood warning alert (on the phone) at 4am. We did a brief check and weren’t too concerned so we went back to bed, only to wake up to text messages from friends asking if we were okay.

On average we get 16″ of rain annually and in a few days time we had the same amount of rain – most of it falling late Wednesday/early Thursday. The devastation is truly unimaginable. In our own neighborhood homes on every street were subject to basement flooding (including 3 on our block), there was lots of damage to the roads, Viele Lk was flooded over the bridge and covering trees and sidewalks, our street sewer was bubbling and waters were rushing out of the gutters and pooling in front of our driveway, and Bear Creek that quietly runs adjacent to Table Mesa Dr overflowed and turned the street into a rushing river, leaving erosion and damage along the way. The worst damage was North and Northeast of us on the opposite corners of Boulder County, where homes were washed away and people continue to await help to be airlifted to safety.

Amazingly enough our home and Bill & Judy’s condo remain dry.

Our thoughts are with all those who were affected by this weeks flood. We are proud of how we have all come together to help one another and know that despite the hardships that come with living in the mountains, we still live in the best place on earth. 🙂

For the complete set of photos, click here.

9.3.2013

9.3.2013

This morning Lilly started her last year of Preschool at Sunflower. It really is unbelievable to think that she will be starting Kindergarten next year. While it’s an exciting time it is also very emotional and there is so much that we look forward to showing Lilly and new experiences that we hope to share with her this year. Sunflower has been the ideal preschool for her and we are so happy that we chose this environment to be such an integral part of her education.

Lilly will continue with the same preschool schedule as last year, 4 mornings a week from 8:30-12:30. Robin will join her when she turns two and a half (so soon!) and with that time fast approaching we’ve decided to keep her home with me more and scale back on classes for the time being. She will be doing occasional drop-ins for gymnastics and music and spending more time on hikes and bike rides with Mom. I’m trying to drop Lilly off for school in the bike trailer every morning to prepare her for riding her own bike to school next year. Robin has taken off on the tricycle and is increasingly curious and independent. She is SO ready to join Lilly at Sunflower.