our first snow

We had our first snow of the year on Tuesday and it was a good one. I'd say 2-3 inches anyway. The roads were a little icy later in the evening as it was relatively warm for most of the day, so the roads went from wet to ice. The girls were very excited about snow (they had been waiting for a few weeks as it came down up in the mountains. Jae was a little timid at first, but after a few minutes both kids were running, jumping, falling and playing in the snow. We tried for a snowman, but the snow didn't quite stick enough. Em and I finished off the evening with her first ever snowball fight. We are now looking fwd to the next round of snow, as it's now almost all gone already.

quick learners

The girls recently started some private swimming lessons, designed to help them survive if they fall in the water. There is further development from there on, but the first 3-6 weeks of private lessons focus on getting the kids to float on their back, then roll on their front to swim, then roll back on their back to rest, etc., etc.

After just 5 lessons (50 minutes), Emily did float, swim, float on Monday! Both were already comfortable in the water, but Emily had a great attitude and listened well, allowing her to master the primary skills very quickly. She is now working on technique and will finish at least the first 12 lessons before we see what is next.

Jaelynn is doing well in her class as well and is 4 lessons ahead of Emily. But since she doesn't understand as well, it's a little tougher for her to grasp what she has to do. The instructors use a different teaching style with each age. It's a wonderful program. You can check it out here.

October 2006

We've been busy catching up on odds and ends here. Our backyard plans our almost finished so now we need to decide if we want to start it now or wait until the spring!?! We'll see. We're both anxious to get some of it done now so we may get started this fall yet.

A couple weekends ago we went to Breckenridge for Qualcomm Boulder's 30 yr. party. Breckenridge is a Mountain resort (similar to that of Banff for those Canadians) and has a wonderful town site that is very conducive to walking and shopping! We only spend sat. and sun. there but it was really nice and the girls had a great time. Emily was hoping we'd see snow but it didn't happen...don't think it got below 50 while we were there.

Janelle's managed to pick up a couple shifts at work and loves it. The people there are great and really helpful in training. She'll get a couple more shifts in Oct. which will keep her in the swing of things. Still playing hockey and managed to get in the odd round of golf. On the days that Emily is in school her and Jaelynn get to go out walking or running...now Jaelynn gets to see what it's like to be an only child!!

Ehren is between hockey seasons right now but will be starting up again in Oct. To kill the time he's on the course 1 or 2 times a week. Quite liking the game...except for that round they played in the 50 weather the other day :-) Oh, not to mention the wind chill that made it feel close to freezing? Ugh! Work is still going well and he's biking to work a couple times a week and out once on the weekend usually. One thing that's for sure...there's no lack of bikers or runners in this part of the country!

Well, in Oct. we'll have Blair and Dar drop through on their way to Mexico. We plan on taking in an Avalanche game while they're here. It's an earlier visit from them this year so they'll be here to spend Halloween with us which will be nice. Oma and Opa won't be coming until November we're told.

Oh, in the next update keep your eyes open for news on our new niece that's to arrive the beginning of October in Dubai, UAE. Lana and Samuel are expecting a girl on the 8th! We're all waiting! :-) Do lots of walking Lana...not to mention all the other wives tales :-).