Bath Night!

On Tuesday nights Mia gets to take a bath in the big tub. (Yes, I do love schedules.) Tonight she wanted to wear her bathing suit and pretend that she was in a swimming pool. She spends most of her time climbing in and out of the tub. I would say she sits in it for no more than 20 seconds at a time. Just like a real swimming pool!

That balloon is a freak of nature. It is from her adoption on November 16th. Have you heard of a latex balloon lasting two and half months!? It hasn't lost a single puff of air. Mia plays with it every day and she is not GENTLE. Spooky.

Wedding Dress!

I met the two girls in Seattle this weekend to look at wedding dresses!

My girls never dress alike so I had to take a picture. Aren't they cute?

Filling out the forms to try on dresses. That's about all you'll see here. I'm not aloud to post any of the pics! But we all knew it was the one the minute she walked out. It was only the second dress and the least expensive of the day!

We had an early dinner at the hotel where the wedding will take place.

The next morning we spent some time looking at all the details of the room where the ceremony and reception will take place.

This is why it's called the Dome Room. It's just beautiful.

Cocktail Hour will be in the bar downstairs. We didn't even notice before that it has the same vintage travel theme as the wedding.

Next we went to Pike Place Market.

This was Asian broccoli.

I bought tons of delicious tomatoes to snack on through the day.

Greg's uncles bought him this tile years ago.

The famous fish market.

The quaint little engagement ring store where Greg bought the ring.

And just so we felt like we were really in Seattle, it rained all weekend!

Snow Sculptures!

Today we went to the Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Contest. The day was beautiful and there was some amazing work done by teams from all kinds of countries.

There was also a little play area made of snow with igloos, bridges and castles. Mia also enjoyed the big open area with just snow to play in. It was sad to see that there was really not much snow on the ski runs though.

I'm not sure if this is big enough, Daddy.


It was a great day despite the much trafficked drive home. Luckily Mia slept for about an hour and watched a movie.

Castle Rock Recreation Center

We love the Castle Rock Recreation Center. Just when you think the cold and dry air is going to make you crazy you can go there and pretend like you're on vacation in a warm humid place!

Mia and Sophia. They wouldn't stay still enough for a good pic.

From Anonymous

Yes, we found yet another indoor playground here in Colorado. This one is called Treehouse Discovery. We met Lorelei and her mom there and had a lot of fun.

Someone left this gift for Mia in Dan's office with an unsigned note addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Collins. Apparently we have a secret admirer. Very sweet, but kinda creepy.

Out and About

Today we went to a produce warehouse downtown. We've been there a couple of times. Even with paying for gas, the money we save is quite a bit. And they don't look at me strange when I buy a whole case of fruit!

These are fantastic juicing oranges, sweet and mellow. We have some juice every morning.

On our way home we stopped by a fun new park.

Here is a swing that goes sideways and back and forth.

You will never fall off this merry-go-around.

Even if you ride it upside down!

The Ducks

It was a beautiful day so I suggested we go feed the ducks in the lake.

Hello???? The lake is totally frozen over. What will we do with the bread?

I want just a little bit.

A little bit more.

"I don't want to feed the ducks any more."

"We haven't fed any. They aren't here."

"I don't want to feed them cuz I ate all the bed (bread)."

I'm mad because my mom and dad won't let me go for a walk to feed the ducks again. And I want to play in the snow. I don't care that it's getting very cold. All they will let me do is sit on this deck. Why did I go to all the trouble of putting my snowsuit on all by myself?

Last Few Days

The last few days haven't been too busy around here.

We've tried to keep warm by doing mostly indoor activities. Here we are at Chuck E. Cheese. The prices of these rides have not gone up one bit in 25 years!

We like to go to the indoor playground at McDonald's. Apparently it was very sunny in there!

Sometimes we watch movies or T.V.in our favorite place on the back of the couch.

We've also finished and submitted all the paperwork for Mia's passport. Can you believe even children take bad passport photos!

Disappointing!

Mia was ready and the Broncos were...well...not. I guess we'll be waiting for next year.

Just got my blog book for 2011 in the mail. I went with bolg2print because it was so easy, just put in the dates you wanted to be included in the book and press a button. What I didn't like was the size of the pictures, 2" by 3". So for next year I'm using Blurb. It's a lot more work because you design the pages yourself. But I figure if I do it as I go along it will be done at the end of the year.

Yesterday we got Mia's birth certificate in the mail. It's so strange to see a certificate of live birth with your name as the parent when you weren't even there. But it's great to have as now we can go get her a passport in case we need to take her to China.

"M" is for Mia

Two humps is not nearly enough for an M. According to Mia, this spells Mia, Mama, and Anna.

Colorado Living

There are not many places, with four seasons, that are beautiful in both summer AND winter. Colorado is one of them. I must admit I don't like the dryness in winter, but the blue skies and sunshine make up for it.

It's only 45 degrees, but with the sunshine and thin air it feels much much warmer.

How many people get to look at this scenery while playing at the park?

This was our backyard Sunday morning after a surprise snowfall. There's those pesky blue skies again! And, oops, my thumb.

On a side note, somebody ate this entire carton of blueberries. That same somebody also knows how to say, "Tebow Time!".

Zoo Trip

It was above 60 degrees today! So we went to the zoo. And bought a family membership so we can go again and again and again.