A Saturday in Fall

Saturday we went to an Open House at Dan's work. Because his company has a lot of government contracts, the public is not usually allowed into the offices. So it's the first time the girls got to see where Daddy goes mysteriously off to every day. And it's only the second time I have seen his workplace in 33 years!

Our first stop was Mission Control where we experienced a simulated launch and countdown. That was fun!

After that we headed up to Dan's office. What's with the flimsy paper name sheets? I thought his job was more permanent than that! Scary.

Not everybody has a job with this kind of view!

They got to sit in Daddy's BIG chair!

Meeting adjourned!

It was a very quick tour as we had to get to our next stop... a princess birthday party!

We are enjoying amazing weather here lately. Temps have been in the 70's and 80's. The bushes lining the creek behind our house are changing color.

And the mountains have pretty white snow on top.

The skies are so blue this time of year now that the afternoon thunderstorms are just about over. I love Colorado...minus January and February and March.

Guess Who Turning Three?

Yesterday we celebrated Anna's third birthday with a trip to Lollipop Park! I'm not sure what happened, but these pictures are not very good. But you can tell we all had fun!

The kiddos were mostly Mia's friends because Anna hasn't really shown an interest in making friends yet.

She is just an easy going happy kid and preferred to stay with the adults most of the time.

We had pizza...

And cake...

Having kids eighteen months a part and the same sex means they both love playing with
same new toys!

Happy Birthday Cuddle-Bug!

Happy Anniversary!

So happy I can blog again. I did not have the Internet for three days due to a short circuit in the sump pump (on the same circuit as the modem) from so much rain. And I didn't have a computer for two days due to a little mishap from Miss Anna, again. This time I didn't have to bug my son-in-law to resurrect the computer from the graveyard. The wizards at the Apple store were able to fix it. :)

Speaking of Greg...he has been married to Beth for one whole year now. Happy Anniversary you two! We love you! You guys are such a perfect match and so good for each other.

Here's to many many more happy years ahead!

End of the Trip

Introducing Benjamin Daniel Collins...

Born September 20th at 1:38 AM...

He arrived in time for both Dan and I to see him before we headed back home...

Mom, Dad and older sister are doing great!

Anna had been having a hard time being in the car. She doesn't watch movies. And is only two years old. So...after Dan went to a work dinner Friday night, at 9:30, we headed home. We took turns driving through the night. The girls slept about 8 hours of it. We arrived home at 2:00 PM the next day. The girls did absolutely wonderful. In fact, they did great the whole trip! They are maturing and becoming sweet, caring little individuals.

Still Here...

We are still waiting! Any time! Tonight maybe?

Here's what we've been doing.

Eating out. A lot. Every meal. Almost.

Going to Grandma's and passing out hand-drwan pictures to random school kids walking down the street.

Going to Brittany and Joey's and spending an evening with Brigit and Avery.

Going to lots of parks in lots of random cities.

Learning to color instead of scribble. At a restaurant. As we eat out. A lot.

Swimming in the hotel pool and in Becky's apartment pool. And getting yelled at by a lady because we are too loud. Do most kids play quietly in a pool???? Okay, even I can admit that both girls can have very loud voices. At times. Did I mention we've been eating out a lot and maybe they need an outlet where they don't have to sit still and be quiet and have good manners. Like a pool? Just maybe?

Tomorrow: Laundry!

Waiting...

On Sunday I went to my niece Sarah's bridal shower. It was in a lovely backyard in Long Beach.

Sarah is an avid reader and so that was the theme of the shower!

We will be back in about six weeks for the wedding!

The girls and I have been staying busy waiting for Benji to arrive.

On most days we go to a park in the morning and swim at the hotel in the afternoon. Dan is here on business so it's pretty much a free trip for us! If the baby doesn't come on his own by Tuesday, the labor will be induced.

Max Turns One!

Yesterday we went to Max's first birthday party! Becky and Arek decorated for a forest theme.

There were a few kids and a swimming pool. That made Mia and Anna really happy!

Max got passed around and around and around. Here he is with his Godmother, Jenny.

After a delicious Polish feast made by Arek's mom and aunts, it was time to sing and have cake!

Looks like something special is going to happen... I wonder what? Are they going to give me this cool pink phone???

Ooooooo...way better than a phone!

What is going here? What's with the chorus??

These people are just butchering this tune!!!!

Finally. Mine, all mine.

But I just can't get that song out of my head!

The older and more mature crowd has no problem eating the cake.

We all had a blast! And Max did too, despite our lousy singing!

Made It!

We're here in California! And apparently we are missing the torrential downpours back home. No flash flooding in our neighborhood, thank God.

Tomorrow we pick Dan up at the airport and then there are two parties over the weekend.

Why did I drive? Because we don't know exactly when baby Ben is going to arrive and I didn't want to deal with switching flights, etc. The kids did great on the drive and I listened to an audiobook the whole way (I just put the earphones in one ear so I could listen to the kids with my other.) Dan is flying because he has to work!

Halfway

Gettin' ready...

Preschool in the morning.

On the road around noon.

Crashed at a hotel...

Halfway there...

Church Festival

After church today we went to our church festival. At our church in California the festival was three days and brought in over $100,000. This was a wee bit smaller...

We enjoyed our 45 minutes.

The two rides were especially fun.

I'm not making fun of it. Really. It was perfect. Who wants to spend more than 45 minutes when the sun is blaring!!!

And we spent nowhere near the money we used to spend when our kids spent three days at their school/church carnival because we working there!