Say What?!

Do you remember when I asked "where did the summer go?" well I guess my next question is "how is this the last week of September?!"

A quick catch up of the last couple of weeks:

Two weekends ago Brooke and Troy had a campout in the backyard. Probably the last time we'll be able to do it this season as the fall weather has moved in in the evenings and mornings and it's quite cool out. 

It's always fun to "help" dad set up the tent

Ready to call it a night after a campfire and smores.

Connor wanted in on the action so he was there for the wakeup call.

I think you could call the Friday night campout a success except for the 6:30 sunny wake up.  I think this will have to a yearly tradition.

Last Monday was a nice cool day so the kids and I headed up to the zoo. Perfect day to go. Great weather; not too warm/not too cold and it wasn't crowded.

Hanging out by the cheetahs. A lady stopped by and asked if I wanted to be in the picture so there's proof that I'm actually at things. So nice of her.

The obligatory pic in front of the penguin.  I love the I have one of these every year.  I guess you can consider it her growth chart.



Loving and wishing she could be a flamingo.



The Denver Zoo has a new exhibit that allows us to be closer to elephants.  This is as close as she wanted to be.

Connor loved the freedom to run around and climb up to see things.

Besides the zoo we've been hanging out here.

Preschool has been a blast for Brooke. She loves doing all the arts & crafts at Miss Terri's. She already knew her shapes but she loved making her new friends, Cindy the circle, Ricky the rectangle, Ollie the oval, Tilly the triangle (or Troy if you ask her), and Sally the square.

I pulled out the kids fall/winter clothes and Troy was neck deep in laundry.  He loved every minute of it!

I've managed to keep the kids busy enough that I've tucker them out.  Gotta love nap/bed time.

In honor of our Tough Mudder coming up in less than 2 weeks, I'm channeling my inner gibbon in hopes that it'll help me cross the monkey bars.

September?!

Where did the summer go?  Oh yeah, it was a crazy one.  Luckily we've finally gotten back into the groove of things.  It seems like August was the month to grow and learn new things.

Brooke has been asking me often to teach her how to play the piano.  I was hesitant about many things...a)would she actually listen to me? b)How in the world do I break it down for a barely 4-year old? c)do I have enough patience to do it d)does Brooke have enough patience to actually learn.  The list could go on but I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go.  I figured I would teach her the basic basics and we'd go from there. 

Connor has been proving to me that I can't really not keep an eye on him at all times.  He's figured out how to get to higher places.  He's still unsure of how to get down though.

But who can get angry at a face like that.  He's always ready and willing to throw out a smile.

Brooke is becoming quite the fish in the pool.  We started doing private swim lessons last Friday and I think she'll benefit from it greatly.  I definitely benefit from it...it's free...as in I traded piano lessons with her teacher. 

We spent Saturday hanging out with Jonathan.  We trying to get in as much time with him before he finishes school here.  We haven't told Brooke that he'll be moving back to CA but it'll be a sad day when we do.

 Maybe we can somehow convince him that CO is where he wants to be...

A Jolly Good Fellow

After seven and a half years of taking exams, I finally have my FSA. The final step was heading to a 3 day admissions course in Toronto. Lots of ethics and professionalism classes, but it was also capped by a nice banquet, so Tracie decided to join. Tuesday night we headed to the CN Tower, 3rd highest tower in the world. The elevator ride up has two glass sides, and a couple of glass squares, so you can see the world disappearing below. Cool views, and a Canadian Moose.

We went at night, so here is a better shot during the day. Tracie spent one day at the Spa and the other two days covering as much of downtown Toronto on foot as she could.

One of the highlights was St. Lawrence Market. Lots of good meats, cheeses, breads and other items that we couldn't bring back to the US. Oh well, it was cool to walk around. Thursday night we went to Suser Lee's restaurant. It was delicious, especially the Singapore Slaw.

Friday night was the big graduation banquet. Cocktail hour started at 6, our water and hors d'oeuvres were a nice start. At 7 we moved down to the ballroom for dinner. It was a large group, 200 actuaries plus their guests. Dinner was done at roughly 10, then they started calling names one by one to get the FSA certificate.

Befitting actuaries they started at a random letter, which turned out to be N. So my name was at least somewhat towards the beginning. It got pretty boring pretty quick, but we decided to spice it up by being the loudest table when one of us got called. After someone named Wan, I thought I would be next. The drama built than waned as not 2 or 3, but 6 Wans were called in a row. When my name was finally called, the table erupted. We were loud 3 other times for the guys at our table. 4 bright spots in a long couple of hours.

The final names were called just shy of midnight. Look how fresh we look!

Of course, after getting back to the hotel, packing, then getting up at 5:15 to make it to the airport for our 8:30 flight, we weren't quite as bright-eyed. Luckily we've had a long weekend to recover.