Christmas in KC.

Yes, we like drawing out the holiday celebrations! Our 3rd and final destination on the Christmas 2007 Tour was to spend time with Scott's family in Kansas City.

Brothers Scott, Paul & Eric hold the youngest generation of Leahys -- Luke & Reid with cousins Sawyer & Stratton (Paul & Juli's sons).

Proud Aunt Jami loved meeting 4-month-old Stratton. He's adorable and full of smiles and giggles. So precious!
A family picture in front of Ted & Margie's beautiful tree.
One evening we caught up with some fraternity brothers and their wives. From left: Byron Vogel, Scott, Marty Gilmore (seated), Will Long & Greg Ahlquist.

Cousins Luke & Sawyer had a ball playing together. One afternoon we went bowling, and they LOVED it! Here are the clowns goofing off!

Christmas in Wamego.

Christmas ... Take 2. We headed to Kansas to continue our celebration of Christmas with our families. We first stopped in Wamego to gather with the Nelson side of the family for the fa-la-la-la-la festivities.

Who's that behind the wheel of that tractor? It's Luke! Uncle Craig worked his connections, and Luke took this tractor out for a spin.

Our nephew Dalton celebrated his 1st Christmas! What a cute stocking stuffer!

There's no place like ... the Oz Museum in Wamego. We enjoyed taking a walk down the yellow brick road.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a 4-wheeler pulling a sleigh! Luke, Scott & Reid take a spin in the snow.

Christmas in CO.

We kicked off Christmas 2007 by celebrating in Colorado with just the 4 of us opening gifts. We sprinkled the reindeer food in the front yard and left cookies for Santa, and low and behold, he managed to come early before we left on our road trip. (There's a longer story as to what we had to tell Luke, but thankfully he didn't ask too many questions!)

Reid checks out his cool new toy!

Luke asked Santa for green roller skates (a funny request ... we know!) Guess Luke was on his nice list. Glad Santa included the safety gear, too!

Nice dinner with a cheapskate.

It's been ages since we've had a date night out, so Mimi and Papa watched the boys tonight so Scott and Jami could enjoy an evening out and about! The itinerary included fine dining at The Blue Star near downtown. The chef is the son of a family friend of ours, and the food was divine! The grand finale was a yule log dessert ... so festive!

Afterward, we headed to a city skating rink to lace up the skates and hit the ice. Tonight was 'cheapskate night' so it was super reasonable to skate. No falls, no broken arms, but some sore calves ... and fun times!

Super sledders.

With some fresh snow from last night, we decided to show Papa our sledding hill when he and Mimi made the trek down to visit us today. It's fun to watch how brave the boys are getting in the snow and how much they enjoy outdoor winter activities now. We spent a lot of time laughing this afternoon on the sledslope.

Loading the troops on the sled.

Scott and Luke attempt the speed-sled with going headfirst down the hill! Wheeee!

First impressions.

Our first month in Colorado has been a good one as we settle into our new digs. We've made some interesting observations with this transition.

Hot or cold? The #1 comment we get asked is "How do you like the snow and cold weather?" Truth is ... we love it! We used to think we would take the heat over the cold any day, but perhaps those ultra hot AZ summers burned that preference out of us. Now we just bundle up and off we go!

Merry Christmas to you. Colorado Springs is known to be a pretty conservative Christian city. As a result, everyone says "Merry Christmas" ... store clerks, waitresses, you name it. The politically correct cousin "Happy Holidays" is definitely less heard this time of year.

Well-Schooled. The schools in Colorado (particularly the district in which we live) get rave reviews. Glad to know this will help our boys follow in Dad's footsteps with going to Stanford.

Where is...? We live far north of the heart of the city of Colorado Springs in an area that is still developing. This means we have to do more exploring, internet searching, and asking to find the basic "necessities" ... like Target, Walgreens, and other stores that were literally every 3 miles in Phoenix.

Pack your lunch ... and snowgear. When Luke heads to school on snowy days, he has to pack a few extra items for recess. His school requests that they also bring snowpants and boots -- and of course the coat, hat, & mittens -- so they can play outside. That makes for one stuffed backpack!

Closed on Mondays. We live near several smaller towns where most businesses are closed on Mondays. Better get that errand running done Tuesday through Saturday. They are closed Sundays, too.

Because it's a hat...

At this time of year as we search for the perfect toys and outfits for our little ones, we are reminded that sometimes the best gifts are everyday objects and a little imagination. Who knew a padded envelope could be so much fun!

All Aboard!

Pastry chefs Luke and Jami created quite a culinary masterpiece this evening -- a gingerbread train. Luke was the expert on candy placement, while Mom's specialty was icing application. All aboard the Peppermint Express!

The best ornament -- hands down.

We've opted to remove all the ornaments from the tree because the smaller elf kept stealing them and scattering them about the house, and the bigger elf helped his lil' buddy take off the ornaments even after Mom moved them all to the top half of the tree. So our tree is sporting a simple motif this year with only the white lights and gold star at the top. That is ... until now.

Today Luke came home from preschool with a nicely wrapped gift. He reported, "It's for my parents." When Dad arrived home from work we opened the present to find an angel ornament. Not just any angel ornament though. It's personalized with Luke's handprints for the wings, footprint for the body, and a photo of his smiling mug. Guess if your tree only has one ornament, you'd better make it a good one!

Ho-ho-ho on the go!

Reid's vocabulary is expanding more and now includes dada, mama, hello, bye-bye, ba-ba (bottle), down, and all done. Oh, and we can't forget his most festive phrase ... ho-ho-ho! Check out Santa Reid in the video.

Warming up to the cold.

Reid has been the last of us to warm up to the idea of the cold. The big bulky coat makes it difficult to maintain his very active lifestyle. He doesn't understand the necessity of wearing socks and shoes, so he's persistent about prying them off (after Mom takes great time and care to put them on.) We won't even go into mittens. There's a time and a place for wearing them, and that's not on Reid's agenda.

But today, we had a breakthrough. Perhaps we've rounded the corner, and Reid is warming up to the cold! Luke had a snow day from school, so we decided to take advantage of the fresh powder and go sledding with our new super cool sled from Papa. We bundled up and headed over to the sledding spot. Luke took a few solo runs on the new sled, which gets 2 thumbs up because it has much better control and doesn't tip over!!

Before we knew it, Reid was climbing on the sled ... ready to go! Guess he didn't want to miss out on the fun. So he took some rides with Mom, a few with Luke, and some with all 3 of us. In all, Reid was loving it and giggling away. It was all fun and games until big brother Luke decided to put snow down an unsuspecting Reid's coat. Brotherly love at its best!

Ready, set, sled!

Yule Log Hunt.

Dad & Luke search for the Yule Log.

"Yule" love this story ... one of our nearby communities of Palmer Lake hosts an annual Yule Log Hunt every Christmas season. What is a Yule Log Hunt, you say? It is a revival of an old world custom with roots tracing back to ancient Egypt. The word "yule" comes from an old Egyptian word "yol" meaning wheel, and this symbol was used to indicate the spirit which turns the wheel of the weather and causes the seasons to come and go. The primitive wheel was merely the cross-section of a log ... hence, you see the connection. Down through the Middle Ages, bringing in the Yule Log continued to be an essential part of Christmas festivities. Gradually, the idea of peace and good will was incorporated. Family feuds were ended and quarreling forbidden during the Yuletide.

In Palmer Lake, the community celebrates this tradition by gathering together to seek out the hidden Yule Log in the forest. The finder rides the log back to town, and everyone enjoys wassail and sings carols. While we didn't end up finding the log, we did get a kick out of watching everyone scramble around in the woods and sharing in this very community-spirited event!

Winter wonderland.

The Leahy Snow Removal Co. cleans off the driveway.

Let it snow! It started snowing this morning, and enough had accumulated by later in the day that we did some scooping and sledding in the afternoon. We found a little hill in our neighborhood that was perfect for our first sledfest.

Picking up the pace.

We posted some earlier videos of Reid first walking, but here is a new one. He's pretty steady and picking up the pace. This means more chasing for Mom and Dad!

The new kid.

After a short hiatus from school, Luke headed back to the classroom today. This was his first day at his new preschool -- St. Peter's Catholic School. Our parish of St. Peter's in Monument has its own school, and we were very fortunate they had an opening mid-year. One major change is that Luke is now attending 3 days of full-day preschool from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. He reported that his first day was "just great!!" and that he'd made a new friend named Tyler. The school seems like a wonderful fit for Luke!

Luke bids farewell to little brother Reid before heading off to his new preschool!

Running miles a mile higher.

As runners, Scott and Jami both enjoy hitting the sidewalk, road, trail, etc. for a jog. With our recent move, the increase in elevation adds a little challenge to our workouts since we're over a mile higher. We've been lucky with the good weather to enjoy some running on the Santa Fe Trail near our house. This great path winds along the same route as I-25 and has great scenery and a few challenging hills, too. At least the good views are a distraction from feeling so winded! Hopefully soon we'll adjust to the altitude.

Above: Jami and her running partner Reid take to the trails.

Festival of Lights.

One thing we've noticed about Colorado Springs is that it's a city with a small-town feel. The people are so friendly, and the pace of life is slower. Oh, and they do know how to plan a good parade! Tonight we attended one of the great holiday traditions in Downtown Colorado Springs -- a parade called the Festival of Lights. We bundled up and made the trek to the heart of the city for this fabulous showcase of well-lit floats, antique cars, marching bands, fire trucks, etc. Oh, how we love a parade!

Kicking off the holiday season.

Today we ventured over to the nearby town of Monument for its "Small Town Christmas" festivities. We enjoyed shopping at the local merchants and taking part in the holiday activities: visiting some reindeer and donkeys, taking a hayrack ride, visiting with Santa, and stopping for cider along the way. What a fun way to kick off the holiday season!

Dasher, is that you? Or are you Blitzen?

Happy December!

Hope everyone is getting into the holiday spirit as much as we are. If you need a little ha-ha-ha for your ho-ho-ho, check out this video of these jolly elves.