Family Dinner Out.

Tonight we dined at Giuseppe's Old Depot Restaurant, a long-time landmark in the heart of Colorado Springs. Long ago, the building served as the depot for many train travelers, but today it houses a wonderful Italian restaurant. Our little engineers were in heaven with all the train decor and getting to sit right by the train tracks. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Keary for this wonderful Christmas gift to our family! What a fun family dinner out!

A-hiking we will go...

The happy hikers at the end destination ... the waterfall was flowing with a chunk of ice in the water. The best of both seasons!

March has certainly come in like a lamb (vs. a lion) so we have been enjoying the warmer temps with some outdoor activities this week. One of our favorite hikes in the area is at Glen Eyrie. The path through Queens' Canyon winds through the woods back and forth over a trickling stream with the end destination at Dorothy Falls. Jami and the boys decided to make the trek today to experience the first hike of the season ... and oh, was it ever beautiful! Not all the snow and ice had melted from Old Man Winter, so it was amazing to see bits of both winter and spring apparent on our hike. We hiked across some frozen parts of the stream, and Luke thought the "ice-skating" portion of our hike was the best part! We also witnessed many glimpses of the beauty of spring coming to life ... fish swimming in the stream, a butterfly chasing us, and many birds chirping happily. This hike was a fun lesson for Luke with learning all about proper hiking technique for traversing the natural tree and rock bridges and how ice melts to make the water in the stream. Along the way, Reid entertained us from his perch in the hiking backpack with his musical renditions of the Superman theme song and ABCs. It was a wonderful mom-and-sons morning! A-hiking we will go ... and hopefully again sometime soon! 

Luke demonstrates his excellent hiking skills as he crossed the stream over this natural bridge. Mom was so proud of how well he did on the 2 mile hike!

Luke's favorite part of the hike was on the frozen portion. It was solid ice!

More Taekwondo.

Can you spot Luke? He's the 2nd child from the left in the 2nd row.

Luke holds the practice board for Master Klein during a demo.

Snow Mountain Ranch

Tubing at Snow Mountain Ranch

Scott's job at RT Logic has many wonderful benefits, one being the annual trip to Snow Mountain Ranch near Winter Park. This weekend the company treated the staff and their families to a weekend retreat to the mountains, where we stay in large cabins on the grounds of a YMCA camp. Our particular cabin housed 10 families -- all having younger children -- so it was a great weekend getting to know other families in the company. Many activities abound on the ranch grounds, and we enjoyed tubing, a winter sleigh ride, and a hike on snow-packed trails. The boys loved having so many other kids to hang out with at the cabin. Such a fun weekend with the great people from RT Logic!

Being the little brother has its perks sometimes...

Ready, set, tube!

All smiles for tubing!

The guys on the sleigh ride.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a horse-drawn winter sleigh! Our fam with horses Lady and Sadie.

Reid gave Sadie a little pat.

Halfway through our sleigh ride, we stopped for roasted marshmallows and hot cocoa.

Fashion to the Rescue.

:: Fashion to the Rescue Friends :: 

Jami with Nadine (the event chair) and 

Beth (Executive Director of the Women's Resource Agency)

Sound the sirens ... the big event finally arrived! Tonight was Fashion to the Rescue, a fundraiser that Jami has been helping to plan for the last 5 months. This event benefits the Women's Resource Agency and Dress for Success Program. WRA helps women to attain and maintain self-sufficiency by rising above difficult circumstances to expand their existing knowledge, talents, skills and strengths with an end goal of economic independence. 

Fashion to the Rescue not only supports a great cause, but it was truly a grand event. Our committee meetings to plan the event were well organized and ran like clockwork. (It was a volunteer's dream!)The Las Vegas themed event tonight attracted more than 300 people from the community -- a record for this fundraiser celebrating its 6th year. From the silent and live auctions to the fashion show with Dillard's styles to the firefighters assisting with the event, the evening was non-stop fun for a good cause! 

Pass the hat ... or rather the fire helmet! 

The firefighters collected donations for WRA in their helmets.

Beth, Jami & Jenny (who modeled for the fashion show!)

Showing our sassy style ... Nadine, Jami & Monica.

Taekwondo.

The PTO at Luke's school offers some fantastic programs for the children, including a mini session in taekwondo. The PTO partners with a local taekwondo center to host a 3-week class on Mondays and Wednesdays after preschool with nearly 30 children ages 4-5 enrolled. The program teaches not only basic taekwondo moves but also focuses on respect (the students respond with "yes, sir / no, sir"). Luke attended his first class today and loved it! The students are working toward breaking a board at the graduation ceremony in 3 weeks! 

Pictured are Luke and one of his best buds from school James. Imagine a room of 30 small children decked out in these uniforms. Then imagine that they are all listening and following directions. True story! The teacher is fantastic and really keeps the children's attention. 

Little Playtime. Lotta Pancakes.

Wildlife having a wild time at the Denver Children's Museum!

Time for a field trip to Denver! Today we joined our friends Britny, Hunter & Hudson for a day out in Denver at the Children's Museum. This has become one of our favorite kid-friendly locales in the Mile High City, so it was fun to go with our friends who were making their first trip to the museum. The boys all enjoyed the activities & action, especially the construction room, fire truck, and art center. 

Move over, Bob the Builder ... Luke's making something in the workshop! It's a plane!

Guess Reid's used to sleeping on the bottom bunk ... just like at home!

Luke and Hudson reel in some big fish!

After playing hard in the morning, we zipped over to another Denver favorite Snooze for lunch. Just so happened that it was National Pancake Day (which is the specialty at Snooze) so they were having a fundraiser to benefit Denver Urban Gardens and had 21 different kinds of pancakes from which to choose. Our flapjack flavors du jour included cinnamon roll, strawberries-n-cream, peanut butter & chocolate chip, pineapple upside down, lemon & blueberry, and whole wheat banana! Although they were smaller size pancakes, we still had a brimming to-go box! What a way to celebrate Fat Tuesday, too! Sorry, no pics of the pancakes ... but they were quite the masterpiece to behold!

Family Hockey Night

The boys scout out the action at the Cadet Ice Arena.

Last night, we enjoyed a trip over to the Air Force Academy to watch the Falcons take on the Holy Cross Crusaders in their last home game of the season. This fun family night out was organized through Luke's school, so we enjoyed seeing school friends and their families at the game, too. This was Luke's 2nd hockey game and Reid's 1st game, so they loved all the action and excitement! We can't wait to cheer on the Falcons at more games next winter! 

Reid watched part of the game perched on Mom's shoulders. Someone is Mr. Serious when it comes to hockey...

Rustling up some new Junior Leaguers!

Jami really enjoys her involvement with Junior League, so she decided to join a 2nd committee  -- Recruitment/Provisional. The main task of the committee is to recruit new members and then educate them about Junior League during the 4-month provisional period. Yesterday was the Recruitment/Provisional Retreat, complete with a cowgirl theme! We have some fabulous new women we've rustled for the League ... YEEHAW!

Spring 2009 Provisional Class

Recruitment/Provisional Committee Cowgirls

Spelling bee & the family.

A sweet storytime...

Line o' Legos.

The people in our house like Legos. A LOT. This evening after several hours, this was the end result ... 28 separate spaceships constructed by Luke, Reid, and Dad. Just so happened that Mom was gone for a bit and came home to some very excited Lego engineers and this fine display of plastic-block-craftsmanship of a whole fleet of spacecraft displayed in a single file line.

Shhhh ... buffalo roaming.

We love taking road trips, but it seems the return trip never has the same excitement as the travels there. That is, unless you have Papa in your van. At one point on the terribly blah stretch of I-70 through Western KS, the boys were getting wiggly and tired of sitting in their carseats. Reid was whining non-stop, and Luke kept chiming in, too. Papa (who is notorious for concocting tall tales) told the boys that they needed to be as quiet as possible because we were entering some land where herds of buffalo roamed. If they were too loud, the boys would scare the buffalo who would come running after them. This ingenious rendition of the infamous "Quiet Game" worked ... but only for about 3 minutes. Oh well. It was good for a laugh with the rest of us!

Goin' to Kansas City...

Kansas City here we come! Today we spent the day in KC with the family -- catching up, watching the cousins play, and celebrating more birthdays! So great to see everyone!

Grandpa & Grandma Keary with Reid.

Aunt Marie, Luke, Sawyer & Aunt Florence.

Margie lit the candles as we sang "Happy Birthday' to Emily & Paul! We loved being a part of the celebration!

The 4 Leahy cousins check out what cupid brought them for Valentine's Day!

Ready 2 Rock.

One great thing about visiting Kansas in February is also celebrating some family birthdays. Dalton celebrated his 2nd birthday tonight with a rock-n-roll bash! We even sported costumes of musicians throughout the ages ... from 1950s crooners to the Village People to '80s punk rock. Oh, what a good time we had celebrating with the birthday boy!

Grandparents. Grandsons. Grand fun.

'80s rock meets the Village People.

Boys just want to have fun! These cousins of Dalton enjoyed the festivities. (Dalton's other cousins fit well with our Village People theme ... we didn't plan that but too funny!)

Happy Heart Day!

Manhappenin'

Today's destination included the Kansas State campus & Aggieville. Yes, another walk down memory lane! We toured Aunt Briana's office in Anderson Hall and then enjoyed lunch at the Union. It was so fun to be back on campus and see how it's changed. We also made stops by some old landmarks from our college days. 

Reid & Luke interviewed Dr. Briana Goff ... well actually, it's just Aunt Briana to them!

We stopped by the Kappa Alpha Theta house for a tour. So many good memories there!

Future DU Luke stands in front of the fraternity house of Dad and Uncle Eric.

We hit Aggieville in the afternoon. Varney's has a great train table!

Stomping Ground.

Oh, what a fun walk down memory lane we had today! We drove up to Horton and Hiawatha, Jami's old stomping ground from her childhood days. We enjoyed catching up with some old friends, touring the countryside, seeing how things had changed, and cleaning out a storage facility with some family heirlooms. One highlight was hitting a park called Hickory Point at the Horton Lake. This lake holds so many memories for our family. Papa used to fish and water ski there as a kid. Jami's family camped out there one summer in the Airstream. Another highlight of the day was visiting with some good family friends, who treated us to some incredible lemon meringue pie and cupcakes!

The fam in front of the courthouse in Hiawatha.

City boys enjoy the country.

We stopped for a visit with our friends Bob & Bev (who is pictured here with Mimi).

Hooray for Hickory Point!

Red Van Road Trip.

On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again.

This week Jami, Luke, Reid, Mimi & Papa took off on a Red Van Road Trip to Kansas. We packed in Mimi and Papa's red minivan, bid farewell to Scott (who is busy working this week), and made the 9 hour trek to Wamego. The boys are really proving that they are excellent travelers when it comes to road trips! Stay tuned for more details on our Kansas adventures!

Singing Superman.

Reid has developed a love of all-things-Superman! Here he is flying about in his cape and singing the theme song. He often hums this song repeatedly and loudly to the point of getting on the nerves of big brother Luke until we eventually hear ... "Stop singing that song!" Oh, brotherly love at its best!

Social with a side of fries.

2 Leahys enjoying 5 Guys Burgers & Fries

There are some weekends that come and go without much fanfare, some that are exhausting, and some that are just right. This was one of those well-balanced weekends. 

On Friday night, Jami joined some girlfriends for a night out to dine at Nosh and then on to a musical at the Fine Arts Center. On Saturday, Scott attended a men's prayer retreat with our neighbor Brian in the morning. We ventured out and about Saturday night, while Luke and Reid happily watched a movie with our babysitter. We made a first stop at the wine bar in Monument for dinner. A special bonus was the live music featuring a musician with a sound similar to Dave Matthews or John Mayer. Then we headed downtown to Phantom Canyon Brewery for a birthday celebration for Jami's friend Nadine. Sunday was a little more mellow sinking back into our usual routine -- church in the morning and soccer in the afternoon for Scott. We did sample a new burger joint (thanks to some rave reviews Scott heard) called 5 Guys Burgers & Fries. Nothing beats a good burger ... and this was definitely one! 

So here's to a good weekend ... social with a side of fries, please.

If you're happy and you know it...

To the zoo!

This winter has blessed us with some beautiful days sprinkled amongst our days of snow ... and this week in particular has graced us with a whole stretch of 60+ degree days. What a treat! On this warm February day, we enjoyed a trek to the zoo with our friends the Masseys. It had been a while since our last zoo visit, and we particularly enjoyed seeing the bear swim in the water, watching the monkeys, and feeding the giraffes today. We are so thankful to the KC Leahy crew for renewing our zoo membership as a Christmas gift. We love our zoo trips during the summer ... and on warm winter days like today, too!

Oh, deer! Luke, Hudson, Reid & Hunter couldn't resist a ride on these deer statues. You know you live in Colorado when the children ride deer...

Always a favorite, the giraffe sanctuary was a hit once again with the boys. It's amazing to get this close to our long-necked friends. They will eat crackers out of your hand (if you let them!) Some of us aren't that brave!

Now airing...

In Colorado Springs, Jami has found some amazing volunteer opportunities with some great organizations. One such local group -- the Women's Resource Agency -- is gearing up for its annual fundraiser Fashion to the Rescue. The theme for the event this year is Las Vegas Nights and involves firefighters, a fashion show, and silent & live auctions! One of the local TV sponsors KKTV will soon begin airing promos for the event, featuring the event logo designed by Jami! How fun! Check out the video clip below (it starts after about 5 seconds in). There are 2 spots: a 15-second one and then a 4-second version. This is going to be a great event! If you live locally and want to attend, buy a ticket at www.wrainc.org.