Riding the rails of the Royal Gorge.

All aboard! We loaded up the family for a trip to Canon City today to ride the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. Our train departed at 12:30 p.m. for the 24-mile, 2-hour round trip through the breathtaking Royal Gorge. The route follows along the Arkansas River, so some bonus entertainment included watching rafters and kayakers maneuver the rapids. There weren't too many passengers on this Sunday train, so we had one whole train car to ourselves. What a nice luxury! The boys all loved the train ride ... it was a dream come true for these little conductors! 

Dalton loved exploring the train and roaming the aisles!

Even though it rained for a bit, we were dry and 

cozy in our passenger car. Reid loved watching out the window!

A view of the Royal Gorge Bridge from the track below.

Once the rain cleared, we ventured out to the 

open-air car to check out the scenery.

Rafters in the water + the train on the track.

All aboard ... now all done!

*A special thanks to the KC Leahys, who gave us our railroad tickets as a Christmas gift. Such a fun family day out .. thank you!

Memorial Day Weekend Memories.

On this holiday weekend, we are enjoying some good times with the family (Nelson side) with Briana, Craig & Dalton visiting. Today's adventures took us to the Territory Days festival in Old Colorado City this morning, lunch at Slayton's BBQ (mmmm...good!), afternoon naps during the rainstorm, and then a lovely evening outside after the rain cleared. It's so much fun to watch the cousins play together. Dalton is just a step behind Luke and Reid and is so interested in their antics!

Dalton loved playing in our backyard!

Fun times. Funny cousins.

Fishermen.

This week we kicked off one of our favorite summer activities ... fishing! We packed up the fishing pole, some salami as bait (hey, it's what was in the fridge!), and journeyed the 10 minutes over to our favorite fishing spot of Monument Lake. Although we didn't catch anything, we still had a whale of a good time!

The Graduate.

It's official ... Luke graduated from preschool today! We attended a very nice ceremony with his classmates, teachers, parents, and grandparents. Luke even added some comic relief to the festivities. When his name was called to get his certificate, he took a big leap from the top riser to the floor below and booked his way out ... forgetting to pick up his diploma. Guess someone is all-too-ready to head on out to kindergarten! Too cute! He had such a great year with his wonderful teachers. He's learned so much and is very ready for the next big step. Congratulations, Luke! 

Mrs. Elstad presented Luke with his certificate. 

All the graduates and their teachers!

Tambourine Man. Reid found this tambourine 

while waiting for the graduation to start and 

decided it would make a nice hat!

A toast to moms!

April showers bring May celebrations. This month has many end-of-the-year celebrations to celebrate between school, volunteer organizations, and more! One such festive occasion was the year-end dinner for the MOMS Club - North Colorado Springs Chapter. We gathered together for a lovely ladies night out to thank the past year's officers and induct our new board for the coming year. It was so nice to enjoy an evening with just the moms ... and uninterrupted conversations! This is such a great group, and our lives are blessed by many friendships of wonderful families we've met through the MOMS Club!

Trista, Jami, and Melissa ... 

friends from our playgroup of 2-year-olds.

Y-M-C-A

For the last 2 months, our Wednesdays and Saturdays have been focused on YMCA indoor soccer with Luke playing and Scott coaching. We have chuckled many a time as Luke seems to be more of a social player with less of a competitive edge. He's the guy on the field just having fun and forgets about watching the ball. He gets so excited every time he kicks the ball and is always the first player hustling down the field. He is so much fun to watch and has such a good attitude of sportsmanship! Here he is ... our all-star ... Luke!

Scott and our friend Jeff coached this team 

at the Downtown YMCA. Go team!

A little present.

A few hints...

1. This was left on our front porch.
   
2. Much careful consideration went into selecting this.
   
3. It's a trademark color of a certain fine jewelry box (think Tiffany's).
   

Last week, we noticed some small birds flying around our front porch carrying random twigs. Then we spotted a few of those twigs in our wreath by the front door. Then we saw that a nest was forming! And this week, we noticed another addition to the nest ... 5 little blue eggs. Mama Bird is very protective of her nest and gives us the evil eye if we walk near the front door. The boys have enjoyed watching the birds and peeking in to see the eggs. Stay tuned...

Hey, hey ... Field Day!

Remember the good ol' field days with 3-legged races and hoppin' in a potato sack? Today that memory was made for Luke at his school's field day. The kids all made the trek into Colorado Springs with the destination of the Grace Center, a gorgeous sports complex at St. Mary's High School. The field was bustling with Survivor-themed stations for the children from preschool through 4th grade. What a great day for the kids, parents, and teachers! Below is a photo ... and yes, the background scenery is real. That's Pikes Peak in the background! It's days like today when we are so thankful for living here ... and for the gorgeous scenery that surrounds us! 

Mom's the Word.

Sometimes being outnumbered in our household has its advantages. Take Mother's Day for example. The boys go all out to make Mama feel special!

Last night Scott surprised Jami with a date night out to her favorite local wine bar. Oh, what a fun treat! This morning the boys presented Mom with a nice card and gift certificate for some moments of rest and relaxation at Castle House Spa (a lovely little spa that looks like a castle in the pines just east of our house!) After church, we hosted a Mother's Day Brunch at our house and were pleased to have Mimi and Papa dining with us. Many generations of mothers in our family have enjoyed a love of cooking, so a joyful kitchen continued on this Mother's Day! The inspiration for today's menu came from Sunset Magazine with recipes for an Italian picnic (including Sicilian bruschetta and layered torta with ham, provolone, spinach & herbs), spring greens with strawberries & candied almonds, and mini peanut butter cupcakes with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting for dessert! 

The bunch at Mother's Day brunch!

The mothers sported some lovely corsages today. 

Luke & Reid made Mimi's coffee-filter-carnation corsage, 

and Luke made Jami's corsage at school.

Hope your Mother's Day was a grand day, too!

Run like the wind...

One great thing about living in Colorado is that everyone loves outdoor activities, so runner friends are everywhere! Today, Jami joined a few neighbors and some Junior League friends to run in the Greenland 8 Mile Trail Run. The weather forecast called for rain, but by some miracle instead we awoke to sunny skies, some chilly temps, and a brisk wind on the trail ... and by "trail" think of a covered wagon crossing the grasslands on a path with 2 narrow tracks. The first 5 miles of the race included a slight uphill climb facing a fierce wind. But the scenery of snow-covered Pikes Peak in the distance, the beautiful landscape, and a line of runners snaking through the grassy open space was amazing to see! For the final 3 miles of the race, we were running mostly downhill with the wind to our backs, so that was a good reward and smooth sailing to the finish line.

Junior Leaguers who run! Before the race, Jami found 

Junior League friend Jess, who did the 25K race ... WOW!

Action shot! Jami ran a good portion of the race 

with another Junior League friend Tricia. 

Our fantastic group: Della, Heather, Jami, Kat & Tricia.

We all finished within 3 minutes of one another ... quite a feat!

#1 Fans!

What's so funny?

Nothing beats sharing a good laugh with your brother...

H20 Hike.

Balancing Act. The hikers were oh-so-careful 

as they made their way across the stream!

With a gorgeous forecast for the day, we took that and ran with it (or rather hiked with it) for a trip over to Glen Eyrie to hike the Dorothy Falls Trail. Earlier this spring, we ventured out on this trail when the stream was still partly frozen. Well, today the snow and ice were gone, but the stream was running full speed ahead. Gotta love a good spring hike! We met up with our friends Rebecca, Audrey, Rachel & their friend Addison. So the count included 2 mothers + 3 girls + 2 boys + 14 sets of soaked shoes and socks. Our happy little hikers did amazingly well despite the trail being a little more challenging than usual with the deeper, faster flowing water, which meant more time spent wading (and splashing) to make the necessary trail crossings back and forth over the stream. Everyone had a ball ... wet shoes and all!

Our Happy Hiking Crew!

Tea with Mom & Mimi.

A Mother's Day Tea with Mom, Luke & Mimi!

Luke's school hosted a very special celebration today ... a Mother's Day Tea. At this lovely event, Luke had 2 special guests join him -- Mom & Mimi! The children in Luke's class sang songs, presented the mothers/grandmothers with special gifts, and served up some delish snacks. It was such a treat to be with Luke, his classmates, his fantastic teachers, and all the other mothers & grandmothers! Below is a photo of Luke's class (he's in the middle clowning around with his buddies!)

Superman Slide

As you can see, Reid likes to incorporate Superman maneuvers into everyday activities. Take this video for example. Using the Superman-is-flying technique, he slides down this polar ice cap ... only to crash into a damsel-in-distress-and-on-the-go. Oops! He offers a "sorry" and then he's off and running, too, soon after. 

Side note: There's a goofy little Christmas tree that's part of our local mall's playscape ... and it's front and center in this video! The tree is distracting, but look for Reid in the top right corner at the start...

Take me out to the ballgame!

The weather has been a little rainy lately, but today cleared off for a nice sunny day ... perfect for heading to the ballpark! Scott & Luke enjoyed a father/son-day-out to watch our local Minor League team - the Skysox. (Reid missed out on the Guys Day Out because he was enjoying a much needed super long nap at home.) Luke reported his favorite part of the game was watching the mascot Sox the Fox. What a great day for Dad & Luke! 

Hats off to Junior League!

While we weren't present at the actual Kentucky Derby yesterday, our Junior League Provisional Graduation festivities came in a close second! We celebrated the "graduation" of our Spring '09 Provisional Class with a Kentucky Derby themed event ... fancy hats, mint juleps, the works! Jami has really enjoyed serving on the Recruitment/Provisional Committee this spring and will be co-chairing this committee next year.

The Spring '09 Provisional Class with our committee members. 

Everyone really played up the theme and sported some fabulous hats!

Jami, Rose & Krista enjoying the festivities.

Junior League husbands are the best! 

Ryan, Scott, and Jon enjoy catching up at League events 

and even meet to play basketball sometimes.

Our wonderful committee with Junior League President Joy.

Day in Denver.

Boy ... oh boy ... oh boy. 

Reid, Luke & their friend Cullen. 

Today, Jami and the boys roadtripped to Denver to meet up with our friends Joe & Mary Fran and their oh-so-cute baby boy Cullen. Our lunch at the Crushery was yum-o, and what fun to catch up with this new family of 3! Cullen was on his very best behavior napping through most of lunch, while Luke & Reid exhibited the opposite of napping with their lively antics! Oh, the joys of boys! Afterward, we walked across the street for a little something sweet ... cupcakes from Mulberries. Such a fun afternoon with friends!

Swedes who like sweets ... cupcakes!

In the News...

Last week on Earth Day, several of the classes at Luke's school walked to a nearby park to pick up trash, a hands-on lesson to teach the children about taking care of the environment. During their "green" efforts, a reporter from the local newspaper came to interview the students and take pictures. The reporter kept in contact with Luke's teacher, and on Monday, she shared with us that his picture would be in the paper! Check it out here or see above for the big photo that ran on the front cover! (Yes, he's serious business about this all!)

Pick of the parks.

Our area has an abundance of parks, but one of our very favorites topping the list is a Charlotte's Web themed park. After a long winter hiatus of several months, going to this park was our destination of choice after church on Sunday. So good to see Charlotte, Wilbur & the Zuckerman "farm."

Luke is not afraid of this spider ... taking a seat on Charlotte.

Giddyup, Wilbur! Yes, a helmet is required for riding scooters 

... and riding pigs! It's a dangerous sport after all.

Charlotte's Web. The boys LOVE climbing on this!

Look who made it to the top!

Reid would swing all day if he could. 

If only Dad would push him for that long...

Now I know my ABCs...

In addition to crooning a fabulous rendition of his ABCs, Reid is also now recognizing his letters. Here's a video of him naming some letters. Pay close attention to the letter N (and the funny face that precedes it!) He says the phonetic sound "nnn" vs. the name of the letter. This makes us smile -- he's right on track! Watch for letter W at the end, too. He almost gets stumped. Hmmm ... it is a funny letter after all!

New neighbors.

Moving day has finally arrived for our newest "neighbors." They had been considering the idea of moving to Colorado Springs ... and when the opportunity presented itself in a perfect residence for them, they jumped at the chance. And so today, the neighborhood is adding 2 new residents to its roster -- Jami's parents! 

Their townhome is about 1 mile from the Leahy household, the perfect distance for a walk, jog, or bike ride over. The boys love Mimi & Papa's new digs and have already found their route for riding scooters around the property! 

Mimi & Papa's new home-sweet-home!

Melting snow + puddle + Reid on scooter = endless fun!

Move over books ... this shelf is the perfect fit for Reid!

Welcome to the neighborhood, Papa & Mimi!

Boys will be boys.

When you get together with a dear friend, it is so much fun to see your children becoming friends, too. Luke & Reid LOVED having their buddy Blake around. Even though Blake was the youngest (he'll be 2 in June), he kept up quite well with Luke (5) and Reid (2 1/2). We got quite a chuckle out of the 3 Musketeers' antics. 

Pajama pals Blake & Luke

Hatching a plan...

It's fun to swim at the Y-M-C-A!

Men at Work ... Reid, Luke & Blake build a snow fort.