It's official, she costs more

Only four days after Callie turned two we jumped on a plane and headed to Denver. However, this trip was a little bit different. Something felt lighter. Was it our bags? Nope, we had to pack for 30 degree weather in Denver. Was it the air? Well, sort of, because Denver is the Mile High City. Was it our wallet? Definitely, because now we get the pleasure of buying three tickets instead of two. She is no longer a "lap child."


So we had to have the talk with Callie. We laid it out for her. The airlines paid for her first thirteen trips, her parents will pay for the next thirteen trips, and after that she is on her own. And yet there she sits in her roomy seat without a care in the world, ready to take on Denver and see Aunt Suzy.





Oh, but this trip was not just about seeing Suzy. We also got to meet Suzy's boyfriend Brian. We were the only ones in the immediate family who hadn't met him yet, so we were eager to get our chance. And no lie, this is how he was dressed for that initial meeting. As many of you know, you seldom get a second chance to make a first impression. Fortunately Brian got that chance with Callie, who cried at the sight of the crazy red hair. She will soon learn, as we did quickly, that Brian is a guy who commits to everything he does, including spirit week at the high school where he teaches.


All the humans were quickly forgotten by Callie, however. She was in love with the kittycat named Disney. As you can see in this picture, Callie had not problem getting right in Disney's grill. And to her credit, Disney was an absolute saint. At no time did she come close to taking a swipe at Callie, who at times may have deserved it. Overall Callie did great with Disney. She gave her lots of attention and learned to be very gentle while petting.


Callie and Suzy decided that the cold weather and the SNOW required a change in plans. Instead of going to the Denver Zoo we would remain indoors and go to the Denver Children's Museum.



This is one cool museum and we barely got to get our bearings in the two hours we were there. It really seemed like they had thought of everything and anything a kid might enjoy.


There was one whole floor of the museum dedicated to activities for kids under the age of 4. It was really cute - everything was miniature and the place was definitely designed for independent play. For example, here is Callie playing in the fishing boat. Both the rod and the fish had magnets attached which allowed Callie to be a much better fisherwoman than her parents have ever been. She truly enjoyed it and squealed with excitement every time she caught one.


Next up was a play area focused on trains and automobiles. Callie has long been a fan of trains, and was excited to have Aunt Suzy as a playmate. Seriously, this museum had everything. Not pictured - a mini basketball court, a mini grocery store, an invention room, and so much more. We will be going back. Oh yeah, and Callie cost more as a two-year-old here as well.

The next day we headed to Boulder to take a stroll down Pearl Street. Unfortunately the weather conditions remained chilly with a touch of snow. One thing to mention here. The snow was so dry that when it fell and stuck to your jacket you could actually see the complex shape of each individual snowflake. It was very cool. In any case, the cold weather necessitated a stop for coffee and hot chocolate.



Callie didn't mind a quick stop, but was restless to move along to see all that Boulder had to offer. There were some cool shops and come spring, Callie and the rest of us will be happy to play with the design your own kite kits we bought that day.

Another bonus of the trip was breakfast with the Andrews family. John and Thomas went to undergrad together, lived together for a year in LA, and now both are history professors. A lot of things have changed since those southern California days. Thomas and his wife Amy are now the proud parents of two beautiful children, Santiago and Fiona.



We met at a cool little breakfast place called Snooze. Good ambience, and of course, good omelettes and sizeable pancakes. Good stuff.


Santiago and Callie really enjoyed their time together. They shared a pancake, colored together, and read a book together. But what they really enjoyed were they leaves outside. We probably spent twenty to thirty minutes hanging out in an abandoned parking lot near Snooze watching the two of them play.


It's amazing how kids can entertain themselves just about anywhere. And it allowed the adults to continue the conversations begun over breakfast. It was so great their growing family and hopefully we can get together again soon. And the date ended with both parents bribing their respective children with fruit snacks to get in their car seats.

Our post comes to an end with picture of our wonderful hosts, who on the final night gave us a well deserved adult evening, which included a scrumptious dinner and the musical "Wicked". We had so much fun and look forward to many more of these evenings in the future.



And since Suzy and Brian just booked their tickets to Madison for Christmas, we will be seeing them in just a couple of months. But before we can get to Christmas we have Halloween and Thanksgiving. The fun never ends...

Callie Turns Two

Believe it or not, this past weekend marked Callie's second birthday. The celebration started at Callie's daycare on Friday where all the kids enjoyed eating a delicious apple spice cake that Sarah made. And with a lot of coaching from Miss Donna Callie can tell you how old she is if you ask her. It's quite fun to hear her say that she is two.


But the real festivities took place on Saturday, beginning with a trip to one of our favorite places, Reed Valley Orchard. Again this year they had a fall festival that included a petting zoo, arts and crafts, live music, apple picking, and a variety of foods. Here we see Sarah and Callie petting a rooster.


Callie really seemed to like the rooster and the other chickens, although she wasn't quite ready to have them eat out of her hand. She was more than willing to throw the food in their general direction. Not pictured here are the other animals - sheep, pigs, and goats - that were also a part of the feeding/petting zoo.

Of course we also had to spend some time picking apples. Callie took a little while to warm up to it, but once she got going she wanted to pick more apples than our small bag could hold.



Although we tried to pick unique varieties, we ended up with Golden Delicious, Fuji, and Gala apples. But we got some fresh air in the process, so it wasn't a total loss.


As she gets older, Callie enjoys doing things on her own and in her own way. Something like placing apples in a big fits right into this category. Although some of the apples may have been injured in the process, they eventually got into the bag and made it home. Hopefully they will make their way into another great spice cake.


But our favorite part of the day was when we got to sit down, have some food, and listen to the music. Callie even got up to dance a few times when the music got lively. We have yet to have a bad time on a visit to Reed Valley and already can't wait for blueberry season next spring.


Clearly a birthday isn't a birthday without some singing, candles, and a cake. We are still in a low-key birthday mode at the Bowes house, but a good cake is absolutely necessary. We are also happy to report that the cake was an ice cream cake from Graeter's Creamery, our favorite local ice cream joint. So tasty.



The video above shows that Callie is still not completely comfortable with the singing and burning candle birthday tradition. Which made us happy that we chose to bypass the Mexican restaurant-big sombrero-mariachi singers celebration we had considered at one point. So you don't get a picture of Callie in a sombrero, but we also avoided a traumatized child. Maybe next year.

Once the candles were blown out we had the opportunity to capture the happy family on this big day. It truly is amazing that our little baby is now a little girl.



Although she didn't completely enjoy the birthday traditions, she definitely caught on to the importance of enjoying your cake. She had two pieces and would have had more if her parents had allowed it.

Callie also quickly adapted to the tradition of licking the cake off of the candles. And as is case with her bad habit of double-dipping chips in salsa, she kept licking the candles and sticking them back in the cake to get more frosting. She certainly has a sweet tooth, which is a trait inherited from multiple relatives on both sides of her family tree.


The Chrismans were able to celebrate Callie's big day with us by coming over for dinner and sharing some cake. It is really cool to see the relationship that they have developed with Callie. We like to joke about Callie becoming like Dennis the Menace and always bugging the neighbors. But at the moment they all seem to enjoy each other too much for her to be a complete menace. But there is time.

So the birthday weekend was a success. But there is more to come. In just a couple of days we head out to Denver to spend some time with Aunt Suzy. And course, with this second birthday it is time for Callie's second annual review. The assessment is currently under and details will soon be reported.