February Snow

We're taking advantage of all of the snow.  I was so grateful for a snow day with the kids that we spent coloring, playing games, and making ice cream out of snow!

 

Porter loved it.  Emma Rose took 2 bites and said it was going to "make her fat" and she gave the rest to Porter.  I had to laugh.  Truthfully, it was sugary-sweet, and she's not a huge fan of super-sweet stuff!

Emma Rose used Porter's construction goggles and darts to ski that night.  I love this:

The kids (AND Corey) have had a blast sledding over the past couple days.  Here are some fun pics of the fun we've had behind our house, thanks to the record-breaking February snow fall!

Here are some fun videos of the kids sledding.  Porter and Corey made the sledding jump that resulted in hours of giggles:

Oh, and here's good cat vs. bad cat.  She's gotten stir-crazy from the snow herself:

Happy snow, everybody!

Love and Snow

February has been a busy month around the Sowa household!  Corey and I have tried to continue our 2014 commitment to a date-night at least one time each month.  This is from our night at the Brett Dennen concert in Boulder this month:

The kids are growing up so fast!  Porter continues to wow us as his height continues to increase, but more, it's been so fun to watch him learn to read and write in his first year of kindergarten.  He is picking up sounds so quickly, and reads each night.  We love it when he reads books to his sister! Here is a cute little piece that he brought home about the month of December:

Since Porter has homework every night, Emma Rose has to busy herself with her own "homework," which usually consists of coloring, writing the few letters that she knows (E and i...), or pretending to teach the class.  Here she is pretending to teach her students - in her pink apron and pink pony tail:

Here is a picture Emma Rose brought home from her preschool Western Day:

This month has been filled with home projects as the kids have gotten Valentines ready for their classmates, a 100-days-of school project, and lots of volunteer baking hours for their charter school, but one of the most fun all-family project was preparing Porter's first pinewood derby car for AWANA. He wanted to make his into an angry bird:

I think my favorite part of this time with the kids is watching them play together.  More often than not, they play a "game" where Emma Rose makes up scenarios while the toys in action are Porter's trucks.  Funniest story - the other night they were playing "Corey and Reagan" with Porter's snow city lego set. Emma Rose announced to Porter, "Hey honey, my dog sled wrecked so I'm going to need you to give me a ride to book club right now so won't be late.  I have the wine all ready to go."

Of course we love skiing together as a family.  The kids are always so excited to get going in the morning, and Porter is always so cute, telling Emma Rose what a good job she is doing on the slopes:

Emma Rose enjoys the gondola at Breckenridge:

Sharing some hot chocolate at Keystone:

They're getting better at skiing (and sharing) all the time!  Here are a few videos of them skiing:

This was Emma Rose's first day skiing without the harness (or as she calls it, her "leash"):

(I love the last couple seconds of this one, where Emma Rose is singing, "My God is So Big!") People are always stopping and smiling at the songs she sings as she skis down.

And here's a little footage of Porter skiing:

We took BT up on Valentine's Day.  The kids were so impressed that their Papa knew how to ski - and that he could keep up.  What a fun day!

And only because we love him and he's so good to the kids, I had to include this picture of Duke.  We love you, crazy cat!

Pura Vida - The Pure Life in Costa Rica

We're finally home from our perfect, family vacation/ Christmas and NYE celebration / 10-year anniversary / pure life celebration in Costa Rica!  What a beautiful, fun place to relax with the family. 

Getting there almost was tragic - we took a red-eye flight to Fort Lauderdale where we had to switch terminals at 4 in the morning, and somehow Emma Rose dropped her beloved Gigi.  Of course we didn't realize it until nearly an hour after it happened.  I prayed so hard, went through 4 different security gates, and even demanded they search the plane... nothing.  I was ready to give up, said one last little prayer, and was leaving the final terminal when I spotted Gigi out of the corner of my eye, propped up on a random counter.  Emma Rose had sobbed herself to sleep by the time they were reunited, but so overjoyed to find her when she woke up!

We were rewarded with this beautiful view when we woke up for coffee the next morning...

... And this sunset every night!

Happy 10 years to us!

Of course we were there for Christmas, and Rudy followed the kids there.  We figured since it was a little more tropical climate, we would leave Santa some Starbursts, and the reindeer some bananas in case Santa would stop by our condo on Christmas Eve.

... And much to the joy of the kids, he did!  He brought beach toys, games, and swimsuits for the kids!

We spent most mornings at the pool where the kids played, jumped off rocks, and, of course, Porter made friends with every single girl staying in the complex.  We had some interesting critters around the area as well...

Fortunately we only saw this guy outside...once.

These little guys were all over the place!

The kids LOVED the beach.  

  

We stayed in Jaco, a little surf-town in Costa Rica.  The waves were so fun.  Corey got some surfing in... 

We took a horse ride one afternoon.  Emma Rose was absolutely thrilled that she got to ride on the white horse.

We also took an excursion to Manuel Antonio, a national park, where we got to see TONS of wildlife - sloths, monkeys, bats, snakes, frogs, crabs, iguanas...  The kids were in heaven!

Porter was proud that he was the first to spot this little turtle!

(That's a little bat hanging under the leaf in the middle, slightly to the left) 

Cutest little monkey in Manuel Antonio 

Howler Monkey

The white-faced gadling monkeys were all over the beach area!

This guy stole a pineapple from someone on the beach! 

2-foot long iguana

The kids chased sand crabs all over the beach!

The beach at Manuel Antonio was absolutely gorgeous!

We stopped for lunch at El Avion, a restaurant made out of a plane used in the Iran Contra-Affair, and abandoned in the San Jose, Costa Rica airport.

Emma Rose, Porter, and I did some boogie-boarding on our last day there.  Emma Rose loved it!  And, although we didn't get any pictures, Corey and I saw some sting rays swimming in the ocean next to us that day ... and I got stung by a jellyfish (OUCH!!!!)  I am glad it happened on the last day, because none of us would have had the fun we did in the ocean, had it happened prior!

She was trying to look like a mermaid, but ended up looking like a merman...

On our way to the airport, we were able to see the one thing that made Porter's trip: Crocodiles.  He was in Croc-heaven, though Emma Rose wasn't quite as impressed:

Happy New Year, and Happy Trails, Costa Rica!  We are definitely coming back again.