Happy 6th Birthday Anneliese and Alexa!

Anneliese and Alexa turned 6 today, April 4th. They are growing and developing so fast. This year has brought tremendous change for them. They are now reading, and have done very well in kindergarten this year. Their toddler speech is gone - all their words are clear. Alexa is about to loose her first tooth. She tells everyone she can about her loose tooth, and you can see the new tooth coming in behind it.

The girls are taller and stronger now. They are more easily riding their bikes. They have become quite accomplished skiers - they skied their first black slope last week, and easily cruise the blue slopes with us.

The things that Anneliese and Alexa pick up on, and talk to us about amaze me. They soak up everything that goes on around them. Danica and I used to spell out words for things we didn't want them to hear and understand. That doesn't work so well anymore.

It has been a great year, and we love you so much Alexa and Anneliese!

Love,
Mom & Dad

Skiing at Breckenridge

This past Saturday we all went skiing at Breckenridge. We ski at Breckenridge several times a year, and this year Anneliese and Alexa have really improved their skiing. They are solidly skiing greens now, and on Saturday afternoon skied their first blue run. Not bad for just being 5!

Here they are, with Danica cruising on Frontier at Peak 9.






Chris

Sledding

I'm enjoying the week off between Christmas and New Years. Danica, Anneliese, Alexa and I were a bit bored this morning, so we decided to go sledding at a hill near to our house. We were lucky and had the hill to ourselves. It is amazing how fast the girls would get going. They were also real troopers, carting their sleds back up the hill.

Here are pictures from the fun.

Happy Gotcha Day

Today our family is celebrating the 4th anniversary of Gotcha Day - the day we became the parents of Anneliese and Alexa and took them home from the orphanage in Perm, Russia. We all have been so blessed. Below is a video from our special day.




Update: Here is a link to a much higher quality version of the movie. Blogger likes to make your movies super small to save traffic costs on their servers.

Skiing at Loveland

Yesterday my best friend Neal and I made our annual trek up to Loveland Ski Area for some early season skiing. This year we brought Neal's son Skyler with us. Skyler is 14 and has never been skiing, so Neal placed him in a lesson. The lesson was great, and Skyler only fell once, which is impressive for a first timer.

We all had a great time. The snow was pretty good for early season with no rocks to be found. A fair amount of terrain was open so we had a lot of fun, despite the windy and snowy conditions.

Here is a picture of Neal:


And me:


We were on a trail that runs past the entrance to Eisenhower Tunnel, which you can see behind us. The tunnel is at 11,158 ft in elevation (3401 meters) and we could tell it after a long ski run.

It was a great day of fun for all!

Master Bedroom and Halloween Costumes

Were have I been? Well, Facebook finds more of my attention these days, and even there, I only post two or three times a week. Since our last post this summer, we have kept very busy. The girls enjoyed their summer, and then started Kindergarten in August. Anneliese and Alexa are in the same class together this year after being split up during preschool. So far it has gone well and the girls love school.

The week before last the girls were on fall break, and I decided to take the week off and we had a "staycation". Danica and I used it as an opportunity to paint our master bedroom, which we have been wanting to do for quite some time. The project took us the better part of three days. We paint on the slow side because we'd rather get it right the first time by paying attention to the details. We painted the ceiling as well, which added to the project. The room is much cozier now, and feels really warm, especially at night. The added bonus is that the room stays darker in the morning when the sun comes up. This is has been great for weekend sleep in days. Here are pictures after we finished.




Halloween is here, and Anneliese and Alexa had a party at school on Friday. Their Grandma Debby spent many hours making them wonderful costumes. Anneliese was Cinderella and Alexa was Snow White. They are looking forward to trick or treating tomorrow night.

The Justice Cousins

My brother Mike and his wife Edie just spent the last week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on vacation. About the same time he planned their vacation, Danica and I booked our vacation in Steamboat Springs for the week after theirs. We had no idea they were planning their summer vacation in Steamboat. It would have been nice if we could have overlapped a little more, but we did get to meet up this morning while they were getting ready to head home, and we were just arriving.

Steamboat is home to the Yampa River Botanic Park, and I must say it is just gorgeous and one of my favorite places in Colorado. We met Mike, Edie and his boys, Clive, Owen and Hugh there. Anneliese and Alexa were very excited to see them.

Here are some pictures from the meet up.

L->R, Anneliese, Owen, Alexa, Hugh, Clive

Hugh

Anneliese, Owen, Alexa, Hugh, Clive
Alexa

Anneliese

Hugh, Alexa
Anneliese, Alexa, Clive, Owen

Alexa
Anneliese, Alexa, Clive, Owen

Owen, Alexa
My brother Mike.

Alexa
Anneliese, Alexa, Owen, Clive