A Visit with Ms. Bridget

Our friends, Matt, Katie and Bridget came in for the weekend for Katie to meet up with some other friends from college and do a girl's weekend. Since Katie was at girl's weekend, Matt and Bridget stayed with Carter, Scott and I.

We took a drive to the mountains with Matt and Bridget since they live in K.C. and don't get to do that at home. We headed up to Breckenridge to take a gondola ride up the mountain and walk around a little bit. If you are keeping track, that is two gondola rides for Carter in a matter of two weeks and before he is 5 months old. I am pretty sure I did not ride in a gondola up a mountain until a couple years ago.

It was a beautiful day to be up there. The gondola ride in Breckenridge is a little different because it goes from the parking area in the city up to the base of the ski area. If you want to go up the mountain, you then take a chair lift to the top. Unlike Aspen the week before, Breckenridge didn't really have much going on at the top of the mountain more at the base. We took the chair lift up to the top though and took in the sights and walked around a little. We headed back down to the base and Scott and Matt decided to do the Alpine Slide which is always a blast. Carter, Bridget and I stayed at the bottom and watched. No pictures of them coming down though because it isn't easy to take a pictures and hold two kids at the same time.

Carter is a couple months younger than Bridget but definitely bigger. The picture of them in their carseats cracks me up because he looks a lot older compared to her. She is a petite little thing and Carter is not. :) They were so cute together. It was great to have them out for a visit and we look forward to seeing them again, hopefully soon.

Carter's new toy

Scott bought this before Carter was born, but we just got it out recently. Carter gets a little bored with it after a little bit, but he has crazy legs and bounces around when he first gets in it.

Aspen and a Gondola ride

After leaving Mesa Verde, we headed north to Aspen/Snowmass. We thought the drive would take about 4 hours, which would be a lot after driving 3 hours to Mesa Verde, but something we could handle. We headed up Highway 550, a part of the state we had never been on, and it was beautiful. It was almost all mountain driving along the way, which made the 4 hour trip more like 6 1/2 hours. It was a LONG day and we were wiped out by the time we got to Snowmass for the night around midnight. Scott was so great and drove the whole way. I think he decided that was the better option than letting me mountain drive, because I am MUCH slower on the mountain roads. We debated stopping sooner than Snowmass, but already had a hotel lined up, so we kept going. I don't know how he did it!

We got to the hotel, promptly went to bed and woke up the next morning ready to head out to Aspen. We walked around Aspen for a little while to see how the other side lives. : ) I had never been. It is a nice little town, but not some place you could go to often or live without money. In the winter, lift tickets are $100+. And, while we were there we had to stop for gas and it was $4.59/gallon...we really needed gas. We went for a gondola ride to the top of the mountain, had some lunch up there and listened to a band playing at the peak. Carter did great and looked all around while we were on our way to the top.

We stayed for about half the day in Aspen and then headed home from our extended week long vacation. We were all so ready to be home. We went home via Independence Pass, which was gorgeous and something we definitely need to do in the fall, to I-70. We hit traffic that added to the driving time on the way home so, by the time we got close, we were all ready to be out of the car, including Carter. It was a great day...except for the traffic, which is usually the case on I-70.

Mesa Verde National Park

After the week in Creede, you would think we would be ready to head straight home but no. We decided before we left, since we were already down in the southeast corner of Colorado, we would drive down to Mesa Verde National Park with Tom, Ann and Stephen.

It was at least 105 degrees while we were there. The park is pretty big and we only had a limited amount of time. Ann, Tom and Stephen were driving back to Creede after we were done and Scott, Carter and I decided to go back home "through" Snowmass.

Mesa Verde is a pretty cool park with "homes" in the side of the mesa. Ann had been there before, so after driving around the loop in the park and looking at a few things, she stayed in the car with Carter and Maggie and Scott, Tom, Stephen and I went on a tour of one of the places cut out of the mesa. We didn't think it would be a smart idea to try and climb the 100ft ladder in to the place with Carter in the carrier. It would have been a little difficult to crawl through the small space with him too. Thankfully the picture below is of Stephen and not me, but shows the cramped space. It was a good thing it wasn't too long to get through because that would have been a little tough for me.

It was a good day but hot and sunny, as evidenced by the expression on my face with no sunglasses! There was also a little kid with a BRIGHT green shirt on next to Carter in some of the pictures, which was way more interesting than looking at the camera.

FOUR Months Old

Carter is FOUR months old. The last month went by in a hurry. He is definitely growing and learning lots of new things. You went to the doctor so we have some new stats to remember and compare.

Carter at FOUR month you:

-weigh 16lbs, 5oz (50th percentile).
-are 25 1/2in long (70th percentile).
-your head circumfrence is 42.9cm (80th percentile).
-you are still a great eater...as evidenced above. You have done great during the day at home with dad. I am sure it will continue when you start daycare in a few weeks.
-are in a size 2 diaper now.
-wear 3-6 months clothes.
-still have blue eyes. We are thinking they are going to stay that way.
-take two long naps during the day and one or more catnaps.
-smile all the time.
-reach for and grab things in front of you. You especially love the duck that hangs on your carseat and we now get to hear it pulled down and go back up all the time in the car.
-have the cutest laugh.
-have started yelling in order to get someones attention.
-are still up once a night but it is just normal now and not a big deal. You just eat and go right back to sleep. You did sleep through the night once recently, but it isn't consistent yet.
-are still a lover of being outside. Hopefully it will cool off soon and it will be easier to get out in the evenings.
-love the T.V.
-are a very happy baby. You just go along with whatever is going on during the day.



Four months has gone by so fast. We love watching you grow and change.

Creede Wrap-up

We had a great week in Creede. It was so nice to be home though and get Carter back in to his normal routine. These are just a few last family pics from the week.
Stephen, Sarah, Scott and CarterMe, Scott, Carter, Ann, Stephen, Tom and Sarah