Lots of Camping Fun!

The last month has brought us 2 great camping trips... the first to Rifle Falls Camp Ground for 5 days in the RV & the 2nd trip to our friend's cabin in Gunnison National Park. Our RV trip was over the Memorial Holiday weekend so Grandpa Pat & Grandma Mary were able to join us on Memorial Day for some fishing, playing & bbqing. We also did lots of trail walks, explored the caves & waterfalls, visited the local fish hatchery & fed some fish, and did our first bike riding on our new bikes with Zoey's new seat. The RV was pretty packed, as ALL the Tumas critters came with, including ratty girl Star & Minnie the duck!

We met our friends up in Gunnison at their cabin last weekend, June 24th-26th, and had a great time with a seriously packed cabin... no the ratty girl & duckie stayed home this time (thank you Grandma Mary for taking care of them :) but with 5 dogs & 8 people it was quite the adventure! We saw at least 40 deer and really enjoyed exploring to identify wild flowers. A big thanks to Eric, Didi, Kyle, Jared & pups Katie, Gunner & Breeze for being such welcoming hosts... already looking forward to our next trip up!

Introducing Minnie the duck!

Here she is family & friends... the newest member of our quickly-growing family, Minnie the Black Cayuga duck, affectionately named by Zoey! As she just turned 6 weeks old this past Monday, we figured it was time to share some of our favorite photos of & moments with our "fast-growing" duckling... I knew they grew fast but WOW, I had no idea THIS fast ;)

The first couple pics in our backyard were taken last week, so this is pretty much how she looks right now... you can see we keep pretty busy enjoying daily summertime fun with ALL our critters! We even took her camping with us for 5 days in the RV when she was 2 weeks old... Bob calls it "camping Holly-Style" :) You animals lovers out there will understand, I didn't want her to bond with anyone else, so along she came! As soon as we got back she moved into her indoor "palace", our laundry room & needless to say she LOVES being near us ALL the time. Buddy is quickly becoming very attached to Min, as he often lays near her & wimpers, too cute. But as you may notice in that intense gaze of hers, Emmy's "lab birdiness" makes her just a little TOO interested... hoping that softens a bit as Minnie gets a bit bigger, fingers crossed :)

She was the absolute cutest thing as a 5 day old baby, and has become the absolute sweetest thing as she get older... follows mom EVERYWHERE (as ducks do), loves being held (the "picking-up process" is another story) and grooms our freckles very intently... reminds me of some primates I know :) Long story short, having done all my research & prepped a starter home, Zo & I went in to our local farm supply store to adopt a baby chick & walked out with Minnie the duckling... we decided it was meant to be.

Zoey's Birthday Week!

A tradition my mom & stepdad started in our house when I was a kid was "birthday weekends" for my brother & I, so of course as a mom I wanted to carry the tradition on, with my own twist of course... hence the birth of "the birthday week" in our house ;) We started off with making our own cupcakes on Monday, Strawberry cake with pink frosting, no surprise there as Miss Zo picked it out! Have to mention Zoey took the picture of mom before we began baking, her new thing to do after I take 1 of her... she's becoming a pretty good little photographer if I do say so :) Then Tuesday our new library group of friends joined us after storytime at our local park for a picnic & cupcake party... Zoey & the little blond girl Maddox are becoming quite the little buds, Maddox will be 3 in September so they have ALOT in common. We played at our local mall's play area on Thursday, after a yummy lunch with Grama Mary & some fun shopping with mom (she's a fashionista in the making already), and enjoyed opening 1 present a day starting with our package from our best buds in TO, Ashley, Noelle & mommas... including a beautiful tutu skirt with "happy birthday" letters, butterflies & sparkles sewn in, thank you girls we both LOVE it! Of course Friday was still "Pizza Friday" dinner for the 3 of us with Zo's favorite topping, CHEESE! We sure had alot of fun celebrating - The "Birth Day" to come...

May 14th 2011... Zoey's 3rd Birthday!

So the day started off with Zoey coming out to the kitchen area and seeing her birthday decor from mom & dad... needless to say she was just a bit surprised, and pretty happy :) After opening just 1 gift from us, and yes she actually WAS OK with this, we met Granpa Pat for a yummy pancake breakfast at IHOP, and then went to our local garden store to choose our plantings for the day. Daddy suggested an afternoon of gardening to get our potted flowers & vegetables going and Zoey LOVED the idea! As it was her DAY, she did the honors and chose geraniums, inpatiens, 2 different tomatoes & broccoli... YES broccoli, it's 1 of her faves :) Before starting tho we had to open the rest of our presents, and there was a bunch... thank you family & friends for sending so many wonderful things for our girl, we really appreciated it. We had a nice cool afternoon, perfect for our new flowers & vegetables, and after Zo's chosen dinner of hot dogs, mac'n cheese & corn on the cob, we ended the day with a little birthday ice cream. What a great day we had :)

More Colorado Fun!

Here's a few more pics of special moments so far... including Mom's Day at Glenwood Springs Adventure Park, and hanging out with our backyard neighbors, Daisy & Booby cows... and YES Zoey gave them those names... gotta LOVE toddler minds!