exploring.

I absolutely adore denver. The friendly souls, the majestic mountains and the sky, the pure air and the abundance of nature lovers and the state's love for the outdoors. Everywhere I look, someone is biking to work, doing yoga in the park, talking about plans for camping or simply sitting outside relishing in the beauty of the day. All of it. I have been struggling to find something that I DON'T like about denver...and the only thing I can come up with is the absence of Trader Joes. But even this tiny void isn't all that bad, as it has inspired me to become all that more creative in my search for similar products and other enchanting grocery stores!

Chad started work this week, and since I am still looking for work, I am getting to taste a little bit of what it feels like to be a stay at home mommy. I am loving every minute with my little guy. We have been spending our days exploring denver, being tourists in our new home. I can tell he loves it here too, although it's apparent that he misses his little friends from "school". Whenever we are at the park, you can see the way he looks at other kids, such a longing for a little buddy. I am going to look into some *mommy and me* groups this week so that we can work on getting him some super best friends.

Speaking of parks, my goodness Denver....you DON'T mess around! The parks here are in absolute abundance, and they like mini amusement parks for the little ones (and for those adults who are in touch with our inner child!).

Here are some of the highlights from our park tour 2010...

This is Washington Park, just a mile down the road...it's HUGE!



~practicing PLOPS with mamaw







And this is City Park, my favorite. I am not sure what it is about this one, as it is slightly inner cityish and attracts a rougher crowd, but kaden and I were in the love with all the fun things to do and the random souls we met. This one is also ginormous and so so pretty. It's in the backyard of the Denver zoo which is also so much fun since you can hear all the animals chitchattin!


~Kaden arrived ecstatic and extremely hyper.






~kaden loves to swing in the toddler swing and make one of us swing in the *big boy* swing right next to him. Not sure why, but he thinks it's completely hysterical.
We also were dying to check out Central Park in Stapleton. Stapleton is about a 10 minute drive from us and was one of the places we considered living before we moved here. It is a sustainable community built around the old airport in denver. Everything is incredibly new and modern, it is unlike any place I have ever seen! Central Park is something that truly took our breaths away, and i am sad that the pics just don't do it justice. We walked around awestruck that kids are so blessed to have a community such as this one to play in. Just one of the little gems we have found so far here that have justified our decision to move here....it's such a family oriented place!


~raring to go!




~making new friends

~completely smitten with his seeing his first kite.



~kaden spotted a little boy playing with the ball we had just bought him (but sadly did not take to the park) and pretty much chased him all over the park. Check out the majestic snow capped mountains in the back!

~this is hilarious. He wants that damn ball.


~and although "bye BYE" is his favorite thing to say....I think he is still saying go and get me that damn ball, and i just wanted to believe i was finally catching his bye bye on tape.



On a more random, non-park note...Kaden's new favorite thing to do is brush his teeth. About four months ago, it was sheer torture to have him put a toothbrush in his mouth, now he will point to his teeth at least 5x a day and want to brush his teeth, and absolutely not by himself, I must do it as well. Hopefully my next trip to the dentist will pay off...


And for those who have been asking for photos of our place....here are a few. We are not getting too comfy as we know we will be moving again in 6-9 months to a different neighborhood.


~daddy rockin out the ABCs in our favorite corner..

Those who know me well, know that I have this weird thing with mirrors in bedrooms...they totally creep me out. I was worried about Kaden getting freaked out by them in his room, but as you can see, they have been a major source of entertainment for him.







~kisses




Mamaw and Papaw came over for dinner last night and we had a great night! Did I mention how amazing it is to have family so close by? I so wish I could move both of our families within a 60 mile radius of us...that would just be too perfect.






~if you are wondering about our interesting couch with the lavender sheet, it is an amazingly comfy couch passed down to us from Mamaw's sweet friend...we are in the midst of working on making a slipcover for it.

he is a SHE!

~daddy trying to protect our little shrimp boat captain from being attacked by some territorial geese.

The title of this post was a line from a little girl that was too cute for words. On one of the colder days we had so far in our days in Denver, we bundled up nugget like a little fish boat captain (our winter threads are LACKING for our little dude) and went off to explore Washington Park, which is just a few blocks away. A little girl was interested in little kaden, and repeatedly called him a "she". Kaden is often times referred to as a "she" which I find comical because he is usually dressed a bit like a gangster. Often times I am asked, is he a "boy or girl", but i have never had anyone straight out ARGUE with me about his sexuality. After I mentioned the word "he" to this little cutie patutie in the park, she looked at me strernly and pointed out that "HE is a SHE". She was too cute, who was I to argue with her? But seriously, look at this crazy pic of him below in his Shrimp Boat Captain gear...how could you ever mistaken HE for a SHE?



~our little shrimp fisherman

We have been having the best time being tourists in our new home! Every day is a new adventure and something new to explore! We are enjoying our neighborhood more and more each day, espcially with the discovery that my old friend Jeff from my hathaway days is only about 2 blocks from our home! We randomly ran into each other at our neighborhood park after trying for days to get together for coffee and a catch up. A little piece of an old home always makes things a little bit homier!

I will update with more later, but for right now, here is a slew of pics from our random excursions.


~rocking in his chair with all his BFFs


Mamaw's happy retirement party!



~kaden learning all sorts of CHEERS.


~Karla and her wonderful friends!




~Kaden demanding that both "MOes" be read to before bedtime.


~kaden's absolute favorite thing to do right now is play in the streams, creeks, ponds...oh yeah, and gutters. He loves to chase flowers or leaves, it is too sweet to watch. I thought we would miss the ocean, but so far the peacefulness of all the ponds, lakes and creeks (and gutters) is making up for it.






~Uncle Brian and Aunt Suzanne had us over for a ridiculously yummy dinner and an impromptu slumber party, and kaden was in absolute heaven. Not only does he ADORE these two, but they introduced him to guacamole, ginormous bouncy balls, a playlist made just for him, golf clubs, Blues Clues, model planes, crazy fun toys and a kick ass pool to boot. So much fun!

~nugget getting set to do a fancy sommersault in his little room..he absolutely LOVES his room.








~Tattered Cover Bookstore is just an amazing bookstore! It is one of the few things I checked out on my first visit to denver, and I know it will always be one of my most favorite places in this magical city.










~his favorite part about this incredible bookstore was of course, the stairs.


~flirting with the ladies


~over it


~strolling around Lodo


~this lil boy has Cali in his blood...he sure does LOVE his mexican food!

a whole new world

~chasing the pigeons outside of City Hall


I finally have a chance to sit down and write about everything that has transpired over the past two weeks. I have a glass of vino in one hand, and I'm enjoying the crazy beautiful snow falling outside. I'm sure most people are over snow come may, but we are simply loving every morsel. Ask us next year, and we may have a different answer. The past two weeks have been wonderfully exhausting, exciting and emotionally draining all wrapped up with a pretty bow! We are just now sitting back and processing all of our thoughts about the amazing friends we said our goodbyes to, and the promise of excitement over what lies ahead for all of us in our new home.


~snow fall on the tree outside our place

This move with our little man and two furbabies (let's not forget our sweet little fishies, Angel and Jose who sadly did NOT make the journey, they decided they were over it sometime after Vegas)was an absolute adventure! We had decided that Kaden and I would fly to Denver, as Kaden is not a huge fan of long car rides. Kaden absolutely adores airplanes, and i thought he would love the flight. I was wrong. For the first 20 minutes of the flight, he screamed in absolute terror, there was nothing I could do to soothe him. In fact, I started crying with him at one point. Thank goodness it was not a full flight, and we had the row in front of us, behind us, and the people next to us move away from my screaming child. We had a layover in Phoenix and as I held my breath for the second flight, my little man actually enjoyed himself and smiled and danced on my lap the whole way. Thank goodness! Back in LA, Chad's brother Brian came out to help with the tought part of the move. So thankful for Brian and all that he went through to help us get to our new home! The morning that they were getting ready to leave, little Simon escaped and went MIA for a little over two hours. Luckily, they found him and were off on their journey!

My Dad came out from NY to help us make the journey, and drove my car to Colorado. We absolutely loved having him with us, and he was a huge emotional support to me during those scary first few days in Colorado when I was thinking Whoa....did we just do this. We had already found an apartment online (I do not recommend this in the future for those moving somewhere new!)and I was a bit scared to see the place. On the inside, it is a cute little place, but my neighbors are some characters....on a MUCH different scale than those crazy characters you see in Los Angeles. Thank goodness for the beauty of a nine month lease, which is what we signed with this place.


~my dad riding in the backseat with Kaden and his super BFF "MO", gifted from Poppy.

We stayed with Mamaw and Papaw for the first week and were spoiled rotten with their incredible house, amazing views, and not to mention the wonderful company! Kaden starting eating like an absolute horse while we were there, and so far, he hasn't stopped eating pretty much everything in sight. Mamaw explained that it has something to do with the altitude, that most people eat more and sleep more. The first part is definitely true, the latter not so much for our little guy.





Our first night in our new place, Chad had a horrible pain under his eye that steadily got worse as the night went on. Chad has been through so much with his health in the ten years I have known him, and I could tell this was no little pain for him. He decided he wanted to go to the hospital and we got ready to wake Kaden up to take him to the ER. We didn't know exactly where we lived, let alone where the nearest hospital was, and had no internet connection to find one. It was past midnite and we didn't want to disturb anyone, so we called 911 and asked them for directions to the nearest hopsital. They did a CAT scan and found that Chad had fluid in his sinuses and that hopefully within a few days it would drain. They loaded him up on crazy meds and sent us on our way, but not after Kaden made friends with several homeless people waiting for friends in the ER waiting room. That little guy makes friends with everyone!


~furbabies keeping each other company on top of their condo

We have been enjoying being tourists in our new city, and look forward to all our the adventures to come. Colorado is so difficult to explain. It truly is one of the most beautiful places I have ever come across....the sky is unlike anything you will find anywhere. Even when it is cold here, it doesn't feel like REAL cold, just a little on the chilly side. I feel so lucky to call this place home, and I can't wait for what's around the bend.


~so cool...you can rent bikes from these little help yourself bike booths.


~first sip out of a water fountain...so crazy you can actually drink the tap water here, and it's yummy.


~sliding down the "bacon slide" with a helping hand from daddy


~playing with some new friends in cherry creek mall

Happy 16 months Kaden!

Dear Kaden,

Today was a rough start to your birthday. This morning, at your usual wake up time (5am, don't you think 6am might be a little more civilized? Let's work on that buddy!), you decided that you did not want to wait for mommy to roll over and come get you, you dove out of the crib onto the hardwood floor, and mommy just about had a heart attack. Thankfully you were not hurt, but mommy has never been SO excited to move into a place that has CARPETS! Let's try to save the daredevil stunts until you are a wee bit older, k buddy?

This past month you truly became a little boy, and mommy has been struggling to remember what it was like when you were just a baby! It seems so long ago now. You are such a compassionate little man, so tender and sweet with others. You absolutely love to hug and blow kisses to just about anyone, even random strangers at Target are lucky to get a kiss and a wave from you.

You are a little explorer. Walking has made you want to go on mini adventures everywhere that you go. The little pitter patter of your footsteps is a sound I will treasure. We bought you your first pair of walking shoes mid-march, and now it is May 1st and you have already outgrown them! You have these precious little chubbo feet that just keep growing and growing! You love to dance and your favorite song of the moment is If You're Happy And You Know it, Barney style. Stomping your feet gets you every time. You are so excited that you have learned about where your NOSE is and you love to point it out and say "Nooooooooose". It's ridiculously sweet. You are mastering eyes and nose at the moment.

You absolutely LOVE going to the park. The park near our house has a basketball court, and your favorite thing is to try to sneak onto the court and grab one of the balls. You could watch the big boys playing forever...it's like you're studying their techniques! You also just mastered the slide...you go down all by yourself! You are so sweet with your friends....tonight your buddy Dreyvin came over with Shyla and Aunt Vicky to say goodbyes, and you would not stop hugging Dreyvin. If you were'nt hugging him you were following him around, right on his heels (pics below!).


On Monday we are taking a very big leap, and beginning our new chapter in Colorado! There are always going to be those times in your life, when you are making big transitions or changes, and you start to feel scared or anxious...just keep hangin on. Change is essential to growth. Without a doubt, I know you will love it there, and be SO happy, but I am having a hard time swallowing how scary the adjustment phase might be! At times it will be difficult, but I know that it is going to work out. You are the bravest person I know, and truly my inspiration. We are just going to have to all hold hands, and take a big LEAP! one, two, three...set...GO!


I love you!
your mommy