Watching Winter Olympic Games

I've been enjoying watching the Winter Olympic Games over the past week or so. They are being held in Vancouver, BC, Canada this year and the footage being shown on TV is breathtaking!!

We love Canada, especially British Columbia, and have had the opportunity to visit three times. We actually stayed a few days in Vancouver during our last trip in June 2003. Seeing it on TV now has prompted me to look through our photos from that trip again.

Here are a few from Grouse Mountain, one of the Olympic venues.

Here are a few from the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver

These are taken at/from Stanley Park in Vancouver

Sunset at Spanish Bank Beach in Vancouver

We spent a total of 11 days in British Columbia and went to Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Kootenay National Park, Fairmont Hot Springs, and most points in between.

One of my favorite pictures of Jamie was taken at the Banff Springs Hotel...he was probably happy to be out of the car.

British Columbia is probably one of our all time favorite places to visit. After watching the Olympics and reminiscing through my photos, I definitely want to go back!

Mouse trap cars

The project at yesterday's Science Saturday was mouse trap race cars. Using CD's, wire, foam core board, hot glue, duct tape, popsicle sticks, mouse traps & string, our task was to design and build a car. It took a lot of trial & error and everyone's car was a little bit different, but it was a fun project that got the kids thinking about design & functionality. The actual project, though, seemed to fall into the hands of the parents as the kids eventually lost interest and decided playing tag was a better way to spend their time.
Jamie checked in periodically to see the progress and had some good ideas. We were able to get his car to go for a short distance but need to tweak it more (stabilize rear wheels) to see if it will go further.

Jamie's mouse trap car
(before re-working back wheels)
I'll post a photo when (if) we finish the reconstruction.

Frosty Day

Today was another foggy/frosty day...seems like we've had alot of those lately. The fog started to burn off about 10AM and the contrast between the frost on the tree and the clear blue sky was amazing! This is another photo I had to take to remind me of the beautiful things in my life that I take for granted.

View from the kitchen window

Today I was standing at the kitchen sink and looked out the window...I do this numerous times per day without taking much notice. A couple of years ago, we had friends visiting from Dallas, Texas and they took tons of pictures of the view from my kitchen window. I remember they commented that they would do dishes willingly if they had THAT to look at while standing at the kitchen sink.
I don't know if it was the way the sun was reflecting of off the snow or what, but, today I really looked out the window and was overcome by gratitude. I had to take this photo to remind myself to not take this view for granted.

Random

Random photos of another lazy weekend in Alamosa...

I love our view of Mt. Blanca but hate that our neighbors house (& power poles) is in the way of good photographs!

Monster icicle hanging from rain gutter.

family Wii time

Another Science Saturday

Jamie was excited to go to Science Saturdays today. We picked his friend, Parker, up and took him also. The theme today was color and we learned to "tie-dye" with Sharpie permanent markers & rubbing alcohol. There were only four kids, so there was room (& bigger t-shirts) for the grownups to play too. I think we had more fun than the kids! The kids soon lost interest so they started building and flying paper airplanes. They practically had to kick Bill & me out, though...we were having too much fun with the markers and alcohol.

Jamie had a great time and he did enjoy the tie-dye project, so much so that we had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way home and purchase permanent markers.

MarketJumpRopeValentine's Day

It felt like a big blur of a day...one thing ran right into the next so I'm calling yesterday's adventure, "MarketJumpRopeValentine's Day".

Market Day was a success with many vendors selling out of their product. Jamie painted wood hearts that Bill cut with the scroll saw, and turned them into magnets. There were lots of creative wares for sale!

Jump Rope for Heart was an event of somewhat organized chaos. Put 300+ 2nd and 3rd graders in a large room, give them jump ropes and turn them loose...really??? I'm actually surprised that there weren't more accidents involving kids (or adults) getting hit with ropes. They jumped rope for an hour, well, they were in the gym for an hour...some gave up on the jump rope thing fairly quickly. Though I do think that Jamie was actually getting the hang of it toward the end. They were rewarded with stickers, a ribbon and a popsicle for their effort. Jamie raised $181 for the American Heart Association!

The blank stares of the kids sitting down eating their popsicles say it all...they were so exhausted! But, nothing that a little Valentine's sugar couldn't remedy, so they boarded buses and headed back to school to exchange valentine's cards and treats.

(Austin was feelin' the LOVE!!!)

Valentine for teacher

February 11 has been looming on my calendar...seems that everything happens tomorrow. It starts at 8:05am with Market Day for Jamie. I have my P.E.O. meeting at 9:30 and then it will be time to meet Jamie at ASC for Jump Rope for Heart at 1:00. After jumping rope, it's back to school to exchange valentines. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about everything! Guess I better get to bed!

This is what I came up with for the valentine gift for Mrs. Price. I used a Frappacino bottle, filled it with M & M's and decorated...very easy, but cute!

Valentine's Day Treats

I finished Jamie's valentines today. According to the teacher, they are not having a party but will exchange valentines. Valentine's Day is on Sunday and since there is no school on Friday, it seems like EVERYTHING is happening on Thursday! Jamie's class is having their Market Day Thursday morning and then the entire school is heading over to Adams State College to participate in "Jump Rope for Heart" in the afternoon. So, don't know exactly when the exchanging of valentines will take place, but it will be sometime on Thursday.

I made these cute matchbook valentines which hold a treat in the pocket inside. Jamie addressed them all and made sure that he got one too! I still need to come up with something for the teacher...

Science Saturdays at ASC

Science Saturdays is a FREE program offered to the community through the Adams State College Science department for kids 12 and younger. They started the program last fall but I always heard about it after the fact. I was looking at the ASC website for something last week and saw the announcement that they were continuing the program this semester. Jamie was reluctant (as he is with anything "new"), but his friend & classmate, Nicole, was there and they had a great time! Today's presentation was about technology and science. One of the cool things they had to play with was PicoCricket, a little computer that can easily be programmed (by kids!) to spin objects or turn on lights, etc, using motors and sensors. It can be used with Legos to build all kinds of cool things! (Note to self: birthday gift idea for Jamie) There were several other stations set up, each with a cool experiment to try...it reminded me of my college Physics lab only way more fun!

Nicole actually did one of the PicoCricket demonstrations, proving that even a 7-year-old can program the computer!

Playing with a pendulum

Jenga blocks

Everyone had fun with the balance board & fulcrum!

The Skyrail Rollercoaster was a huge hit!! Through trial and error, they built a pretty extensive marble run! (Note to self: another great gift idea!)

This was such a great activity and the kids might have even learned something today. Sssshhhh! Don't tell them that, though, they were just having fun!

Next weeks presentation will be about the science of color and everyone will tie-dye a t-shirt!