Both Levi and Henry have caught the Wisconsin hockey bug. So far all the action has been in boots (or socks) but its a start.

Hockey Inside (movie)

Hockey Outside (movie)

Christmas 2009- spent with the Eberly and Nissley families in Indiana.  Good times with cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.  Levi was very much into the Christmas story and the presents this year, no surprise for a 3 year old.  He also fully discovered the wonder of Christmas cookies, pies, and “roller bread” (cinnamon rolls).

Christmas is coming, the blog has been ignored.  Thought I should post a few photos before the holiday travel madness begins.  It’s been a fun month- Levi is super excited about Christmas and has been enjoying playing in the snow.  Here are a few photos from the past few weeks:

We’ve had a good fall, but haven’t been taking many photos… here are a few:

trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch on a cool day

washin' dishes

earnin' my keep

scary ghost Levi

Ghost and Bob the Builder sizing eachother up

Levi started pre-school in September, a lovely little school very close to our home.  Levi is very much enjoying the two mornings he spends there, especially the art projects, singing/ dancing and outdoor play.  It is a parent cooperative, so we’re invited to volunteer regularly in and out of the classroom and there are social events for families- seems like it will be a great way to meet other kids and parents.  Here are a couple of photos of his first day:

Another big event recently was Levi’s 3rd birthday.  We had a little party, which was a lot of fun.  Some photos:

A watched cake never bakes...

Treasure hunt!

One...two...three

listening to the birthday song

here we go...

big breath...

success!

mmm...I can't even tell that there are beets in this cake

enjoying the new toys!

-Kathy

(photo credit to Derek for the cake series)

Matt and I celebrated 10 years of marriage in June of this year.  June and July were full with other travels, so we decided to celebrate with a long weekend trip to Door County in August.  We had a lovely visit and will go back again, for sure.  The place we stayed, Gordon Lodge was the perfect combination of a beautiful quiet natural setting and luxiurious swanky pampering.  Here are some photos from the trip:

Kathy

Levi has gotten up sometime between 4:45- 5:30 am twice in the last week.  By “up” I don’t mean that he just needed a drink of water and then settled in until a decent hour…I mean he was UP.  So… tried my best to enjoy the “early time”, as Levi calls it and got a few neat photos with our (quite unsophisticated) camera.

Yes, we got to take two cool vacations in the mountains this summer…. the second was to meet up with the Eberly extended family in the Colorado Springs area.  It was great fun catching up with the CA/ AZ Eberly’s and (of course) great to see the IN Eberly’s.

Hanging out at the campsites- we had a 2 bedroom cabin, an RV and two tents among us.

Buckskin Joe’s frontier town- kinda cheesy, but the buildings were actually old.  Took a train ride to see the Royal Gorge- highest suspension bridge in the US.

One of the many lovely scenes from Garden of the Gods.  The red rocks were amazing, and even moreso when I leared that they are basically creekbeds that decided to get up and walk.

Family photo at Garden of the Gods

Collin and Bram

Levi had a great time climbing the rocks.

We visited an Anasazi dwelling place.

Native dancing- Levi was amazed but didn’t want to get too close.

Matt went up Pike’s Peak twice, this was on a cloudy day.

The road to 14,110 feet

Levi at the peak, complaining about the windy 40 degree weather. He did enjoy the (no yeast needed) doughnut, though.

The view on a clear day.

A hike to Mallory Cave near Boulder, CO

Enjoying the ride

Beautiful meadow on the hike

Visit with Jenny, Matt and Anna (pictured here) in Denver

What’s summer without a good road trip? We just returned from an 11 day excursion to North Carolina to meet up with the Nissley clan and also see some friends along the way. The only downside to the trip was that Levi only slept about 2 of the 30 hours we spent in the car. We survived with the help of electronic media and Levi is now asking to be referred to as buzz lightyear. Here’s some photos of the fun.

A smoky morning view from our cabin in the mountains

Hot tub fun with the boys… Levi had a blast swimming about the hot (warm) tub

Greg (who’s hiked some 600 or so miles on the AT this season planned a day hike for us… after braving rutted out roads and overly friendly/ somewhat hostile locals, we found the trail and hiked up to the top of Big Bald. This view was our reward.

Matt and Levi at Chimney Rock. We used the backpack quite a bit on this trip and it worked pretty well. Levi preferred the ’short hikes’ that resulted in ice cream.

The waterfall at Chimney Rock

Fun with the cousins

Anyone dare to take me on?

Homer and Betty chatting at the table

Big time North Carolina money- the Biltmore Estate (Vanderbilts)

Mr Ed. Vanderbilt

Levi crushing the Vanderbilt groundcover

Chatting on the porch

Levi and his dear cousin Alia

We visited with Todd in Asheville for a couple of days- great city, a lot like Madison but smaller and with mountains.

A bonus visit with Chad, Jodi and Ani near Indy

Levi is “catching” Ani as she slides

Kathy

Here’s an assortment of photos from the past month or so…. sorry I’m feeling too lazy to tell the little story that accompanies each photo.  So, you’ll have to use your imagination.  Levi’s having a great spring/ early summer.  We’re enjoying a lot of time outdoors and looking forward to some summer travels coming soon.  Promise to post some photos again before he’s 3.