Isaac and the Hare

Last week sometime the boys and I were at Sam's Club with my Mom shopping for a few things. We were browsing around, checking out this and that, just taking our sweet old time when out of thin air Isaac exclaimed at the top of his lungs "I have to go poooottty!" Pretty typical for Isaac. I think he has a thing for public restrooms (ew!), or maybe he's just not into shopping like his mother is and uses a trip (or four) to the restroom as a way to entertain himself and drive me absolutely batty. Heck I don't know, he's three - you figure it out. So I asked Keven Jr. if he had to go, which surprise! surprise! all of a sudden he had to go too. So off to the restroom we went. I let the both of them go into the Men's Restroom together, and then hung out close by waiting for them to come out. I noticed that there was an elderly lady waiting on someone too. While the two of us were waiting in silence a female customer came strolling up to the restrooms and headed right for the Men's Room. She reached out to push the door open and started to walk in and then did a double take at the sign and quickly turned around and headed for the Woman's Room instead. I still don't know why I just stood there and watched her do it, not once giving a thought to getting her attention to alert her as to what she was about to do. I think I was just curious to see if she'd actually go in - I mean I've done it before. Haven't you? Oh. Well. Okay then. After the female customer headed into the correct restroom, the elderly lady spoke up and started telling me a story about a similar experience she had in which she walked into a Men's Restroom and didn't know it (SEE! I'm not the only one, so there!). She said she went in to wash her hands, and when she went to dry her hands off she turned around and saw a row of urinals. It wasn't until that moment that she realized what she had done. Bless her soul. In the middle of her story the Men's Restroom door flew open and out came two little boys who were laughing and goofing off and right behind them was an elderly man. He walked right up to me and said with bulging eyes "I can't believe you'd let a little girl go into the MEN'S RESTROOM." He was absolutely shocked at my motherly actions. And before I could respond with anything, the wife spoke up and told her husband that it was okay, after all 'her brother was just helping her out'. Well. Okay then. For some reason at that moment I had no words. I just looked the man dead in the face and was shocked at how shocked he was that I let my child, MY BOY, go in the Men's Restroom. I was a slight bit confused perhaps? In past instances where something like this happened, I'd just politely correct the person and move on, not skipping a beat, but that day I was just - speechless. And I'm not going to lie, this isn't the first time that Isaac's been mistaken for a little girl. With the long hair and the precious curls and all I can see why people would at first glance mistake him for a little girl. Very stereotypical in my opinion but that's okay, I take no offense. I choose to keep his hair long, it sort of comes with the territory I suppose. But I have to ask in my defense, do people not pay attention to other characteristics belonging to the child? Like say perhaps the clothes they are wearing, or whether or not they have bows and ribbons in that long, curly hair that made whomever assume the child was a girl? Generally in my experiences no - not at all. I admit that he was in need of a haircut. And I admit that I was in love with his long, curly hair and didn't want to cut it. Isaac obviously could care less as he's more interested in trying to get away with eating chocolate for breakfast and breaking anything he can get his hands on. He's a handful and is 100% ALL BOY. A three year old boy, with a new haircut.

Now let me tell you this, while he might be lacking excessive amounts of hair, he's not lacking any personality at all. Yes Isaac, Mommy is a little sad too that you have hardly any hair left on your head.

Yes, I was a little shocked that the nice lady that cut your hair asked us what we'd like and then did what she wanted. She kept cutting, and cutting and cutting. Your hair got shorter, and shorter and shorter....

Yep, I too am still in shock!

It's okay, I'm still the same ole' Isaac!

It's not so bad. After all - he's still a cutie pie!

Weekly Winners 1/18 through 1/24

Things that are blue. At the playground. You know?

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Well You Might as Well JUMP!

I like to keep busy. I cannot sit around the house for any length of time without eventually getting up to find something to do. That's why when the weekend rolls around; I'm usually dying to get out of the house. I want to make the most of the two days and do something. Especially when the weather outside is beautiful. And let me just tell you, the weather as of late has been beautiful. So on Saturday we took a drive and ended up at Lake DeWeese in Westcliffe, Colorado. I've heard some good things about Lake DeWeese, compliments and such about the lake and its pure beauty. There is an abundance of fish in the water and the land is vast surrounding the lake which makes for some good camping. Since we went on a few camping trips last year that were quite pleasant, the plan is to venture out again this Spring/Summer for some more, and Lake DeWeese was a location we had in mind. Visiting it on Saturday was a good idea in theory, however I didn't give much consideration to that fact that it's mid January and that 1.) the roads in and around the lake were snow packed and 2.) the lake was frozen solid. You definitely get a different perspective of things with those variables, but hey, it was in the 60's. And snow capped mountains can be an out of this world sight. And did I mention that we really didn't know exactly where the lake was located? Through some trial and error (and an awesome in-car navigation system) we managed to find it, but then found ourselves on a snow packed road in a car with no 4Wheel Drive. We could see the snow covered, solid as ice lake, but couldn't get to it on the road we were on. So we got out of the car to stretch our legs and the boys played around in the snow instead.

We could see the lake from where we were, we just weren't sure how to get there.

That's Lake DeWeese Village in the distance. Lake DeWeese is over there somewhere too.

While the boys were playing a local resident that was passing through stopped to see if we needed any help. We told him that we were just stretching our legs and engaged in a 20 minute or so conversation with him about the local area. After the boys feet were nice and wet, we loaded them back up into the car and started heading for the town of Westcliffe, but on the way we saw a sign that actually took us right to the village, and right down to the waters edge.

For the first time ever we walked on water. Frozen water! And witnessed some locals partaking in ice fishing. The experience was beyond cool and made our trip totally worth it. Heck, just driving there to see the landscape alone was totally worth it. We spent the rest of our afternoon walking around the quaint town of Westcliffe, enjoying the sights and then come dusk we called it a day and headed home. Here are some other notable photos that I took on our trip, the first being one of many 'signs' I photographed. It says: The House by the Side of the Road. Click it to see it enlarged. I can't wait to visit again in Spring / Summer time. It's certainly a little slice of heaven.

Weekly Winners 1/11 through 1/17

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Well

It's a marvelous night for a moondance....

'09 has just begun and already it's flying by

Wow, it's been almost a week since we visited! I sure hope you all enjoyed staring at my most recent photos that I posted instead of reading the non-existent insightful words about my Christmas and New Years or maybe even those pesky resolutions that I may or may not have made for 2009. However you look at it, time has not stood still even though a new year has begun. We had a quiet Christmas celebrated at home with the boys and then celebrated again later in the day with my Mom & Dad. We also enjoyed a nice dinner that my Mom prepared and really just spent the day relaxing and hanging out. I don't think I would have chosen to celebrate it any other way, unless you include celebrating it with ALL of my family near and far. In a nice, warm, tropical locale like Tahiti. But then it just wouldn't have felt like Christmas so who am I kidding? New Years for us was just as quiet. We opted to stay home this year unlike years past and to be honest I think I was asleep by 12:15AM. We did manage to watch the annual fireworks that a group of hikers set off at midnight exactly from the top of Pikes Peak, all from the comfort of our home through Isaac's bedroom window. In the eleven years that we've lived in Colorado, we've managed to see them TWICE. As soon as the show was over, off to bed we went. SEE ABOVE. The morning of New Years Day however was when the excitement arrived at the Jones household when I had an unexpected encounter with something at the landing of my upstairs staircase in the wee hours of the morning. Yes I was still half asleep, and yes it was still dark out but I know a moving critter when I see one. Actually let me rephrase that, when I feel one. In a scramble to find the light switch all the while watching 'The Critter' I flipped on the light (and woke up the entire house) to find a wee little brown mouse hauling ass DOWN the stairs. It reached the bottom and made a sharp right turn to disappear into thin air. I spent the next 15 minutes or so ranting and raving out loud (to myself) wondering WHY it was upstairs and also? Where did it go? I went back to bed when I had settled down, however resumed hunting as soon as I was awake and had consumed my morning coffee. Make no mistake about it, the hunt was on at that specific moment and even now as I type this, it's not over. (Mouse Count = 3) (And I think there are more (most likely yes?) taking advantage of our warm cozy house and quite possibly mistaking our pantry as The Old Country Buffet). And for those of you that dare to inquire, I will share with you the details of Capture Number Two, with the disclaimer that it is not a story for those with a weak heart. Or stomach. And if you are wondering, NO, I am not afraid of mice. Just grossed out by them because THE POOP. It's everywhere. Also in the days we enjoyed away from work it snowed! TEN INCHES worth. I was so relieved that the kids could actually use their winter gear that they got for Christmas because I knew for sure as soon as we bought it that not a speck of snow would fall for the rest of winter. We also got hit with a horrible sickness (everyone but me), and Isaac had his first ear infection since he had tubes put in. Which let me add, we found out after visiting the doctor that the tube in the ear that was infected was sitting at the base of his eardrum at the time of the diagnosis. It has since fallen out, which we can confirm as Keven pulled something small and blue from Isaac's ear when giving him his round of ear drops. It is not at all what I expected it to be. Our schedule has pretty much returned to normal since the beginning of this week meant back to work for Keven and I and daily drop-offs at daycare for the boys. Keven Jr. goes back to school tomorrow and then the routine will be as it was before the holiday. It's amazing that Keven Jr. didn't forget hardly any of his sight words in the two weeks he was out. Seems like ages ago that he stepped foot in his school. I hope that the week goes off without a hitch, wish us luck! So, there you have it. Our New Year brought us furry little house guests, 10 inches of snow and resolutions that may or may not include: learning sign-language, knitting, watching more movies & reading more books, getting better organized, diet & exercise and more travel just to name a few. It's 2009 - I'm shooting for the moon.