Body Parts

Just some more photos from before the trip--

Our Trip...

One of our MANY rest stops.



Four days of driving is the most exhausting thing we can imagine.



Oh man, was it a long drive or what?



Ok! We're ready to go hiking with Mommy!




On our new front porch.


Did someone say snow?


Playing in the sprinkler.

Photos Finally!

We made it!



No, this photo is not enhanced in any way. That is the view from the street one block from our house. We had a lot of rain the past few days and the surrounding mountains got snow. Walden is in North Park, which is basically a valley surrounded by mountains on four sides. The nearest cities are Laramie, WY, Steamboat Springs and Granby, CO. All are about an hour away. We really love being here so far and are enjoying the quiet small town life. But if you were to ask me how I like it in the middle of winter, you might get a different answer. Kevin has been quite generous and babysat for the girls while I've been on a hike the last two weekends. When the rain finally cleared this morning, I grabbed my hiking shoes and the dogs and went to Rainbow Lake in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. It was a 35 minute drive and just an amazing 3 hour hike through aspen groves and pines; we stopped at the lake and enjoyed the view and we even walked through snow.




...Our kitchen



...our "driveway"



...and our new backyard.

Growing, growing...

We had a weigh-in today. Elise is still fit to fight in the heavyweight category, coming in at 26 pounds. Linnaea is doing well, too, coming in at 22 pounds. The funny thing is that Linnaea is the more adventurous eater, she just eats less of whatever it is. We're still trying to tempt Elise's palate with meat and beans but she's developed some funny ways of telling us she doesn't like them. Once she took a mouthful of food, immediately decided she didn't like it, grabbed a towel that happened to be sitting on the table, opened her mouth and proceeded to wipe the food off of her tongue with the towel. Today she realized that she can get rid of some of the unwanted food on her tray by placing each cube of food on Linnaea's tray, one at a time. This is an improvement over throwing everything on the floor.

This past weekend our friends Jonathan and Lisa came to visit and say goodbye before they go to Vietnam for 18 months. We took a trip to the park and the girls got to go down the big girl slides. Jonathan and Lisa both took them down the big red spiral slide. Their favorite was a long blue one with humps. Once, I let Elise down without anyone at the bottom to catch her (thinking she wouldn't go fast enough to go over the edge), so she went flying down one hump, two humps, then bumped on her butt on the ground. It was funny.

We're going to make a trip to the library tomorrow!

Welcome to Walden! (Photos to follow)

Well, I realized I never post because I'm always trying to make time to get some photos uploaded, and I know you all look forward to the pictures the most, but I have got to finally post an update of what is happening in the Kovacs household.

First, we made it to Colorado! We arrived in Walden last Wednesday after 4 grueling days on the road. Kevin's mom came with us and was an absolute lifesaver. I don't know what we would have done had we not had that extra set of hands at all the rest stops to help with the girls and the dogs. Kevin drove the moving truck and trailer while me, Grandma Sue, Elise, Linnaea, and the dogs were packed into the Subaru. Thankfully, we don't have any exciting stories from the road which is exactly how we like it.

So now we're in Walden and what have we been up to? Well, the house we are renting is really big and has a great backyard. The girls have their own toy room next to their bedroom, we have a separate computer room, large living room, and a good sized bedroom and guest bedroom. We do have 2 bathrooms, one even has a groovy green toilet. We have a REALLY nice park 2 blocks away and a public swimming pool and library that we have yet to visit. Our phone guy has already offered to take us fly fishing, which we are really excited about. Kevin LOVES his new job but has been working really long days so they can show him all of the sites he needs to be familiar with. Once September comes he'll be stuck in the office so the days will become more reasonable.

Now...all the things that Linnaea and Elise have been up to! Elise has been waving "ba-ba" for quite a while now, and she continues to do it to every single car and motorcycle that passes our house (we get a bit of traffic since we're right on Highway 14). Both girls want to know what EVERYTHING is by pointing and asking "Ba?" or "Ga?". We taught them about bellybuttons about a month ago and were having so much fun with that that we forgot to move on to the other body parts. So just this week they've learned hair, nose, ear, and toes. Sometimes when Elise is trying to remember toes, she'll put her hands to her hair really fast before she puts them to her toes. They aren't saying any words besides bye-bye but they recognize all sorts of things like window, shoes, juice, milk, peas, cheese, etc. They play with everything in the house except their toys. Favorite things include shoes, underwear, boxes, and any sort of bottle from the refrigerator. They are finally getting their molars in which explains why they have been taking turns waking up and screaming every night.

I really hope to post a bunch of pictures and a video soon but I will at least try to post smaller updates so they don't become so lengthy.

Birthdays and Weddings

Daddy swims with Elise. She was happy for about 15 seconds.



Elise's favorite toy was the cake tupperware lid. Hours of entertainment!



Who says you need expensive toys? A simple box is invaluable!



Linnaea throws a tantrum...again.



Walking the gangplank. Argh!



Look at those gorgeous blue eyes!




I love cheerios...and smiling at the camera!



Mommy always holds Linnaea.


We went down to Florida the week before Memorial Weekend for Aunt Carolyn's wedding. The week before we went, we all had a fantastic stomach flu so we were really ready for a vacation. Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls so Kevin and I could have a day off and go to Busch Gardens. It was the best day ever! There were no lines the whole day long so we walked on to every single roller coaster without a wait. Kevin even went on the Sheikra 3 times in like 10 minutes while I waited. Unfortunately I was feeling a little motion sick so I had to pass on the super scary coaster. But the next day, we discovered we brought the stomach flu from SC because Kevin's parents both got sick, especially Grandma :-(. A day later Carolyn got it too. Thank goodness we all got well by the wedding day! We wanted to send Carolyn off to her Mexcian honeymoon healthy, and maybe her insides got a little training for eating and drinking down there.

We tried to give the girls a party, but no one came except Great-grandma, because everyone was terrified of our flu. We gave the girls cake but they were scared of it. They wouldn't even touch it, and when they did so on accident they started to panic. We had a few good swims in the pool, or at least a few good dips on the steps. They didn't really like being in the pool, just playing around on the stairs.

Also, we went to our one year doctor's checkup when we got back. Elise is in the 90th percentile for height and 95th for weight. She measures in at 24 pounds and 30 3/4 inches. Linnaea is taller, measuring 31 1/4 but is only 21 pounds. They got two shots with really long needles and had sore legs he next day. Every time Elise tried to stand she would just wail. It was so sad. She did take her very first independent steps on her birthday, but no more action since then!