St Patrick's Day and Friends Visiting

Every year Denver has a St. Patricks Day Parade. It's the second largest of its kind in the US but I think it's so big because anybody, and I mean ANYBODY, can be in it. Imagine standing on the sidewalk while 23 PT Cruisers from the Denver PT Cruiser Club drive by. Ditto with the Jeep club, VW Club and the Harley Club. It was still fun though and Clare had a good time. This is a picture of Debra and Clare watching the Colorado School of Mining College Band. I know, you've never head of that school. But from what I understand, it's a VERY tough school for engineering. It seems they have a sense of humor though and I enjoyed the bands a little more then the irish dance groups. Clare's favorite group was the Knights of Columbus who were giving out jumbo tootsie rolls. I kind of liked them too now that I think about it. Another funny group was a bunch of guys in Hawaiian shirts TRYING to do synchronized marching with lawnchairs.






Last week I spent a few days in the mountains in a cabin with some friends from California while Debra's friend Hillary stayed at our house with her little girl Callie. Callie is about the same age as Clare and the two of them had a great time hanging out with Debra and Hillary. They all went to the Childrens Museum, the Butterfly Pavillion and the amazing indoor play area of our rec center here in Broomfield. Here are some shots Debra took of the girls running around and playing in the sandbox in our backyard. I didn't get to spend much time with Hillary and Callie but the next time they come out I'll definitely be here so I can enjoy their company and watch the girls play too. Hillary took most of the pictures so we're looking forward to checking them out on her blog which is listed here in the links section of our blog.




And to finish things off, here's a picture of Clare with dad modeling her new swimsuit.

POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!

Clare is potty trained! WOOHOO!!!!!

Two weeks ago Clare's daycare told me to bring in a bunch of panties and that they were switching her over. There was no transition. One day diapers, the other panties. The room Clare is in at her school is full of other kids that are already potty trained so she was already using the toilet at school but she was still quite content to go in her diaper here. So after we switched at home too there were a few accidents but she quickly decided she didn't like the feeling of a wet daiper and now she's pretty much done. Here's a picture of her after she "pooped" for the first time in the toilet here at home showing off her new "big girl" panties. Of course all future boyfriends will see this picture. OK...maybe I won't do that. Anyway, she was VERY proud and so were we!

Last weekend we all went down to the science museum to look at dinosaurs. I really love the Denver science museum and they just opened a fantastic show marking the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birthday. They're showing some amazing things, the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution among them. Clare, as always, had a great time running around looking at all of the animals and dinosaurs.

In two weeks I'm going up into the Rockies to geek out at a cabin with 3 friends from So Cal and my friend Ian from Colorado. At the same time, Debra and Clare will be entertaining her friend Hillary from So Cal and Hillary's daughter Callie. Callie and Clare are pretty much the same age so while I'm really looking forward to hanging out with my buddies, I'm just as excited for Clare to be able to hang out all weekend with Callie. Of course Debra will have a great time too catching up with her good friend Hillary as well and I won't worry as much being away for the weekend with Debra being 7 months pregnant. Speaking of which, our little package is getting restless. You can see Debra's belly moving all over the place! Having another baby in the house is going to be great and Clare is going to be a fantastic big sister to her little brother.