Category: Life in Hollewood

Because we are crazy, we started Tyler on skis this winter at the age of 1.  Or 19 1/2 months, to be exact.  We wouldn’t have done it if he hated the cold, or wouldn’t wear the clothes, or didn’t seem interested.  But he LOVES it.  Loves the snow, loves his snowsuit, goggles, helmet, mittens.  The whole shebang.  We bought a rad helmet at a big sale at REI–it has a blue mohawk!  And he loves being outside.

Before Tyler skied on his own, he took a ride in the pack at age 18 months on Daddy’s back at Snowmass. We skied there with the Taylors on my birthday in February, and they had skied with Burke in the pack before, so we were on board.  Of course, Tyler liked it.  He was so funny to watch just looking around with the wind in his face while Daddy cruised!

To be fair, he’s not really skiing, not by himself, at all.  His first official day was on Easter, at Vail. He willingly stands between Daddy or Mommy’s legs, and we’re working on him standing upright without being a wet noodle. But he loves going fast, riding the magic carpet, and even the lifts!  In my ski school experience most kids hate wearing ski boots. Tyler even loved those despite his feet being so tiny he fell out of his boots a couple of times, which prompted him to hold out his tiny socked foot over the snow and say “shoe.”

At Vail, there’s not a beginner area at the base in Lionshead–it’s at the top of the gondola. Easter Sunday was GORGEOUS and we could not have asked for a better day for Tyler to hit the slopes!

Our day at Vail:

Every time we got to the bottom of the run, Tyler said and signed “more!”  No tears, no “all done.”

We figured we could get an even longer run in if we took the chairlift instead of the magic carpet.  Yes, Mom, we held onto him really, really, really tightly.

The next time Tyler skied was at Breckenridge in April.  Again, we scored another beautiful, warm, perfect, bluebird day.  This time instead of the relatively tiny beginner area, we headed up a main lift.  Employees didn’t bat an eye, but we sure had a number of guests stop to ask us what the heck we were doing with our baby up there.  I think their exact words were “How old is he?!”

Again, Tyler loved every minute, asking for “more” and never wanting to stop.  He is still as a statue on the lift, and continues to be a wet noodle when “skiing.”

At home, whenever Tyler sees his helmet or snowsuit in his room, he says “ski!!!!” and his eyes light up.  He knows.  Unfortunately, he only got out there twice.  But this peanut should fit in his getup next year, and the plan is to ski even more.  We always told parents at ski school that they wouldn’t remember from one time to the next this young…but maybe he will!

 

 

I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to Nebraska on vacation, right?

Eric’s sister, Laura, and her family moved to Lincoln a couple of years ago, and although we visited once for Thanksgiving when Tyler was just a tiny baboo, we hadn’t been back to see the Stumpf’s new house.  So we packed up the truck and headed out after work for the 7-hour drive.  We stopped once, in Kearney, so Tyler could visit his 72nd brewery, Thunderhead Brewing.  A brewery in the middle of rural Nebraska is exactly what you would expect:  the pizza wasn’t bad and the girls were drinking some kind of purple cocktail instead of beer and there wasn’t a diaper changing station.  We made it to Lincoln before midnight.

Saturday we woke up to much chillier weather than we had anticipated and headed to the Lincoln Zoo.  Wow!  We were amazed at how thoughtfully this tiny zoo was put together and marveled at all of the fun attractions for kids.

Side note:  when did our child grow big enough to ride a horse?

We ate some yummy sandwiches for lunch and headed home for naptime.  We had a big afternoon planned at a local winery, James Arthur Vineyards.

If you can imagine a brewery in rural Nebraska, now picture a winery outside of Lincoln. Did you conjure images of bedazzled aprons sporting catchy sayings like “Wine not?”  Can you just see the animal figurines made of wine corks?  Have you ever tasted Carlo Rossi? Yep, that about sums it up.  But the weather warmed up, the kids were having fun, and they gave us cheese, so we actually had a great time.

Sunday morning we went to the church that Andy works for, Christ Lutheran.  It was fun to see what a vibrant service they have, and Tyler loves going to church daycares.  When we got home, Laura declared it was time for an Easter Egg Hunt!  Even though Easter had been the week before, we wanted the kids to have fun together so we went out in the backyard and let them run wild in the sunshine.

Tyler hammed it up for awhile.  Apparently wearing his plumber’s one-piece outfit makes him feel extra silly, but I think it’s so adorable I can’t stand it so I make him wear it for special occasions.

Then we hit the amazing playground in an attempt to get the kids tired.  It didn’t work.

Our last stop was Ploughshare Brewing Co. in downtown Lincoln.  Very cool place with excellent beer, and they even gave us a broom so we could clean up our giant child-mess.

All in all we had a fantastic trip and can’t wait to see these characters again in June. Thanks, Stumpfs!

As with every family, the holidays were a blur for us this year.  Here are a few photos of Tyler enjoying his second Christmas, at home in Colorado.

Tyler was being so stinkin’ cute this day.  Our church celebrates Christmas Eve on the Sunday before, so we attended, saw Santa (around the corner from our house on a firetruck!), and opened presents from my side of the family.

Tyler was an angel around the Christmas tree–we didn’t have any broken ornaments or swimming-in-the-reservoir episodes.  He had fun opening gifts, playing of course with the paper and ribbons.  Thanks for the new toys, books, and clothes Aunt Heidi & Uncle David and Nana & Grandpa!  The Wedgits and Richard Scarry books are some of my faves!

“How do I exchange my dollars for Vermont Money?”–Joey Tribbiani

Way back last year sometime, Eric decided he needed to take a class for work.  A 3-day workshop kind of class, offered by a private vendor at a variety of locations around the country.  When he told me that Vermont was on the list–in OCTOBER!–I knew all 3 of us would be going.  I have ALWAYS wanted to go to the Northeast in the fall.  I wanted to experience the whole deal:  leaf-peeping, cider donuts, and maple syrup tapping.  Ok, I was bummed to learn that the syrup thing doesn’t happen in the fall…but I still wanted Tyler and I to tag along on this trip.  So, we went for four days of family vacation before Eric stayed to take his class.

In true Hollewood vacation style, we didn’t waste a minute.  From the moment we landed in Burlington, we were on the go.  Tyler was a superb traveler and slept all night long in our airbnb–the house had a nursery with a crib, a diaper genie, bath toys, and even a stroller for us to use.  Amazing.

Many thanks to our friends who gave us recommendations and suggestions of all the things to see, do, eat, and drink in and around Burlington.  We ate at Penny Cluse, American Flatbread, and Vergennes Laundry.  We drank at Magic Hat, Fiddlehead, Switchback, Queen City, Zero Gravity, Crop, and Prohibition Pig.  We saw Stowe, Ben & Jerry’s, Shelburne Farms, Shelburne Orchards, and rode the ferry to Essex, NY.  We ate maple ice cream and bought Tyler a little dinosaur we call his Vermontasaurus.

It was so fun to have Tyler there and see him experience things for the first time.  Thinking back now, although it was only 4 months ago, I can hardly believe how much he has changed since then.  He was barely starting to walk–wobbly and holding our hands.  At 14 months old, he was swimming in size 12 months clothes.  And he was still nursing.  I miss that baby!

 

 

So it’s been awhile.  I’m welcoming myself back to Hollewood.  I have lots of excuses.  I could say I don’t have time but that’s not true–I don’t HAVE to go to bed at 8:30.  My old buddy, the 2007 MacBook, bit the dust.  But we got a new one.  Mostly, we never got our photo organization under control.  Photos on phones, the nice camera, and the GoPro. Photos on hard drives, the Cloud, Dropbox, Amazon Photo, and Shutterfly.  So. Many. Photos.  But I’m starting my New Year’s Resolution early and getting this situation buckled down.  Get ready for more blog posts.  Might as well start with this one…

Nana & Grandpa came in from Cleveland in late October.  They were amazing and watched Tyler for THREE whole days while we worked.  My parents make a great tag team in caring for and entertaining Tyler.  Grandpa likes to rock him to sleep singing Beatles songs, and Nana likes to see how much she can get him to eat.  He wasn’t walking yet during their visit, but he exhausted them nonetheless.  In fact, I think they’re still sleeping back in Ohio.

On a super sunny Sunday, we headed to a pumpkin patch after church.  I wanted some cute photos of Tyler in a festive outfit I found in a hand-me-down box.  Enjoy.

We rode bikes into town last night to celebrate Tyler’s birthday.  On the way home, he fell asleep, arms up and all.  Because he didn’t look ridiculous enough with the helmet and the five-point harness.

And this morning, I caught him playing with one of his books: