So, it's February! Here's some Christmas photos. The boys had a great Christmas (thanks is due in no small part to generous grandparents).

Abe, er... Ben got a remote controlled Jeep for Christmas. It's Abe's favorite toy.

With the new year, Abe is no longer a Sunbeam. He's a CTR and he loves his ring.

He also loves chocolate ice cream. He doesn't get it often, but when he does, he makes the most of it.

We had a few birthdays in January. For Stephanie's birthday, we went to the National Western Stock Show. We tried to get a picture of Abe with some animals, but he was more interested in the hardware.

We got a picture of Hank and some llamas.

As part of the Super Bowl promotion, Sobe was giving away free 3D glasses for a commercial they ran. We didn't watch the Superbowl, but we got some glasses for Abe. Have you ever tried Etch-a-Sketch in 3D? Crazy-wild!

Hank didn't care to watch the game - it was a little above his division. Go Preschool!

Okay, we'll try and be back before summertime...

Update and Dry Ice Bubble Experiment

There is a lot to catch up on. It has been some time since our last post. First, I'd like to anounce that I published my first primary author paper. It is free access so if you feel so inclined you can find it on the Macromolecules website and download it for free. This time, I even managed to spell my own name correctly which feat eluded me in my previous publication (on which I was second author).
We spent Thanksgiving in Oklahoma (go Sooners, beat Florida). Abe is here at the Duck Pond across the street from where our first residence stood before it was leveled to a parking lot. While in OK I had to do some work at the engineering center and for sentimental reasons, parked right on top of where our living room/dining room/kitchen had been located.

Hank, here, looks like a real Fairbanks. He definitely has Pappy's expressive eyes.
Hank did not get two naps a day as he is accustomed but he fit in some sleep where he could. Here he is asleep while holding onto a string of beads we attached to the "oh crap" handle. Those beads were one of my best ideas ever; they kept Hank pacified for hours on the drive out to and back from Oklahoma.

Back in Boulder, Abe and Mama get ready for Christmas by making cookies.Hank looking in the mirror box at the Boulder library.
Abe and Hank love each other, even if they don't always share.

Finally, the dry ice bubble experiment. As you can see, this movie was not taken in December. It was taken in October, but we just hadn't gotten around to posting it. The bubble maker is all PVC. You can get an idea of what pieces are involved just by watching, but I, not being a plumber, could not tell you the specific names. It was so fun and so easy to do. If you want to do this as well and have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Halloween 2008

We had fun. Here are some pictures. Abe was Cliff Hanger.

Hank was, um... himself (we never did find that skunk costume). Here's a picture of Abe goofing off for Hank, who is easily entertained.

Pumpkins!!! Since we weren't dressing Hank for Halloween, we decided to dress one of our pumpkins as Hank (dressed as a pumpkin).


Dressing our pumpkins as our kids seems to be a new Halloween tradition. Here's Angry Kid Abe from last year.This year's other pumpkins turned out well, I think.
Happy Halloween!

Elk

Well, as explained below, we recently upgraded our computer so we're now able to do some things with our blog that we've been wanting to do. Namely, add videos! So forgive us, but we're going to be adding some older things here for a while, but we'll start with one that's still in season (almost).

So every fall we've lived in Boulder, we have taken the 45-minute drive up to Estes Park to watch the elk rut. It is soooo cool. We've had some really great experiences, and this year, we actually went twice in one week, so we were exposed to more. The first trip we focused on the Sheep's Lake area near the northern entrance to the park. There's a huge meadow with a nice parking lot overlooking and as many, many elk congregate there, it's a very popular spot for people to come and watch. The rangers are wonderful - they know absolutely everything about the rutting season and are on hand to answer your questions, such as, "When does a deer turn into an elk?" (True story - it was in the RMNP newsletter). Anyhow, Ben got this great footage of a bull tearing up the earth and tossing it around (listen to all the other bulls in the valley bugling in the background):



When Ben asked the ranger what he was doing, the ranger said he was making a cocktail of elk urine and dirt and covering himself in it for the ladies. Mmm, Eu du Elk.

Next, we were lucky to catch two young bulls practicing their sparring skills for next season. We were about half a mile away from them, but you can still hear their antlers knocking together:



As cool as that was, our next trip was better. We decided to try another area of the park, a little further south. We just drove around until we saw a bunch of cars parked alongside the road and people crowded around, looking down the mountainside. At first the herd was pretty far away, but they quickly moved close enough until they were all about thirty feet away from us. I handed Hank to Ben (who went with almost everyone else back close to the road) and Abe and I climbed up on some rocks and got this:

It was SO COOL. Most of that footage was totally un-zoomed. That bull elk was probably ten feet away from me at the closest.

Rocky Mountain is such a gorgeous place. That evening (dusk is the best time to watch the elk), they were doing a controlled burn, it was chilly, and the leaves on the aspens were turning. It was absolutely the best way to usher in the Autumn season.

So come visit us in late September/early October - we'll treat you to some of this!

Excuses

Okay, I feel we owe our loyal fans who check our blog (all three of you) an explanation of why we haven't updated in more than a month. Not that this is the first time, but this time, we actually have drafts of a couple posts saved, we just can't finish them because our computer is dying. So stay tuned - our new one ships on Friday and we should be up and running again sometime next week.

After that, I'm not sure what my excuse will be.

Eldest

With the celebration of his fourth birthday Wednesday, I thought I'd dedicate a post to our Abers. The night before his birthday, Ben and I were both in tears as we talked about Abe and how grateful we are for what he has given us these last four years. Mom always cursed me to have a daughter just like me, but I think I got a son instead. Abe was born with strong opinions about everything, and he's never been afraid to voice them.


Thankfully, he's as apt to show his joy as he is anything else.



Abe is a wonderful big brother. He loves Hank, and Hank adores him.


Abe loves food. LOVES it.


Abe's interests are quite varied.

He loves to play games - like Scrabble.


He loves to be outside, playing with sticks, grass, and leaves, doing what all little boys do - you know, forming letters.

Oh, here he is eating again. And making letters.


He loves to play with blocks...

...is there a theme here?

He loves art projects at school, such as painting and stamping - letters, what else?

Always fashion-conscious, he loves his letter bling.

In short, this kid is:


Happy 4th Birthday, Abe. We love you so much!

Abe and Hank: Twins

One of these pictures is of Abe when he was almost six months old. The other is a recent picture of Hank. See if you can tell which is which:



I'm sure it's not really that difficult to tell if you pay attention to the clothing they are wearing, or the fact that when Abe was six months old, I didn't have a beard. But I think they look alike.

Anyway, I know it's been hotter in other parts of the country, but that doesn't make it feel any cooler here. Hank is doing his best to escape the heat:

Abe had some respite from our summer heat after earning an ice cream party by reading a book by himself every day of the month of July.



Pictures in no particular order, with no explanatory caption: