Grandma and Grandpa Visit Day 3, Royal Gorge Tour

On Sunday, the third day of G'pa and G'ma's visit we went to the Royal Gorge in Canon City, Colorado. http://www.royalgorgebridge.com/. It was a long day but we had a great time. We started with touring the Royal Gorge Bridge. After lunch we went on a 2 hour train ride down the gorge. http://www.royalgorgeroute.com/ Here are some photos. I will apologize in advance that the whole day isn't posted here, but here are some of them. We took over 100 photos in this one day and I couldn't post them all. Hopefully you can still follow along with the days events. Check it out!

There is a train like contraption that you can ride from the top of the gorge to the bottom. This is Oliver waiting in line to get on it. Here he is snuggling his Dad.

Family photo at the bottom of the gorge by the Arkansas River.They had a petting zoo and a "wide animal" exhibit. Among the wild animals where a heard of buffalo. This white one was kind enough to stand next to the fence for a photo. Notice Oliver isn't afraid. He sticks his tongue out at the big white beast!
The Royal Gorge, Arkansas River and the Bridge from the view point.
What a great family photo op.
The carousel was included in admission, so Oliver had his first carousel ride! He wasn't in the mood for much other than a nap at this point but he went along for the ride anyway.
Oliver seems to think that a shoulder ride from Mom is a great time to get a good grip on all of her blond locks.Now we are on the train. This is a view from the bottom of the gorge from the outside train car.

G'pa and G'ma in the Vista Dome rail car.

Keith, Oliver and Carrie in the Vista Dome rail car.
Carrie and G'pa on the outside rail car enjoying the views.
Back inside enjoying some cooler temps. It was in the high 90's this day.

Carrie, G'ma and Oliver on the outside rail car.

G'ma, Oliver and G'pa on the outside rail car.
This photo cracks me up so I thought I would post it.

Visit from Grandpa and Grandma Garner

This past weekend my parents, AKA Grandma and Grandpa Garner, came to visit from Washington. Oliver LOVED having them here. He was spoiled with attention and love all weekend long. I'm sure he had a lot to tell his friends at school this morning. Between my Mom and I you would have thought the paparazzi were here taking photos of Oliver with all of the camera flashes. Here are some photos from the weekend.

Oliver also learned a few new things while he had a four day weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. He crawled 4 "steps" or knee bends, however you want to look at it. He mastered feeding himself Cheerios and banana. He started sitting up straight in his crib so we had to lower it a level before he realized that he could "alleoup" over the side. He is working on saying Grandpa with a paPA. It was a quick pa with a long Pa. Well, he said this every time Grandpa came around so I'm guessing that was what he was saying. I don't think I updated the blog with his first words, but he was saying a lot of MAMAMAMA and DADADADA several weeks ago. I guess he thinks he has mastered these words because I haven't heard them in almost 2 weeks.

Oliver was skipping school to be with his Grandparents on Friday and he even got to go out to lunch and try his first bread stick. Every time he put it in his mouth he got the funniest look on his face. I think he was confusing it with a banana.

By the way... it is SO nice that he is finally big enough to sit in the restaurant high chairs. The time between when he was little enough to stay in his car seat and big enough for the high chair was tough for eating out.

Hmmm.... it doesn't smell like banana???

Keith says this is a Garner trait since both my Dad and I smell our food.

Oliver and Grandpa after lunch.

Shopping for new toys is hard work!!

Friday night Marion Wells invited my Mom and I for a girls night out. We went to the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison to see the ABBA cover band from Sweden. Here is our group before the show. I can't remember every one's name, but Marion is the second from the left. The guys went up to the Wells' house in Conifer for a BBQ.

Mom and Carrie at Red Rocks ready for "Dancing Queen"!

Swim Lessons, Take 3!
Oliver had his 3rd swim lesson. He was tired and a little cranky so it took him a while to warm up to swim lessons. (Notice the deer in the head lights look) Keith also said the pool was a little cooler than usual. We noticed that several of the kids let out a squeal when they first got in. Maybe the temperature wasn't as warm as usual. They played with the noodles for the first time, which Oliver and Keith liked.

What a weekend of activity!!!
My friend Laurie, who now lives in Orlando, FL, was in Denver for a radiology convention. She flew in on Saturday night and Keith and I went downtown to see her. Laurie and I met when she was stationed at Fairchild AFB in Spokane and I was in my first year of college. 13 years later we still keep in touch.

Carrie and Keith out on the town.

Laurie and Carrie

Keith and I have only been in the BMW together twice since Oliver was born. Needless to say, when he's in the back seat, I don't fit in the front seat because we have to push the seat forward so far. (Don't worry, we put the top up when he's in the back) This is Keith and I on our way home, sitting at a stop light downtown.

This concludes 2 days of Mom and Dad's visit with 2 more to post. Stay tuned for the next installment of their visit.

Mile High Music Festival

Saturday and Sunday I spent my time with 90,000 people in 100 degree heat at the Mile High Music Festival. YIPPEEE!!!! http://www.milehighmusicfestival.com/

Saturday, Keith and I went to the festival together and Oliver stayed home with Ashley, our new found baby-sitter. Ashley is 1 of 8 kids. Yikes! I think she can handle Oliver if she can handle that. Oliver seems to love her and was a true champ while we were out. We are exited that we found Ashley through a friends recommendation.

We arrived at the festival at 3 PM and the car read 104 degrees. The "official" temp on the news was a high of 99, but we know they are never exactly right. We stood in the heat and watched Jason Mraz right off the bat. After the show we met up with Jen, Craig and Bryan in the KBCO shade tent. We saw several more shows including Steve Windwood, O.A.R, Michael Franti and ended the evening with Tom Petty. Keith confirmed with me that he doesn't really enjoy concerts but he still had a good time. The irony is that we met at a concert. Not just any concert, but one that was all afternoon with 5 bands. Maybe back then it was different because that concert was country and he was in the market to pick up chicks. Lucky for me, he was there. We met during Dwight Yoakam. Yee Haw!!! I Do Love Dwight!! :)

Day 2... How could we go a full weekend without a snap shot or two of Oliver. Here is Oliver in the convertible right before I headed off for Day 2. He seemed to love chillin' in the front seat like a big guy.

Since Keith happily volunteered to stay home for a Father Son day I headed off with Jen, Craig, Katie and Bryan. When we arrived at 1:30 the car read 99 degrees. According to the news we topped out at 100 degrees. Once again, we balanced the day between sunshine and shade, which is a sure sign we're getting older, or maybe wiser. We also opted for $3 bottles of water in lieu or standing in line for water out of a garden hose. We complained amongst ourselves (and packed our own the next day) when the Port-A-Potty's ran out of toilet paper, we opted to stand toward the back to avoid fighting the crowds and we left before the final act was complete in order to avoid heavy traffic. Definitely acts of being wiser, so I'll tell myself.

Sunday was a great day of music also. We kicked it off with Ingrid Michaelson followed by One Repubilc, Colbie Caillat, Flogging Molly, Flobots, John Mayer and the finisher, Dave Mathews Band.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Here are a few photos and videos to help share our adventure.

Carrie and Keith self portrait at Jason Mraz

Carrie and Jen self portrait at O.A.R.

Keith and Carrie relaxing in the shade tent

Carrie and Jen heading off to find dinner

Bryan and Keith, happy at last !

"I think I see Tom Petty, WAY up there!"

Day 2, Jen, Katie and Carrie ready for John Mayer

This reminds me of the Cingular commercial

Bryan, Craig, Jen, Katie and Carrie

Concert reviews:

http://search.rockymountainnews.com/sp?aff=1&p=denver_search&q=mile+high+music+festival&sortby=date&sources=site

This is a tid-bit of Tom Petty. Yes, we really were THAT far away!!

I had to post this of Jen and her friends fiance at Flogging Molly. It just cracks me up. It reminds me of the energizer bunny: She keeps going... and going...

Here is a little clip of Dave Mathews Band. I was quite disappointed in their performance, but it is what it is.

9 Month Check Up

Oliver had his 9 month check up on Saturday and passed with flying colors! Nothing like jamming everything in one day! Swim Lessons, 9 month check up and the Mile High Music Festival. He checked in at 20 lbs, 6 oz, which is showing steady gain in the 50th percentile. His head is still LARGE and IN CHARGE at 18 3/4" at the 90th percentile. His height, however, has managed to drop from 70th to 25th percentile. He measured at 27 3/4", only growing about 1/2". I am fully convinced that we didn't get an accurate measurement since he was kicking and crying the whole time she was trying to measure him. I'm not sure why. He is usually a happy clam but for this 30 minutes of our life he wasn't thrilled. The Dr said that this behavior is typical from now until about 18 months for Dr visits. Lucky Us.. Ha, Ha! So, I'm not worried that his growth has stunted, especially since he keeps growing out of his clothes in length. It just proves that he's strong enough to battle his way through the length measurement. Next check up, 12 months. I am willing to be he'll have a miracle growth spurt since we may (or may not) get an accurate length measurement next time around.

Swim Lessons - Take 2

It is week 2 of swim lessons and Oliver is like a fish in water. I think he even has the frog kick for the breast stroke mastered. Ok, so I don't know if it's called the frog kick, but that's what it reminds me of. He is also getting better about the "up, out, down and back" move. Last week he freaked out every time Keith went up out of the water with him. I think it made him upset that he was being taken away from quality splashing time. I am also quite proud of Oliver's back float ability. Most kids tense up and try to sit up. Not Olie, he just floats with the flow. Watch out Michael Phelps, you have Oliver Hamilton hot on your back stroking wake! Well... maybe it's Brendan Hansen for the Breaststroke.

Splish Splash, Taking a Bath!!!

I LOVE this photo!! Can you tell how much Oliver loves to take a bath?!?! He can splash non-stop for 30 minutes. Yet, he will still get upset when you take him out of the tub because he could probably splash for another 30 minutes.

Hiking Golden Gate Canyon

Sunday we went hiking in Golden Gate Canyone with Jen and Craig. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed being up in the mountains. Here are a few photos.