Christmas Part II

For some reason, blogger wouldn't let me upload more pictures to the previous post. So here you go.

Dad's birthday is on Christmas Eve, which is very difficult for a 4-year-old who thinks that Christmas Eve should be about presents for everyone.

Aunt Ailey helps Hazel write a very special note to Santa.

Christmas morning did indeed come. Look who got an Ariel costume!

Cousin Halleck just wanted to eat everything.

And Cousin Eli was very in to his Spiderman.

And his Super Hero costume of course.

Tygh got some presents too but he was a little underwhelmed by the whole thing.

Though awfully cute.

Uncle Ritchie was a trooper and helped Hazel make princess purses with her new purse-making kit. Who knew Ritchie had such style?

Christmas Part I

Everyone was in Sammamish for a whirlwind Christmas trip. Arriving at 11:30pm on Saturday night and leaving at 6:30am on Wednesday morning meant for some condensed but quality family time.

On Christmas Eve, Hazel dressed Tygh up in a pink crown. He was ambivalent.

Dad's birthday happens to fall on Christmas Eve. Hazel thought the cake should have been for her.

This pretty much sums up what it's like to have a preschooler and an infant.

Off to Seattle

It's a 4 hour drive to the Denver airport. The cool kids sit in the back of the car and observe roadside wildlife. (and try not to drive Mom and Dad insane)

Must Be Supervised At All Times

Big Sister's mission in life: Immerse Baby Brother in the Barker Family Lifestyle.

Little Brother's mission in life: SURVIVE.

Sundays at Crested Butte

Are a lot like Sundays, but with no ski lessons. So Hazel gets to hang out in the Children's Museum longer and show off her skills to Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad get to trade the kids off while they ski. And sometimes, there is a holiday party for Dad's work and Tygh gets to sit on Santa's lap (Hazel refused and ran the other direction).

Tygh sat in Santa's lap at Western State Colorado University during the faculty and staff Christmas Party.

Saturdays at Crested Butte

usually involve ski lessons (Hazel), skiing (Mom and Dad) and a lengthy visit to the Children's Museum, conveniently located at the bottom of the ski lift (Tygh).

And sometimes after skiing, mom and Hazel go on a dinner date and, in this case, to a dance recital. Mom decided that 5 hours of ski lessons plus dinner plus a dance recital? WAAAAAY too much for a 4-year-old. Lesson learned. Next time, we'll just chill out at home after ski lessons.

Rudolph Roundup

The Gunnison Parks and Recreation Dept. puts on a holiday extravaganza for kids with crafts, food, Santa, games in the pool, bouncy houses, photo booth...it's crazy. 

12.4 pounds and it's all in his cheeks

What? You don't watch tv like this?

Christmas Sing Along

Hazel's school prepared a Christmas Sing Along for the parents. It was, of course, adorable. :)

Hazel's message to Grandma

Grandma was recently in the hospital so Hazel decided to sing her a song and send her a message.

Tygh

We love him. (14 weeks old)

Normal life?

Ok, so it wasn't our first REAL full weekend in Gunnison. It was actually our second. But it was much closer to what we want our normal life to be like than a week ago when we didn't have any furniture.


On Friday, everyone celebrated Dad's first full week of work and Hazel's first full week of school at Garlic Mike's:

And then on Saturday, Hazel had her first ski lesson! She is enrolled in Cruisers at Crested Butte, a 12-week program on Saturdays for five hours a day. She was SO. EXCITED.

Hazel quickly showed her class how it's done on the Hood.

On Sunday, everyone woke up to 3 inches of snow. We live right next to Western State Colorado University. Dad worked on teaching Hazel to shovel snow from the walkway. Hazel was more interested in shoveling snow on the grass.

No snow storm is complete without snow angels.

After some snow play, everyone headed up to Crested Butte for some skiing. Pre-skiing, it was time to visit the Trailhead Children's Museum which is right at the base of the lift.

There's even a space for Tygh at the museum.

Then it was time for Hazel to show Dad what she learned in lessons.

To cap off a great weekend, Hazel discovered Mom's old dance recital costumes and promptly began putting on a show.

Tygh was obviously fascinated.