San Francisco 10/15 - 10/19

Alexis and I just went to San Francisco with Eric for him to attend a conference. We had the greatest time - San Fran is the neatest city; although hard to get around in, it has some really neat sites to see. Alexis and I are ready to go back soon...

Here are the Rockies from the plane as we headed to San Fran.
The first thing we did was get gourmet chocolate and after Alexis and I enjoyed that, we took the boat to Alcatraz Island, which was very interesting.

Alexis and daddy in a cell...

Alexis behind bars...hmmm can I get one of these for the house...just kidding...

Eric among the many cells...

Alexis and daddy in the recreation area...

Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz.

Alexis posing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Alexis looking out to the city before we took the boat back.

Sea Lions at Pier 39 - it was awesome to see so many. If you have never seen these before, I posted a video below.

The next day we headed to the beach...the Pacific Ocean - Alexis has never been to the Pacific Ocean before or really a beach. The first thing she asked me was, "what are those white things?" I told her they were waves, and then she asked, "who makes them" - that was a tough one to explain...

Fillmans in front of the Pacific...

Alexis wanted to get close and check out these "waves" - she is posing here with her feet in the water and about 1 second later, the wave got her. She is still not quite understanding these waves but she did enjoy playing in the sand.

We hung out with military friends who used to live in San Fran and we went to a Halloween party with their old play group. Alexis started off as a cheerleader but got wet in the pool and had to change. They did a pinata...

Then there was Golden Gate Bridge Park where we searched forever for some ducks to feed. Well, when we started feeding the ducks, the geese invaded so my friend came up with Geeshu to scare them away (basically just clapping your hands and stomping your feet). Alexis' buddy, is here with Alexis doing Geeshu.

Another picture with the geese invading...

Alexis with a piece of exotic artwork right in front of our hotel.

A landmark Eric wanted to see was the corner of Haight and Ashbury. Of course, I didn't know what this was...

Fillmans in front of Chinatown - we just loved this place. Faith and Alexis got matching kimonos and Alexis got a China doll and we both picked some necklaces to wear.

Alexis in her kimono and a matching balloon she got the next day.

We walked all the way up to Fisherman's Wharf and here is Alexis in front of the Golden Gate Bridge again.

Pier 39 had an original carousel - it was two stories so Alexis of course wanted to go to the second story...here she is enjoying the ride.

And lastly, here is the video of the sea lions...aren't they loud?

Broncos v. Jaguars Game 10/12

Alexis told us that she would not go to the Broncos game unless she could dress up in her Penn State cheerleader outfit. So I made the outfit as warm as possible. We had a great time watching Jacksonville beat the Broncos. It was bitter cold and it rained, but a lot of hot chocolate helped.

Alexis before we left with her princess Mr. Potato Head pumpkin.

Alexis and her buddy Schnapps with the pumpkin.

Alexis doing her "pose" with her pom poms before we headed to Mile High.

All bundled up at Mile High ready for the game...

Alexis got a Broncos tatoo even though we were cheering for the Jags.

Alexis in front of the Bronco...she kept talking about seeing the Bronco at the stadium...she remembered it from the last time we were here for the CU v. CSU game.
Alexis having a blast in the stands all bundled up...

After the Broncos lost and we started our long trek to the parking lot, Alexis started saying "GO STEELERS" (with the urging of daddy). She attracted a lot of attention from the Broncos fans who didn't quite understand why she was cheering for the Steelers. Eric was in his glory. The second video shows her switch to "GO PENN STATE" which everyone was baffled at...and if you are wondering, mommy did not tell her to say this...she is a true penn stater.

Grapes at the house

Eric noticed that our grapevine in the backyard had a ton of grapes on it so he picked them all off before our first night below freezing - 3 Target bags full. Here is Alexis holding up one of the vines...

Alexis with the bowl of grapes after we picked them all off of the vine...

Washing the grapes - she insisted on doing it herself...

This is the vine in the backyard where all of these grapes came from...the grapes were great and will still have a ton in the freezer.

Alexis playing around and dancing

Just a few pictures and video of Alexis being herself.

Alexis thought she looked funny when she was taking her shirt off one so she asked me to take pictures. Here they are...

Below is a video of what we call Alexis' interpretive dance. We play an 80's CD a lot and she loves it so one day she just all of sudden started doing this dancing and seemed to be right along with the music. We took several videos and I posted one here...

CU v. Texas Game

After the pumpkin patch, we drove up to Boulder to go to the CU v. Texas game. We were so hoping that CU would beat Texas but it just didn't happen. We did have a great time and Alexis got a lot of attention in her cheerleader outfit - she is learning a lot of moves and knows how to move her little tush to the music. A fan commented as we were leaving the game with 2 minutes left "oh, CU's number one fan is packing it in, guess it's over..." Alexis' favorite part of these games are when the buffalo runs around the field - I have included a video of it here.

Here is Alexis in her outfit before we headed up to the game. She is standing by another scarecrow we have in the front yard.

Alexis was doing cheers before we left for the game...

Mommy and Alexis at the game...

Video of the buffalo Ralphie running around the field...he does it when the team comes onto the field in the beginning of the game and again after halftime when the team comes out again.

Four Mile Historic Park Fall Festival

We are so excited that there are so many fall festivals to enjoy here in Denver. The temperature is starting to drop this week and it looks like it is going to get into the 30s by the end of this week. This past Saturday Oct. 4, we headed to Four Mile Historic Park for their fall festival. We got to ride a horse-drawn stage coach - that was Alexis' favorite part. Of course, then we went to the pumpkin patch...

Alexis really liked the white pumpkins.
Here she is telling daddy which orange pumpkin she wants. Of course, daddy has an interest in another pumpkin.

Alexis has finally picked her pumpkin and tries to pick it up.

After we got her pumpkin, she refused to let it go...daddy wanted to take it to the car, but Alexis wanted it to stay in the stroller with the pumpkin. As you might have guessed, that didn't last more than 5 minutes and then she nicely asked daddy to take it to the car.

The last thing we did was make a scarecrow and I stress the WE. We picked out a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans and started stuffing. Alexis did the head, mommy did the shirt, and daddy did the pants.

Work in progress...

Alexis with her scarecrow that is now on our front porch. The hat is supposed to be on the scarecrow but Alexis really liked it so she decided to wear it.