Water fun!

This afternoon we went biking at our little cemetery again.. It was pretty hot and Lilja was melting down.. enter some sprinklers and she was as good as new :)

Iron horse 2014

This year Aran was going to ride the Iron Horse again. The bikerace has the bikers race against the train.. from Durango to Silverton!!Aran has done it for the last 6 years and seems to be getting better and better. I had to pick him up in Silverton, but instead of driving saterday morning very early.. I ended up at the China Clipper Inn Bed and breakfast in Ouray on Friday morning that is owned by a Dutch friend of mine. They have a five year old daughter that is turning out to be one of Liljas favorite friends. But at 6pm Friday night Aran called and the course was shortened by a lot, because they were expecting snow.. let's just say the snow never appeared, so someone is going to be in trouble.. But oh well, Aran still road to Purgatory and I had a wonderful breakfast with Ingrid. Hans and Charlotte. So I guess the weekend still was a success.

 

 

 

charlotte and Lilja hand in hand.. They are such great friends. Both only children and seem to play very similar. They love to be Kitty cats ,have a picnic, play with bubbles and draw.. Charlotte is definitely a leader . something Lilja needs in a friend. they played all of Friday together without a quarrel or tiff.

we hiked the box canyon trail , which has a  big waterfall and you can walked it in a loop.  Very impressive..

You could not really see the waterfall, but you could hear it..

such great friends

now what are we going to do??

Paint the walls with mud!!

this grotto was at the ottom of the waterfall. It was sooo loud you could not hear yourself! The pictures of the water did not come out good ;( 

Look at the water below.. it was so high and the waterfall was just raging!



next day we saw the criterium down town.. Lilja was being a ham today!

I guess I took too many pictures!!

such a silly girl!

this weekend

Trying to clean my car.. Lilja style..

let' just say the car was dirtier after she was done with it..

The taste of Durango was this weekend, yummy food and fun kids activities.. here Lilja was trying to find a toy.. a bathtub full of popcorn??? Lilja's favorite dream!!,

what did she find?.. out of all those fun toys, she finds the only candy in the whole bathtub.. go figure!!

Sherif lilja

Our hummingbirds

Yep, laughing at my self.. Aran actually said.. "there is one too many persons in this equation..

Dancing kitty cat

Ye, Lilja is going to be on Dancing wit the stars... maybe.. but as you can see, she has competition..

Fox Fire Farms

 

Daddy was training for the Iron Horse Bike race next week, so Lilja and I took JT with us to The Taste of Spring at Fox Fire Farms. The kids got to hold baby animals, go on a tour in a wagon and dance to some fun music.. Great start of the spring!! the photos seem a little out of sequence, sorry




At the middle of the tour we got out and visited an old school house that the farm renovated. a huge blackboard covered the wall. Lilja is really practicing her name!!

on our tour.. our favorite thing of the day.. lots of baby lambs and huge bumps from the rain a couple of days ago.

the three muskateers



a little baby duck was one of the animals they could hold



and a little bunny...

one day old baby lamb. Yes they painted her pink!! 

 

the little lambs loved Lilja and she was in her element..

JT thought he did not want to pet them, but once he was in , he was hooked and we sat there petting them for the longest time.

and what did she want to be ....can you guess??

Ofcourse Lilja was a kitty cat for the facepainting..

mother' day, swimming and hiking.. a full week!!

Lilja is learning to swim with leaps and bounds. we really wanted to find something that would give her some confidence and we found it!! the last couple of weeks she has been getting one -on-one lessons with Ms Sue and you can really see the difference. Right now, she can float on her back.. blow bubbles through her nose, jumped OFF the side with no help and today (with me) she even went under water!! I am loving seeing her learn so fast and really enjoying the water. I realize I love to swim and am just getting out there and joining that little girl with something she loves to do.. Oh well, that my hair is a frizz ball, oh well that my skin is oh so itchy.. oh well that mascara is running down my cheeks.. just looking at lilja truly enjoying herself and being with me ... priceless!!

yes, she has no floaties and is floating by herself.. actually kicking towards Ms sue!!

I was holding my breath just watching her kicking from the right of the picture to ms sue!!

she can almost float by herself , but her mind overcomes her body.. 

now they are focusing on stretching out

A little wet suit to see if she would not be as cold, because the water is freezing.. but this one was still too big and did not help too much. she does not mind the cold though..

My mother's day picture.. love lilja's "little smile"

yes she is posing for me.. now I have a little model on my hands!!

Climbing on the boulders at Turtle Lake, we go here when chief, the black dog goes with us.. not a lot of climbing but fun things to do. 

OK, this is the end result of a little girl thinking is was fun to make a mud slide and slide down it .It was worse than it looks!! Hallelujah for Sun soap!!! Mam, bring more please!!

I was literaly standing right at the bottom of this slide talking to my neighbor, but did not realize Lilja's "watering of the plants" had turned the ground muddy.. Well, Lilja did..

You have seen many photos of Lilja getting dirty and I will join right in. But this time I was between laughter and upsetness..With my neighbor, laughing up a storm.. Upset, because Lilja's new shoes were horrible expensive, the water has been running ( drought here in dgo) and the grass is ruined and upset at myself that I did not notice soon enough.... But laughing, because it was just soooo funny, and she was so proud of her experiment..I asked Lilja what she could have done different . Get my crocs and bathing suit??  Yep... amongst other things....  

 

My favorite day of the year!

Mother's day is my favorite day of the year. Not my birthday, not x-mas.. but the day that celebrates me being a mom. The most rewarding, funnest, hardest and most challenging job in the world!! Every year I want to say thanks to Jasmin, who chose me as being Lilja's mom and also thank  James for approving of me as Lilja's mom. And ofcourse I could not be the mom I am without Aran being such an amazing husband and father. We are great parents together and an amazing little family! I feels so lucky to have Lilja as my daughter; she makes my day every day , gets my grumpies away and makes me look forward to waking up and starting to be a mom all over again. I always wanted to be a mom, and this little girl makes me never regret that decision. Even when she is sad, or anxious, she always comes to me for hugs and love and I will give that to her each and every day as long as I live. That's why I love Mother's day!! Looking back at all the photo's, this time I wanted it to be about me... and my daughter... enjoy!!

first time meeting Lilja..

my first mother's day

loving those cheeks

 

oh those lambies!!

two peas in a pod!!

But most of all a thank you to my mom, as she is an inspiration to me as a mom. Through thick and thin she is always there to support me. Thanks mom!