October-November

I keep thinking things will slow down, and they will, eventually, I guess... Just not now.


October was busy with Knute gone hunting (and Gayle flying in to help with Hana and see my mom again) and Hana had a fun Halloween (Princess Leia this year!)

She was also busy trying new things like Poms with the Cherry Creek High School girls - she loved it and wants to do it again.  But her biggest excitement was advancing to Intermediate Gymnastics!  She switched to Tuesday and couldn't be happier about that!  I'm excited for her too.  She is so happy flying all around!


The condo project moved along and is (ALMOST!) done as I type this... just some little things to finish.  I love the kitchen though!!  It's nicer than mine at home.  I hope it starts to rent out soon because we went a tad over budget!!

November brought a sad change. My mom passed away last Friday, November 18th.  She quit eating and drinking on Monday and just seemed to want to go.  It's always hard to lose someone - even after this "long goodbye" of dementia/Alzheimer's - not made easier by the fact that Knute is out of town and I'm overly tired.  But we'll get through this like everything else.  I loved her, tried my best to make sure she was always well taken care of and tried to show her that while she was still here. I hope she knows that I really did try and even though she never wanted to be in a nursing home, I hope she understands that that was the best option for her to get the best care.  I'd like to think she understood that. 

Anyway, off to the Midwest tomorrow to have Thanksgiving with Glenn & Jane in Decorah.  That will be nice.

July-August-September

Summer just flew by! 

July started with our annual Rockies game.  We were treated to a suite for the fireworks game and Hana got to meet Dinger (again!)  We had fun at Pirate's Cove (waterslides!) and the Adele concert, which was awesome!

A LOT of the summer was spent going back and forth to Copper Mtn, because we bought out the family condo and are totally renovating it!  It's coming along nicely, but we'll be happy when it's done!!   Our friends Bruno, Liz and Alexandra game in from Michigan and we met there up there one day.  The girls had a blast zip lining, doing go-karts, the bouncy tramp, etc. all day long.  Hana wanted to go back every weekend!

The other big news was that Maren and Davis we're married on September 17th at Copper.  It was a lovely ceremony and everyone had a great time.  Hana was one of 3 flower girls, which she loved!

Hana continues to do gymnastics weekly and was really inspired by the athletes in the summer Olympics. 

Oh, yeah, she started 1st grade too!  :-)  She's doing really well and loves math and science.  Her reading is improving very quickly too!  We're very proud of her!

May and June 2016

May was fun and exciting!  Hana had her first ever public speaking report.  It was about pandas and she did a great job.  Lots of practice helped and she didn't seem very nervous at all!  She also had her kindergarten "Moosical" to close out her first year at Greenwood.  It was a fun show and she was a goat! 

Then we headed to Iowa (with a stop in Minneapolis for lunch with aunt Gayle and uncle John) for Glenn's birthday and Erika's graduation from Luther College.  It was quite a fun weekend and most of the family was able to come!

Then, the next weekend, Gayle and John came to Colorado for a visit.  They spent time with mom (who is not doing so well) and we did some fun things too... Bruno's for dinner (of course) and some site seeing around town!  It was nice to spend time with them again!

 

 

June has been busy, with Knute's annual fishing trip to Canada with hjs dad and the Balk's and his college friend Bruce, etc...  They had fun, as always! 

 

 

 

Then, we were off to Las Vegas (my first time!) for a short family vacation.  It was HOT!!  No wonder if was cheap!  But we had a blast.  Hana enjoyed 4 of the 5 swimming pools (and 3 hot tubs) and we took Knute to a nice brunch for Father's Day and The Blue Man Group that evening.  That was a BLAST!!  All in all it was a great day and a fun weekend.  We also really enjoyed the water fountain show at the Bellagio hotel. 

 



Hana is finishing out the month at Rainbow Trail Lutheran day camp at Bethany (as she's done the past two summers as well).  But the most exciting new happened last night when she lost her 2nd tooth!!  Well, it was actually the 3rd loose tooth, but the second one has been pushed forward by her other new tooth that decided not to wait to come in.  Hopefully there will be room for #2 (3) to fall out!!  She was pretty excited and the tooth fairy came last night.  She was less impressed with the dollar she received for this tooth, than she was for the $5 she left for her very first tooth.  Rough!  :-)

March & April 2016

In a rush, busy a work.  Right now and seemingly a lot the last two months.  But we had fun too!

In March, we went to Kauai (for a week) and Maui for 4 days.  As "usual", we stayed in Princeville on Kauai, but it was a little different this year, because Hana is older (of course) and the kids that lived in the condo complex where we stayed were on spring break.  Hana met 3 new friends that lived there and another friend visiting from Oregon.  These 5 girls hung out just about every day and had a blast!!  It was a new experience and fun for everyone, I think!

We also did a lot of Hana's other favorite activity, which is swimming.  In the pool an din the ocean, Hana had a blast.  We went snorkeling and saw many cool fish and Knute took her boogie boarding a couple of times in Hanalei Bay.  She was a natural... no surprise there!  :-)

When we landed on Maui, we rented out incredibly overpriced Mustang convertible (long story, but not happy with "Thrifty" car rentals) and headed to the town of Hana.  It was a lovely, but long and twist road.  We stopped to look at these amazing Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, as well as several waterfalls.  The town was cool and we had an amazing dinner.  We headed all the way back to Lahaina the next day.... AFTER a very special visit from the Easter Bunny!!  I think we were all surprised the Easter Bunny found Hana all the way in Hana, HI!!!   Lots to fit in such a short trip! 

On Maui, Knute and I also went diving with our friend Keith.  It was my first ever shore dive and it was great!  We saw more turtles in that dive than I've ever seen in my life (maybe with the exception of the Turtle Farm in Cayman) and it was great!  We also went to dinner with them.

Back in Denver, my mom continues to improve, much to everyone's shock!!  Even though "everyone" told me she'd never eat solid food again, after working with a speech therapist, she started on "real" food again last week!  Just amazing.

 

 

Lots of fun things going on in the neighborhood too.  Hana continues to do gymnastics every week (loves it!) and the neighbors got some chicken, so it been fun to watch them grow.  Also, Hana got a new bike last weekend!  The style fits her better than her old one and she can ride it really fast!  She likes it much better than the other one, for sure! 

 

 

 

Hana is super excited that school gets out in a month and she will be a "grader" (as she calls it) in the fall.  Watch out first grade - Hana is coming!  :-) 

 

January and February

As usual, time has gotten away from me.  My mom broke her hip right before new years, so  she's had a partial hip replacement, a couple of hospital stays and two moves (the 2nd to a nursing care facility even closer to the house!)  She is finally settled into the new place and her rehab is actually going really well.   It's nice to see her smiling again!

Hana has kept very busy during this time.  She and Knute went skiing over New Year weekend (I had to stay home and deal with mom) and she's was killing it on the slopes.  Her teacher said she's ready to move up to the next level.  Very exciting!

 

 

She also celebrated her 6th birthday!  The gymnastics place couldn't hold it, as she had hoped, but she had another fun time at Chuck E Cheese's and pretty much her entire class was able to come (along with some other friends too!)  She continues to take and enjoy her weekly gymnastics classes and has had some fun play dates as well!   Hana went to her first sock hop at school as well. 

 

The BIG news was that she lost her very first tooth in January!  We were all pretty excited when that came out and the tooth fairy even came by that night! 

 

At Bruno's for Hana's birthday (her choice!)

 

Along with Britta and Allen getting engaged in December, Maren and David also became engaged.  We went down to their engagement party on the 13th and Hana had a great time seeing most of her cousins.  Looks like there will be two weddings this year, as Maren thinks they will have a fall wedding, instead of waiting until spring 2017.  Fun times!



 

 

 

We also went to the "stadium series" outdoor hockey game at Coors Field last weekend.  While we didn't get ($$$) tickets to the Avalanche/RedWings game next weekend, we got to see DU & CC, which was pretty fun!!