Manitou Cliff Dwellings

One of the great things about moving to a new area is getting to check out all kinds of new places. Last weekend, we headed down to Manitou Springs to see the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Here's some background information I took from their website to give you some background:

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings is a rare historical treasure. Preserved under a protective red sandstone overhang, authentic Anasazi cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago, await you here. There are no "Do Not Touch" signs. You are free to touch and even go inside these fascinating architectural remnants of an American Indian culture that roamed the Four Corners area of the Southwest from 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1300.

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings is located in Manitou Springs, Colorado, at the foot of Pikes Peak, the mountain that provided the inspiration for the writing of, America the Beautiful. The dwellings are open seven days a week, year round, except for Christmas Day and Thanksgiving. During the summer months, Native American Indians - descendants of the Ancient Ones - demonstrate their living culture through traditional dances handed down from generation to generation.

Next to the cliff dwellings is a three-story Pueblo-style building that houses the Anasazi museum and a Southwestern gift shop. This structure was faithfully designed and constructed in the architectural style of the Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Anasazi.

It was really neat to go to a dwelling as old as this, and yet be allowed to climb up into it and see the rooms where people actually lived.

After our time there, we started to drive up into the mountains a little, but were dissuaded from going any further by the tornado warnings that cropped up for our immediate area :) Nothing came of it, but there was a good bit of rain, so we didn't even get out and walk around the quaint town of Manitou Springs, but I know it's a place we'll head back to again.

Aw, man!

Isn't this a cute wooden children's table and chairs set? Yeah...I thought so, too. Which is why I was so thrilled to find a set so similar at Goodwill for $14.99. It was unpainted, and I had visions of doing it up all cute and pretty (think lots of pink, polka dots, colorful Mary Englebreit-like) for the girls to put out in their "playhouse," which is the storage shed in the backyard. Let me back up a little....Upon entering a thrift shop, I always make a beeline for the furnishings and home goods, because you never know when you might stumble upon a really great piece. (Not that this actually happens when I shop, but there are many urban legends swirling about that give me hope that it might happen.) I've been wanting a little table and chair set for the girls, and lo, and behold, there was the perfect set, right there waiting for me. I was almost shaking as I hailed the closest male Goodwill employee and asked if he could take this to the front for me and mark it sold. He assured me with a smile that he'd do it, and promptly carted off the table and one of the chairs. I waited with the other three till he came back and scooped them up as well. Two other lady employees happened by and remarked on my good fortune, as it had just been set out and they knew it wouldn't have been there long.

I continued meandering up and down the aisles with a smile on my face, not caring whether or not I found any cute cold weather clothes for the kids (my *real* reason for being there, since none of them have any long sleeve shirts and we were caught off guard when cold weather blew in last week). We were able to find some cute items, so I was feeling victorious as I headed for the cash registers. My pace quickened as I got closer to the front and could not spot my table and chairs. Mary was bugging me as to where our table could be, and I was quick to reassure her that it must be outside already, trying not to betray what I truly suspected. Sure enough, I unload the clothes, and let the gal know that I also would be purchasing the cute children's table and chair set that the nice employee already brought up and marked sold for me. Her countenance fell....then she asked if there had been two sets, or if I'd already purchased it, taken it out, and then come back in to shop some more. (Huh???) I assured her that no...I did not already purchase it, but that it had been brought up front for me and marked sold. She and another employee that happened by at this point start saying, "Uh, oh....I'll bet...oh no." That's right...they sold it to someone else. My table that I'd already envisioned painting just as cute as can be, with little girl tea parties on it was gone.

I'll be remembering this shut-out for a long time to come.

Good Morning, Birthday Girl!!!!!

I always take a picture first thing in the morning on the kid's birthdays, and on August 5th, it was Ellie's turn! It's our first birthday with our sweet girl, and it was so special. For weeks, she's been waiting for this, and any time we brought up her approaching birthday, she would start in with a litany of "pinks."

"Pink birthday, pink cake, pink ice cream, pink baby, pink present."

So guess what we had? The pinkest birthday you've ever seen!

We started the day by taking the girls to Tiny Town. It's this whole little village of miniature houses all set up...perfect for two 3 year olds! The playground and the train ride were huge hits. Ellie found a pink house that she really liked, but Annie fell in love with the replica Addams Family house (complete with Addams Family characters in the windows!) Go figure.







(Notice the pink shirts? And the new hair bows for the pink birthday girl!)


Pink presents!


This is the Little Tykes vanity. The girls are so into doing hair and nails, and I got a great deal on this little set.


That's not only a baby, but a baby wearing a PINK outfit with Disney princesses on it! It doesn't get any better than that for our Disney-loving girl!

Ellie is totally in to sunglasses, but she has a bad habit of breaking them. Her birthday warranted another new pair, especially since I found a pink pair!

Annie & Ellie are teaming up to make Mary beautiful!


Time for pink cake with pink frosting.
Happy Birthday to You, Ellie!


Ellie needed no coaching when it came time to blow out the candles. She blew them all out before we even finished singing!

Ellie got her own little pink cake, with pink ice cream, of course!
We are so thankful that Ellie is home with us now, and we'll never have to miss another birthday with our precious Ellie Tian.

A Visit from Grandma & Grandpa B

We took Grandma & Grandpa B up through Estes Park to Rocky Mountain National Park. The weather was beautiful, and they got to see some of the amazing wildlife we've come to love.







Yep...we're playing in the snow in shorts and tank top dresses!



We took Trail Ridge Road through the park (which was closed this past weekend due to the snow that fell up there) and stopped for a photo at the Continental Divide.




This would be a moose!

New Old Friends

Here is a picture of Abby, along with Annie & Ellie. I met Abby's mommy & daddy in China. They are one of the families from our travel group, and just so happen to live only about 45 minutes away now! We met at the zoo, and her mom & I had a great time catching up and it was so fun seeing how well Abbey is doing. We also got to meet her two big brothers (who weren't with them in China.)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next up is a picture from a get-together with one of my ladybug friends. Erin & I have been in the same online yahoogroup for so long, and followed eachother's adoption journeys for so long, it felt as if we'd known eachother forever. You'd have never known it was our first irl (in real life) time together! This picture is of Annie, Ellie, and Erin's two beautiful daughters, Hailey and Hanna.

Let's see if it'll work tonight....

These are the baby doll quilts that Mary made for Annie & Ellie. My girl is so talented, huh? (Oh, and woohooo! I can load pics again!)

Woefully behind

Okay...so clearly, I'm terribly behind in posting without any hopes of truly filling in all the gaps. I think instead of trying to go back and re-create posts from the fog that is my memory, I'll just post some pics as highlights of what we've been up to, and call it good. How's that sound?


Okay...maybe not. Blogger is being a pain, and not allowing me to add any pics right now. (Or it could be this hateful computer that likes to overheat and freeze everything.) I'm going to go ahead and post this (sans photos) and try to add pics later, after blogger, my computer, and I have had a little time out. Hopefully, we can all play nice so you can see what you come here for anyways, which is photos of the kids.