It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

So the holidays are upon us and in an unprecedented move, we're actually staying home to celebrate this year! Almost unheard of, but we needed a year off. While we are blessed with wonderful family on both sides, with whom we love to visit, the many hours in car or plane can wear you out, especially with a two year old! Moving on....

Thursday was very relaxing. The three of us ate a leisurely dinner (most of which the schnitz could actually eat...woohoo for that accomplishment!), took some naps to recover and then joined some friends for dinner that night. An amazingly nice day. The weather was cool, highs in the 30's, but the roads were completely dry and didn't make our lives interesting in any way. Just the way fall should be, in my humble opinion!

Now tell me that's not an amazingly full plate for a child allergic to wheat, eggs, dairy, soy and beef! Can you tell that I'm just a little impressed with myself?;-)

Yesterday, we all slept in, due to our rather late night the previous evening. After a very healthy breakfast of pie (only for Brad and I...we're good parents, if not good examples;-), Brad headed out to see the new Bond movie with a friend while the schnitz and I got busy setting up the Christmas tree. What can I say? Our interests seriously divided on those activities! (Of course, by staying home, I got to see a seriously fantastic game between Nebraska and CU and scare the daylights out of my child with my shriek of joy when Nebraska made their crucial 57 yard fieldgoal. But, I digress.) By the time Brad returned home the house was decorated and looking quite lovely, if I do say so myself!

I left to do a few quick errands and in doing so, saw all of the people gathered along Mainstreet for the lighting of the mayor's Christmas tree. For those (meaning almost all;-) of you who have never been to our house, it is located in a really neat area. We live just off Mainstreet which is actually Old Town Parker. Parker was only incorporated 25 years ago and they've done a really great job keeping a lot of the traditions of a small town. This celebration is one that I think is really cool! So, while I'm driving down Mainstreet, I see the horse and carriage (which we watched being unloaded behind our house earlier in the day) giving people rides up and down the street and hundreds of people gathered in the park while the sound of Christmas music filled the air. Love it! Then while I'm across the street getting ready to go into the store, I'm able to hear the countdown and then see the whole park fill with Christmas lights! Almost perfect, right?

The gazebo in the park. I have to admit, for me a gazebo seems to make a park complete!

When I get home about 45 minutes later, I head up to the door and think to myself, it smells like snow. However, the forecast had called for maybe flurries at most and so the odds didn't seem all that great. Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window 30 minutes later to see HUGE snowflakes, so big that you could see their individuals patterns, falling from the sky and the lawn already covered in white. Talk about quintessential Colorado, right? It truly made for the most lovely and relaxing evening. The schnitz went to bed after being promised some play-in-the-snow time, Brad made a fire in the fireplace and while we enjoyed the fire and snow I wrapped all of the Christmas presents. What a nice way to end the week and a wonderful way to start into the Christmas season! Hope you enjoy just a few pictures of our town and home:-)

As you can see, the kitties very much approved of the way we spent the evening, too!

This is a little church located right across the street. Isn't it beautiful? They actually have this covered in lights too and it looks amazing at night.

The schnitz was having a lot of fun this morning. A big difference from last year when he touched the snow and just looked at me like I was crazy to have him out there! Oddly enough, he took to the warm water and sand at the beach immediately:-)

Ahhh...as if the snow wasn't enough, he even got to make a new puppy friend this morning.

And just in case you were concerned the shnitz might get cold in this weather, rest assured that he has his own, unique, ways of staying warm. And yes, he was like this when I went to get him up from his nap!:-)

Adventures in naptime.....

Ok, let me start by saying that normally the schnitz is actually really good about taking a nap and hanging out in his bed until I come get him. Obviously, life is full of exceptions! Just thought I'd share what we've walked in on this past week....

Question to the schnitz: "How did you get up there???"

Answer: (with all but an eye roll) "I climb!!"

Next a riddle of sorts. What do you get when you take a 2 year with time on his hands, A&D ointment and a certain amount of creativity?

I collapsed on the floor laughing so hard I was crying! What else is a mother to do at that point?

Anyone know how to get diaper ointment out of hair?:-)

Have a great day!

Who knew junk mail could actually provide entertainment?

Ok, I don't know about ya'll, but around here I am Chief Mail Sorter. As you might guess, this is not a job I applied for so much as failed to avoid. So, this afternoon I was going through yet another pile of junk mail that I fished out of the mailbox on my way home and came to a Brookstone catalog. Flipping through it on my way to the trash can, I came across a couple of items that just cracked me up! And in an effort to find SOME meaning in this task....I thought I would share with my friends. Granted, these might just be funny to me because my sense of humor is, well, off the beaten path. But seriously, just picture walking into someone's house and seeing them actually USING one of these items and I bet you'll at least smile;-)

(Hahahahaha......LOL!!!)

Karrie

Who says good help is hard to find?

I'm going to go out on a limb and make the assumption that this is NOT a commentary on my housekeeping abilities;-)

Weekly Recipe #3: Chicken Azteca

Ok, first I will confess to being a MAJOR blogging slacker! Apparently, I had some kind of underlying fear of getting a big head after being so consistent about posting during vacation. Well, my head is still its regular size, so guess I'd better get back at it:-) As I just received the nicest reminder ever (thanks Jen) that I have been quite remiss with that whole "recipe per week" thing, I thought I would ease back into the waters with one of our favorites dishes around here. It's actually one that was passed on to me by my sister (with just a slight modification due to Schnitzel's food allergies). Make it with or without the modification...both are great!

Chicken Azteca

Makes 10-12 servings (I just made 1/2)

2 15 oz cans black beans drained
4 cups frozen corn (I only had canned, so I used that drained)
2 garlic cloves minced
3/4 tsp ground cumin
2 cups chunky salsa
10 boneless skinless chicken halves
*2 8 oz packages cream cheese (I used 1/3 reduced fat and it was fine)
cooked rice
shredded chessar cheese

1. Combine beans, corn, garlic, cumin and half of salsa in slow cooker.

2. Arrange chicken breasts over top. Pour remaining salsa over top.

3. Cover. Cook on high 2-3 hours or low 4-6.

4. Remove chicken and cut into bite sized pieces. Return to cooker.

5. Stir in cream cheese. Cook on high until cream cheese melts.

6. Spoon chicken and sauce over cooked rice. Top with cheese.

*I always skip the cream cheese part because the schnitz is allergic to dairy and I figure that if there's ANYTHING I can do to cut calories without feeling deprived...I'm all for it:-)

Enjoy and I promise to post more very soon!

Quintessential Cape Cod: Nauset Beach

After our somewhat disappointing outing on Wednesday, we checked the weather and discovered that the next day would be perfect for another beach outing. Since the first beach was on the bayside of the Cape we decided this trip should be to the ocean side. (Please note: my mother has reminded me that schnitzel's first actual experience with the ocean was in Myrtle Beach in December 2007 with them. However, this will be his first time it will be warm enough for him to actually get in the water too:-)

After a bit of research, Nauset Beach in Orleans became our destination. It's located right where the Cape "elbow" bends and is really a fabulous place! Lots of sand, good-sized waves (although the water was pretty calm while we were there), clean restrooms and a food shack that was amazing! We had a fantastic time and had a very difficult time pulling ourselves away. It's definitely on the list for a full day trip next summer!

As you can tell, the schnitz loves all aspects of the beach. He seems equally enamored with the water and the sand, whether digging in it or just feeling it squish through his toes. (Funny...he's not a fan of playing in the snow at all!:-)

After a long spell of enjoying the sound of the waves and the cool breeze, along with the occasional glimpse of some sea lions playing right off shore, we decided it was time to grab some lunch. As I mentioned there is a food shack right there and for convenience sake we decided to take advantage of its close proximity instead of leaving to find a restaurant in town. Fortune was certainly smiling on that decision! Not only was it convenient, but turned out to have some of the best food we had during our entire vacation! One of my "things" when we go to the Cape is that I have to indulge in at least one bowl of clam chowder while there. Well, let me just say. This place had THE best clam chowder I've ever had! And the lobster fritters? Oh yeah, life is good:-)

I'm adding this picture as a PSA because I love you all. If you go to Cape Cod, go to Nauset Beach and eat here!

We found out that this sign was more to wish you luck than an order. Point was driven home as we watched a seagull pluck a french fry from a woman's hand as it was heading for her mouth! It was at that point we decided to eat our lunch in the car!

I'm pretty sure that the schnitz was in fact the only one on the entire beach who found the seagulls fascinating!

One more trip to the water's edge before loading up to go home. Can't wait to do this again next year!

Visiting John Adams' house seemed like a good idea....

but sadly, was more trouble than it was worth! When we were driving to the Cape last Saturday, we passed an exit for Braintree/Quincy, MA and started talking about how that was where John Adams was from and wouldn't that be cool to see where he lived? So, after we got settled, I got online and found out that there was in fact a museum and tours available. Great! Should be an interesting 1/2 day trip.

Wrong.

John Adams apparently made a bit of a, shall we say, misstep in one provision of his will. Apparently he left about 220 acres of his land to the town of Quincy. As is so often the case, being given something for nothing rarely turns out for the best. Because of this generous gift, the birthplaces of John and John Quincy Adams are surrounded by slum-like areas filled with mostly hair salons, ethnic eateries, and shabby houses. The "Old House" that they moved into later fared a bit better, but honestly the town of Quincy is nothing to exit the highway for.

This was a bit of a frustrating trip as you can probably tell. When we got to the visitors center at 11, we were told that the next tour didn't leave until 12:45 and would last for two hours. Not going to happen with a two year old. So, we decided on a path that seemed more reasonable. We wrote down the addresses and figured we'd just drive there, take a look at the homes even though we couldn't go inside, and call it good. Except that it took us no less than 45 minutes just to find the birthplace homes! Fortunately, it only took 10 minutes to find the Old House, but we have no idea how they could stretch a tour of these places to two hours.

However, we did get some neat pictures and some interesting tidbits of information which I am more than willing to share with ya'll. That way, if you're ever on your way to Cape Cod and have the same thought about how interesting this day trip would be, you can rest assured that you got all the best of the experience from this blog and can spend your time in more pleasant pursuits!

Ok, first of all, the birthplaces of John and John Quincy Adams are only about 75 feet from one another and are the oldest birthplaces of US presidents that still exist.

John Adams' birthplace is the house in back and John Quincy Adams' in the front.

It turns out that the winter kitchen in John Adams' house was actually the largest heated room in the county and is where they would have meetings about local politics in the winter. It's no bigger than our living/dining area (which is not big), but they apparently fit 23 chairs in there. Hard to imagine, but I guess having people pressed together during a Massachusetts winter might not have been such a bad thing:-)

The tour guide, who was kind enough to take us on a short, personal tour, explained to us that the fireplace chimney ran up through the center of the house. This was done so that the bricks would warm up and radiate heat to the rest of the house. Guess central heat isn't such a new concept after all! He also pointed out some divets in the fireplace bricks. It seems that they would heat the bricks in there to bake the bread and had songs they would sing to time it while baking. Can you imagine?

Here's another random tidbit that I read about John Quincy while we were in the visitors center. Apparently, after he finished his term as president, he served in Congress. It seems that three prominent abolitionists advocating for the Amistad slaves approached him with their case and he spoke on their behalf for 7 hours before the Supreme Court and was instrumental in obtaining their freedom. Cool, don't you think?

But, I digress. After taking a look around the birthplace homes, we headed across town to have a quick look at the "Old House" which Adams purchased the year before he became Vice President and stayed in the family for four generations before being donated.

Below is the adjacent Stone Library built to fulfill a request in John Quincy's will for a separate fire-proof structure for books and papers. It contains more than 14,000 volumes that belong to the Adams' Now that's a library!

We did two things after finishing our "tour". First, we vowed never to leave the Cape again while here on vacation and second, spent more time down at our lake that afternoon. Those two things seemed to get us right back on track:-)

The schnitz once again enjoyed himself thoroughly splashing, throwing rocks in the water, and digging in the sand. I enjoyed just taking in my surroundings. The light as the sun prepares to go down just makes everything so beautiful. The really cool part though, was when a group of 14-18 ducks came swimming around the curve almost right up to us and proceeded to hang out for a while. One of them came so close to the shnitz that he could have almost reached out to touch him. So cute, the shnitz kept bending down and saying, "hi duck"! They were very neat. It was a great ending to the day and so that is what I will leave you with.

Heritage Museum and Gardens

Tuesday the weather forecast was calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon and so we decided to take advantage of the chance to get out that morning before it became necessary to hunker down.

I'd heard that the Heritage Museum and Gardens, located here in Sandwich, had some neat attractions for kids. So, I checked their website and found that they had a car exhibit, pirate exhibit and a working carousel. Surely the shnitz could find something in all of that to amuse him! Of course, I just finished and Brad is currently reading a novel about pirates called "Captain Blood", so we were looking forward to the exhibits ourselves (you can't be altruistic all the time:-)

We were very happy with our choice from the minute we pulled up. The weather was beautiful when we arrived as were the grounds. First stop, car exhibit. Apparently, 2008 is the 100th anniversary of the Model T. That was the one car that kiddos are allowed to get into to explore and the shnitz took full advantage of that! (We actually went back yesterday and he ordered Brad and I into the car with him...world's youngest chauffer, I guess:-) In addition to the Model T, they had a vast array of the most beautifully restored cars I've ever seen! Enjoy the pics!

Anyone want to go for a spin?

Brad and I have decided that if we ever strike it rich we're having THIS car built! So pretty!

They also had a car there that was one of eight ever built that was originally owned by Gary Cooper (old time movie star). It was made in 1931 and could make it to 90 in second gear and 120 in top gear! I'm not normally a big car person, but I found that amazing!

After the cars, it was off to the pirate exhibit. Too fun! They had a portion of a pirate ship that the shnitz could "steer", outfits to try on and a jail in case folks got too out of hand. Not to mention lots of historical stuff that the schnitz didn't care about, but his mama found fascinating!

Pirate ships are cool!

It's not really naptime yet, is it?

And you probably thought that the schnitz was going to be the one to dress up in the pirate clothes, huh?;-)

I told you what they did to the "out of control" visitors. These New England folks take this stuff seriously;-)

Once they let us out of jail, with promises of good behavior, we headed to the carousel. It's almost 100 years old and completely restored. It's really pretty and the best thing, at least for those with kiddos, is that it is free with admission and they can ride as many times as they want! Of course, our child didn't want to ride any of the horses, he wanted to ride the goat. And all we heard for the next 24 hours is "I want to ride de guut" (apparently he's Canadian!:-) So we actually went back yesterday for another several trips around!

We finished our trip at the American History exhibit which had a special section just for the kiddos. The schnitz thoroughly enjoyed the "gardening" that he got to do in there!

After our thoroughly enjoyable morning, we headed back to the house to enjoy a lazy afternoon of naps and listening to the rain. Chalk this up to another "highly recommended" activity! It was a great way to spend the morning! Oh and a quick note, adult tickets were $12/each, but they would validate your ticket and let you come back the next day. Not a bad deal!:-)

Stay tuned for more adventures to come!

And the fun continues with a day at the beach!

We started our second day here in Cape Cod by discovering that not all ovens are created equal. Our nice simple breakfast of croissants turned out to be more of a challenge than we anticipated! Needless to say, we switched to Pop Tarts in the toaster this morning:-)

Since it was a beautiful sunny day (with highs in the mid-70's...ahhh) after our breakfast challenge, we decided to load up the car and head to schnitzel's first "real beach". Our destination? Corporation Beach in Dennis. We took a very scenic road (6A) which is also called the Old King's Highway. Should you ever make the trip to Cape Cod, this is a road to be experienced. It meanders along the north of the cape and is bordered by trees, flowers, neat old homes, shops of every description and peeks of water along the way. You don't take it to make time, as the speed limit tends to be around 25mph, but you wouldn't want to go much faster as you would surely miss out on some great views!

The schnitz wasn't nearly as enthralled with the scenic drive and fell asleep for a short nap. However, once we got him out of the car and he saw all that water? Woke right up!:-) This was a great first beach for him as it stays shallow for quite a ways out and the waves are really minimal. The first time a wave knocked him down and got his face, he was suprised. After that, didn't phase him in the slightest. Certainly helped that the water was such a pleasant temperature! Although we were informed by a wonderful couple that this was the "cold" side, the water was warmer than our outdoor pool in Parker, so we were ok with it:-)

He suprised us with his willingness to walk out until the water was up to his chest as long as daddy was along for the adventure:-)

I wonder why the little crabs run away when I come near them...must have heard stories from the kitties!

On a quest to find the "perfect" rock for throwing.

Oh yeah, this is a good one!

Let's see, threw the rock, check. Now what should I do next??

It was so nice of someone to dig this schnitzel-sized pool just for me! Now to go "show" this shovelful of wet sand to Mama. Hey Mama...stop running away!

Daddy gets some peace while Mama's busy being chased. This is considered fair by some;-)

Such a conscientous little guy...watering the beach to be sure it doesn't get dry;-)

After having a blast at the beach, we stopped for some incredible seafood at this little road-side tavern on our way home. Definitely recommended!

Such a great day! Hard to see how they can keep being topped, but I'm willing to keep an open mind:-)