With Cousin Shayne in NY

We're now visiting Grandma and Granpa Boespflug in Mechanicville (Albany), NY. On Sunday, the cousins try out some dancin' in Grandpa and Grandma's living room. (L to R: Gracie, Shayne, Chance.)

Shayne inherited her Mommy's amazing dancin' genes (SEE VIDEO ABOVE), while the twins inherited Baumgartner/Boespflug non-dancin' genes (but we have fun trying)!

Caught Shayne and Gracie in the middle of a deep conversation.
Chance offered to take Shayne for a spin on his new car.

Shayne bravely accepts his offer and the two go round the bar in the kitchen in this video.

Chance persuades Aunt Jess to read his car magazine to him, which she willingly and sweetly agrees to do.

Tiny Town

Here are pics from our visit to Tiny Town in Tiny Town, Colorado--a unique place indeed. Go to http://www.tinytownrailroad.com/ to read about "The Oldest Kid Size Village and Railroad in the USA." We started with the train ride around the village, which the twins partly enjoyed (as the day wore on, Chance became more and more disturbed by the loud train whistle; loud noises have bothered him since birth). You can see one of the tiny buildings in the background.



Grace beside the miniature replica of Pleasant Park School, which was only recently added to Tiny Town. This schoolhouse holds some significance for our family; the twins' great grandmother (maternal), Pauline Griffith, was a teacher at the one-room schoolhouse in nearby Conifer. She was also a founding member of the Pleasant Park 4-H group. Grammy Sharon (pic above) attended the the real (full-size) schoolhouse that was built 1894, a historic landmark that we also got to see in person (but the twins were asleep in the car, so we couldn't get out and take a tour). Gracie peered into the window of the school at Tiny Town and found miniature desks, a chalkboard, and more. Many of the structures included miniature "scenes" inside--very cute!

Grammy guided the twins through the village.
Chance laughed at his mommy through the barred window of the miniature jail. (This pic may come in handy someday, eh?)

Grace peering teasingly through the bars of the jail.

Chance and Grace visiting another schoolhouse. Aren't they cute as they follow each other to inspect the same building?

If Mommy remembers correctly, this fun moment also ended with a bite--I think Grace bit Chance, but I'm not sure.

Gracie tries to open the door to one of the tiny houses.

Back from Colorado

The trip home lasted only 7 hours--without any airline delays--a Christmas miracle! The twins were so happy to be with Daddy again; they took turns playing on his lap during the flights.

A recap of some of our CO vacation (also, next blog post will show pics of Tiny Town!):
Daddy and Grammy at Parker's July 4th fest, where we stood in line for balloon animals--on request for Chance: a motorcycle, and for Gracie: a kitty.
Grammy and Chance inspect the groovy motorcycle balloon.

Daddy and Chance played "go fish" at the 4th of July festival. That night, the twins went to bed by 8:30 pm, and the rest of the family watched the Parker fireworks from the living room and/or driveway of Grammy's house--a perfect view (and we were glad the twins were asleep since we weren't sure if the noise would scare them)! Chance donned Aunt Gill's sunglasses.

Chance had a blast with his Aunt Gill. When she'd come home from work, he'd "run" across the front yard to greet her with a big hug.

Chance and Grace played with a new puzzle that Great Aunt Haze bought for them when we met her at the Cherry Creek mall.

Aunt Haze trustingly gives Chance her cell phone as we all played in the kids' area at the mall. Chance is sitting on the waffle with butter, by the way. And neither of the twins wanted to return her cell phone to her (of course!). Isn't Haze so fun to get down on the floor and play with us?! :)

Grace and Aunt Haze considered crawling under the slice of bacon--or rather, Haze coaxed Gracie underneath. :)

Gracie kisses a statue of a mouse outside of the Wildlife Experience in Parker.

We tried on the top portion of the animal costumes at the Wildlife Experience (L to R: Chance, Mommy, Grammy Sharon, Gracie, and Uncle Sam).

Grace and Butters

Mommy left her camera at Grammy's house (in Colorado), so we can't post any new pics until it arrives (probably will arrive tomorrow). In the meantime . . .

A couple of months ago, a grandmother in Wal-Mart commented that Gracie is "so cute." She then mentioned that her own granddaughter didn't have much hair, like Gracie, and that the family calls her "Butters" after the character in South Park. Eric and I had never really watched the show but saw an episode soon after and wholeheartedly agreed. (Though we hate to admit it, the show, though vulgar, is quite humorous.)
Aunt Amanda just made this comparative graphic for us. What do you think?

We're in Colorado!

Daddy had to work in Kansas last week, then in Rock Hill this week, so Grammy Sharon (Jenny's mom) came to get the twins and Mommy. Our second flight out of Chicago was delayed, so the four of us spent 10 hours traveling, finally arriving at Grammy's by about 1:30 am (Colorado time, mind you!). The next day, Mommy kept asking, "What happened at that party last night?!" We were all exhausted, but the twins fared very well actually.
We've been here for about 7 days now, and Grace and Chance are showered with attention and affection from Grammy, Grammy's friends, Uncle Sam and Aunt Gill (Jenny's brother and sis-in-law), and Great Aunt Haze. In fact, Grace seems to be displaying a bit of . . . self-centeredness, if it's possible for a 14-mo-old to be more self-involved than is "common/normal." :) She's definitely enjoying the fact that so many people are responding to her verbal skills; we've seen a few fits that resemble temper-tantrums. Of course, both babies are teething--Gracie's canines, Chance's molars--so fussiness comes and goes. We've enacted a few "time-outs" (for about a minute) for both babies, but fun activities have been the norm.

Gracie tries Rainier cherries (one of Grammy's favorites).

The twins "hide" under Grammy's end table.

Gracie at Parker's fantastic playground (less than 1/2 mile from Grammy's).

Chance at the same playground.

Chance getting on his "car" (a consignment store purchase) at Parker's fieldhouse. Mommy and Uncle Sam put the twins on their respective "cars" and raced to the finish.

Uncle Sam playing with the twins at the fieldhouse.

We had the sports arena (Astroturf) all to ourselves!

Chance and Mommy drove down to Colorado Springs on Friday night to stay with "Aunt Shannon" and her new hubby "Uncle Paul" (who had driven all the way up to Parker to dine with the whole family on the day of our arrival--Mommy felt somewhat incoherent from the journey, but the family loved Shannon and Paul. Thank you for coming, y'all, and thank you for letting us stay at your place on Friday. Mommy esp. appreciated seeing the wedding video!).

Chance adores Shannon, who "read" a car magazine to him before bedtime.