Rocky Mountain High

Solitude and serenity can be exhilarating.  This past week we stomped through snow; counted stars in the sky - so numerous that i've never seen before and simply marveled and gave thanks for this beautiful world we live in.  

For now, THIS is home - a 2-storey cabin with the smell of pine trees and meadows and the sounds of squirrels and birds that envelop us.  Our hosts are just wonderful in attending to every small detail and making sure we are comfortable :)

So what have we been up to ??

(1)    We hiked - up Indian Mountain  amid threats ... 

and crisp thin air which left the girls breathless and hardly smiling....

yet with still enough in them to make snow angels...

and pose for me :)

In single digit temperatures (celcius),  i must say the girls did pretty well and we managed till here... not quite the summit before

they expired on us.... check out the small one - she could barely move !

Oh yes, and their spanking newly acquired boots ...

(2)   We sled.   Thanks to Gary and David - they really made the girls' holiday :)

and played with snow ...

(3)    We explored.

The girls are on a quest to collect as many Junior Ranger badges as they can. Here at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Park, the girls took a pledge to protect what they've seen  -  some 60,000 species of plant and animal life that lived some 35 million years ago have been collected by Paleontologists for museums and universities around the world. These fossils reveal, in remarkable detail, what life 35 million years ago was like, as they became trapped, after a nearby volcano erupted, and buried in the sedimentary rock and shale that subsequently formed.

The Royal Gorge - the doing of the Arkansas River as it dug this vertical hole more than 1,000 ft deep.    And there we were, bravely (or foolishly) taking the air-tramway across the Gorge.

Scenic Drives like this one on the Continental Divide

The meadows and forests at the backyard of our vacation home...

and the vistas coming home. We take this same route to and from our sojourns almost every day. Yet this same view still captures my breath each time with a renewed sense of wonder.

(4)  Most of all,   we laughed.  We connected. We marveled.  

Here's leaving you with some random shots of the girls that tug my heart :)   Thanks for dropping by !

 

All systems are GO...... blast off !

Fancy being that minute percentage to have caught a Space SHUTTLE launch  "LIVE"   !!

Certainly a privilege and humbling experience as we continued our space learning mission from a week before when we visited NASA -  to witnessing this momentous event :)    

We watched the launch of space shuttle Atlantis in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, 2.28pm across at Titusville from Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis and its six-member crew are on a 11-day mission to the International Space Station, transporting spare hardware to the outpost and returning with a station crew member who spent more than two months in space.  There will only be 6 more space shuttle launches, and this is the first of which to deliver critical spare equipment parts to the International Space Station. As such, the Atlantis crew is carrying the largest and the most critical on this mission.

 

Even at such a distance across the lagoon at Titusville from the launch pad, we could hear the thunderous roar and the smell of burning fuel, which followed what our eyes saw as the rockets blasted off just split seconds before. The girls stood transfixed and spell-bound.  The park, peppered with cameras on tripods, deck chairs and seniors peering through binocs, ruptured with applause

Being at NASA the week before touring the exhibits and watching the various shows provided us with a deeper appreciation and understanding of the multitude of factors that needed to go right, for a successful launch. This was how close we got to the launch pad on our " Up-Close" tour. And seeing the preparations for launch just drove home how real (and dangerous) space exploration was, and made the launch all the more poignant for us.

Blue Moon Scrapbooking's 7Gypsies week !

You gals have just got to join in the fun at Blue Moon Scrapbooking ! Not only do they make the most yummy kits - (i want like ALL of them..... )
they are having a 7gypsies Week NOW ON and check out the kit (DROOOOL ....) !!
No more waiting !!! Click HERE NOW to find out how this can be yours!!

Apron Strings Sep 09 scrappy yummies

I got the chance to play with Apron Strings larger than a Breadbox kit this round, and my am I pampered !!! Thanks Lori !!

Here are the layouts i got to put together with the yummy stuff from Bo Bunny Delilah and Crate Sprout :

Tans
a wonderful feature in my new home now :)

and a closer peek at the details

SOAR
A reminder to R that she just has to put her mind to whatever she wanted to do and she could achieve it.... just loved the little animals that came with the Crate Paper... the owls, squirrels and beavers... too cute !! cut them up in pairs to show too that i'm always just a few steps behind her... every step of the way...

Melancholic You

C is always soooo cheerful and cheeky that I really loved these shots of her... in her 'off' moments.... priceless...

Exception

I was never one to buy those snaps taken at theme parks where u have to pay exorbitant prices. But THIS one. THIS ONE is different. We were just coming down the coaster ride of our lives -Project X- when i caught this picture being taken !!! I HAD to get it.

Can you see why ... here's the close up... it's gold :P (LOL !!!)

SWIM DATE

Catching up with friends while back in Singapore .... sooo miss them..

BEST PALS

Some layouts of our trip out to Monument Valley and Grand Canyon a few months back..

Sunset @ Monument Valley

JUNIOR RANGERS

thanks for dropping by....

Up close with ...

Gators !!!!

This was a baby, and it was all I and C could handle. C made sure she stood as far away as possible from the little fella who was all of 1 year old.

R did a little better :)

petting the little one ...

then posing behind this 4yr old... Hubby of cos' had to show off how 'fearless' he was

Then it was time to hop on the Airboat, and take a trip down the Everglades (which means river of grass), - the largest fresh water river in the world.

It was a fascinating experience, with the wind whirling up our hair, and a tingling excitement at the thought that we might fall into the river where alligators and poisonous snakes abound !

Then we spotted him...

The Great Blue Heron

He cockedhis head, then decided to take off...

As we made our way out further, to the deeper waters... what the native Indians call "Hammocks" or 'island of trees' ..

we spotted something in the distance....

then he got closer.....

and closer... in fact right next to our boat !

that's my head in the left and him in the water !...

then turned and made his way into his den ...

C was sooooo cute... she sat next to me and gripped my hand sooo tightly, terrified that i would fall into the water, screaming "mummy don't lean sooo far" !!!! :P

On the homefront, we created a history timeline file. Something where we can record all the dates and famous events and people we come across in our history reading...

I forgot to take pix of the internal pages where the girls handwrote the timelines on the top of the page, and have pasted stickers in the years where they were born. But here's the cover :)

Some other pix of the girls...... at Old Town Fun Park (Orlando)

my little reader before bedtime...

with their new bikes and scooters...at Masters Park (PGA National)

Let me know what's been up with your lives - all you dutiful silent readers !!!