Summer fun

Julian is having a great summer, filled with wonderful summery things.

We went to a bbq at a friend's house, and we brought ice cream sandwiches:



And of course, there was baseball:



previous two photos courtesy of Laura Patterson

Julian's Great-uncle Dan and Great-aunt Barbara came to visit!



We went to a July 3 Toddler Trike/Bike/Wagon Parade, organized by Lyra's mom:



We celebrated the 4th of July by playing baseball:



On Sunday, we went to the zoo with Julia. It was a tremendously successful expedition!

Looking at the giraffes:



Julian, Daddy, and zebras:





J and J looking at mongooses from the very exciting viewing cave:

Fashion statement

More Aspen pictures

Only one from Aspen proper, the rainbow we saw downtown:


On the way home we drove over Independence Pass. It's way up in the mountains, the road is closed most of the year, and the approach involves some very exciting driving. We parked at the top to take a few pictures, and it was snowing. In mid-June.

Sports

Julian, upon being told that he was watching Roger on TV, said "Like my Roger bear!" and went to find Roger Feder-bear so he could watch tennis too.


In Aspen, we improvised baseball with an umbrella and beach ball:


But when we came back to Boulder, we found him a real bat!

Aspen

As you can tell from the previous post, we're in Aspen for the week. Oliver is here visiting the Center for Physics, and Julian and I drove up so Julian could visit the Center as well. It has a most excellent little network of streams running through the grassy lawn, with enough sticks and pebbles to supply hours of throwing-things-in-the-water fun.



We've been having a great time. Today we went for a hike, which means I carried all 25+ pounds of Julian in the hiking backpack (which he loves) for about a quarter mile along the Rio Grande Trail to Herron Park. Where, of course, we had to stop and throw more rocks in the water!



Last year the weather was hotter, but the water was equally freezing. The water was higher back then, too. Today it was just right for wading out and getting to the good rocks.



Of course we also had to check out the swings and slides at the park. And then we saw a ladybug! It crawled on to Julian's hand and up his fingers, at which point Julian said, "He's climbing a ladder!"



Then Julian walked all the way back to the car, with an all-too-brief (in his opinion) stop by the skate park to watch the big boys on their skateboards ("I want a skateboard."), and we went to pick up Daddy. After a reasonably nice dinner at Bentley's during which J scarfed ravioli and watched tourists on Segways out the window, we walked back through the mall in the rain... and saw a beautiful rainbow over the mountains. A nice way to finish our trip.

Compare and contrast

Triangle Park in Aspen:

July 2, 2008

June 8, 2009

California!

We all went to Santa Barbara for two weeks. Julian had a great time!

First, he was hugely excited about the AIRPLANES.



He found a good viewing spot at LAX.



We made sure to thoroughly investigate all playgrounds in the vicinity.





We encountered some marine life.







We went to the zoo! It's hard to take pictures of kid + animals, especially when the animals are giraffes, but they also had some excellent transportation options available.





We did some shopping downtown, and enjoyed the fountains at Paseo Nuevo and La Cumbre, and discovered the joys of chocolate milk from Starbucks.





We also went to the farmers' market. It's strawberry season.



Julian was under the impression that he should drive the rental car.



Daddy was in Santa Barbara for work, but Julian made sure to help him out with his calculations.



On campus, he met lots of people, climbed the stairs at the chemistry building, and saw pelicans on the lagoon.





And of course, we went to the BEACH.







All in all, it was a great trip, and Julian had many wonderful adventures!