Heard Around the House

Norah: "Mommy, letters!!"

Me: "Do you know what letters are?"

N: "Yes!"

M: "Can you tell me the name of a letter?"

N: "Yeah, ONE!"

M: "Well, one is a number... can you tell me the name of a letter?"

N: "Oh yeah, essssssssss"

M: "Good job."

Grandpa: "Norah, what shape are your cheerios?"

N: "Round."

G: "That's right. What shape is your basketball?"

N: "Orange!"

G: "Ok, what shape is your orange ball?"

N: (sly smile) "Oh yeah, round."

N: "Mommy, rocks yucky."

M: "Rocks are yucky?"

N: "Yeah, no put 'em in yer mouth."

M: "Ok, I'll try to remember that."

N: (earnestly) "Yeah."

N: "Mommy, Chewbacca big guy, fuzzy guy. Say 'Rwwwoooooaar!' Yoda little guy, green. Say 'OoooOOOH'

M: "Yup. I think you've pretty much got the whole story summed up."

More Biskipples

The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic is a nearly forty year tradition here in Durango. The fortieth race will be next year, actually. It started as a bet between two brothers - one who worked on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train and one who was a bicycle enthusiast. The two brothers "raced" their respective vehicles and, eventually, the brother on the bike won. Since 1972, more and more people have been celebrating the start of Summer and the first runs of the train by racing that old Iron Horse coal powered engine more than 50 miles up the mountain (from 6,500 feet elevation to almost 11,000). It's a grueling race. Our neighborhood is right on the course. We prefer to watch. :-)

One of our friends (actually several, but one in particular) was riding her first Iron Horse this year. Ashley told us what time she should pass by and we were there to cheer her on! Norah was actually really interested in the race. She yelled, "Good dob!" (good job) at all the riders going by. Our house is right before the first downhill on the course, so people seemed to appreciate the encouragement. We did get to see Ashley. She was doing an amazing job! Norah yelled and cheered and then sadly asked, "Were's Ashley?" I guess she didn't realize that she'd be riding PAST us, not TO us.

Anyway, here are some photos of the event:

A view of the course from the end of our street. See the teeny dots on the road? Those are the racers.

See them now? Literally chugging up the hill...

We walked down to the entrance of our neighborhood and then decided to cross the street so that we could be on the same side as the riders coming up. A lovely day for a bike race don't you think?

Even after about 20 miles of riding, most of the riders would come in packs of about 20 or so. This photo was taken between groups. Every time one group passed and another came up over the rise, Norah would exclaim, "More biskipples!!"

Then we saw Ashley. She's the second one in the picture above. See the shadow of Mark holding Norah and Norah waving at the bottom of the frame?

Waving...

Air high five!

Still smiling!

Off to the downhill portion!

So, as far as we could tell, Ashley's first race was a smashing success! We, the sideline cheerers, salute all of the crazies chugging up the hill to beat the train. As Norah would say, "Good Dob!"

Cheese!!

Norah went through a phase where she ran and hid every time the camera came out. Then, just the other night while I was giving her dinner and she suddenly started saying, "Cheese!!" As if someone was about to take her picture. So... Daddy obliged!

Flashback Friday

One year ago, my little girl looked like this:

Oh how the time flies.

This One Goes to Eleven

This story is way overdue, but oh well.

When we were in California (see? I told you it's overdue) we discovered that Norah can count. On the day of The Great Ladybug Hunt, Mark's mom asked her how many spots the ladybug had. Norah responded, "One, two, three!" Mark and I were shocked. We'd never counted anything with her, or even in her presence as far as we could remember. Frankly, it didn't even occur to us that she was ready.

Then the next day I was trying to keep her occupied on a drive. She was wearing pants with polka dots on them, so I said, "Let's count how many polka dots you have on your pants. One...Two...Three..." She interrupted, "Four..." I asked her what comes after four and she said, "Oh! Five, six, seben!" Long story short, with very little prodding (and no actual numerical help) she counted to ten!

She was twenty months at the time. Not that I'm bragging.

She still loves counting. She especially loves counting stairs as she's climbing them. A couple of weeks ago she did us one better and went all the way to eleven. That's right folks. This one goes to eleven.

Backpack

Last summer Norah was a little too small for this here contraption, but this year she fits juuuuust right! We went on a walk on Saturday to test it out and then took it to the Taste of Durango event on Sunday. I only got pictures of the test run. She stayed put for almost two hours walking Main for the Taste of Durango event, so I'd say it was a smashing success. At one point, she actually grabbed the side bars and said, "Giddy-up Grampy!!"

Of course, I took the picture right after she stopped smiling.

My Little Art Critic

Last Friday we went to a good friend's one-night-only art show. It was called "Bicycle". See if you can guess why.

Tess Jordan is an amazing artist. We've been fortunate to have a few of her paintings loaned to us while our house is on the market. Norah was quick to pick out the one that had been hanging in our room. I didn't get a photo of that one because there were people admiring it all evening. Anyway, here are a few photos of the evening. If you're interested in learning more about her art, e-mail her at tesscorrinne@gmail.com.

Norah the art critic. Mostly, she just pointed and said, "Biskipple!" Although she did declare some of them "Yucky dirty" and others "All clean" The girl knows what she likes.

Norah enjoying some art show refreshments. Tess made three amazing drinks (blackberry thyme, lavender lemonade and basil limeade) and two appetizers (green chile profiteroles & mini chocolate cupcakes). Norah chose the bowl of peanuts.

Discussing the finer points of bicycle painting with Uncle Bob.

Showing off her mad Ring-Around-the-Rosie skills.

The only photo I got of the artist at her show...

All in all, the show was a huge success. Norah is now obsessed with bicycles and points them out everywhere we go. Tess now has another show scheduled in town and we can't wait to see it!