Yes, I still play with trains.

Despite the little WOW distraction, I have made some progress on my steam engine.

Check it out over on my train blog.

Kali and Karmel’s Christmas

This year Kali and Karmel didn’t get any presents, but that’s okay because they were happy to get new bags and boxes to sit in.  Here’s a few pictures from their adventures on Christmas Eve night.

Kali hanging out in my Michigan State re-usable shopping bag.  Surprisingly, she stayed in there for a good five minutes before Karmel checked it out.

The favorite box for both cats was the one that Michael used to package up one of Mike’s gifts.  Here’s Karmel chilling in it after all the presents had been opened.

The excitement of the day really got to him as he took a nap shortly after vacating the box.

Mike’s new Christmas toy

For the last month or two, Mike has been checking out remote control helicopters when we go to Target.  So finally yesterday, he gave in and bought one.

He spent a good amount of time crashing the helicopter into the walls, the ceiling and hovering it above my head.  He also claims this is because he hasn’t learned how to fly it yet, but I’m not sure I believe him.

Surprisingly, the cats aren’t freaked out by them.  Even Karmel followed it around the house like it was a bird.

I guess Mike’s just a kid at heart!

Guitar Heros?

Yesterday we took the kids to Best Buy and Target so that they could use the gift cards given to them by their Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles.  Both Ryan and Meghan selected “guitar’ based games.  Having never seen or tried these before, I was intrigued by how the games worked.

We currently have a small TV set up in Ryan’s room where the xBox is set up so that the girls can use the Wii on the TV in the bonus room.  Trust me we’ve been through the arguments before and know better than to assume that they will share!

Anyway, here are some snap shots of Mike and the kids rocking it out.

Mike really got into it after a while.

Out of the three of them, Meghan is by far the Rock Star.  She claims that she can even play the easy mode using only her toes.  Now that’s what I call talent.  Thankfully she’s an A student as I don’t think there’s a future in playing Guitar Hero for the rest of you life.

Also, if you’re wondering…yes I did try it, but I wasn’t very good!  The hand/eye coordination wasn’t clicking for me and it didn’t help that I laughed through the whole song!

Christmas at the Quinton’s

We don’t decorate much for the holiday’s, but we did bring back the snowmen this year as they are Mike’s favorites.

On Christmas Eve we opened our presents from Michigan and then called my parents, brother and Grandma after they had open our gifts on their end.  Here’s a few snap shots from the Christmas Eve festivities.

After presents we head out to have Mexican food for dinner.  Nothing special, but it hit the spot.  So much that when we got home, I feel asleep watching a Christmas Story on the couch.

The next day, we met Sara and her friend Matt at the movies for an afternoon matinee of The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons.  While the movie was almost three hours long, it didn’t seem like it to me.  I even had to pull out a tissue at one point as I became teary-eyed when Brad Pitts character left his wife and child.  If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I would highly recommend it.  Just make sure not to take a jumbo soda into the movie with you.

Around 7pm Mike returned from the airport with the girls and we had a nice Christmas dinner.  Two of the three kids even eat brussel sprouts, can you believe it?  After dinner we opened presents and here’s the one and only snap shot I grabbed during the flurry of unwrapping.

All in all, it was a relaxing and stress free holiday.  Just the way I like it!

Ryan’s New School

On January 5th, Ryan will start school at Cherokee Trail High School.  This is not the closest high school to our house, but due to the rapid growth in Unincorporated Arapahoe County, we are considered an overflow community and Ryan will be bused 6 or so miles to his new school.

Last Friday, Ryan and I took a drive over to the school and snapped these pictures.

The football stadium is huge!  And they have a turf field.  I was impressed.

Snowshoeing in Summit County

Last weekend we headed up to Dillon, CO to try out our new Christmas presents - snowshoes.  Since I can’t ski due to my knee, we thought that snowshoes would be a good alternative that allows us to enjoy the mountains in the Winter.

Based on a recommendation from the personal trainer that Sara and I workout with, we went in search of the Soda Creek Trail in Summit County.  We met Sara just off C-470 and the first 30 minutes or so of the drive were fantastic.  Then we hit the ski traffic.  Sara had thankfully printed out directions, so we got off the I-70 and headed over Loveland Pass.  Not having driven through there before it was an interesting ride, but thankfully I was not driving.  The snow was blowing like crazy and we could barely see 8 feet in front of us…but we made it.

After locating our breakfast destination (by fluke!) we headed out to the trailhead to get started.  It was a COLD day, maybe 2 degrees and with the blowing wind it was bitter cold.  I somehow forgot my jacket, but thankfully we had enough layers in the car that I was able to bundle up.  My fingers almost froze putting the snowshoes on, but I warmed up after we started out on the trail.

We hiked for about 2 hours and figure we traveled 3 or 4 miles.   Here are some pics from the trip:

It’s a boy!

Didn’t know I was pregnant?  That’s because I wasn’t…and just to make sure we’re all on the same page, I’m not currently pregnant either.

My blog title refers to the fact that Mike’s seventeen year-old son Ryan has decided to move to CO to live with us.  He’s been here for almost a week now and while we’re all adjusting to each other, the transition has been smooth so far.

Watch for more updates to come and if you’re wondering, the girls arrive from Sacramento on the 25th and will be with us through the 1st of January.

A series of Christmas pictures…

As many of you know, it’s like pulling teeth to get Mike to smile, let alone be in a picture.  During our holiday Christmas party, our friend Sara snapped this series of pictures of us…

We’re back from Michigan!

We returned today and after 10 days in Michigan…I was ready to come home.  I missed my kitty cats, my bed and strangely enough, I missed going into the office.

So you want to know what we did while we were in Michigan, here’s a recap of who we saw and what we did:

We spent some quality time in Grand Rapids hanging out with Mike’s Mom and Step Dad as well as his youngest brother Scott, our sister-in-law Amy and our nephew Jayden.

I got to catch up with one of my best friends Myka, who also lives in Grand Rapids and I met her son Myles for the first time.  Myka and her husband Eric are expecting their second son in late January.  Here’s Myles brushing his teeth:

On Monday I picked my Mom and Dad up from the airport as they had just returned from a 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal.  We worked from their house remotely and caught up.  We had dinner at Coach’s our old local favorite.

Here’s a shot of Mike and Michael showing off their matching hats that Mom and Dad brought back for them from South America:

On Tuesday we worked from the house again and then headed out to Romeo to see Mike’s middle brother, our sister-in-law Missy and their girls Emily and Grace.  The girls were a little apprehensive of us at first, but they warmed up within 10 minutes and we had a great visit with them.  After I got home, I noticed a note from Missy on Facebook that said that 20 minutes after we left Grace asked where Mike went…too cute!

I met up with two of my favorite people in Michigan on Wednesday for lunch - Betsy and Michelle.  I was happy to finally meet Betsy’s daughter Hannah and catch up with my girls!

Wednesday is the biggest bar night of the year and it’s a tradition for me to hang out with my friends Todd and Monica.  We headed up to Gaines and spent a little time at their house hanging out with the kids before we headed out to the bar.  I must be getting old as the music was loud and I could barely stand the smoke.  The good news is that we had a great time hanging out with them and even hit one more bar on the way home - we didn’t get home to Livonia until 3am!

Thursday was Turkey Day and it’s a Quinn family tradition to have your picture taken with the turkey.  While I didn’t eat any turkey this year, here’s a picture of the bird:

After dinner, Mike headed Up North to hand out at the hunting camp for the weekend and we headed to Hartland to have dessert at my Aunt Barbara’s.

On Friday morning, Mom and I got up and headed to Laurel Park and then to Twelve Oaks.

On Friday night, I headed over to hang out with my best friend Jen, her hubby Rich, her sister-in-law Gina, her sister Jill and Jill’s boyfriend Phil.  A good portion of the night was spent getting Jen up and running on Facebook.  I didn’t realize that people still had dial up…I wanted to poke my eyes out, but instead we drank.  Jen has two of the cutest kids ever - Haley and RJ.  Here they are…and I won’t be surprised if I see them in a rock band one day because these kids can sing Hannah Montana like no one’s business:

On Saturday I met my friend Averill at the mall (yes…second day in a row!) for lunch and shopping.  It was fun to catch up with her and hear how things are going with her job and family.

On Sunday, we returned to the mall for one more shopping trip and then headed home to hang out with my Grandma.  It was nice to catch up with her and I know she enjoyed spending time with both Mike and I.

On Monday, I met one of my oldest and dearest friends for coffee.  Julie and I met in 7th grade as we had lockers next to each other.  We had an instant bond that lasted through High School and on to MSU.  We last saw each other 5 years ago at our 10 year reunion.  It’s amazing how time flies and you forget how easy it is to lose touch with friends and loved ones.  Even though we only spent an hour or so together, I will say that this was the highlight of my trip back to Michigan.

When we arrived home today, I was happy to see my kitties and I think that they were happy to see me too.  Here’s a picture of them enjoying the kitty pillows that my Mom sent home for them:

It’s good to be home…plus I don’t think Karmel wants us to leave again as he’s spent a majority of the day sitting on my suitcase.

Ps. To all of you that we invited to CO to stay with us…we mean it.  We love visitors, so let me know when you want to head out!