Cute Pictures and Video

Here's some cute shots of the girls!
Pensive Jenna on our balcony - Smiley Zoe at the park
Zoe post hair-cut - Jenna hamming it up

Zoe typing a note to grandpa on the TTY - Jenna and happy Gimet

The girls at the Corrales park

Ian's Retirement

On Friday we went to our good friend Ian Kurtz's retirement ceremony. Ian and Frank went to college together, and I met his family at Squadron Officer School right after we arrived in New Mexico. Their daughter Natalie and Zoe have been good friends since Zoe was just six months old! They are in the process of moving to Sioux City, IA. We are very sad to see them go! Fortunately, Sioux City isn't too far from my folks in KC, so we will be able to visit whenever we are visiting Grammie and Pop-Pop!

Stephani pinning Ian's US Air Force Retired pin - Natalie, Zoe, and Jenna on the Kurtz's last night in town

Thomas the Train and the Million Dollar Highway

We drove to Durango, CO to ride on Thomas the Train with the girls. It was a lot of fun and the girls got a big kick out of it all! After leaving Durango, we drove north up to Silverton, CO on Highway 550, dubbed the Million Dollar Highway. It is a beautiful ride with amazing views! It was a nice way to spend the weekend.

Frank and the girls watching Thomas pull into the station.

Me and Zoe on board the train * Frank and girls next to Thomas

Jenna playing in the snow, in JUNE!

The view from a rest stop * Me and girls at a rest stop

Ghost Ranch and Echo Amphitheater

We took a short road trip to Ghost Ranch and Echo Amphitheater a few weekends ago. Ghost Ranch is a good sized area where they are still excavating dinosaur bones. There is a little museum there which we stopped at. Georgia O'Keeffe did a lot of her paintings there, so as you imagine the whole area is just beautiful. Echo Amphitheater was about 10 minutes up the road from Ghost Ranch and was a huge hit with the kids! It is a natural rock wall formation with some great acoustics, so the kids got to yell and scream as much as they wanted without being told to keep it down. It's fun to hear all the funny things kids scream out at the top of their lungs given the chance!

A small stop at Ghost Ranch. (An interesting side note - the flat-top mountain in the background is in a lot of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings).

Zoe looking up into Echo Amphitheater.

Zoe's First Ballet Class

Zoe has been looking forward to her first ballet class all week! She just loves putting on her leotards and showing us her best spins. She did really well and was a great listener! It was a joy watching her and the other little girls in class!

Here's a video of Zoe in class (she is in the front right at the beginning of the video).

Zoe in class (Zoe is the one with the teacher) * Zoe (on far right) in class

The class waving bye at the end of class (Zoe is in front of the teacher) * Zoe at Taco Cabana after class.

West Point, NY Trip

We had a great time in West Point. We went for just over a week to visit my sister and family and so Frank could attend a college course at the Washington Campus. Frank caught a train to DC and stayed in DC from mid Sunday through early Saturday. He listened to speakers all day long and learned about how business and politics effect each other. While he was gone, the kids and I hung out with Aunt Laura, Uncle Andy, and the cousins. Zoe and Jenna just loved seeing their cousins, and I don't think the excitement level wore down all week! Every night now Zoe says she wants to go see her cousins again!

While in NY, Laura, the kids, and I took a trip to Jersey to visit the Ankosko cousins. It is always nice to see everyone! Despite the rain, Bobby cooked out and we all enjoyed dinner and great company. The only downside was that on the ride home, Laura's car got a flat. Maybe it was a good thing though, because when I went to get my wallet I realized it and the entire diaper bag were still in Jersey! We were about half way home (that's about 45 minutes) at that point and were dreading the return trip since it was already getting very late. Fortunately, Lorraine saved the day by meeting us half way with the diaper bag. So next time, the drill will be everyone makes sure Kelley is prepared before leaving! We wound up getting home at about 11pm, which wasn't too bad considering the chaos of the evening!

Another highlight was Laura and I getting to NYC sans kids! Uncle Andy and Frank played Mr Mom while the girls explored the city. We went to see the Broadway show 'Grease', which was especially neat since we watched the reality show 'You're the one that I Want' that picked the lead roles of Danny and Sandy. It was a lot of fun! We had the best seats ever, right in the front. We were so close that we posed a couple pictures by putting the camera on stage and setting the timer for a self portrait. That worked great, well until we got yelled at by the staff that we weren't allowed to touch the stage. Oops! After the show we walked to Central Park and through Times Square. We enjoyed a few NY foods including some yummy pastries and roasted almonds from a street vendor. We had a fabulous day and are so grateful for our day out!

Another fun, but unexpected, highlight was the kids discovering all the caterpillars in the yard. Brittany was so brave and picked one right up and let it crawl up her arm! Zoe was intrigued, and I eventually felt confident enough for her to hold one on her own. She laughed and laughed as it tickled her arm while it walked around. The boys liked the caterpillars too, and were amazingly gentle with them all. Brittany even decided to keep a couple as pets, so her dad helped her set up a little cage so they could watch them turn into butterflies.

Other that that, we toured West Point, which is an absolutely gorgeous post. We also got to Bear Mountain Park, complete with a little zoo. But mostly, Laura and I did a lot of relaxing and just enjoyed each other's company. I am now realizing that I am writing a lot about this trip. Well, I guess I have a lot to say! The week went fast, and we had a lot of fun. We hope to get there again before too long!




The kids at McDonald's (a favorite stop!) - Laura and I at Trophy Point at West Point - Laura, Nathan, Zoe, and Jenna on our picnic at Bear Mountain Park - Alex showing Zoe how to play the piano (so cute!)

Dinner with the Hollands

Our dear friends the Hollands have just moved from New Mexico to Colorado Springs. We've had almost three years here together with them. It's been fun - Zoe and their boy Tristan are only a couple weeks apart, and Sharon and I have known each other since before we got pregnant. Good thing is that Colorado Springs is only about 5 or 6 hours away, so visiting is definitely in order! They were in back in the Albuquerque area this Thursday to close on their house, so we all got together for dinner and smores (as is the usual night time entertainment around here!) We had a great night and the kids loved seeing each other! Hopefully we'll visit again before too long.

Old Friends

An old friend of ours, Tim Ewing, came to town for Safety School. That's the good thing about being here in Albuquerque - most everybody in the Shado world comes through now and then for training. Tim got his wings with Kelley, way back in the days of good ol' San Antonio circa 2000. We hadn't seen Tim since I bumped into him on on our way home from a deployment in late 2002! It was great to visit and catch up!

Then and Now

I thought it would be fun to compare old pictures of Zoe to Jenna now. I found this one - they are both 21 months and in almost the same outfits. They're definitely sisters, but hey each have their own look too. The thing you can't see in the pictures, though, is that Zoe is about 3-1/2 inches taller than Jenna is at that age!

Sisters and Friends

The girls are so cute playing together. Every day they get a little closer, and it is fun to watch their relationship grow. They would prefer to be together as to apart, and even though Jenna isn't quite up to speed yet on all the games Zoe plays, they seem to always work it out, occasionally through cries of frustration, but most often through giggles and the sheer desire to be best buds.




Zoe helping Jenna put on her winter gear (mind you it is in the upper 70's outside!) - Zoe and Jenna managed to get themselves in the Huggies box without any help. They did however need a little help getting out! - The girls playing with the animal vet toy. Zoe is showing Jenna how to open the doors with the keys. - At the Corrales playground having fun with dad. - Reading books at bedtime together. Notice how Zoe has daddy's patches on!