The Nixnerd

We got up this morning after a wonderful night’s sleep. Zaiden slept from about 8 until 3, then until 7. It was awesome! I’m so proud of him!
We fed the boy breakfast then mosied down to the hotel’s restaurant and had a huge breakfast and decided to go for a quick walk before hitting the sites. During our walk, we realized how close we are to the APHA conference. We went on over to get Nikki registered and she went to find where her station is going to be, tomorrow, while I kept the boy asleep. Next, back to the hotel to get all ready for some site seeing. Of course I have a very special T-Shirt to wear in Washington DC — it has a head shot of both George H. Bush and his son, George W. Bush. Underneath the two shots are the words, “Dumb and Dumber.” (more…)

Nikki and I got up bright and early at 4:45 am to head to D.C. Let me rephrase: we set the alarm for 4:45 but actually got up around 4:00. Yes, FOUR. It was Daylight Savings Time and I didn’t turn the alarm clock back. I’m just used to my computers setting the time for me so I didn’t think about it. NUTS. On the bright side, we had plenty of time to feed Zaiden and finish getting ready to go. We had a nice leisurely morning before hopping in Black Beauty (that’s Nikki’s Vue for those that don’t recognize the name) and heading to Starbucks (and you thought I was going to say the airport, didn’t you?). (more…)

Today was the Zoo’s annual Halloween event, Boo at the Zoo. Courtney and Rachelle were staying with us for the weekend so we had them bring their Halloween outfits. They dressed up and we put Zaiden in his first Halloween outfit, Tigger (I wanted him to be an Ewok but the costume was too big — bummer — but he was SO CUTE as Tigger!). We took the three of them to the zoo and had a wonderful time. In addition to the usual “zoo stuff” (animals … duh), there were some performances going on and the girls got to go trick-or-treating.

We met up with Mike and Diane and their children, Sophie and Jaylee (anyone have an idea how to spell that? anyone? any help at all?). Tonight we’ll be watching Jaylee because Mike and Diane are going downtown to try to score World Series tickets (go Rockies!).

As usual, click on the photo at the left for a little photo album of this event. Of course, the only photos I have are of the few we took of Zaiden before we left. I’m awful at taking pictures. eek …

Zaiden’s Grandma B (Nikki’s mom) came to town last Wednesday. Over the weekend we took a couple of nice drives and had picnics. On Saturday, we went to Sedalia in the hopes of seeing what “all the buzz” was about. Belinda (aka Grandma B) is in the market for some real estate and was told to check out Sedalia instead of Estes Park. There wasn’t much in Sedalia so we took off for a drive up into the mountains. We ended up having a picnic along Rampart Range Road. We snapped a few photos to commemmorate the event. AJ and Rachelle came with us and it was quite a fun little outing. (more…)

We went camping with mom, dad, Paul, and Marlin over the weekend in Buena Vista. Here is a recap of the trip. Clicking on any of the pictures will take you to a gallery of photos we took during the trip. Throughout the weekend, everyone was so happy to see Zaiden, talk to Zaiden, and play with him. He was so cute with everyone — all smiles.

Day One: Thursday August 16, 2007

Nikki and I had gotten mostly packed on Wednesday night. I just took a long lunch to try to finish things up. I was hoping to get all packed and showered up before heading out. Unfortunately, packing took longer than I expected and I had to shower after nikki got home. We got Moose in the FJ and took off around 4:30. Before hitting the road, we went to pick up Zaiden from day care (Nikki had a metting in Thornton, that day, and decided to come home after the meeting rather than going to pick him up, first). Luckily, he had eaten fairly recently and we were thinking we could make it to Buena Vista before he needed to eat again. Quick stop for gas and we were on our way.

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Nikki took Zaiden to our last Kaiser group meeting on July 18th (2007). All the other mothers showed up with their babies (and for a change all the fathers showed up, too — and THIS is the meeting I missed! DOH!). They took some great photos and Zaiden was quite the little mac-daddy. He was holding hands with this little girl, Kailey. Nikki said they just stared and stared at each other. How cute. As usual, click on the photo to the right to get to the other photos.

Well, Nikki and I have finally selected a few photographs that Tony took the day before Father’s Day. Click on the one at the right to view all of the ones we selected for your viewing pleasure!

We just got back from our trip to Oklahoma. We took Zaiden to meet his Aunt Dawn, Uncle LaMont, and cousins Alexander and Sedona. It was great to see them. Alexander was so cute with Zaiden — he always wanted to give him kisses. Doh! Read on for more!

As usual, click on the photo to the right for more photos!

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We met up with Chris ‘n Sherry, Brad ‘n Sharon, and a bunch of their friends in Buena Vista, CO on Friday. We then drove up above Cottonwood Lake and found a nice big camping space for several tents. One couple had a little tent trailer. Zaiden was awesome! I figure if we get him started early he’ll “be a happy camper.”

And … I finally got to go 4 wheeling with the FJ! Woot woot! Chris and his friends are “the jeep guys” and we took a little trail across Cottonwood Creek and up … and up … and up. The trail goes above timberline but we didn’t go that far. Nikki stayed behind because Zaiden’s neck isn’t ready for the bumpy rough and tumble of 4 wheeling. I felt (feel?) bad about leaving them behind but Nikki didn’t even blink. She encouraged me to go. She’s so awesome.

As usual, the photo on the right will take you to some photos of the trip!

Today was a GREAT first father’s day! Nikki’s dad came down from Longmont to meet the boy and brought us a little bouncy chair for him. It’s pretty cool. AJ and the girls came by, too, and we all celebrated father’s day in style by eating lunch at … Sonic! Fancy fancy! They all headed home after that. (more…)