To infinity and beyond!

Infinity isn't a country with a U.S. embassy or consulate, of course, but our looming Foreign Service move has prompted us to re-evaluate our car situation. Meaning that our two-wheel drive Rodeo just wasn't going to cut it on substandard road surfaces. (Heck, it didn't cut it on good road surfaces here during all of our recent snow.) So Saturday afternoon we bought this little beauty:


It's a 2007 Jeep Liberty Sport. Although it doesn't have the overhead console -- complete with trip computer -- that Kevin liked, it does have four-wheel drive, as well as a five-star safety rating. I'm still searching for a place to keep the owners manual, though, because it doesn't fit in the glove compartment or the center console. Any ideas?

Moving on up in the ballet world

Laura has advanced from pre-ballet -- the class for 4- and 5-year-olds -- to what our recreation district calls ballet 1. It's for 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds, and she seems to like it. Or maybe she just likes the candy the teacher gives them at the end of class ...
This is a less-than-stellar photo, but that's Laura in the middle of the front row in the black leotard.

The Matterhorn is the bestis ride ever!

Or so Laura said during a quick trip to California last week. Kevin was going to the J. Reuben Clark Law Society conference at Pepperdine, so Laura and I spent some time in Malibu. The three of us also went to Disneyland with our friends Deirdre and Bret. Laura got to meet their dogs, Jake and Sandy, whose photos she's been admiring for years.

Catching up

A variety of things I should have posted over the past few weeks but didn't:

Ballet

Laura has decided that she wants to be the Sugar Plum Fairy when she grows up. At least she did after we went to see The Nutcracker in December. Now she's moved on to wanting to be a mom, a teacher and a mail carrier. (Yes, really, all three.) But at least she'll have something to fall back on, since she started ballet lessons in early January.

National Western Stock Show and Rodeo

Laura's kindergarten class had a stock show party. I bought her a cowboy hat, and she made a stick horse she named Mom. The next day, we went to the real stock show. It was draft horse and mule day in the horse arena, which always is interesting, but we also visited the children's area, where Laura liked petting the goats.

Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys

Our neighbor had her twin daughters' birthday party at the doll museum in early February. The birthday girls, Jillian and Jocelyn, are only 1, so they weren't too interested in the dragon mask craft. That choice was a nod to their brothers, Kieran and Aidan, who are friends of Laura's.



Amanda

Amanda's in Utah helping Daniel and Heather with their new baby, Bryant -- and their not-so-new babies, DJ and Jacob -- and drove over for a visit a couple of weekends ago. Her friend Amber came, too, which made Laura particularly happy. (It was Amber who introduced Laura to that technological marvel, the camera phone, a couple of years ago.)

Much ado about nothing

"Why did you take a photo of absolutely nothing in the street in front of your house?" a normal person might ask. Well, that's exactly the point: There's absolutely nothing there.
This photo was taken yesterday as I was leaving to take Laura to school, and it's the first time in ages -- since Dec. 20, to be exact -- that there hasn't been an ice (and snow) pack at this little intersection where our side street meets the street out of our neighborhood.
It could snow again this week, but for now, I'm celebrating our good fortune. Not that snowfall in excess of 6 feet is good fortune for a person such as myself who detests such things, but still.