We spent yesterday and overnight in Vail. It is truly beautiful. Rowland is in Heaven since he can look out our condo’s bedroom window and see the mountains as well as a fly-fishing stream below. We walked around and shopped some yesterday after we got here. We can’t buy much here since the prices are so inflated. It’s fun to look, though. After our $82 lunch (yes, the kids actually had kids’ meals, and Rowland and I had sandwiches), we walked some more. We did find some cute T-shirts for the kids, and Jia got a precious little stuffed unicorn. William is ready to bring his Rattlesnake Eggs envelope home to try out on his friends. Watch out!! KeKe started writing in her new Hello Kitty journal, and Carson was satisfied with a keychain to add to his ever-growing collection.

The Aspen trees are absolutely gorgeous right now. They’re the brightest yellow and are in big groves on the side of the mountain, stuck right in the middle of all of the pine trees. Rowland gave us a science lesson on the way here. He explained that trees’ leaves are only green because of the chlorophyl in them. When they go dormant, they lose their chlorophyl and turn their natural colors. We also learned how many roots an Aspen tree has. One! All of those Aspens in big groves are connected by one root. I won a quarter for knowing the word chlorophyl (even though I don’t remember how to spell it), and KeKe won a quarter for knowing that the leaves turn yellow when the c-word goes out. Carson lobbied for a quarter for knowing that Aspens only have one root, but that wasn’t a money-winning question according to Rowland.

Obviously, we’re just enjoying hanging out as a family and enjoying lots of laughter. This morning while Rowland is out fishing, we’re hanging out watching cartoons and sitting on the deck freezing our boodies off!! Today, it’s the outlet mall! Can you say REALLY HAPPY!!!!!! That’s Mommy!!!!