Here are some pictures from Ethan's 9th birthday party which we had on March 28th in Cedar Park, Texas. The party was at a local park. We rented the pavilion and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. We also planned a number of games and competitions. The boys had a big game of capture the flag and the winning team got Nerf dart guns in addition to the dart gun that all the kids got as a party favor. The boys also had a paper airplane making and flying competition along with some more "old school" games such as three legged races! The weather was perfect, and it was lots of fun. Here are some scenes from the party.

The kids line up for the three legged race!

Here is the map for capture the flag.

The boys are enjoying lunch - notice the war paint from capture the flag.

Spring Break 2010, we went skiing with the Huie Family in Telluride, Colorado. This was by far my favorite place to ski so far. The resort is smaller than Breckenride, but it has plenty of runs from beginner to challenging. The resort also has a friendly family feel with lots to do in addition to skiing. On this trip Ethan took two days of snowboarding lessons and loved it. I am not sure he will go on skis anymore - he was going down blues and blacks by the end of the trip on his snowboard. There was one run that went from the top of the mountain all the way to the the Town of Telluride. You could literally see forever on this run - hence the name "See Forever." A shot from the beginning of this run is below.

Here is a shot of the main ski village and gondola station - we could see this from the balcony of our condo. It is snowing pretty hard in this picture.

A view of some of the runs from on top of one of the lifts.

Here is another shot of the ski town.

William getting ready to ski!

William and Claire on one of the smaller chair lifts.

William and Claire pause for a picture.

A face only a mother could love ....

Me and William on the top of See Forever.

Just before we take our lunch break.

Me and Ethan stop for a picture.

Ethan strikes his "cool" pose -

William gets a shot of me on a black diamond run.

The Huie's!

Bill with Claire and William

After Grandpa Billy's Birthday dinner -

Ethan and Grandpa Billy blow out the candles.

Sledding on the sled hill in Telluride

Gail ordered a dish that was literally on fire at a Thai resaurant!

Ethan built a snow cave outside our condo with some other kids - here he is looking out.

Taking a break from sledding -

Riding his snow board -

Ethan poses on his snow board

On the Ski Lift

Ice Tusks

Did someone say candy store?

Bill and Gail

Bill and Claire

William went up to one of the bowls and went down this run!

Claire

We took a day trip to Ouray, Colorado to swim in the hot springs and go to the ice climbing park (none of us braved the ice climbing, but it was pretty cool looking!)

William and Ethan clown around in an ice cave.

Walls for ice climbing.

Ethan joined an elementary school competetion called Destination Imagination. The team representing Ethan's School, Cox Elementary, was assigned the topic "Breaking DI News." The kids had several months to work together outside of the classroom to build a structure out of newspaper and glue that weighed under 75 grams and could withstand a lot of weight. The kids also were to develop a play to go along with the structure. The play they developed was about recycling to go with the newspaper theme. The parents were under strict orders not to help the kids or give them ideas. The kids even had to sign a declaration of independence indicating that the ideas were their own. Here is a picture of Ethan's team the day of the competition and the sign they made.

The judge is measuring the box that the team designed for the play to make sure it fits within the guidelines.

Here one of the judges goes over the rules with the kids.

Ethan is adding weight to his structure which is inside of the wooden contraption.

One of the judges gives direction to the kids - see how many weights the structure held???

The structure weighted 72 grams and held 184 pounds!!! Here is a picture of the structure made of newspaper and Elmer's School Glue.

All the kids are gathering for the awards ceremony -

Ethan sits with dad

Ethan's team won 3rd place! Ethan shows off his medal.

The team finishes off the day with an ice cream celebration!!!