Inked

I had a 3 day weekend, which was awesome (especially since it was preceded by a 4 day weekend, which means it was only a 3 day workweek -- got that?).

Friday morning we headed up to the Air Force Academy for Cris to work in the lab (we are still waiting for word on the Research Grant for an official position at the Academy). Afterwards we continued heading north to Denver to watch Cirque Du Soleil "Kooza". This was my 3rd Cirque (we saw Saltambico in Hawaii, and Ka in Vegas), but the first one in an actual Big Top, so that was really cool. I was a little nervous about how the rest of the show would go after Juneau completely freaked out in the first 30 seconds when there was a kind of scary part and a loud "boom". After the initial freak-out, both girls were mesmerized by the show. They both sat spell-bound for the first 1.5 hours before the intermission. After the intermission they were a little fidgety, but overall still loved the entire thing. Cris and the girls in the parking lot in front of The Big Top

our view on the drive home - I think i could get used to these Colorado Sunsets


After Cirque - both girls were wiped out!

How Daddy entertains the girls while Mom is at work

Who knew a Cheerios box could be so fun?

I LOVE these sweaters! Aunt Coral passed down a treasure box of Ohio State gear from Alex, Lyndsey, and Brent's toddler days. It was VERY chilly all day, and so the girls got to wear these super awesome sweaters.

I'm not quite sure why, but Juneau insisted that they both lie down on the stairs for this picture...she's kinda weird like that sometimes :)

Nova has somewhat mastered the task of eating her "Rainbow" by herself. I usually find a marshmallow or 2 stuck in her thigh folds later in the day.

The big news of the week is i got my first tattoo! I've wanted a tattoo since i was about 14 years old. At the time i was obsessed with M.C. Escher, and almost got a tattoo of one of his drawings, but never did. A couple of months ago I had an idea for a tattoo that i really loved, and i finally went for it on Thursday. It is still really new (these pictures were taken about 12 hours afterwards) and still really red and puffy, but i think once it heals it will look really cool. It is all white ink, so it will be pretty subtle, and i got it on my right side, kind of across my ribs.

The Template: Hawaii (Nova's birthplace) and Vietnam (Juneau's birthplace).

The actual tattoo - looking very raw and puffy and a little scary - but i think will be cool once it heals. The Close up And, that is our weekend so far. No big plans for tomorrow. Then 1 more week of work before we fly back to Ohio for my Dad's big surgery. We are excited to see the fam, but anxious about the surgery.