Colyer World

Max & Emily in the matching turkey outfits in Los Gatos before taking off to Florida for Thanksgiving. Check out Emily’s pinecone turkey with 8 eyes.

Brynn, Kedryn, Max & Emily reunited in Florida

Papa Dave takes Max, Emily & Jazzy out on the row boat named “Ms. Brynn”

Max & Emily became fast friends with Jazzy

Jazzy & Emily enjoying the lake together

Max tries out fishing for the first time!

After 3 days in the Jungle … we hopped a canoe to the mainland …

… and, as goes without saying, piled into the bus again. If you are interested in seeing my “Jungle Hair” then check it out! I was sitting in between Max & Norma on this trip! Hard to see in this photo, but believe me … there was some serious jungle hair going on here!

Let me just zoom in on this wild hair thing going on.

David getting comfortable with his new baby alpaca blankey from the Otavalo market

Emily decides to sit in the far back seat of the bus with the crazy boys: Nick & Sean! The feet are Sean’s.

Emily looking cute in her Christmas dress AGAIN, but is soon to be booted out of the back seat into the arms of her mama!

Nick settling in for a long journey back to Quito, but first things first (particularly with this group) …

LUNCH!!!

Sean, Nick & Max waiting for lunch to be served as they watch the popular iPad

Again, another beautiful spot for hummingbirds!

Papa Dave checking them out with his binoculars

Then off to Quito for one night before our short plane flight to Guayaquil

View of Napo River from our room at La Casa del Suizo

Max enjoying the hammock on the back porch

Emily & David playing “dolphin” in the baby pool

Wallace being attacked by the kids!

Papa Dave & Max on the Jungle Excursion

Dorian, Charlie, Alex & Aunt Claudia

Although the Napo River had pirhanas, these were not pirhanas!

Max saying “hello” to a tortoise at an animal sanctuary

These were all injured & rescued animals of the jungle

Toucan

Aunt Claudia getting ready for white water rafting in the pirhana infested Napo River. According to the guide, the pirhanas are well fed so they don’t tend to bite people! Max went white water rafting in Wallace’s lap just to be safe!

Sean

We went to a Butterfly Garden in the nearby jungle town of Ahuano (about a 15 minute walk from the hotel)

We sat down for a minute before our guide came to take us into the butterfly garden & in seconds Miss Em was asleep on Papa Dave’s lap

Gorgeous butterflies!

The butterfly was attracted to the cardinal on Charlie’s shirt

Alex hot, tired & trying to remain still so a butterfly would land on him too

On the road again,
Goin’ places that I’ve never been

Seein’ things that I may never see again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again

Wallace, Emily, cute Ecuadorian boy and beautiful llama

Sarah, Max, Emily, cute Ecuadorian boy and beautiful llama

Emily loved this animal

We had a difficult time dragging her away

Baby Sheep

Emily doesn’t hesitate to introduce herself and she’s in that Christmas dress again today!

Then we headed to the Otavalo Market for some serious shopping. Clearly the kids are absolutely thrilled to be here! It was a quick stop ’cause it was raining and the kids were NOT having it!

Back on the bus to head to lunch to make our 3:00pm’ish lunch reservation at the Hacienda.

I bought Max & Emily a baby alpaca stuffed animal. I think I was more excited about them than they were. Oma bought Emily this adorable hand-knitted kitty hat & Max got an adorable green frog hat!

FINALLY! Lunch @ the Hosteria Hacienda Pinsaqui.

Now for the tough part. What to order for these finicky eaters?!?!

Dorian, David, Vicky (our lovely tour guide) & Fernando (our safe, steadfast & loyal driver) enjoying a peaceful lunch

Need I say that the atmosphere was a little different at the other table …

Mark & Claudia having a romantic, candle-lit lunch. Not really, Alex & Charlie are off harassing the Hacienda peacock.

Dorian & David heading back to the bus after lunch.

We are off to Cotacachi, also referred to as the leather capitol of Ecuador, to buy a new leather jacket for Wallace

Dad enjoying a little shopping before we headed to see the weavers in a small nearby town

Arrived late evening at our hotel, “Cabanas del Lago”, overlooking the magnificent San Pablo Lake.

We traveled through Ecuador for 16 days with 15 of our closest friends & family members to include a total of 19 travelers in our group. Here are the individuals in no particular order:

Cousin Nick

Cousin Alex

Cousin Charlie

Aunt Claudia

Uncle Mark

Brave Cousin David

Great Uncle Dorian (aka “GUD”)

Grandpa Dale

The Oma

John

Papa Dave

Friend Mary

Friend Evan

Friend Emma Jane

Friend Sean

Emily

Max

Wallace

And, here begins the tale …

Max received a puzzle card in the mail from Papa Dave

Max LOVES puzzles and put it together in about 5 minutes all by himself! So proud! He was totally into it so he put Emily’s together too.

“Happy Easter Max! Lots of Love, Grandpa Dave”

You know Emily

and Max,

and Kedryn

and Brynn,

Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen,
But do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You could even say it glows.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah …

We had a wonderful Christmas in California this year with my dad, sister Suzanne, niece Brynn & nephew Kedryn. This was the third Christmas without my mom and the first Christmas with us all together since her passing. The chaos & craziness of 4 little munchkins running around certainly provided diversion and prevented us from sitting down for a minute & dwelling on it. No time for sitting with these crazies. Nonetheless, her presence was there and she certainly was on our minds during the holidays as she is every day.

One of Emily’s requests from Santa was nail polish! Boy was she thrilled to find it in her stocking and Papa Dave was happy to paint her fingernails and toes!!

She also received a pretty lavender long sleeve Ariel shirt from Aunt Denise, Uncle Paul, Kyle & Alexis

And a beautiful doll named Marianne from The Oma & Grandpa Dale which Brynn quickly took an interest in

Another highlight for Emily were princess & castle decals for her room from Auntie SuzyQ & Papa Dave. SuzyQ & Brynn took the time to put them up for her and she was thrilled to walk into her new Princess Room!

Max’s only request from Santa was a marble track!!! He was over the moon to receive not only one, but TWO marble tracks!!! He couldn’t get enough of playing marbles!

Papa Dave showing Max & Kedryn how to use the new race car track. The boys loved it!

Brynn was happy to receive a pink Hello Kitty purse and a pretty scarf from The Oma! She actually wore the scarf while ice skating in Tahoe! It was more of a designer, decorative scarf than a winter scarf, but Brynn didn’t seem to care! She wore it with flare!

Brynn with her new panda pillow pet from Emily & Max which she named “Oreo”

Perlar Beads were plentiful and also a huge hit with the kids! Kedryn with a fish that I made for him which he named “Q” after his mama! Ahhhhhhhhh!

Papa Dave, Max & Emily with a gift of Petit Fours from Uncle Frank. The kids were anxious to try their first petite four.

We hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with family & friends. Here’s to a fun & fabulous 2011!

Papa Dave, Auntie SuzyQ & Kedryn at Northstar

Max ready to try ice skating for the second time. First time was with Alex & Sean at Winter Lodge in Palo Alto.

Max was beyond determined to ice skate! Please check out Wallace’s Facebook video for proof.

Wallace attempts to help Max with his skating; however, he wants no part of it.

Max pushes away any help and is determined to do it on his own. I think he takes after his Daddy.

I must have seen him fall at least two dozen times (in a ROW!), but NOPE! He wanted to get up on his own and try it again and again and again and again … I am surprised his body wasn’t covered with bruises.

Brynn skating around the rink after we got her the correct skate size.

Sweet smiling Brynn

Emily loved ice skating!

She enjoyed every minute of it!

This is her second time ice skating

Papa Dave assisting Emily around the rink

Papa Dave & Emily

Emily taking a break with Daddy

Wallace & Max off on a bike ride this afternoon on Max’s new tandem bike from Papa Dave for his 5th Birthday! This is Max’s 2nd or 3rd time riding it! He LOVES it!!! He says that he has two bikes. One with two wheels and the other with one wheel.

We celebrated Emily’s 3rd BD yesterday with friends & family

The main event for Emily’s 3rd BD was “Happy Birds”, a performing parrot show

Seven beautiful & friendly parrots entertained us all and Emily even got a kiss from pretty “Piper”

This particular bird is a trainee to the show.  Emily is feeding him an almond.

The bird show consisted of various birds riding a bike, riding a scooter, singing songs, making other animal impersonations, skateboarding, opening water bottles, etc.

Max was an active participant in the audience with lots of questions for the “Bird Lady”.  He loved it!

Piper wants to give Max a kiss,

but Max holds back …

Piper gives Max a kiss on his cheek

Piper riding a scooter

Max and his friend, Cameron, intently watching the bird show

Sean & Zack

Zac & Megan

Zac & Cameron

Zac & Max

Alex & Zac

Brennan & Zac

Riley & Forrest

Papa Dave, Brynn & Kedryn with Zac & Forrest

Kedryn (my nephew) & Zac

Brynn (my niece) & Forrest

Papa Dave, Brynn & Kedryn with Zac & Forrest

Forrest & Christian (Kathy had to bribe Christian to get near this bird!)

Michael, Kathy & Olivia with Zac & Forrest

Brynn flaunts her muscles by holding these two fairly heavy macaws

Sweet Samantha with Zac & Forrest

Max & beautiful Forrest

Max was totally enthused by the birds

Cute Keddie with Forrest

Emily with Forrest

Emily enjoyed watching & participating in the bird show

Emily & her friend, Megan, with Forrest

Ready to blow out her candles.  Notice the pretty red fingernails!  Brynn gave her a manicure before her party!

Princess Emily

Happy 3rd Birthday Emily!!