Trip to Red River

After a long stretch of working 6-day weeks, dealing with several bouts of winter weather, and training the newest member of our weather team, it was finally time for Amanda, Olivia, and me to go on a mini vacation. The nice thing about living in Amarillo is its relatively-close proximity to the mountains of northern New Mexico. Taos is the name of a town in northern New Mexico that most people have heard of, but there is a small town farther up into the mountains that may be lesser know but is just perfect for a little get-away like this. The town you see above is called Red River and it was where we called home for three days. We stayed at the Lazy Miner Lodge...which is managed by my boss's parents, so they gave us a great deal and set us up in a room that had a well-stocked kitchenette. That was crucial for taking care of Olivia while we were there. Shortly after arriving, Olivia crawled out of the room, headed right for the first snow pile she could find, and decided to taste snow for the first time.Richard (my boss's dad) also feeds a small group of deer that come by the lodge, so Olivia got the chance to see some of the deer up close and personal.

The ski lodge had day care, so we put Olivia in with the other kids while Amanda and I got some quality snowboarding and skiing time in (I just went snowboarding, Amanda did a little of both). Here are some pictures of the fun and relaxation culminating with a nice, new family picture with the wonderful winter scene as a backdrop.

Amanda in action!

Me on my board

Such a beautiful scene (on the ski lift)

Self-taken family photo (look at Olivia's bottom teeth!)

Peek-a-boo!

Olivia bundled up!

A great family picture!

How to Make Olivia Cry

I found this out totally by accident...something so harmless as a sound made with my mouth can send Olivia into a crying fit. So, being the freaky father I am, I had to get it on video. Watch and you'll feel Olivia's pain.

She's Getting into EVERYTHING!

Wow...once Olivia started getting the hang of crawling and became more adventurous/curious, she just feels the need to get her grubby little paws on anything and everything she can. I think she's mostly interested in the new textures and the way things feel. She really hasn't put too much in her mouth...yet. I'm sure that will be changing. She's also found the springy door stops and she finds those so fascinating!
We've been introducing new foods to her from time to time...things like scrambled eggs, toast, plain yogurt, and caramel rice cakes have gone over very well. Honestly, there has been very little that she hasn't liked. Amanda even took some Louisiana Gumbo (very mild), put it in the food processor to make it easier to chew, and fed it to her. She didn't have any problems with that either! Overall, things have been going very well recently. The two bottom teeth keep edging their way in and there's a little evidence that one of the top front teeth may be trying to break through too. Other than that, it's been pretty quiet in the Swiatowy house...other than me working quite a bit as I train out new meteorologist at the station and dealing with our third ice storm of the season (very unusual to have this many ice storms in one winter season). Here are some other pictures from the past couple weeks. Enjoy!