A Trip to the North Pole

Yesterday we took a family trip to the North Pole, a cute little amusement park at the foot of Pike's Peak. For those of you who have never been, it is a Christmas/Santa themed park, complete with a big candy cane slide and lots of fun rides. Santa himself has a house there (of course), though you won't see any pictures of him here. Why, you ask? Because Tyler and Mia were afraid and Nick and Jake, while still strong believers in the big man's powers, are far too sophisticated to sit on his lap. They each talked to him from the doorway of his house instead. They managed to get in their requests for Christmas without getting too close!

Video- Tyler and his buddy Elise roller-skating

The last 2 seconds of this video are priceless! We often joke that Ty and Elise are destined to marry someday. However, it is likely that they'll head to divorce court because they are too much alike! They are both very headstrong and stubborn, but boy do they love each other.

Roller-skating class

Tyler and Mia went to their first roller-skating class today with a few of our friends. I was a little nervous about how it would go, but both kids had a great time. They stretched, did the limbo, had a snack, did the YMCA dance, etc. There was even a bird named "Kooky" who skated with them. Mia tends to be a bit unsure around big, costumed characters, but Kooky was a big hit. Tyler talked all day about how Kooky gave him a high five!

Tyler's "sleeping bag"

Yes, there's a child in there!

Nick and Jake had their sleeping bags out the other day and Tyler thought they were great fun. He doesn't have one of his own yet (hmm...Santa?) but in typical Tyler fashion, he wanted to be just like his big brothers. So, our creative little guy made his own sleeping bag with a pillowcase. He has slept in a "sleeping bag" every night since then. Sometimes (see picture above) he even gets his head inside. I had to take pictures because I know when he is 16 and towering over me, I'll have a hard time remembering when he could so easily fit inside a standard-size pillowcase!

Halloween 2008

The Allen kids and their Jack-O-Lanterns

The whole trick-or-treating crew. Not a small feat to get them all in one picture!

Our little ladybug


Tired kids!!

We had a great Halloween this year. We went to a friend's house and trick-or-treated with a big group. All together we had 18 kids to keep track of! It was crazy but very fun!

Fall 2008- Catching up on our new blog

Nick and Jake at the White House


After the Marine Corps Marathon



Mike at mile 16




The Love Without Boundaries team




Finalizing Mia's adoption in court

Ty and Mia on the first day of preschool



Thanks for visiting our new blog. We got a little behind on our old site so I thought I'd start this one off with a catch-up post. Hopefully I'll be better about updating this blog regularly so I won't make a habit of lumping 3 months into one post!

Here are some of the highlights from our fall...

The kids all started school and everyone is happy. They all have great teachers and have been very happy this year.

Mike ran the Marine Corps Marathon as part of team Love Without Boundaries (see the link on the side of the blog for more about LWB). He did great! He finished in a time of 3 hrs and 36 minutes- pretty good for a first-time marathoner! He felt great until mile 22 and then really tightened up for the last 4.2 miles. It didn't help that the last 0.2 miles were straight up a hill- who thought that was a good idea? A big thank you to all of you who sponsored Mike on his race. He was able to raise almost $1500 for LWB. It was a great experience and we're already planning for next year's race. I may run it too...who knows?!

We had a great time in Washington, D.C., with Nick and Jake. We visited several of the Smithsonian museums, the National Zoo and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (where they make our paper money). It was a very fast, busy trip but we all enjoyed it.

In September we finalized Mia's adoption in court. The adoption was really already final, but here in CO we needed to "re-adopt" her in order to get a CO birth certificate for her. We are happy to report that we are officially done with all adoption proceedings now!

Thanks again for checking in with us!