Colorado

This is probably going to end up as the world's longest posting, but here's a summary and some photos (out of the 1,200 I took) of our trip! We left Sunday night at 8pm and drove until 130 am... and Emilia didn't sleep at all! Chris, Emilia, Danny and I were in one vehicle with my mom, Heather, Hannah, and Hudson in the other. Emilia did great on the car ride, and thought it was great that she got to sleep with us at the hotel. We got up at 630 am, and ate breakfast at the hotel then headed to Denver. Emilia was easily entertained on the trip and even took a little nap. We arrived in Denver and had a yummy lunch at Pat and Donna's house. The kids were a bit wired from being cooped up in a car, so it was nice to get out and let them play for a bit before we headed up to the cabin.

Heather, Pat, Donna, me & Hannah

Their house had an awesome view of the mountains and they prepared such a wonderful lunch for us. My mom had met them before, but they had not seen Heather and I since we were toddlers! It was great to spend some time catching up!

This was our first up close view of the mountains. Pat was so sweet to stop frequently along the way so we could take photos! These are the roads that made Emilia sick on the way home! (more details later) The Continental Divide... it was 40 degrees up there! Brrr! After we got to the cabin, we all hopped in one vehicle and went to get some dinner... how did I get chosen to ride in the back when I have the longest legs???

Sunset

Is was a full moon that night!

The cabin

The dirt road to the cabin

There were flowers everywhere that the kids enjoyed picking!

One of our many walks... Emilia, Hudson, Chris and Hannah

Hud

Me, Emilia, Hud & Hannah the hummingbirds visited often as did the squirrels

flower picking

I am not sure whether to blame Emilia's behavior on the altitude, lack of naps or overdosing on smores, but her sass was at an all time high for the week... she learned quickly that there are time outs even at Starbucks! This is after one of our disagreements... she was standing in front of Starbucks griping at every customer that left the store. It was HILARIOUS! She did not know that I was taking her photos at this point. I couldn't understand every word she said, but "mean mommy" was frequently used. All the people leaving got a kick out of her, especially when they saw I was photographing the whole thing!

Sassy girl

look closely and you will see the lip pouting!

She quickly discovered the camera and was all smiles again!

all is forgotten!

She looks so sweet and innocent here!

If a camera does not work, there is always tickling!

There was an incident with salsa that ended up with

Hannah needing a new outfit...

no names will be mentioned as to the guilty party...

okay it was my mom! :)

The Alpine slide in Winter Park Resort was a slide that went down the side of the mountain... very fun! It is side by side slides that are 3,030 feet long!

Hannah on the slide

Chris

Me and Hannah

even the chipmunks liked the slide

jumping was fun, although made me a bit dizzy!

Emilia found a short cut during her 1st time playing miniature golf...

she just climbed up and threw the ball through the hole rather than putting it!

Smart girl!

watching Hudson sleep in the car seat

Chris making our marshmallow sticks with Hannah

Smore time!

Singing songs

fun at the playground her 1st soda EVER... a McDonald's sprite

me and Hannah getting ready to jump again!

upside down

very high

Hannah

Heather

Emilia's 1st time on a rock climbing wall

such a biggie girl!

me and Emilia

much harder than it looked!

Hannah

chatting with Hudson at the icecream shop Emilia sharing her icecream so cute enjoying her treat admiring all the goodies Hudson lead us through the entire maze quite quickly Emilia and her new moose and tshirt that she picked herself a Starbucks addict... vanilla creme frappuccino... yumm! Hud Something was apparently VERY funny!

Hud and aunt Heathe kissing Emilia tired boy me, Chris and Emilia best buds camp fire time again!

Hannah, Chris and the kiddos We rented bikes and the kids had fun riding along! We found a spring beside the bike trail that Hud wanted NOTHING to do with!

Not impressed!

Emilia, on the other hand, wanted to touch the freezing cold water, so we climbed down the edge to feel it! our biking destination was Emilia's favorite ice cream shop!

her 1st sour gummie worm the biking crew 1st trip on the monkey bars sunset that evening only casualty during the trip... Chris misunderstood the term

tree hugger.....

and used my sisters new car to hug the tree!

poor tree... and SUV.

Deja vous of the family trip 7 years ago when Chris and Hannah (@ 18 months old) spent every morning on the pull out couch watching movies.

This time they were watching " Whose line is it Anyway?"

the cabin at night view from the living room On the way home, Emilia barfed EVERYWHERE and got a side of the road bath and change of clothes while I cleaned out her carseat. Aparently the curvy drive around the continental divide is not a good idea on a full stomach! Poor girl! All in all it was a great trip, full of 1st for Emilia, and all the kids had a great time. We drove home in 1 day, but Emilia did really well on the road trip... thank goodness for portable DVD players and lots of books and puzzles!

Happy 4th of July

Yesterday we went to a BBQ party at one of Chris's friends house. Emilia had a great time swimming and eating the oatmeal M&M cookies. We then stopped by my Aunt Tammy's house for a cookout for my cousin, Aaron, who was home for the weekend from basic training. It was awesome to see him and the rest of the extended family. I had to work the 4th this year, so Chris took Emilia over to my family's get together at my Aunt Carol's house. When I got home from work I had a ton of last minute packing to do, so I put Emilia to bed. Of course the neighbors were shooting off fire works (which we never do), and I caught Emilia out of bed watching them out the window.... I ended up letting her get out of bed and go outside with Chris to watch them while I finished the packing... The place we are staying is a cabin that belong to a family member that lives in Denver. It is right outside Winter Park, and there are 8 of us going... kind of an odd combo also! It was originally going to be Chris and I and Emilia camping in Colorado, then my dad called his cousin, Donna, and she said the cabin was available if we would rather stay there. My mom was off that week, so we invited her. My Uncle Danny (my mom's older brother) just moved in town and loves the outdoors, so we thought he'd enjoy it, and then last but not least, we figured Heather and her kiddos would have fun going, so there makes our group of 8. We are driving half way Tomorrow when I get off work, then staying in a hotel room for the night. We will finish the drive in the morning, and hopefully arrive at Donna and Pat's for lunch in Denver. Pat is then going to have us follow her to the cabin to make sure we don't get lost! Since we are leaving straight from my work, I have some last minute cooler packing that I am going to have to leave for my husband to do... with lists in hand! I planned all the meals for the week and am taking most the food with us to make things a bit easier. I also went shopping and bought Emilia some car ride goodies to hopefully keep her occupied... we'll see!

Where do I start?

I don't think I will ever catch up on my blogging because of lack of time, but I have 5 minutes now, before I need to clean the above mess, so here's the last 3 weeks in a very quick summary... June 19th, Chris and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary... how time flies. We actually celebrated a bit earlier that week, though, because Chris had the day off. We, minus Emilia, spent the entire day together which involved yummy lettuce wraps at PF Chang's, some window shopping on the plaza, and a movie. It was fun, relaxing, and a bit weird to be celebrating without Emilia there, but we were in need of some just "us" time! Okay, whats next... Oh, Father's Day! Unfortunately I had to work on Father's day, so we celebrated it on Friday, which was actually our anniversary! Emilia and I took Chris to pick out his new lawn mower... no joke... it's what he asked for! Emilia was quite disappointed it did not come in pink, although I am sure Chris was not too upset with the black one he picked out. Emilia also had made him a present at school, so he opened that Father's Day morning when they got up. They then went to breakfast together to enjoy some yummy belgian waffles and gelatto (I know... weird combo). Happy Fathers Day, Chris! Blueberry picking on the hottest day of the year was fun, but very tiring! I did not take my camera that day, hence the lack of pics, but we went with some friends from work and picked for about 30 minutes, then bought some of the pre picked ones in the store! Nothing else too exciting... work, school, and fitting a little playing. I am busy this week trying to get next weeks assignments complete so I will not have them hanging over my head during vacation. We are going up to Colorado the week after the 4th for a little family vacation... should be fun!

a full house

Today Emilia and I were watching our little buddy again when I received a phone call from my sister, Melissa, to watch her kiddos also. The more the merrier, so they all came to my house for lunch and naptime. I was putting laundy away in my room, with the little guy playing on the bed when Garrett asked to sit on my bed to play his Gameboy. I said sure, then here comes Emilia wanting to play it also, and before I knew it, Lily had joined them as well. My niece, Hannah arrived a bit later. The kids were amazingly well behaved, but it was definately a busy and exhausting day!

Garrett showing Emilia how to play his Game Boy

Party in my bed!

One of Chris's friends, Justin, is coming over tonight to look at our AC. We replaced our furnace this winter, and knew our AC wasn't running efficiently AT ALL, so we figured we should do it before the hottest part of summer arrives!

already?

Somehow time flies when you are having fun, and it is already time for classes... again! Unfortunately I am feeling very unmotivated and that is never a good way to begin a class that begins tomorrow. Its only 8 weeks long and I can do anything for 8 weeks... this will be my motto for the next 8 weeks. This fall should be easy, and then the fun begins next spring and I will at least be learning interesting things. Last week flew by, but one of the highlights was a fun filled day of shopping with my Uncle Danny. We began the day with a yummy breakfast with Emilia and Chris and then when Chris went to work, we headed off to Nebraska Furniture Mart for all new light fixtures and ceiling fans. I did not bother checking to see what time they opened, though, so when we arrived at 8:45, we were quite surprised to find they did not open until 10:00! OOPS! Luckily Cabella's opened at 9:00, so we walked around there for a bit then headed to Nebraska. As much as I love to shop, lighting is not my specialty. After a couple hours walking around staring at the ceiling, we finally decided on the ones we had spotted when we first walked in! Very simple ones. I ended up getting such good deals, that we added some patio furniture to our purchase... without thinking of how we would get these things back to my house! (I am very impatient and don't like to wait for delivery!) My Uncle Danny has a large truck, and with some crafty packing, it all fit. I did however fear the safety of those following to close behind... a chair in the windshield cannot be a good thing! Thanks for being such a good sport, Uncle Danny... next time we will go fishing instead of shopping! I just have to get Emilia a pink fishing pole! :) Cheers to a productive week!