a little bit of this and that :: colorado

The kids and I seriously had a blast on our quick trip to Colorado. The weekend that we arrived also happened to by my niece's, Paige, birthday and so we had a blast celebrating it with her and friends. Sadly I forgot my camera that day and also when we decided to have her birthday dinner at Casa Bonita the following night. But we also just had a lot of fun going to their neighborhood pool, lots of different parks and visiting with family and friends too.

My kids love all things animals. You name it, they love it. They were just in awe of watching all of the ducks at Lake Clement. Even though we see a ton at our local lakes, these ducks were apparently 100% cooler. It was awesome. 

Shelly and Sheldon, the coolest tortoises. 

  It was also a lot of fun just having bbq's with family and neighbors. 

Sweet baby Nixon. She is the daughter of one of my sister's neighbors.

  The Saturday before we left, we decided to drive up north to Greeley to visit with my grandparents for a bit. It was so good to catch up with Grandma and Grandpa, and after a lovely and yummy lunch we decided to take the kids to the park just down the road to let them play.

  It's so nice to have big helpers now who love to push "their baby" in the swing! :) 

Our little Fisher is a snuggle bug and loves to be tickled by any and everyone. It was so good for him to be around family. He loves his grandparents so much. 

Our trip to Colorado wasn't nearly long enough. There was so many things I wanted to take the kids and do, but this was a spur of the moment trip and so I was happy that we at least got to go and do the things we did. This just means that we have to plan another trip back sooner!

 

hiking colorado

Man do I miss those Rocky Mountains. There is something about they way the smell, that wonderful fresh mountain air. I miss the sounds of the birds and streams. I miss the peacefulness. 

I wanted to go visit the mountains everyday I was there, but alas things got busy and we had other plans and so Friday we just went and spent as much time as we could. We drove to three trail heads before we finally found one that was kid approved.

We go for a lot of walks here in Kansas but the kids just had a blast walking in the mountains. They loved running through the tall grass, finding wildflowers and throwing rocks into the stream. I am pretty sure they love the mountains as much as their mom and dad do. 

On the way down the mountain we decided to stop and see Red Rocks Amphitheater. I have seen so many awesome concerts here; Incubus and Dave Mathew's Band being a few of my favorite times. It was such a hard workout too to climb to the bottom of the Amphitheater but the kids did awesome and loved the giant red rocks all around. 

You got to dance when you are at Red Rocks!

  We were all so pooped from our awesome adventures in the mountains. I hope that we can go back again soon and enjoy so many more parts of the Rockies. Another thing I just love about Colorado!

 

catching up in colorado

A couple Saturdays ago, I braved the nine and half hour road trip through flat and plain(and a little boring) Kansas with my four little people. Solo. Just me, them and a lot of Disney movies. We made it easy peasy with just a little bit of crying and whining. Note to self: never stop at the McDonald's in Hays solo with kids during lunch hour. I am so thankful for the sweet old couple who gave up their table so that we could sit down and eat. They were true saints!

But none the less we arrived all excited to be back in Colorado. We had an extremely full week of fun with cousins and family and catching up with old friends. I just love being in Colorado.

I was so extremely excited to catch up with my best friend since the seventh grade. I finally got to meet her sweet baby girl too! We had an absolute blast catching up and laughing. This girl makes me laugh so hard... I needed her and all that laughter. 

She makes the most adorable babies too! 

  I was also excited to meet up with one of my good friends from high school and roommate in college and her cute family. 

It was fun getting the kids together to play and her parents sure knew how to spoil the kids! Her dad handed out frostys for the kids and they all thought it was the coolest treat! We stayed for pizza and played with trains and mickey mouse. The kids were sad to leave, but we made sure to get together again soon. 

I wished were there just a little longer so that we could visit with more friends and spend longer time with the ones we did get to see. But definitely had our days full of swimming and hiking and playing with cousins.

Lots more to share soon!!