Rocky Mountain Camping Trip

After a fun weekend of birthday parties, we drove up to the Rocky Mountain National Park for a one night camping trip at Moraine Campground.

We were a bit nervous that camping for one night would be more work than it was worth, but it turned out to be a great night!

We had spot 147 which was a really nice location with great views:

 The kids had a fun time getting dirty and running around the campsite

 I still love our huge tent!

 The kids decided to collect pinecones and make a castle

Camping trip #2 was a success. We were still pretty cold but this time we brought more blankets and we decided to all sleep in the same bed so it was a tad better. We also got the hang of setting up/tearing down our camp. Two trips down... 4 more to go

A week of birthday fun!

We kicked off Jack's birthday week with a party at Nana and Papi's house. 

Birthday cake made by chef Nana

Marshmallow shooter from Papi

For the big present, Jack had to be blindfolded

 Surprise! A new trampoline!

 A great way to keep the kids entertained and get them tired!

On Jack's actual birth day we made a trip down to Waterworld with Jack's buddy Braxton. 

 The boys had a blast together!




Jack's favorite ride is the Dinosaur ride, so we went on it several times. Jack was thrilled!

It is a pretty fast and scary ride and freaked Lily out

 Proud to be five!

 Underwater camera fun

And then, that weekend we had two more parties! The first was Jack's party with all his friends at our local swimming pool. It was the first party I have ever planned and most likely the last. I can't even begin to explain how much work planning a birthday party can be. Especially if you have a theme... Jack wanted a pirate theme and I guess I took it a little too far. 

Pirate banana, orange ship on blue jello ocean and pirate booty

 Although, I did learn one thing. If you use sword toothpicks, you can get kids to eat ANYTHING. Jack doesn't even like grapes, but he ate at least 20 sword toothpicks worth of grapes just to get the toothpick :)

Snack table

 The cake I made for Jack

 The birthday party:

 Blowing out candles

 Opening presents

 Then, later that night we had another party at our clubhouse to celebrate mine and Jack's birthday's with our friends

 Kids in line for the pinata

 This is the only picture I have of the cool treasure chest pinata

 And even later that night we had a game of poker. Kids were totally exhausted by this point. Lily is asleep in the stroller...

 And the birthday boy was passed out on the couch

Perfect end to a perfect week.

Father's Day

For Father's Day we drove up to Winter Park to treat the dads to a day of mountain biking. 

While the guys were out riding the mountain, my mom and I took the kids around to several of the fun attractions.

Jack on the climbing wall

Lily and Nannie

Playing miniature golf

Jack on the zip line

At one point, I decided to go for a run and I wanted to run to the top of the mountain and then back down again. But about 3/4 of the way up a huge lightning storm rolled in and then it started hailing on me. I could hear the thunder right over head and I wasn't sure if it was safer to stay in the trees or get away from the trees. Finally, I just decided I needed to get back down the mountain so I just went for it and ran as fast as I could back down. Nothing like a little lightning to get you running faster :)

Open Mic Night

The band that Luke is in played their first open mic night a few weeks back. Here are some clips from the songs they played:

Garden

My little garden is coming right along. I'm so excited to see it grow. So far we've planted spinach, broccoli, carrots, radishes, green beans, eggplant, several types of bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, big tomatoes, lettuce, arugula, basil and cucumbers. Phew!

We have enough lettuce and spinach to give us salads for the week

 Only problem is that the bugs like my lettuce too:

 But we still eat it anyways

For my first time gardening I am just happy that the plants are still alive!

Cuties

My mom loves to buy the kids clothes. It's great for me since I hate shopping :) But I do love dressing these little cuties up: