Spring Fun!

This year we had some LATE snow storms but finally SPRING IS HERE!

May 1st Snow Storm

Elizabeth's toes in the soft spring grass- Memorial Day (May 27)

We had a robin build a nest by our front door but did not notice until there were already eggs- so we endured with a super anxious mother robin for a couple weeks and got to watch  the babies grow!

The other day (June 7) Ben opened the door to go to work and there was a hot air balloon landing in the park right across the street from our house.  It was cool to watch them land and take it down. 

The City of Louisville is hosting 'Movie Nights' in the park across the street from our house.  They have permitted food trucks to come and set up a big screen.  The first night they showed 'The Goonies' (CLASSIC!); Elizabeth and I stayed for most of it but it started to rain and get cold so we headed home but Ben stayed with Rachel through the whole movie. We are excited for the many movies that will be showing this summer.   

May 23, 2013

The first fall we lived here I planted a bunch of bulbs in the front yard and got some beautiful tulips and daffodils (this year we didn't really get many because of the late snow) but one of them grew and never flowered.  It is right by my front door and is lanky and awkward looking- I have been contemplating pulling it and just naming it a dud-daffodil.  Then this spring...it blossomed and it's a beautiful purple Iris. This is our true life 'Ugly Duckling' story in our front yard... aren't all so glad that I am a lazy gardener and hadn't moved it?

Ben has been training all spring for the Boulder Bolder; last year he went and ran it without having ran for MONTHS and he was in a lot of pain.  So he has been running with Jesse and on his own around the park.  He sometimes takes Elizabeth in the stroller on his runs- that is a wonderful break for me!! He did a Boulder Bolder qualifying 5k one Saturday (May 11) and did great!

I have also been able to go on some great walks with Elizabeth in the stroller (thanks REI for the amazing Bob Stroller).  We walk to the library a lot and have even discovered some open space behind our house (I had no idea these paths were back there) that we take walks on.  

May 11, 2013

We got to have Andrew, Mylie, Wyatt and Gwyn come over with Nana and Grandpa to play in the water park across the street.  We love spending time with them and love having fun family time!!

June 1, 2013

Family Adventure to Colorado Springs

This summer we have two trips for family reunions, so we decided to do a 'trial run' family vacation to Colorado Springs with Elizabeth over Memorial Weekend.  I tried to plan with foresight; 'kid friendly' activities, booked a hotel, packed.... but alas we learned that a easy weekend trip with a baby is not an easy weekend trip.  

Here is some of what we learned:

- Carseats = NO FUN AT ALL!!  Elizabeth has never really liked her car seat but she usually whines for a bit and then falls asleep- during this trip however, she never fell asleep.  She screamed for two hours down to Colorado Springs, throughout most of our 'activities' and then the two hours back home.  

- A plan (even though it was tentative and very flexible) gets thrown out the window with a baby and your activities revolve around survival.   We did not end up doing even half of what we had planned but we were still able to do some fun stuff.  

We went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.  These are a small group of real Anasazi Indian Cliff dwells with a pueblo visitor center and museum. It was cool to explore these and I was in wonder at the architecture and engineering put into these dwellings. (Elizabeth was in the baby backpack for this and Ben learned that 'low ceilings' with a baby carrier means...crawl!)

We went to Manitou, CO-  this is a super cute little tourist town.  We walked up and down their Main road, ate delicious food and enjoyed being out of the car.  

We also went to the Garden of the Gods but... more on that later. 

- Hotels have noises- even at night.  We didn't think about all of the 'little things' that we have at home to keep Elizabeth content, such as gas drops, lightweight blankets or a sound machine.  I love staying in hotels, I think it's fun and kind of an adventure, but I am a good sleeper so I have never thought about the constant sounds caused by tons of people sleeping in one building.  So our good little sleeper slept pretty bad and woke up to everything! Lesson learned- White noise sound machine is our friend!

- The Garden of the Gods is a National Natural Landmark with huge beautiful sandstone rock formations and paths interweaving among them.  I research this and found that to go on all of the paths is was only about 6 miles (something very 'do able') and the paths were paved- so we could take the hiking backpack or the stroller.  When we go to the park Elizabeth was already screaming (carseat!) so we went to the visitor center and ended up spending a LOT of time there to cool off and calm her down.  We then took the stroller and the path from the visitor center to go on a hike.  Well, we picked a less than 'stroller friendly' path and soon turned back to the car.  So we decided to drive around the park (and found the paved path on the other side of the park) but by this time Elizabeth was really hating her car seat- so instead of a beautiful relaxing hike, we drove through the Garden of the Gods to see the sites with a screaming baby. 

Not really working....

If this picture had sound- you would hear a wailing baby...

So our first 'family vacation' was not what I had hoped or expected.  Ben was wonderful and tried to keep a good positive outlook on the whole adventure (while Elizabeth screamed and I stressed/fumed/whined).  On our way home we got to go to Wyatt's 4th Birthday Party and the wonderful food and delicious desserts helped to calm me down... a little.  I am now worried about how our summer trips will go but am glad we got to spend some time together and learn A LOT about trips with the little Misses. 

That Sunday Ben spoke in Sacrament Meeting about Missionary work and did GREAT.  That Monday (Memorial Day) Ben ran the Boulder Bolder; he did better than his past two years (almost got his goal time;He did stop to use the bathroom in the middle of the race and we are pretty sure he would have made his goal if not for this detour.) and we are so proud of him!!