field trip | plains conservation center

I helped chaperone the 3rd grader trip to the Plains Conservation Center. I knew nothing about this place and honestly did no research before we went. It was pretty amazing.
There were lots of prairie animals and plenty of animal holes — most of the animals stayed under ground because it was COLD! The kids checked out the local plants and even found a few animal skeletons (yuck, yuck, yuck, but they thought it was awesome). 

They explored the daily lives of the Cherokee Native Americans. They got to shoot bows and arrows and Gwyneth rocked it. She did a great job and had so much fun!

They practice throwing spears 
And learned all about buffalo and their many uses while snuggled warmly in a tepee. 

A dried out buffalo bladder used for carrying water when hunting…
Buffalo horns
The chief’s tepee
Playing games

Building their own tepees 

We had lunch and then went off to explore prarie life from the settlers point of view. We saw outhouses, sod houses, school houses and heard all about their journeys to the west. I don’t have any pictures because my fingers were frozen and I forgot gloves.

I really enjoyed spending the day with Gwyneth and her school friends. They are a great group of kiddos!

happy easter from great wolf lodge

The girls had a three day weekend from school. We took advantage of the day off to head down to Colorado Springs. We spent two nights at Great Wolf Lodge including Easter which a night at hotel and swimming has been a great family tradition for us. 
I get asked a lot “is Great Wolf Lodge worth it?”. Well, it depends. Its crowded, overpriced and the food is absolutely horrible BUT our girls love it and we have a wonderful time together as a family. So for us, it’s worth it. It’s great. You just have to know what you are getting yourself into. 
Day One

After a morning of catering, we loaded up the car and headed down south. It’s not a bad drive at all and we made it in time for lunch. We were still a bit early and our room wasn’t quite ready so we played a round of mini golf. 

The girls did a scavenger hunt that took them all over the resort and they each won a little prize.

We finally got checked in to our room, swimsuits on and hit the water park. 

We spent the rest of the day in the wave pool, screaming our way down the water slides, and even convinced B to just eat pizza at the resort. The pizza isn’t terrible. We blame B for being the food snob picky eater in the family but none of like the other food options so we were happy to go out for the rest of our meals.

I didn’t take many pictures that first day because I was happily swimming with my little ladies. I did get a few shots of them in our room. They loved having the bunk room all to themselves.

We had a beautiful view from our patio. Great view of the Rockies and the Air Force stadium.

Day 2

Happy Easter! The bunny found us again. The girls left him a note asking him not to hide eggs because they didn’t want to waste any time searching when they could be at the pool. Annabelle received a new basketball and Gwyneth received a new robe which made them both very happy.

Some chocolate favorites from the candy shop

Off we went to the water park. We were one of the first there which was nice because the hotel was sold out for the evening and quite crowded.

We had a very full day of swimming! 

We left the resort for lunch (Cheddars – which is not good, but cheap and we could actually get a soup and salad). We also left again for dinner and ate at the Colorado Mountain Brewery. I would highly recommend this.

Have I mentioned that our kids don’t like to order off the kids menu anymore? They are not huge fans of mac and cheese and chicken tenders. This has become a bit expensive when we go out but it’s always worth it to watch them try new things. Annabelle ordered penned the Penne Bolognese with bison. She loved it!

We bowled a game (I won, just in case any one is keeping score. I have to gloat because I’m fairly certain that has never happened before). 
And then it was back in the water. The Meyers shut the place down!
These girls were not quite ready for bed. 
So we enjoyed some ice cream

And sat in the lobby and watched the dance party (they didn’t want to partake…they were worried we would embarrass them. We would), and made silly faces. It was a very full and fun day!

Day 3

We were up, packed and off to the pool bright and early. There are only 3 elevators so it can take some time to get down to the lobby. Add several bags of luggage and it could take 30 – 40 minutes. B was awesome, as usual, and offered to load up the car while I took the girls to swim. We spent hours at the water park again. I would definitely say these ladies got their money’s worth. 
A fun little surprise – we ran into a few friends that we didn’t know would be there that weekend. 
 We cleaned up, grabbed some pizza and got ready to head home….
 but not before surprising the girls with a trip to the Scoops salon. 

 Gwyneth had been dropping not-so-subtle hints about visiting the spa. They each got a manicure and pedicure and were deliciously spoiled! Gwyneth choice chocolate lotion for her hand massage and made us hungry the whole drive home.

 How cute and very, very pink!

It was a fun-filled weekend and even though we were just 1 1/2 hours away from home we really felt like we got to get away from it all!

movie | smurfs

The girls have testing at school this week which meant no homework. We had more free time in the evenings for haircuts and other not-so-fun errands. I surprised them on Thursday with a trip to see the new Smurfs movie. I think I may have fallen asleep for a few minutes, but they said it was really good. 
Man, oh man, they are getting so big. Time is just flying! 

kno | smurfs

I’ve been working extremely hard to improve the reviews for my business. The prior owner was known as quite the curmudgeon (rightfully so!) and she was at all a fan of children. 
Since taking over I have relied heavily on our lovely daughters and their word of mouth. They share the love of our businesses to everyone and they really do enjoy being their themselves. My birthday party bookings have nearly doubled thanks to the improved atmosphere and my summer calendar is filling up with school outings/field trips. 
One event I was determined to grow was my Kids Night Out event. We never had more than 1 or 2 sign ups. I wanted to fill the place with kiddos painting, laughing and having fun. Our first event was last month and had a Beauty and the Beast theme. The girls had several friends join them and it was hit. 
This month we hosted a Smurf theme. We had many kiddos sign up – not just the girls’ friends this time! In addition to pizza, painting and fun we had an amazing visit from SMURFS! Sony pictures sent over Smurfette, Clumsy and Brainy Smurf. They hung out on the patio for the first half hour and attracted a lot of attention. We even had a few drop-ins for Kids Night Out which has never happened before. 
I couldn’t be more excited to see these events taking off! Keeping my fingers crossed it continues to grow. 

symphony | beauty and the beast

We had quite a princess weekend planned downtown. First the Little Mermaid Ballet and then the Beauty and the Beast symphony. The girls earned their music badge for Girl Scouts today and we met up with lots of their friends for the show. 
It was a great concert. They played a wide variety of music from Cinderella to Star Wars to Frozen to Beauty and the Beast. There was something for everyone and everyone loved it (the adults too!). 

ballet | little mermaid

B had a birthday party at the Kitchen so the girls and I got a head start to our weekend downtown. 
We started with lunch at The Corner Office. This was one of our local faves and we never missed an opportunity to eat there before a show. It is conveniently located right across the street from the Performing Arts Center. They have been closed for several months for renovations and we were thrilled to find they were open for lunch again. 
The old kid’s menu is gone along with their delicious, cheesy mac and cheese and sadly their cotton candy dessert. We are hoping they are just working out some kinks with their new menu and keeping our fingers crossed our old faves will be back on their regular menu.
My lovely lunch dates 
Miss Annabelle has developed quite a palette. She doesn’t enjoy ordering off the kids menu anymore. Today she ordered herslf a three cheese grilled cheese and tomato and basil soup. I love it!
Anytime is a good time for breakfast! Gwyneth doesn’t miss an opportunity to order eggs. 
My sassy 9 year old was practicing forging my signature.
I will be watching this one much more closely…
Hilarious story…well, the girls thought it was hilarious at the time and I’m laughing now…we left lunch across from the theater and headed to the ballet. Except, the ballet wasn’t at the performing arts center. It was at the Newman Center about 15-20 minutes away! 
I had valeted my car at the hotel and didn’t have time to get it out again. Luckily we had given ourselves plenty of time to find our seats, so I called a Lyft and they dropped us at the front doors with just moments to spare.
Ready for the Little Mermaid Ballet
The Little Mermaid has always been one of Annabelle’s favorites. 
We had a lovely girls afternoon at the ballet. I have to admit I didn’t love the ballet and almost fell asleep. I’m usually a huge fan, but this one didn’t do it for me. The girls agreed. We still had a great time being together. 
I take advantage of my hotels.com account often and I was able to use another free night to stay downtown. We got a room at the Hyatt Place by the theater…well, the theater where I thought we were seeing the ballet. We Lyfted back to the hotel and B was able to meet us for dinner. 
Fancy hair for a fancy meal
A booth at Morton’s is a pretty great way to spend spring break!
After dinner the girls went for a swim at the pool. Our family sure does love a staycation. 

spring break | colorado

We wrapped up our adventure in California and headed home for the remaining week of spring break. The girls kept quite busy. They spent a few days at work with me, a few days with B and were absolutely amazing. We had a lovely break together and I will admit I was a bit glum when they had to head back to school. 
On Tuesday we headed downtown for one of our local favs Tony P’s. B is not a huge pasta fan (what??? I know!) so we try and sneak away for pasta on our girls days. 
I let the girls choose what they wanted to do for the day and they requested the Children’s Museum. Guess how long we lasted there?
15 whole minutes!
It was so unbelievably crowded. We squeezed through the crowds but the girls never made it up to any of the exhibits with the long, long lines. They were bummed but we have a membership there and I assured them we would return when it was less crowded. 
Wednesday the girls joined me at work for a kids camp. The day’s theme was Mighty Jungle. We painted animals, had pizza, watched the Jungle Book, ate popcorn and played games. This was the first camp I have ever set up and I was pretty happy with it. I worked out all the kinks (thanks to the help of my girls) and we’re ready for plenty more in the future. 
This is Gwyneth’s giraffe – she’s getting pretty good at this pottery painting!
Thursday was Emoji Madness camp at Color Me Mine. This was a specific request from Annabelle and it was a big hit. I received lots of sign ups and led the camp myself so I could spend time with my girls and a few of our neighbors who had also signed up.
We painted fabulous emoji mugs
And they got super creative with their emoji plates: 
After camp I had a lot of work to get done. These girls were tired of painting and decided to just chill in the kiln room with their iPads. They are pretty patient and amazing and I’m incredibly grateful for them. 
After that we headed to see Beauty and The Beast. It seems as though we were the last people on the planet to see this movie, but it was worth the wait. It has always been Gwyneth’s favorite and she was thrilled with this new version. She didn’t like the Paris part (finding out about Belle’s mom). She said it was not necessary. This girl hates anything sad or scary but she said it was still a great movie!
Thursday night we had dinner at Dave & Busters and the girls earned thousands of tickets. They have been saving them and have quite a stash. They want to wait and get something really big. 
Friday night we had some dear friends, the Tendlers, over for dinner. Their daughter, Sarah is in Gwyneth’s class and they have hit it off. We adore the whole family and unfortunately I took no pictures of the super fun evening. 

spring break | hot tubbing

We drove back to Stacy’s house Monday morning. Our flight was scheduled to leave later in the day so the California cousins played hooky from school and they all splashed around in the hot tub. 
It was a quick trip that went by far too quickly. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I’m very grateful for the time we got to spend with my sister and her family. We have several more trips planned to get these kiddos together again this year!

spring break | santa cruz

The next morning we took off for the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I blamed B for this adventure, but it was really all me. I loved the movie Lost Boys when I was a teenager and I really wanted to go to the Boardwalk. Stacy and Carl have family passes for the rides and Annabelle never misses an opportunity to go on a roller coaster. It lived up to my all my teen expectations! (I thought I had been there before, but no, I hadn’t and I loved every minute of it)
I love these two together! They don’t get to hang much even though they are only 6 months apart and in the same grade. Gwyneth realized she has passed Maeva in height this trip and they had a good laugh about that. Maeva typically goes off to hang with Annabelle because they are both Queen Bees and both Eliana and Gabriela keep Gwyneth busy and feeling quite loved. It’s nice to see them together though and I think with time they will all come together even more. 
We took two cars to the boardwalk and I road with Stacy and these little monkeys:
I LOVE the pictures I snapped of my sister on the roller coaster. Makes my heart extremely happy. 
One of the few rides they all went on together. 
We checked out the beach while Stacy took Annabelle and Maeva on another roller coaster. Roller coasters are not Gwyneth’s thing. 
This was my favorite ride on the Boardwalk. It appears Gwyneth is running away in terror, but she actually went with me and loved it.
We headed back to Capitola for more beach time. The water was so, so cold, but they didn’t seem to mind one bit. 
Isn’t that a fabulous town? So colorful. 
Three of the sweetest little cousins.
We finished the night with dinner at the Britannia Arms Pub. We had very full days at the beach and were sad to say goodbye the next morning. 

spring break | capitola

Our spring break started off with a rather lengthy delay at the airport. As we were checking in I received a text that we were 3 hours delayed. That turned in to four hours. And we sat and waited. And waited. And the girls were absolutely amazing travel companions. They both requested new books for the wait so we spent some time browsing in the airport’s Tattered Cover. They each found a new book and spent the rest of the time sipping sprites, reading their books and asking how much longer? B and I were asking the same thing, so no judgement here. We were all just so excited to get to California. 
We finally arrived and then our bags got delayed. Seriously??? Don’t you people know we want to see the California Cousins?!?! Again, our girls were so great and we were greeted by Maeva and Carl and they gave us a lift back to the house where Eliana and Stacy were waiting. Poor Gabriela just couldn’t stay up any longer. The girls watched a movie and stayed up way too late while the parents sipped wine and caught up. It was well worth it and we couldn’t wait to see little Gabriela in the morning. 
The next morning the girls were up bright and early and ready to head to Capitola. 
Stacy and Carl have a fabulous beach house just 30 minutes south of their house and it makes for a terrific get away. 
These cousins were so flippin’ excited to see each other!
We got settled at the beach house and then walked down to the main strip to grab lunch.
How great is this view?
We had a lunch at Margaritaville and enjoyed some margaritas (the cucumber margarita and jalepeno margarita were my favorites!) while the girls planned their beach adventure. My little ladies couldn’t wait to get their feet wet. Little did they know how cold that water would be!
Oh my, those are some seriously cute beach bums. 
“Cold. Cold. Cold.”
Annabelle loved every minute of it. 
Miss Maeva. Looking very grown up even since Christmas. 
Little Rock Climber. Can’t take the Boulder out of this girl. 🙂
Now, that’s a lot of muscles.
These girls had such a good time at the beach. They never wanted to leave. 
Ice Cream Break!
We had dinner at Sotola which I would highly recommend. 
We started with decadent oysters and I had a seafood pasta for my entree. It was amazing. 
I especially loved that Annabelle and Maeva were not eager to order off the kids menu but instead shared a giant steak, medium-rare, and cleaned their plate. I’m so impressed with a mature and refined palette.  
The girls were a bit antsy because it was a long meal, so I gave them my camera to take pictures. I had to sort through several hundred, but they took some pretty great shots of each other. Here are a few of Annabelle’s:
We decided to head back up to the house and Miss Gabriela is super lazy-bones. Annabelle carried her on her back most of the way. Neither looks sad about it. 
This is just one or two houses away from our destination and I offered multiple times to carry Gabriela but Annabelle wouldn’t  have it. She is one determined lady. 
We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the amazing view from the house, playing games, having a few glasses of wine and thoroughly enjoying our time with our California family. They made us feel quite at home.