princess

painting with bubbles (and stencils)

We dropped YaYa off at the airport and then had to head down to Southlands. The sun was shining when we left but the skies quickly turned dark. We sat at the window and watched my car get struck with hail which was quite the bummer. 
Poor Yaya had to sit at the airport for about 6 extra hours waiting for her flight to leave because of weather delays. We were hoping they would just cancel that stupid flight so she could come hang out with us but it finally took off and she made it home safely. 
When the hail passed we hopped back in the car and headed back to our neck of the woods. I hosted my first summer paint session. It was a very small group which was nice and less intimidating for me. My little ladies rocked the plates they made. They used both bubbles and stencils and I can’t wait to see how these plates turn out after they are fired. 
Annabelle and her emojis
Poor Gwyneth got a wicked headache as we were wrapping things up. It was nothing a smoothie and a good night sleep couldn’t fix!

Pretty impressive unicorn from Miss Gwyneth!

hot springs

We have driven by the hot springs so many times, but never stopped….until today! I was so excited to finally visit the hot springs, introduce my girls to them, and see what all the hub bub was about. 
That water is called the “fountain of youth” and oh man, it’s  nicccce! It’s about 90 degrees and will ruin you for all other pools. The girls commented that it was a bit stinky but I didn’t think it was too bad.
The pool had a great diving board and we all took turns jumping off…including me and Yaya! There were also two great slides that kept the ladies entertained. Annabelle was drawn to the diving board while Gwyneth couldn’t get enough of the slides. 
My girls are little fish and could have stayed at the springs all weekend. I know for sure we’ll need to plan another trip up so we have more time. 
That view!
We headed back to the hotel to clean up, grab some lunch and check out. It was time to head back down the hill. It was a wonderfully quick trip and makes me love this beautiful state we live in so much. 

fathers day | strawberry festival

Happy, happy Father’s day! 
We were lucky enough to celebrate the day with this guy. He’s a pretty great dad and we were eager to show him a good time today. 
We drive the 3 hours up to Glendwood Springs this morning. The drive was pretty easy and the skies were clear. Everyone was pretty hungry when we arrived so we checked in our hotel and then headed over the bridge to downtown. 
After lunch we made our way to the Strawberry Festival. 
We were there just minutes before it started to rain. We stuck around for the pie eating contest which was under a big tent, but all the vendors started closing up. We missed the rides and food which was kind of a bummer. We had planned to spend most of our day here so we quickly had to come up with a new plan. 
We decided to walk to the corner store and pick up some cards. Our plan was to hang out in the hotel lobby and play some games until the weather cleared up. On our way to the store we stumbled along a beer garden that had an arcade and lots of board games. 
We ended up waiting out the storm playing games at this place for about 3 hours! We had so much fun. We laughed and laughed and had a blast. 
We ended our meal with dinner at a not so great Mexican restaurant and then sat on the patio and plays another few hours of card games. Even thought it didn’t go perfectly as planned it was really a great day and we were so glad to celebrate the best dad around. 

greek fest

I really enjoy the Greek Festival. Not sure that the rest of my family likes it all that much, but I drag them along. This year was cooler than prior years and it was easier to find tables to enjoy our festival food. Festival food is quite possibly the best food there is. 🙂 We enjoyed so many different tasty dishes.The music, the food, the beer…what’s not to love about festivals?!
My favs: gyro and beer Yum, yum, yum
Annabelle was adventurous and tried lots of different things. 
Greek donuts with honey and nuts
Greek fries. They had a lot of black pepper. Very tasty!
Lots of great tents to shop
Inside the temple
The girls had 2 coupons left to burn and stumbled across a tent selling watermelon. One coupon each was a steal and they were thrilled. They loved watermelon and gobbled these up!
It started to rain just as we were heading out. Perfect timing. 
The girls and I took YaYa to see Incredibles 2. 
I have never seen the first one but I got caught up pretty quick. It was a cute movie and Gwyneth giggled her way through it.

dance recital

Another dance recital in the books! 
We planned ahead and were ready to go with plenty of time to spare. A few minutes to grab a few pictures before heading to the performance..
My mom flies out each year for the recital. 

 Annabelle was all nerves and I shouldn’t have bugged her for pictures before the show. She did give me a good chuckle though…

The show was great. The girls were in 3 dances together. They did tap, jazz, and hip hop. It’s a long dance season and they work hard through the year to get here.

Gus came straight from the airport to see them dance. A very nice Godfather. 
 Gwyneth and her dear friend, Ella. They are such sweet friends!
 My girls! 
 Finally got a happy Annabelle picture after the show.

gator breakfast and little mermaid

Rise and shine – it’s swim team picture time! 
Bright and early this morning the girls the were summoned to the pool for their team picture and and treated to a pancake breakfast. 
It was so very, very sunny! The kids were positioned for the picture at the edge of the pool, facing right into the sun. Oh man, they were not happy and the photo was full of squints. I kinda giggled while snapping a few pictures, but I think I was the only one entertained. 
After the group picture I snapped a few of my girls and their sweet friend Molly. The sun was still pretty brutal reflecting off the water and they were annoyed with me as they watched the line for pancakes starting to form. 
After swimming, Gwyneth went to VBS camp which she has been attending all week. She goes from 9 – 12 am and absolutely loves it. She has been having a blast with her friends and has already said she will be so sad when it ends. 
Annabelle and Molly went to a pasta making camp at the Kitchen and then Gwyneth joined them in the afternoon for a Greatest Showman themed camp. 
We ended the day with a live performance of Little Mermaid at BDT Stage.  B is not a fan of Disney shows, so the girls were thrilled that Yaya was here to go with us. The show was wonderful! The costumes, stage design, and music were all top notch. 
We all started to get a bit sleepy after intermission. The 2nd half was a bit long and we were all so tired after a busy, busy day. We didn’t head home until 10:30 and were all eager to climb into bed.
A big thank you to my mom who helped me drive kids around all day. I was double, triple booked at times and couldn’t be everywhere I needed to be without her!

violent femmes

What a night! 
We received a membership to the Botanic Gardens for Christmas and with that membership came early access to the summer concerts. I was beyond excited to get tickets for B and I to the Violent Femmes. I’ve been a fan for years and years and B actually saw them in Denver when he was 17. Now, 20 + years later I finally got to see them and they were awesome!
We skipped the openers and were  a little worried about finding seats. We find these off to the side which didn’t seem great when sitting down. 
But they were perfect when the show started and everyone stood! 
The show lived up to all my expectations and it was a perfect night out. Annabelle was a bit irritated we went without her. She’s quite a fan herself. 
“My parents went to the concert and all I got was this crummy t-shirt”. 

mount evans

Sunday is our only day off all together and we do our very best to have some fun. Today we planned a trip up to Mount Evans. 
We started with a quick lunch and B and I got a few beer tasters. I pretended to steal them all and that lead to Annabelle snapping a few pictures and a lot of giggling. 
Being silly!  Ha!
It was about 4 hours round trip to head up to Mount Evans. It was 14,000 + feet and gorgeous Colorado views. 
It was a bit chilly and windy at the peak of that mountain. 
It was pretty crowded up on that mountain, but we snagged a few pictures, walked a bit (the air is thin up there!), and then headed back down the hill. 

school of rock

Home at last…and right back in the swing of things!
We received tickets for Christmas to see School of Rock. I liked the movie, but the girls had never seen it. The show was great! It was a lot of fun and the kids performing were pretty remarkable. Everyone was pretty happy with the show and we vowed to watch the movie together at home. 
The show was a matinee and we were all dressed up downtown at dinner time. What to do??? Yes, Mortons! We grabbed dinner in the bar area and it was a pretty perfect day!