princess

happy first birthday | kyla

B had two catering this evening, but YaYa joined us to celebrate Kyla’s first birthday party. Our little ladies are baby crazy and can’t get enough of this little one. 
I received a new camera for my birthday (a bit early because I am sweet talker and B has no willpower when it comes to me and gifts!). I got to play around with my new toy and take lots of photos of the birthday girl and her smash cake! 

swim meet | alligators at home

After a long night of dance, the girls were in bed around 11 p.m. They were up at 6:30 a.m. for their first swim meet. Luckily this meet was at our home pool so they could roll out of bed and head right over. 
It was a bit chilly in the morning and we were not quite prepared. This was our first swim meet and we didn’t know much about bringing blankets, chairs, etc, etc. Luckily we were close to home so we could grab some much needed things for the big event. 
The girls have been swimming for a while now, but have never competed. Annabelle was all nerves. She is a very competitive and was worried about embarrassing herself. Silly girl. Her first race she was so anxious and just swam her little heart out. When it was over, she asked “how did I do?”. It was a lot of fun to be able to tell her “You won!”. Once she had that first win under her belt she calmed down a bit and got out there and had a good time. She’s a fierce swimmer and is really quite fast. She won 1st, 3rd, and 4th in her races. Not too shabby at all for her first time!
Gwyneth just seems to be good at everything she does. She also won a 1st place for the breakstroke and two fourth places. She was nervous too, but she laughed the entire time. She was actually laughing while swimming and still managed to pull off a 1st place win. This girl is wacky! 
B and I really enjoyed watching them swim. I didn’t expect to like it that much, but it was so great to see them out there competing and also having a lot of fun!
So cold

afternoon tea and recital

My mom flew in quite late last night (much later than anticipated. She didn’t arrive until about 1 in the morning). She was hear for a quick visit to watch the girls in their dance recital. 
We had a relaxing morning and had afternoon tea at The Huckleberry. The restaurant is located in a fabulous part of town. The food, atmosphere, and service were all amazing. 
It was finally time for the show! The girls were in eight dance numbers and did a wonderful job at each. I love watching them dance and seeing the improvement year over year. They had quite an entourage this year and were absolutely exhausted after the show. I only managed to snap these two pictures, but hope they will let me get some portraits of them in their costumes soon. 

discovery

This has been a weird week with the time commitment needed for recital. The girls were a bit stressed about the show, so I worked a lot in the early mornings and tried to focus solely on them in the afternoons and evenings. 
Today we planned a little adventure to Fort Collins. It’s about an hour drive and we wanted to check out the Museum of Discovery. We had been when the girls were younger, but I can’t seem to find the pictures from our visit. 
It’s a great museum and our favorite part is the focus on music. 
We also took the time to see Dream to Fly in the digitial dome. 
I highly recommend checking out a show there. 
The view from the observation deck
After the museum the girls were in a need of  snack. We had pizza at Totally 80’s Pizza and Museum. What an interesting place! It was full of 80’s memorabilia which was an entertaining blast from the past. The girls and I talked all about movies, tv shows, music, video games, and toys from the 80’s which was my childhood. They got a big kick out of hearing about the cereals I liked and all about music videos. We also enjoyed some pizza which was surprisingly good for such an eccentric place. 

molly brown house

I have been wanting to visit the Molly Brown house for so long. B and the girls had all been, but I convinced them I needed to see it too. The girls and I snuck away for the morning and took the tour. 
I had to laugh because we pulled up to the house and I realized for years we had lived about two miles away. So close and I didn’t even know it was there. (I think I was too busy finding bars in those days.)

It was a quiet afternoon and there were only 3 other people on the tour with us. We were able to ask lots of questions and explore. The girls both agreed it was a little less creepy this time. They didn’t know if it was lighter in the house or if they were just getting older?! I am so glad we added this to our summer adventures. I really enjoyed this little trip through history. 
The girls thought the bathroom was disgusting….just trying to keep it real around there. 

camps

I had a creative block for camps this summer. I sat for hours just staring at an empty calendar. I love the camps and I love to plan, but I just couldn’t organize my ideas. 
The big picture was just too big. I was overwhelmed with the idea of coming up with great ideas for the entire summer. I was worried about being stale and not trying new things. I was worried about growing with my kids and coming up with ideas that were still fun and challenging. That’s a lot to have rolling around in the ol’ brain while just staring at a blank calendar. 
I finally got over my mental block simply by asking the girls what the heck we should do. The ideas just flowed from them. Emoji camp, Cake Boss, Princesses, Donuts, Hamburgers…Paint. Cook. Paint. Repeat. 
Why didn’t I start with these little ladies in the first place???
We had a busy week of camps with Emoji Madness and Cake Boss. Two of their brain children and absolute favs. 
Loving Annabelle’s Emoji Pizza
And then it was Cake Boss time: 
We added the painting to the camps and everyone seems really excited about it. For Cake Boss we painted cake slice boxes. 
Our niece Reagan joined us for both camps this week and a sleepover. 
Those are some good lookin’ cakes. 

saint mary’s glacier

We headed out early to explore Saint Mary’s Glacier which is just outside of Idaho Springs. We had some grand plans to hike the trails, but it was pretty crowded and the girls were not really feeling it. We did a little exploring by foot and little off-roading in the Jeep. Nothing too wild or crazy but we had a good time. 
How about those views? Pretty great!

B grew up here so he has some great memories from all these trails. He’s also pretty great about researching places to take us. He loves sharing these places with his family and I love hearing him tell the girls stories about growing up in Colorado.

Before calling it a weekend we had to stop for some Mountain Pies at Beau Jo’s. You can’t be near Idaho Springs at lunchtime and pass this up!

national donut day

As I get older I’m losing my sweet tooth. I’m more of a savory girl these days. I have two weaknesses in the sweets department still: donuts and birthday cake. 
We were back at the Kitchen today for a mini-camp honoring National Donut Day. We had the special treat of having my niece, Reagan join us today too! The girls are always very excited to see their cousin. The never want their time together to end and they always beg for more time and sleepovers. 
B helped the girls make donut holes

We took a break from eating donuts to paint donuts. They turned out so great and I even took the opportunity to paint with them. 
Look at all those fabulous donuts!

B made a homemade glaze and chocolate icing for the donuts. My girls were kind enough to share with me and believe me I ate my fair share. They were delicious!

Sweet cousins
Gwyneth even sported some donut earrings!

42nd street

Summer camps are in full swing and we started with a sold out house. We hosted an ice cream social at Blue Mountain Kitchen and partnered up with Color Me Mine. We painted ice cream bowls and then the kids got to take a trip through our ice cream sundae bar. 
We are offering more and more camps combining cooking and painting and the kids are loving it! Shaping up to be a busy summer and we couldn’t be happier about that. 

Our summer walks to 7-11 for slurpees.
Our girls are spoiled rotten. I wanted to get my nails done so the girls tagged along. They were treated to mani/pedis. I’m pretty sure I’m creating little monsters, but I sure do love this time with them. 
We are all super ticklish! Each ones of us laughed harder than the next while getting our toes done. 
These ladies sure do clean up nice. The four of us went to see 42nd Street at the Candlelight Playhouse. I don’t think it was anyone’s favorite, but I absolutely loved it. The girls and I loved all the tap dancing. B probably could have lived without it. It was a lovely night together regardless, but we’re thinking next time we go to a show it will be just the girls and we’ll give B a night off! 

road trip | santa fe

We’ve had a fabulous journey through New Mexico and have seen a whole of this on our road trip: 

Our last stop was in Santa Fe. Again, we planned to drive until we were tired and we booked our hotel on my phone about a half an hour out from our arrival. We found a great last minute deal at the Eldorado which is located right in the heart of Santa Fe.

We grabbed a quick snack before exploring. La Fogota grill received great views and we had to laugh because that’s the name of the restaurant we visit often right by our house.

We set off to explore Santa Fe. The weather was kind to us. Not too hot and all the sites were just a few blocks walk from our hotel.

We got to take in just a few booths at this art festival. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were closing up. Gwyneth, our little art lover, really enjoyed the feel of the city and said she could see herself living there.

Eldorado hotel
The view from our hotel

We had  a delicious dinner at this tiny New Mexican restaurant and then ended the evening with a twilight swim.

The next morning we were up early to drive home. It was about 6 hours and we did hit a little Memorial Day traffic. We were in the car A LOT this long weekend. We truly had a great time and I think we’ll be planning more adventures like these soon!