Just Another Birthday

Another year, another birthday.  This past year has been so wonderful and with many great things to come this next year I was not dreading my birthday at all.  In fact, I have never given any weight to the number birthday even when it was a "big one" like 21 or 30.  In my mind, 33 would be no different. 

Neil took me out on Saturday night because that's when our babysitter was free and I didn't mind celebrating two days early.  The night started out with us test driving a mini van... something that was on my "I will never" list would not be a welcome change to our current ride.  After the drive, we headed to Hopa on Pearl Street Mall for some sushi.  While sitting at the sushi bar and chatting while waiting for our food, I said to Neil,
"If you had told me 10 years ago on my 23rd birthday that for my 33rd birthday I would be happily test driving a mini van and eating sushi..."
Neil: "Ha, you mean your 24th birthday"
Andy: "What do you mean?"
Neil: "10 years ago was your 24th birthday.  You are turning 34."
Andy: "Haha, very funny.  I'm turning 33."
Neil: "You were born in '78, right?"

At that moment I knew he was right.  I have never been so blind sighted in my life.  I had absolutely no idea that I was turning 34!!  I did what any reasonable adult would do in the moment;  I cried.  However, as I started to cry, and I mean real tears down my cheeks, I had an outer body experience and could see how funny this would be if I was watching this happen to someone else.  So now I am crying tears of shock and laughing at the same time.  Neil didn't know what to do.  He ordered me a birthday cocktail and things calmed down a bit.  We went ahead and had an amazing dinner with some of the best desserts I have EVER had!

It turned out that my babysitter was also free on my birthday, so Neil took me out for a nice dinner on Monday as well.  After two days to come to grips with my age, I was able to sit back, relax, and enjoy a glass of champagne that just happened to be the special of the night... did they know it was my birthday?!

It wasn't the actual number of my age that bothered me, it was that I felt I had lost a year, which in fact I had not.  Life is going just as it was supposed to and is sweeter than I ever imagined it could be, so does the magical number 34 actually bother me, no.  Was the surprise of a number bigger than I was expecting  a shock, yes.  Maybe this past year was just so sweet that I wanted to live it all over again, or maybe I just feel younger than my age.  Either way, bring on 34!  I can't wait to see all the fabulous blessings this year has to offer. 

Me being sad after finding out I was turning 34

Fort Conway

 

Who knew that a few blankets and pillows could change our living room into a really fun place to be?  Well, I guess I do remember being a kid and somehow a fort was the most exciting place in the house.  

Finn had been taking a large chair cushion and setting in against the wall for him to lay under, so Neil simply propped the pillow as a roof between the ottoman and the chair.  You would have thought he invented the next hot toy the way the boys responded.  Neil left for work and I got to work making enough forts around the room so the boys would not fight over them.

Tristan and Ian shared nicely, but since Finn is in another "biting phase" I did not allow him to enter any small space with the other boys. 

He seemed content in his own fort though.  They were so thrilled!  I have a feeling we will be making a lot of forts this fall.

Tristan's First Day at the Little Red School House

Happy Valley

Ahh, the first day of school *sniff sniff*... or at least that's how I thought I would feel.  Sending Tristan off to his first day of real preschool in a classroom where things were labeled with his name and cute little tables and chairs filled the room was not as hard as I thought it would be.  I guess if he had been nervous or crying when I left that would be different, but my little guy is SO ready for this.  

He might be the smallest kid in his class, but his personality couldn't be bigger.  After the first day he had already made a couple good friends and is catching on to the routine quickly.  The only thing that made him sad was  he only gets to go to school three mornings a week and they didn't play with the Legos the first couple of days.  

Getting any information out of him about the school day is tough, but every now and then he spills some interesting story my way.  I try not to push him and then I barely breath until he has told me all he has to say being very careful not to interrupt him.  So far I know they had a fire drill, they played a parachute game, learned the song about going on a bear hunt, and the class pet is a hermit crab named Mr Pickles.  Not bad after only two days.

Every morning, they have to match up their name tag to their name on the wall and then go hang up their back pack.  I helped him the first two days, but tomorrow is his turn to fly solo while I wait by the door.  Nothing like pushing baby bird out right?  Actually, I don't think it's a big deal to make him do this on his own, but he seems to have a lot of "only child" kids in his class.  At the open house there was actually a mom that sat down to play Legos with Tristan and her son.  She would ask Tristan if her son could have a certain Lego and Tristan would look at them like they were a little crazy as I sat in the corner checking facebook on my phone and drinking my latte.  He is old enough, brave enough, and social enough to do this all without mommy.  He would ask other kids to come play with him and they would stare at him like he was speaking another language and then just walk away.  He would look over at me, shrug his shoulders, and move on. I'm sure by the end of the year they will all be best friends.

 

His school is so cute with all the typical centers for play and a wonderful playground outside, not to mention the barn with all the animals and the pony rides each day at recess.  One of Tristan's favorite parts, however, are the bathrooms.  Everything just his size.  I'm sure he uses it whether he needs to or not, and to be honest when I saw them I kind of wanted those mini urinals for my house when I start potty training the twins.

My friend Kendra is a new photographer and offered to do some back to school pictures of Tristan while she took some of her son at the same school.  I love these pictures because they are so him when he started preschool!  I even brought my mom's teacher bell with us and he would not put it down.  That makes these pictures even more sweet to me.  My big four year old boy.  I am SO proud to be his mom.  He is kind and funny, sweet and imaginative.  I could not have asked for a better oldest child for my little ones to look up to. 

Sapphire Point

Today we had nothing on the schedule. We had been cooped up all week sharing a head cold with each other and needed to get some fresh air.  We are still under the weather, but we honestly had to get off the couch for a little while. The weather looked nice and cool in the mountains, so we packed the kids up early in the morning and headed towards Dillon to a trail called Sapphire Point.

It looked like it was going to be an easy hike for the kids.  Less than a mile long and good for "children and elderly."  However, they forgot to mention that maybe it's not the best for toddlers.  We hadn't taken the kids on hikes yet where they couldn't handle the walk in their sneakers, but today hiking shoes would have come in handy.  The loose stone was slippery and the trail was sloped in many areas.  The drop off to the side was a bit much for this mama, but luckily it didn't last the whole time. 

There was a very steep teepee on a side path where Neil, Finn, and Tristan went exploring.  It was really fun going up, but the walk down was hard for T to stay on his feet.  Looks like it's time to find some proper shoes for these hikes. 

There was a beautiful stop half way with picnic benches perfect for changing diapers and a flat spot off the path where Tristan would relieve himself.  I will be happy when the three of them can just line up on the side of the trail and I don't have to carry smelly diapers out with me. 

Finn and Ian did really well and Tristan did the best he ever has at not going too far ahead of us.  I think they are starting to get used to the rules.  It is SO much easier when Neil is with us.  More hands getting them in and out of the car, more eyes to see where everyone is, I only had to change half the diapers, and I got to sleep on the way home :)

After telling Tristan not to run on this path, he ran to catch up with Neil and took a huge slip and dive onto some rocks.  This is the high five after getting back up and on the trail again.  He was a brave boy.  I didn't even have to carry him at all.  Actually, we hardly carried any of them this time. 

I don't know if we would do this path again, but I'm glad we went this morning.  Something new, got out of the heat of the foothills, and everyone was so tired after.  Now back to the couch for all of us this evening with some movies and maybe a little popcorn.  I think we all need to sleep for about a day after this small outing.

Hiking Boys

We started

out early on Thursday morning to head to Bear Lake in RMNP to get up there before they close the road for construction at 9am.  That meant rolling out at 7:20am... something my kids are NOT used to.  Armed with cake pops in hand, because mom needed some Starbucks, we were ready for our long drive up the mountain. 

We snuck into the park with two minutes to spare, phew!  After being incredibly thankful to get the last two parking spaces at Bear Lake, Kendra and I unloaded our crazy kids and started the hike.

We heard MANY times all day long from the people we were walking on the path with that we were very brave.  If they only knew what it was like to stay home with all these kids, they would realize it's just as hard to rangle them at home.  We walked, ran, jumped in puddles, climbed on fences, chased chipmunks, and chatted with park rangers. 

The twins did great making it through the hike, but they sure could use a lesson on listening.  I know in six months they will be a little older and easier to communicate with, but for now we will just be happy that they are cute as they run down the path.  I do love thier confidence but I wish they would stay a little closer. 

Tristan and Blake are at such a fun stage.  These fences provided much entertainment for them while our pace slowed a bit to give Piper the chance to experience the hike now that she is a pro at walking! These fences were filled with "bad guys" that these super heros had to fight.  I know Tristan was Wolverine and I think maybe Blake was Batman?

RMNP you will see my kids again whether you like it or not.  I love it up there!  The air is so fresh, still, and quiet.  Without trying to fastforward this next exciting year, I am looking forward to seeing what next summer is like at Bear Lake with my kids.  I think it will look a lot different that this day of hurding cats in the beauty of the mountains.

Nature Walk

This week we had the chance to catch up with our friends Mark and Amanda who are back in the states after finishing thier teacing contract in Brazil and before starting their next contract in Egypt. 

We headed up to Amanda's parent's house in the mountains to take the kids on a walk in their "backyard".

Amanda's dad was Tristan's buddy for the day.  They had the same interests, sense of humor, and most importantly matching hats.  He lead Tristan to "the spine" they had found a few days back.  A mountain lion had a nice snack and left the spine behind for us to talk about.   Pretty awesome for a four-year-old.

The twins did pretty well, and we had lot of help giving them rides on our shoulders when the ground became too uneven.  There were no easy paths up here, but more beauty than other places that are well groomed for hikers.  I was really pround of my kids.  They didn't whine or complain once. 

Finn's sense of humor is really starting to come out.  He decided it would be funny to switch Neil's hat while he was riding.  It was funny!

I am loving this time with my kids.  I know as they get older it will be easier to do more of these walks but I figure there is no harm in getting them started now. 

Twins Turn 2

It's taken me about a month to blog about these cute little two-year-old twins, but at least I got around to it! 
Their birthday started out at the aquarium where we saw the mermaids swim for the first time.  All the boys were dolled up in their new outfits from Neannie and looking good.  We looked at fish and played in the playroom for as long as the boys wanted.  Of course we still had to get home for nap so I had time to work my magic and transform our place into birthday land!

 

We waited and waited for the twins to get up from nap!  I was really excited to see their little faces.  Their friends Blake and Piper came to party and our friends Nadine and Ciera stopped by for some birthday fun.  

 

Balloons are pretty much their favorite things in the world so I just got a bunch of them and put it with their favorite show making the BEST birthday they could have asked for... if they could talk.

We even had a little Pin the butterfly on the Monkey game.  Even with their eyes open they didn't really get it on there very well, but hey they are two!  So happy that these cute little guys are growing up.  Their personalities are really coming out and although turning two has made them extra sassy, I can tell it's also going to be a very fun year!  Happy Birthday Finn and Ian!