Birthday trip to CO

 I may or may not have a history of returning birthday gifts. 

Which is odd for me because I would say gift giving is one of my love "speaking" languages, but it's not a receiving language. I've been working on it. 

But anyway, this year turning 43, Doug decided to get me something he knew I would love. A trip to visit someone! I decided to go visit my brother. 

We saw him and his family in June. (and actually he came for my Grandpa's funeral which was unexpected in July). But normally I only get to see him 1x a year. 

Plus he'd just moved and I wanted to see his life in his new space and maybe have some 1 on 1 time with his girls. I remember when my first niece was born and I was just obsessed with her. Then you have your own kids, and it just changes. Not the love of course, but the availability, I would say. Whenever we see them I am busy watching my own kids, or they are busy playing together as cousins (which is also something I super value). But I do have a sense of fomo or just sadness that things are different. 

He picked me up late from the airport and we got started right away with good chats. The next day the girls were actually at their grandparents so we went on a bike ride through their new neighborhood. 

The girls came back and we all went to the pool. Then out for a tasty Mexican dinner and then cake and icecream at their house.

The next day I had really wanted to hike Horsetooth. I hadn't done it in years. So Joel and I and the 2 oldest girls went. It was a gorgeous day and such good exercise.

See the horse's teeth?

We went out for smoothies and came home and showered and relaxed. Then I spent time with the girls while Joel and his wife had a date night. The girls and I made cookies and watched movies. It was nice. I do wish I saw them more often, there was that element of distance/unfamiliarity, but I enjoyed my time with them and was thankful for it. 

Then breakfast together the last day and back to the airport! Short but sweet visit, and was very thankful for it. And of course, thankful for another year of life.

Baby's First Plane Ride

Jeanie and I took a quick long weekend to Colorado to visit Joel and his 3 girls, so the girls could have some cousin time. And so I could see my brother!

Off bright and early! I was so nervous about the flight, but we thankfully were seated next to a dad with young kids and Jeanie took a nap, so it went pretty well!

Joel picked us up and we went for lunch to Cafe Mexicali, yum.

Tengo hambre!

We enjoyed the beautiful Colorado sunshine.

Jeanie had fun exploring crawling around and eating the crumbs off a different home's floor.

With cousin Ellie, this girl loves babies, but she kept saying "when I grow up I'm going to have no cat, no dog, no babies, just a husband." So funny! We shall see little girl :)

She loved holding her.

Molina had her 'class mascot' for the weekend so we took pictures of Spirit doing different things for the class journal. He made waffles, went in a fort, played the piano, and met cousin Jeanie :)

All the girls, this was post-nap, so some were crabby. 

Flying home!

She cried a little more on the way home because it was so late and she was fighting sleep, but this girl was a champ and did super well overall. And I even discovered a new tooth when we got home.

Meanwhile at home, Doug was potty-training August, the morning I left he had tarped the play area, and while I was off having fun he was taking him to the potty every 15 minutes, so we are well on our way to down to one babe in diapers! Woohoo!

Colorado family reunion/ vacation

Yikes I'm behind on blogging! Been busy, and having trouble with our modem/internet.

We went to Colorado to have a family reunion for my mother's side. The last one was when my grandma was alive, and I was in early college, so it's been awhile! We met at the YMCA camp in Estes Park, Colorado and it was gorgeous. It wasn't really structured at all, we tried to eat together, but the YMCA camp had a lot of activities and a bunch of us went out for a hike one day.

(p.s. Frontier is as bad as Spirit Airlines for nickle and diming you on everything, no movie screens, no free bags, no reclining chairs, no refreshments. But we did all sit together and arrive together, so it IS better than Spirit by a hair).

met my new baby niece Isabelle June!

I got to have good conversations with the cousins that went on the hike, but it was just a weekend reunion and I guess I kinda wish it had been a little 'more' structured. I guess one problem was in the Rocky Mts not many people had cell service, and the YMCA camp was huge so if you didn't know where someone was/what they were doing, you pretty much couldn't find out. There was another 'family night' of story telling and stuff, but Doug got to go out first with people while I stayed back to rock a fussy baby to sleep, and when it was my turn to go out, everyone had turned in :( so that was a bummer, some cousins I really didn't get to see at all. But overall, it was a good reunion.

The second half of our trip we went to stay a few nights at my brother's new house. It was fun to see the house they built and of course meet the baby!

Those evenings were filled with glorious family time and it was wonderful.

We got Ellie this hot potato game for Christmas last year, and Joel says it is a favorite among all the adults, lol. So we played. One fun memory was since he was playing one-handed and carrying the baby, we all held an item for our 'handicap' :)

#playroomenvy

cousin time

chillaxin on the new patio

Playing codenames

The bad part was August came down with a fever, and on the third day of on/off fevers, including up to 103+ we went to the urgent care. The PA didn't seem to concerned and thought just a virus, and to take Motrin. It just lasted one more day and was gone. Luckily he didn't have many symptoms besides not eating much.

They had this amazing park near their house. And another morning we went to the museum.

#drumface

Do we even have a good museum since the Detroit Science Center shut down??

And fun in the pool.

Next thing you know, we were headed back home.

Good times!

meeting my new baby niece

A month or so ago I spotted a flight to CO for $108. I had to wait for my work schedule to be published, and when it finally was it went up to $190. But it was still cheaper than the $300+ I usually pay to go to CO so I snagged it up to fly out for a quick weekend to meet my new baby niece.

I quickly noticed why the fare was so cheap. I guess Frontier is the new Spirit. Look at this tray table.

Which I guess is irrelevant as there is no snack or water provided to put on that little shelf, and no wi-fi for your laptop. The seats are even more narrow and don't recline at all. No movies. They also now charge for carry on bags too. So my cheap flight was not quite as cheap as I had hoped. I guess if I got that $108 fare it would've still been worth it if I could've packed everything into 1 backpack (that'd be free) and byo snack. But otherwise, will not be flying Frontier again.

Anyway, despite that unpleasant first bit, the visit was wonderful. Short but sweet. My brother picked me up and we were able to catch up. The visit was filled with lots of time with little girls, Chick-fil-A breakfasts, early Christmas with them, crafts with my sister-in-law, and just nice downtime with them.

I made those little pants 2 years ago for big sis

Molina is such a sweet fun girl and so smart. She's 2 years 2 months and already talking in full sentences and very curious about the world. It was fun to see my brother and his wife and see what wonderful parents they are.

Everyone is coming here in March for mom's 70th/retirement party. I'm really looking forward to us all being together and to see again how much the girls will have grown in just 3 more months.