This year so far has been a total whirlwind – selling houses, building a house (more on that to come), getting ready to move, and really just perfecting a rhythm to our daily lives so there’s both happiness and efficiency. While we’re thriving as a foursome, I’m falling down on everything else it seems. Emails unanswered, blog posts desperately late, a site re-design that has dragged on for months because I’m too tired at the end of a long day to jump on my computer and give the project real thought. The list goes on as you can imagine. While I’m trying to sneak a little more balance into my days, the one thing I’m getting better at is filling time with my family. Everly is old enough to take everywhere we go (7 months) without worry, and Harper who just turned 2 (more on that later too!) is happiest when she’s outside looking for birds and bunnies, she’s such an outdoors girl (she must get that from Mike.) Anyway, I wanted to share a few of our adventures we’ve had here in beautiful Colorado. Happy spring!
Mike roped me into a run by presenting it as just a hike. We did a loop in this beautiful park
which was short of 3 miles I believe. It’s all he wanted for his birthday, he even surprised me with new shoes the day before to make sure I was prepared.
I didn’t get a lot of pics because my phone died and I didn’t have my real camera, but my girlfriend Chris and I went to the seriously amazing Cher & Cyndi Lauper D2K concert. It was literally one of the best concerts/shows/entertainment acts I’ve ever seen. We stayed to the bitter end and wondered how much our families would miss us if we just took off and followed her around the country. (The photo was posted to Instagram- follow me if you’re not a weirdo- I’m HookedOnBeauty of course.)
We took the girls to the Butterfly Pavilion which was perfect for Harper. They call it a ‘little zoo’ with most of the insects and fish in small cages or tanks. At the end though, you walk through this big greenhouse type thing with a pond, trees, flowers, and even turtles and of course butterflies everywhere. She had a blast.
We finally gave in and bought a BOB double stroller. We love our City Select and I’m so glad we bought a stroller that converts into a double right from the start, but the BOB is so light it basically pushes itself. Mike jogs with the girls and I can easily take them to the park and push them around our neighborhood. Little Everly is happy to sit up and see out like a big girl. We take family walks several times a day so we feel like we’re really getting some use out of it.
I surprised Mike on his birthday weekend with a dinner with friends and an overnight stay in Denver. Not too far away, but our first as parents leaving the girls. My parents were thrilled, I was nervous and guilty, Mike was drunk.
We checked out the new Butterflies at Chatfield thinking it would be as impressive as the Butterfly Pavilion, but it wasn’t. It’s a greenhouse with literally 10 butterflies in it roughly the size of my living room. Not a total bust though, the grounds are huge with goats, ponies, chickens, ducks, and a really cool treehouse. We were there for quite a while chasing Harper and looking around. A total must see especially for little ones who want to see some animals but without the time commitment and cost of the zoo (just $5 a car.)
More of the grounds at Chatfield and a look at the treehouse.
Then last weekend something amazing happened. We had a date night (technically ‘date day’ since the sun was up the whole time and we sat down to eat at 5, but whatever!) For I think the 4th time in 2 years we left the girls with my parents and met friends for some wine, fun, and (mostly) adult conversation save for a few impromptu Frozen sing-alongs which is an oddly quotable movie.
I see a little light at the end of the tunnel as the girls get bigger and I learn that not everything I have to do can fit into a single day. It might take me a little longer than before, but I’ll get there. Eventually.