Camping, 2013

Happy Campers!

We took our annual camping trip with Doug and Kirstin in August, and had a great time as usual! This year we stayed in the Kenosha Pass campground. A great little hiking trail, the Colorado Trail, runs right through the campground, so 2 year old sized hikes were readily available. The site was really pretty, with plenty of trees and flat spots for tents. Good find, Chris!

Doug and Kir show Elizabeth around the campsite

 Kirstin brought her hammock again, and this year, the girls got to help her set it up!

Em, the little mountain climber

Addie - she has her hammock rope, but hats and baby Anna are equally important!

Emily was super psyched to help Uncle Doug set up his tent. Doug and Kir both have lots of summer camp experience with kiddos and show endless patience to little ones. 

Addie was super psyched to spend some time in our tent after it was set up. 

Zippers!!

Elizabeth shouted out orders while chillin' in her bumbo.

Let's go for a little pre-dinner hike!

Riding high!

We found mushrooms! 

And flowers!

Campfire time!

Elizabeth got the good ol' wide-eyed fire stare going, and Addie was close by to offer cuddles.

Big smiles from our littlest camper.

And then...Emily found DIRT. And she found that she LOVED getting dirty. 

Oh yeah, I think you'd call this a dirt bath.

Silly messy girl!

Before heading to bed, Kirstin helped Addie and Emily re-toast some cheese quesadillas they'd been too excited to eat at dinner.

Lee Martinez Farm

We joined the Rices to visit one of their favorite Fort Collins spots, the Lee Martinez Farm.

It's a magical little place where kids can feed animals, explore old farm equipment, get dirty and HAVE FUN! We bought some goat feed for twenty-five cents a scoop and Emily and Addison fearlessly fed the little critters.

There's an awesome old red tractor that all the kids had a great time driving. 

 

 

We took a stroll down a path surrounded by old farm equipment. There were signs by each of the pieces telling all about what it had been used for. It's incredible to think about how very different life was like a hundred years ago.

At the end of the path there were gardens, some edible and some just plain beautiful. 

 

There is a little museum that you can walk through with more old farming tools. Here's a collection of husking gloves. 

And here's a milking stool. Used in the 1920s, "this ingenious device was strapped across the hips of a milker so they could move from one cow to the next." 

Three curious youngsters in the museum.

A pony!!!

 

Elizabeth did not sleep well on our drive up to Fort Collins, so she took a little nap while we walked around. 

We ended our trip to the Farm at the water well pump, taking turns pumping and splashing.  

 

 

Dance Party

Dance parties with dad can get a little wild!

Too Cute

We stopped by a friend's neighborhood park after a mom-baby yoga playdate, and my three beauties gave me some sweet pictures.

 

 

Protective Big Sis

We like to sit out on the front porch to watch the rain and listen to the thunder during summer storms. Elizabeth came out to join us for one, and Addie was there to comfort her when the lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled.

 

You're Invited to a Princess Tea Party

Back in August, my friend Chrystina and her daughter, Maisie, hosted a beautifully wonderful Princess Tea Party. The invitation went out to the mom's group I joined at the hospital when Emily and Addison were first born. This has been such a great group to be apart of because all of our kids were born within a few months of each other, so they have all gone through the stages of development together, and us moms have been able to lean on each other for advice, support, and encouragement through it all.

For some reason, the majority of kids in our group are girls, so this princess tea party was just perfect and it brought lots of giggles from both moms and little gals. Our mom's group has been meeting on a weekly basis since these little girls were newborn babies, and it has been pretty amazing to watch them all grow, learn, and play together for two and a half years.

Within the last six months or so, there has been a baby boom in the group, so Elizabeth will have plenty of "second round" kiddos to play with in the group. I feel so blessed to have found this group of women to go through motherhood with!

Emily and Addie each picked a dress from the dress up box to wear to tea

While enjoying delicious pink lemonade "tea," the girls got to decorate crowns

Maisie, Ellie, Addie, Emily, Lyndi, Nora, and Lilly

Crowns finished, Lyndi and Emily chow down

Addie finds a stroller to push around

The babies get together for a picture (Katelyn, Elizabeth, Teagan, and Miles) Lilly's little brother, Casey, just did not want to have his picture taken. Being the oldest of this "second round" of kiddos, he kept rolling away.

The sixth little one is Evie here. She's a cutie patootie with some awesome hair.

Macie (between Addie and Emily) was feeling a bit shy for the big group picture, but had warmed up a bit for this one

Happy Elizabeth at the end of her very first tea party!

The girls got to bring home favor bags that had all sorts of fun princess accessories in them. We came home, took off our princess shoes, and played with our new toys. What a fun day!