Zoo

Last week we went to the Denver Zoo with our Estes Park posse. It was a huge group. What set this trip apart from our trip last year was a couple of things;

1). We rode in the same vehicle with some of our friends. The boys thought that it was beyond cool to get to ride with their buddies and 3 moms all in one car.

2). We went stroller free! We rented wagons to haul our stuff around since we didn't have much trunk space with all of us in one car. We walked and walked and walked. It was soooooo liberating to be stroller free in such a huge place.

3). Cruz decided spontaneously to make the zoo his first public place to attempt going peepee on the potty. Yes we've dabbled (read: dribbled ha, ha, ha) at home with the notion but never out in public. Good for him, but the zoo! Ewwwww! I don't want to jinx things but Cruz likes to practice. A lot. This made for a lot of stops and a lot of hand sanitizer. We aren't out of the woods just yet and probably have a long road ahead of us but I see the diaper-free light at the end of the tunnel and it is glorious.













I love this next pic of Cruz. The polar bear was totally hamming it up for the crowd and Cruz loved him. I wanted so badly to get a pic of Cruz AND the bear but was afraid I might drop him in the pit in the process. So I had to just take a pic at hands length so I could keep my grip.

This is his view at the zoo @ two.

Swim

Coop has swim lessons at school every Monday. We have gone swimming as a family a couple of times over the winter but it had been awhile. Last week, the school invited family members to come watch the kid's progress. Coop was very excited when Cruz and I walked into the pool area to see his swimming skills. I couldn't believe how much he had improved!

Way to go Coop!

Mother's Day, a Gem

We celebrated Mother's Day this year with a family hike. We took the Gem Lake Trail which is mostly uphill. We knew that we wouldn't make it all the way to the lake but were still quite impressed with the scenery and our little hikers.

Cruz was very proud of himself and Coop could have kept going. Maybe next summer we'll actually make it to the lake.

40!

It happened. I hit 40! I had a great day enjoying some sunshine. We met some friends that morning for coffee and duck feeding at a nearby coffee shop. Later that night the boys took me to a fancy shmansy restaurant for a nice meal. Mark enlisted Cooper to help keep Cruz in line at the restaurant and it actually worked! Coop took his job very seriously and Cruz was actually pretty tame.

Later in the week I went out to dinner and drinks with some friends. A muuuuuch tamer celebration than my 30th birthday but I liked it. Good food, drinks, conversation and I didn't wake up hungover the following morning. Score!

The best birthday dates ever!







It took awhile for the thought of turning 40 not to sting so much. It started sinking in a couple of months ago so I had time to prep myself. By the time the day actually came around, I was pretty okay with it. No jumping up and down or anything but accepting. It is what it is......

Neglect

Not my children....this here blog. It's been awhile. I told myself that I should just start fresh from today and not worry about what I haven't posted. But the whole point of the blog is to document. So here we go........

Duck Race. We did it again this year. Last year we hung out at the launch site and called it a day after the ducks sailed off but this year we watched the ducks drop and then followed them down the river for quite awhile. We didn't wait to see the finish line because Cruz's nap needed to happen. We had a date that evening for our friend's 3rd birthday pary. It was a Monster Truck party and fun was had by all.