Rocky Grass

Last weekend, our family got to experience Rocky Grass. We purchased our tickets back in January knowing it would be a gamble if Mark would be able to go. But the Bluegrass Gods were looking out for us. Mark came home early and got to go Friday night and Saturday but got called out to leave for Oregon early Sunday.

We knew this festival was a big deal. In fact, way back when we lived in Florida (and Colorado wasn't even on our radar), Mark's boss flew out for it every year.
I had no idea how family friendly it was. It's right on the river, so the kids could play in the sand and in the water, there was a music "petting zoo" where the kids could play instruments, a craft tent and even a second stage that had kiddo bands.

On Sunday, the boys and I went alone and met some friends. It was rainy and we still stayed almost 8 hours. That tells you how much the kids enjoyed it--rain and all. They were Blue Grass troopers.

Some of the pictures below are of the river. There was a break in the clouds and the kids went straight for the water before I even had a chance to change them into their swim suits.

Summer Trip

The boys and I went to St. George to visit my folks for about a week and a half. It went by way too fast but we managed to fill our time with all the things we love about summer in the desert. Our favorite being Grandma & Grandpa time.

During the last 3 days of our visit, we were able to spend time with cousins too. The grandparents got to hang out with all of their grandkids together a the same time. We even got to celebrate Emily's 1st birthday!

United Airlines has started up a direct flight from Denver to St. George which was fantastic. Flying direct is totally doable with the boys. Because of the configuration of the plane (2 seats together), Coop had to sit on his own on the aisle across from Cruz and I. He looked so big and grown up. I told him he looked like he was going on a business trip.

Cruz has entered the superhero phase. A bit early for a not quite 3yr old but that's part of being the younger sibling. He wants to play with whatever his brother thinks is cool. Cruz has taken  this to a whole different level. He is some type of superhero at all times. He likes to mix it up and isn't partial to just one. He insists on wearing some type of mask most of the time (even when he sleeps). During our flights, he was batman. The helmet he is wearing is actually Thor but don't try to tell him that. It's BATMAN and don't you forget it!

Elbow, Elbow, Wrist, Wrist, Wrist

Yesterday we had the privilege of participating in the Rodeo Parade! We were on a float representing a group called, "Families for Estes". I joined the group last fall and have participated in some great fundraising events since then. This wasn't a fundraiser but simply a way to promote the group.

We decorated the float in conjunction with the Town Of Estes Park to celebrate "Estes in Bloom". The town provided the beautiful potted flowers and we made all the tissue paper flowers (thank-you Pinterest).

The kids dressed up like garden bugs. We had some butterflies, a fire ant and Coop, Cruz and their buddy, Rocco were the "Beetles".

The kids had a blast. Especially Coop. He took his waving very seriously and kept yelling "hi everyBUGGY".

The pictures I took aren't very good. I was having too much fun doing my parade wave to worry about pics.

Love Note Demands

I've mentioned our love notes before. We had tapered them off towards the end of the school year and I wasn't giving them to Coop every day any longer. They just weren't as necessary.

Once camp started, I decided I would start the tradition with Cruz as well to help with the transition. Coop started to request the notes again too.

Here's the catch......I used to be able to randomly choose things I thought they would like and they were fine with them. But now I'm getting requests and quite specific demands. For instance, Cooper asked for an army tank the other day. An army tank? How does that remind you of your Mommy's love and that she's thinking of you? I'm still in denial about my boys wanting to play with guns, blow things up and shoot things so I thought I could make them cute and add faces. If they have a smile and cute little eyes then maybe they wont be so destructive. At least that is what I was going for.

I have a feeling my love notes are going to continue to evolve as the boys get older but I'm going to keep them as cute as possible for as long as I can.





My skills are also not keeping up with the demands. After I presented this one to Coop he said it needed to be "camo colored". He said "next time, can you make a fire truck, with a fire dog driving it and I want him to have his head sticking out of the window with his ears flapping in the wind." At least that's still on the positive side of the cute meter but I'm not so sure I'll be able to deliver.

Biking

He did it! Coop is now a bike pedaler! Cautious Coop wanted to make sure he was good and ready before he made it happen. On his time. What made his timing even more special is that Mark was here when it happened. I don't know if it would have happened unless Mark was home though. I have found it difficult to juggle a bike scooting toddler and a bike wobbler by myself without a partner.

Which brings me to a different topic. A sad one at that. In the wake of the recent Granite Mountain Hotshots tragedy, this week has been beyond bittersweet. Not only did Mark get to come home after only a week out on his last fire assignment, but he was home for an entire week after that. Plus, we got to celebrate a summer holiday together yesterday which is very rare. We always appreciate our time together, but this past week we cherished it even more. I can't imagine what a wreck I would have been when the news broke of the tragedy if our Hotshot wouldn't have been home to hug and hold on to.

About a month ago, I was talking to my Dad on the phone and he asked me how I was coping with the fire season thus far. I told him we had our ups and downs but we were managing just fine. I also expressed to him that I came to the realization that I am no where close to being a single parent like I have whined about being on occasion on this blog and even in conversations sometimes. I realized I sounded like a big old brat with the reference. In his wise words he answered, "ya, you're right".

I came to this realization over the past two months or so. During this time. I have learned of 2 fathers and 1 mother that have lost their lives way too young. Thus making their spouses true single parents just like that. Because I know each of these families, it made it even more real for me.

I most certainly can suck it up during fire season. The boys and I are a team and our team becomes complete once Mark is home. I'm constantly telling the boys we have to work together as a team while their Dad is gone and they too understand that we become whole again once he is back.

There are 19 families whose team is no longer complete and my heart is heavy because of that. Unlike us, they no longer get to ride out another fire season before they become whole again. For this reason alone, I will be even more grateful when our family gets to celebrate the closing of Fire Season 2013. We will cherish our time together and will honor the families that don't get to do the same.

When Cooper is a little older and we talk about when he learned how to ride his bike I hope we can explain to him how triumphant it was because of the event that took place the very same weekend. In the big picture it really does make this milestone even more triumphant.

We are so proud of Cooper and so lucky to have him on our team!

Biker from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Camping

Last week, the boys and I went on our first camping trip together. We have "camped" on our front porch before but never out in the wild. When I say "wild", I mean car camping at a camp ground only about 20 minutes from our house. It felt pretty bad ass to me.

What makes it feel even more bad ass, is that I did it with 4 other moms and 8 kids! To many of these Moms, camping without their "men folk" is no big deal. In fact, it is a regular thing for them to go BACKCOUNTRY camping with their toddlers by themselves. I'm not quite there yet but I am definitely ready to overnight again a couple more times before the summer is over.

The boys loved it and can't wait to go again. The only snafu was that Cruz had a hard time containing himself in the go-to-sleep department. The excitement of sleeping next to his bro was just too much to handle. The kid would.not.go.to.sleep. Finally at about 12:30 am, Cruz gave in and we slept for a good 7 hours.

Cooper slept like a rock and had no problems adjusting to tent sleeping. Perhaps that is because he hogged the entire tent. This made me realize that it is probably time to upgrade our tent from the 2 man backcountry tent Mark and I have always used on our camping adventures. Our family has moved beyond that.

Check out my dirty boys! Dirt = camping success. Coop had a head start on the filth since I picked him up from camp and we headed straight to our camp site from there. Cooper is always a messy mess when he comes home from camp.

Watch out camping world! Here we come!

Rockies

I was just clearing out some random pics on my phone and found some pictures from last month.

The day before Mark's crew went available we decided to go to our first Major League Baseball game as a family. The Rockies beat the Giants. It was a beautiful day and the boys did great. They did get a little antsy in their seats but we cured that with walks around the stadium. I didn't mind that at all because of the great people watching---my favorite part of baseball games.

Towards the end, we bribed the boys to sit still with an emergency stash of suckers I found in my purse. Cruz may have had more than one but they were small ;)

We made it to the seventh inning stretch and then called it. We were out of suckers......