Vacation Day 3

We kicked off Vacation day 3 by going mini golfing with DH, my cousin, sister, and both my sister's boyfriends. It was a pretty fun course that even included water hazards. My sister forgot to read the rules and when she tried to hit it out of the water, she got me pretty wet! Oh well, that's what makes vacations memorable :) I came in 3rd place I think, behind DH and my cousin. Well ahead of my sister's boyfriend's score of 13 behind me :)After shooting a round, we came back and got ready to head to Wanderlust Rafting. We were supposed to go on Class IV & V rapids, but the river was extremely high (highest levels in 8 years) and had emergency crews on the river rescuing rafters that had gone into the water. Experienced guides have also been tipping over boats so they thought it would be a good idea to bump us all down a class. They already had 3 people die on the river (not whitewater rafting - tubing with no life jackets or helmets). We were pretty bummed, but in the end the rapids were extremely exciting and fun! They highly suggested we all get wetsuits, but we decided to be tough about it and head down the 36 degree water without one.In our boat was me, my sister's BF, DH, my sister, and her boyfriend. At one point our guide had dared us to jump in the water - so we all did of course. Let me tell you, that is some fast moving water and extremely hard to get back into the raft! We told our guide we were adrenaline junkies so he steered us into the biggest rapids he could find. Here is a video - its pretty funny when sister's boyfriend gets smoked by the rapids!

All in all it was an awesome day to go rafting. Good thing I don't live in CO or else I would go all the time and be broke! Once we got back it was time for Josh and my date night. We dressed up and went out (it was our 3 year anniversary outing). We went to Austins in old downtown Fort Collins and had some amazing food!I didn't get a picture of our appetizer, but I got a Strawberry martini, Josh had some kind of steak, I had walleye with honey dijon glaze with macadamia nuts, and a cream puff ice cream dessert with hot fudge. YUM! The walleye was probably one of the best I have ever had. Take that, Minervas! The atmosphere was perfect, and the staff was super - dressed in long sleeved white shirts and aprons. And not to mention our waiter was nice to look at ;)After a night on the town, we headed back to where we were staying and relaxed in the hot tub with a few drinks. Boy did that feel good after a day of rafting!

8 Months Old!

I am officially a week behind, but a week ago, Macyn turned 8 months. She is defnitely starting to look more like a little person and a little less baby. Not sure how big she is in the weight/height department, but she still seems to be tall for her age. She loves baby food and has started eating some puffed snacks and some finger foods. She can't quite get the whole "pincher" thing down and the food gets stuck in her fist. She is learning quickly though!
She can't crawl yet, but she is starting to get mobile in other ways. She likes to sit up and scoot on her butt. She also likes to lean forward and end up on her tummy where she then gets up on her arms and knees. She can do a complete 180 with ease and rolls both ways frequently. It is only a matter of time before she takes off - which is okay with me because that means I would have to baby proof the house much sooner than I anticipated!

She still has a personality of her own and voices her opinion if she doesn't like something! Whether its taking away a toy, not giving her food fast enough, and even taking naps. She is definitely not a napper - she AVERAGES about 1 hr 15 mins per day, but she sleeps 10 hours at night. But it sure doesn't help when Mommy & Daddy are trying to get housework done! I have also noticed she gets a little bit of separation anxiety.

We go to the Dr. tomorrow to check her ears and make sure she doesn't need tubes, so I will have more weight stats then!

Children of Covenant

Sunday in church we had Children of Covenant. All babies who were baptized this past year are invited to make a donation and be acknowledged at church. You went up front when they called your name, read you a Bible verse, and got a hand made keepsake bootie. It was a fun day seeing all the babies and it was quite interesting having 13 babies and familes all sitting together at church. Afterwords, Macyn showed off her dress and we were able to snap some of the pictures. We invited my parents and in laws for lunch and we had cinnamon rolls, chili, white chicken chili, and ice cream bar dessert. YUM!

Vacation - Day 2

After a rough night of going to bed late, Macyn getting up 5 times, and then waking up at 4:30 for the day, we decided to hit up Estes Park and go hiking. It was about a 45 min drive to Estes, and about another hour or so up to the moutain - about 11,000 feet!
On the way to Estes Park we drove past this massive white hotel called the Stanley Hotel and I instantly recognized it from the Travel Channel. I remembered this particular hotel because 1) It was in Colorado 2) Its ridiculously huge 3) Impossible to forget 4) Its haunted! Yep, it sure is! It was featured on the Travel Channel as one of the most haunted places. Upon further research, the hotel is indeed haunted, but it was also the inspiration for Stephen King to write The Shining after he had stayed there. More research showed that some scenes from the movie Dumb & Dumber were also filmed there. I wish we would have stopped to get a picture, but the internet stock photo will have to do.
Shortly after we saw the hotel, we entered Rock Mountain National Park where we proceeded to drive up to an elevation of 11,000 feet. We stopped early because of all the switchbacks and my DH's crazy driving I was finally starting to feel carsick. The air up there is super thin and really hard the breath. The crazy thing was, that we saw tons of people riding bikes and even some skiers in the mountains! I don't know how they do it. It had an amazing view and were able to snap some photos.
There was tons of snow up there and fun to see in the middle of June. The big pole DH is standing next to is a marker for how deep the snow is. How insane is that?! They use those so they know where the roads are.
Once we caught our breath's back, we went to Bear Lake to do some hiking. It was a pretty easy hike that was full of snow. I should have definitely wore some snow boots! Once we were finished hiking around the lake, we decided to hike up to Alberta Falls. Macyn was doing so well this trip, but started to get hungry and crabby half way up. It also started to rain. A hungry baby + down pouring rain = one stressed mama! We gave her some mum mum crackers to keep her occupied until we got to the top of the falls, where I finally gave her a bottle. We also decided to stick her bare feet into the snow thinking we would get a funny face - no way Jose! Just laughs from Macyn!

After that we stopped downtown Estes on our way home and did a little shopping. We found a cool candle holder thing made out of Aspen wood - a great souvenir from Colorado. Shortly after we got back to Ft. Collins it was time for supper - PIZZA!Beau Jo's pizza. Delicious. Scrumptious. All of the above. Soooooooo good. The restaurant was in old downtown and had outside seating. We decided to sit inside in the air conditioning. Now back to the pizza - its huge! The crust is sooo good and you eat it with honey. It has kind of a sweet sauce and lots of cheese and toppings. The picture isn't our pizza we ordered, but we had Beef, Bacon, Pepperoni, Mozarella, and a side of garlic sauce. We also got an appetizer of cheese sticks.

After that we stopped again at Walrus where my sister and I got a pint of ice cream. After that, back to the place where we were staying - and getting into the hot tub. Boy did that feel good on achy muscles! What is tomorrow going to bring? Whitewater Rafting....to be continued.

Vacation - Day 1

A week ago today, we arrived in Colorado on our first family vacation. We weren't quite sure what to expect taking a 7 month old on a 10+ hour trip. Before we had even left on the trip (at 3:00 AM) we already had a challenge: packing the car.We had made a list of things to pack which ended up being 5.5 pages long. Macyn had her own suitcase, DH and I each had 1, plus all Macyn's food, supplies, diapers, tub, pool, high chair, stroller, portable crib, etc. DH & I both had bets going that this would not all fit. Thanks to DH's awesome Tetris packing skillz, we survived! We also had a cooler in the front of the car with more food and drinks. Now that the car was packed, it was time for bed (about 10:15) and set the alarm from 2:40 AM.

The first few hours went really well, since Macyn slept most the time. We did run into some severe storms with heavy rain and a spectacular lightning show. Once we hit Lincoln, NE they started to let up and made traveling a little less stressful.
We had to make pit stops here and there to change peanut's diaper and feed her. Sometimes we stopped just to let her play, and had to stop for a big poopy pants! So one of our stops was the Tourist Trap Tee Pee. We had a nice little picnic and got a nice photo op by this stallion statue thingy. There was a massive tourist building so we stopped where this crazy lady followed us around, giving us tons and tons of brochures and booklets. Most were useless, but it gave me something to look at in the car (and ideas of things to see for later).A few short hours later we had arrived in Colorado! We pretty much chillaxed once we got there, unpacked a few things, and went to Walrus Ice Cream in old downtown. Sooooooo good. We spent about $30 total on ice cream while we were in Colorado alone (multiple visits to Walrus) That's a lot to be spent on ice cream, but hey, we are on vacation! And it was well worth it!

So pretty much our first day was just traveling, relaxing, ice cream eating, and sleeping (or lack there of - Macyn was up 5 times the 1st night)! But overall a great day.

More vacation adventures to come....

First Time Swimming

First time swimming,

Not sure what to think.
This pool is way better,
Than swimming in the sink.
Not too warm, and not too cold,
The temperature was just right.
Splashing is super-fun,
I could do it all day and night!
I can't wait to swim again
After all the giggles and fun,
And just like that,
My first time swimming is finally done.

Undressed Happiness

One of Macyn's favorite past times is not wearing any clothes. Whenever you change her or get her ready for a bath, she gets super excited and can't stop smiling (until I take out the camera, of course)! Since it was 82 degrees today I thought I would let her "be free" until I put on her jammies. Boy does she like that! I think summer and Macyn will get along just fine :)