Denver Downtown Aquarium

Today we finally went to the Aquarium. I'll be honest. We didn't even think about it until we found out we had to drive to south Denver to pick up the tickets to Zac Brown Band (WOOHOO!!!) that we bought from some guy off of Craigslist. We didn't want to waste the trip and we knew the kids would love the aquarium. We figured we would too. We were right! What an amazing place! Luckily the kids are still under 3 so they were free. I'm not too sure if we'll frequent the place once we have to start paying for them because that would be pretty pricey.

Hunter LOVED the stingrays!! We have a video of me feeding them but I can't get it to load. I'll keep trying:-)

My precious little lady at lunch.

Reagan getting her mermaid "tattoo". It was supposed to be face paint but of course they wanted to be able to see it.

Hunter wasn't so sure about the whole "tat" process. Daddy to the rescue!

It's not so bad!

Ah yeah.. check out my ripped tricep Mom! Yup, that's a shark!

Reagan in a bubble. You know, those bubbles you crawl under so you can be "with" the fish.

This was the "Mermaid" show. These girls were pretty impressive. They were in there for 15 minutes doing this amazing Mermaid show. Of course, they would go up occasionally to get air but their legs had to be rock solid from swimming like they did. What's classic is that Hunter was way more into the mermaids than Reagan was. Yeah, they were pretty cute:-)

Big Boy/Girl Beds!!!

I finally came to the conclusion that it is time to put Hunter & Reagan in big kid beds. I am not lying when I say that I wanted them in their cribs until they were at least three. I think we could have made that work had they not had the luxury of sleeping in their own big beds at my parents house while we were in Mexico. After we came back, we could seriously hear them slam their heads and feet into the sides of their cribs while they were moving in their sleep. They weren't sleeping good and were waking up way too grumpy for my liking.

They have convertible cribs which convert into full size beds. We originally were going to buy two full size mattress sets but then remembered that my old queen bed set is in our basement so we moved that to Reagan's room. I LOVE to save money!! It will also be nice to have a queen bed in case we get any visitor's (Texas peeps this means YOU!!!). I ordered Hunter's bedding set today and I cannot wait until it gets here! It's perfect!! I am having THE hardest time finding bedding for Reagan. It's all so expensive so it has to be just right or I'm not buying it. Luckily it's summer so sheets and her small blanket work just fine for now.

Up until tonight the transition has been okay. Tonight though, I have seen lights flicker on and off upstairs, toilets flush, radios blast, footsteps thump all above me, and on and on. It sounds now that I have put an end to it. It's finally quiet!!

I waited a loooong time before I went upstairs to take pics of their first night in their new beds. She should have been fast asleep by then. Of course, not so!
"Hi Mom"
Yes Reagan, I busted you wide awake!
It doesn't take this little man much to crash hard.

The Sunshine Sundowner of 2010

My next door neighbor Susan and I decided that it was fine time to have a street party. We have lived here two years and only know a handful of neighbors. Susan has lived here 7 years and only knows a handful of neighbors as well. We came up with the name "The Sunshine Sundowner" for our little shindig, which is perfect considering we live on Sunshine Way. Our intention was to make fliers to give to all the neighbors on the street but Saturday was here before we knew it. We live on a very small street so next year we will definitely get fliers out.

All in all, the turnout was great! We met people from three different houses that we'd never met before. One woman is a store manager for Walgreens (shout out to Kirsten & Rodney!!). I seriously have never even seen her face before. Those managers must work alot!! There are still about 10 more houses of people that we haven't met so we'll conquer them next year!

Hunter & Susan playing badminton
Our newest neighbors on the street, Rena & Carl. They just moved in to their brand new house the beginning of August.

Makenna & Reagan
Miss Makenna

Hunter "borrowed" Walker's Thomas bike. Hunter has never ridden a bike before and he rode this bike until 10pm! Up and down and up and down the street. At one point he discreetly disposed of his clothes and was down to his boxer briefs and kept on riding...barefoot the whole time!!

One of the cooks, Julian. Holy moly! He made these amazing bacon-wrapped peppers and carne asada. YUM!!!

Hunter and Reagan were loving football!

1st day of preschool

Hunter and Reagan started preschool yesterday. What makes it even more fun is that Trevor (their cousin) is in the same class! Their class only has eight kids in it and they are going to the same place that Reagan went for a semester last year. Hunter was SO excited to join his sister at school. He's been wearing his backpack around for days; usually with no clothes on. I know, that's a big shocker. Their teacher is Ms. Melissa again, who I just adore. She is so good with the kids and she was ecstatic to hear that the twins and Trevor were potty trained.

Just like last year, Reagan was very shy, as was Hunter. They are true introverts. Ms. Melissa said that the only thing Hunter said to her the entire time was (in her ear verrry quietly) "I need to go potty." Trevor, on the other hand, is a true extrovert. He seriously kills me. Ms. Melissa said that he would just yell it out whenever he had to go potty. I can just see it! When we picked them up, they all were so, so, so tired but they had a blast! Same as before, Reagan's very favorite part of school is the gymnastics time.

Trevor at school. My camera is junk so the ones of Hunter and Reagan didn't turn out very well.

After her nap (which wasn't much of a nap). Hunter slept forever because he was so worn out.

She loves to play fetch with Lillie.

Cabo San Lucas 2010

I like how I put 2010 in the title as if I'm planning on making it a yearly thing. Wait! It's okay to dream!! We are already planning our vaca next year but we're not quite sure where to yet. A very cool family at our resort recommended the Iberostar in Riviera Maya. The one with the lazy river and waterslide. They had me hooked at lazy river so I'm currently checking that one out. As long as it has an awesome kids club I think we'll be good!

Ryan and I just got back from 5 days in Cabo yesterday afternoon. To say we had an amazing time would just be an understatement. I had no idea how much I needed that break until I was able to go nonstop all day today cleaning the house and playing with the kids whenever they wanted me to. Talk about refreshed! I'm not sure that Ryan feels as refreshed as me but add a fulltime job and more than fulltime college courses to the mix and I can pretty much understand why he may not feel quite as energized as myself. We stayed at the Melia Cabo Real in Los Cabos which was an all-inclusive resort and in my book, the only way to go. Not only do you walk away having eaten and drank ALL you could ever want but you get the grand prize of added pounds too! Awesome! Good thing I'm no good at making Pina Colada's, Miami Vice's, or Blue Hawaiian's or I'd be in big trouble!

I read an entire book, 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which was one of the best books I have read so far. I also read about 3/4 of Randy Pausch's 'The Last Lecture'. Both books made me think long and hard about the way I live my life and I seriously feel like I came back a changed person. We spent the entire time parked in a lounger right by the pool. It was perfect. Ryan got a little bored so he booked us for a sunset dinner cruise on our last night. It lasted 2.5 hours and I had a great time for the last half hour, you know, after I puked my guts up twice. I even took Dramamine! I was still able to dance the Macarena and some other way-too-cool dances before all was said and done.


Oh.. and obviously, we didn't lose our heads. We did pass a Mexican military vehicle loaded with soldiers who were proudly waving their big machine guns all around. Nice. Guess that's better than a drug cartel with machine guns AND machetes!!

Welcome margaritas! Oh, we had arrived!!!

Bottoms up!
Yes, this is how pictures are when you don't go with anyone else. "OK Ryan, smile. Okay, now take a picture of me."
Of course you can always resort to self pics. Not too shabby I'd say!
This is how Ryan "read" his book. Isn't the minimum age for "books on tape" at least 50??
See? We are great at these self pics!View from our room. Cheaping out and only paying for "garden view" paid off. The ocean was pretty much right there and we were only within feet of the pool!



Thank you Alberto for taking a non-self pic of us:-) Oh, and HUGE thanks for your awesome drinks!
This is at the marina in Cabo. This yacht is docked there and it's from Casper, Wyoming! My hometown! Someone did it right there... not my family evidently! They've got to be a golfer because "Wildcatter" is a huge golf tournament in Casper every year.

Before we went on our cruise. I'm smiling so big!
And... not smiling so big. This picture makes me laugh so hard because my sunglasses are crooked and barely on my nose. Ugh... I felt like crap!
This picture was taken in between pukes. I was holding on to the rail at just the right Kodak moment!

Truly undescribable.
One huge perk from Ryan's old traveling days is his first class upgrades. I have never, ever been in first class but Ryan talks like it's second nature. Sigh... But, he had enough upgrades for us to fly first class on the way home. Holy moly. Talk about being treated like royalty! I was just happy with the insane amount of legroom. I had no idea there was anything better to come!

My very first time... and probably my last!

It could have been a 10 hour flight and I wouldn't have cared! Talk about comfort!
What? Warm nuts? I don't even like nuts but they were pretty darn good all warmed up. And look! Coke in a real glass! We don't even use real glasses at home!! Okay, sometimes we do. Definitely not in the summer though:-)
"Here's your turkey melt & minestrone Mrs. Edwards". Okay, they could have done without the Mrs. Edwards part. That kinda made me feel old.
Yeah, Ryan said he'd had this salad before.. in first class... a few times. Oh, he's soooo cool now isn't he? I'm just a coach kind of girl I guess.