Alison's 18th birthday!

She's an adult!  

Getting birthday kisses :)

Alison, Eli and I went to a cat cafe.  We got a drink and played with kitties.

If we were to take one home, it would have been this one.

After petting all the kitties, we got In N' Out for lunch.

Then, Alison and I went to get pedicures.  

When Ben got home, she opened presents.  I feel like it's tradition now to have a picture of Alison giving Ben this look...

We had a low key dinner of mini corn dogs and mac n cheese while we looked at old pictures, then Alison was off to hang out with some friends.  They went to get Dirty Dough and watched the sunset on the beach.  When she got home, we had cake.

It's taken me days to end this post.  There's a million things that I want to say and nothing seems quite right.  This post isn't about me, but 18 years hit me harder than I anticipated.  Alison, you are an incredible woman and it has been absolutely amazing watching you grow up.  I am so thankful for you!  Now if you could go back to this little girl for just a little bit, that would be great.

Summer fun

This has been one of my favorite summers.  We've enjoyed beach days and trips to the mall or the farmer's market.  We've gone to the library and the pool with friends.  

Beth came to San Diego for a work conference and I went down to have dinner with her.  I took her to the world's best tacos :)

Ben went to Hawaii for work and we played outside (where there's less humidity).  The boys have picked skateboarding back up :)

And they used the water set that Tolson gave Colin for his birthday.  Our yard is not the best for a slip n' slide, but water balloons on the trampoline was a lot of fun.

They got Alison to come spray them down while they were playing and I realized it's been far too long since the 3 of them have really played like this.

While they played, I worked on a project.  I re-stained our picnic table!  Ben built this in Yuma and it's endured the desert and New York winter, so it was ready for a make over.

How it started:

How it ended:

And I'm happy to say that it was a successful mission.  We had stopped using it because it just wasn't an inviting space.  But we had friends over for dinner last night and this was the first spot all the kids went to to eat dinner.

 

Colorado, part 2

After a day at Sun Outdoors, we drove down to Vail.  We all stayed in a beautiful condo, just a mile away from Vail Village.  First stop, the pool.  I love how the kids still absolutely love swimming.

We went to Vail Village for dinner.  Some of us walked, some of us drove.  Honestly, this walk was a highlight of the trip for me.  It was so beautiful and peaceful walking along the river.

The waiter led Colin astray in his dinner order and said that it had "just a hint of spice".  It ended up being so spicy even grandpa couldn't eat it.  Colin's mouth hurt so bad he needed ice cream.

Our last morning in Colorado, I woke up to pick up sticks being played at the table.  There is always a game being played :)

Then all the cousins joined in on a game.

This was dad's anniversary trip meeting before we all headed out to the village again.

We all went to the river.  Mom and dad went to this exact spot on their honeymoon.  Dad put his feet in the water and fell in and he wanted to go back to that spot.  Thankfully he didn't fall this time.

It was short and sweet trip, but we are so thankful to be able to see family and celebrate 50 years!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Trip to Colorado

The boys and I went to Colorado to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.

Our trip started off with a huge adventure...what was supposed to be an easy 2 hour flight, turned into 36 hours of traveling that involved a diverted flight, an ironic hotel stay (we stayed in the same hotel Eli and I stayed in during our cross country move), an Uber driver that saved the whole trip, my drivers license being scrutinized for 10 minutes before I was allowed to rent a car, a long drive to get our luggage and road closures on every.single.road.  The boys were amazing through it all, offering me encouragement and helping me navigate impossible situations.  

Somehow they had enough energy to swim with cousins when we finally arrived.

1st stop: Granby, Co

Sun Outdoors

Rose presented the boys with cookies as a treat for all our adventures.

The next morning, we went for a hike near Granby lake.

Then we played pickle ball.  I was surprised how much the kids all loved it.

There was more swimming that day and then we had a bbq and made s'mores.

I know I'm with family when peanut butter is brought out to put on s'mores :)

Beth brought Quirks, a Kansas City local drink, and we enjoyed sitting on the porch in the evening and catching up.