4th of July

I took lots of photos at the Little Man's epically hot birthday party last Saturday. But, with all the events of the weekend, I haven't even gotten through to just look at them, let alone upload them. But, I still have lots of photos from our time in Colorado, so I thought, before July is over, we would cover July 4th in Vail:

Waiting for the bus

There is a free bus in Vail that will take you around town. It turns out Dad and Torchy's hotel room had a balcony that overlooked the parade route, so we decided to go to their place to watch the parade. The thing is, the bus drives along the parade route too, so we had to get up and over early to catch a bus before they stopped running for a while. We made it on the very last bus. We could have walked, but this was of course much faster, especially with all the crowds out for the parade.

People were handing out flags.

LM loved to play with the flags.

Daddy and LM, on the balcony, ready for the parade.

Look at all those curls - sort of. His hair was straight, relatively speaking, in CO.

The restaurant below us - see the guy in the green and black hat.

Soooo Colorado.

Wearing Mommy's shoes.

Beginning of the parade - motorcycles that were LOUD!

The color guard

A band!

Homemade floats.

A band on a float!

This what he looks like when he says, "cheese"!

Fire trucks!

This HS group did a great show with empty tubs and sticks.

Since I have to visit this place almost every year,

I had to take a photo of the Vail Valley Medical Center float.

Roller derby team!

Cool - construction equipment.

LM loved this part.

Then there is this shot. Which I LOVE!

Then after a brief break in the parade, the lawn chair brigade came by!

They were very entertaining.

Then, for dinner, we went over to our place and had burgers and birthday cake for me!

Our place had a very small table.

We were cozy around that table!

S bought me this cake from a local bakery!

And a hug from my boy. It was a good day.

See you soon!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little Man

I cannot believe I am writing a post about my boy turning 2. How can it be the day that changed our lives forever was already two years ago? Oh, how I remember that day, and cherish those memories in my heart. Our boy is 2 today, friends. And he is such a sweet, adorable, loving, lovable, rambunctious, life affirming 2 year old to boot. How blessed we are to celebrate this day with him.

A few minutes old.

I need to go back and read the 21 month update, but I don't have time. I have a two year old! It would help me remember what is new in the last three months. So, I'm going to try to remember on my own. Dangerous. The boy's a walking chatterbox these days, narrating life as it happens around him. He notes things he sees, tells you what he WANTS and does NOT want, what he wants to wear, where he wants to go, how he would like to do things, who he would like to do them with, and everything in between. He strings words together into sentences, and while of course his Daddy and I can understand more than anyone else can, there are also more and more words that are clear as day.  Oh my!

Six months old.

One year old!

The boy can jump in the air, a 2 year old milestone, I understand, and run pretty darn fast. He thinks it's darn funny to run away from YOU and make you catch HIM. He is really pretty thoughtful for a 2 year old. Don't get me wrong, he still says, "MINE!" and takes things away from other children from time to time, but he says, "thank you" almost all the time, mostly without prompting, and he will share his toys if reminded he is to do so.

Little Man LOVES the children's show, "Yo Gabba Gabba" and is in a zen-like trance when we allow him to watch it. He still isn't interested in much else, except the occasional Elmo or Fresh Beat Band. But, since we, unless traveling by car, limit his television time, he chooses to maximize the "Muno!" time, which is what he calls it. Muno is one of the characters he loves on the show.

He loves to give hugs and kisses. His friends are Max, Anthony and Tuesday these days, as well as his cousins. When he's trying to talk Mommy into getting out of bed, he says, "Mommy, coffee?" So, in other words, he knows his Mama pretty well. Hee hee. The boy loves to help Daddy with whatever he might be doing - assembling something, taking out the trash, climbing a ladder - whatever Daddy is doing is something cool that he wants to do too. He is still obsessed with umbrellas, as well as bike helmets, bikes, buses, "choo choo buses" which are the DART trains, shoes, books, and playing in the water. He loves his dog, Echo, and doesn't give much attention to the poor cat. Actually, the cat is probably just fine with that.

Nana and Unk came down for the Little Man's birthday. 

He liked spending time with them.

I love this, and wish it was focused better on the action!

Happy Birthday to my son. I count myself as one of the luckiest people on the planet because I get to be your Mommy. Here's to many, many more happy birthdays.

See you soon.

Time with Grandparents

Grandparents are wonderful, aren't they? LM was lucky to have time with Grandpa and Grandma Torchy in Vail, as you know. Here are some photos of his walks and playtime with them while we were together:

Walking around with Grandpa at Vail Mountain

And, back out again.


Then, he talked Grandma Torchy into walking around.
They went over and checked out the nature center.

LM and Grandpa even took a nap together.

Hee hee.

LM showed Grandpa how to play with a plastic potato.

Grandpa really studied it.

They also played with blocks and cars.

And, in Breckenridge, they played with chalk!

There was time for walking around on Breckenridge Mountain too.

Tomorrow, we will have nine children here (five of them his cousins) for a two year old birthday. We even have a couple of guests from Indiana who will join us! I cannot believe he's going to be two. But that's for another day. Hope your weekend is great.

See you soon.