Crested Butte and McKenna's 3rd Birthday

Some friends of ours, the Nelsons, invited us to go along with them on a camping trip to Crested Butte, and it happened to be the weekend of McKenna's birthday.  What better way to celebrate than with 7 hours in the car right? Did I mention we rented an RV?

We all had a blast... the scenery was awesome, the mountain biking was amazing and the kids had a great time playing together.  I want to go back.  In fact, I'm hiding out in the basement because it's already 90 degrees, and I'm looking at these pictures wantonly, remembering that just yesterday it was 75 degrees there and I could look at a lake.  Somehow the window well in the basement isn't the same...

Here are some pics from our trip:


Can you believe McKenna is three?  I can't... Here's a photographic trip through the last three years.

Day 1:

Day 365:

Day 730:

Day 1095:

Boy oh boy do we love this little girl!  Couldn't imagine our lives without her! As you can see her love of cupcakes continues... 

Visiting California!

We ventured to California a few weeks ago, taking both kids on the plane for the first time.  It was scary.  You sort of forget how much junk newborns need, and then when you throw the junk that the almost three year old needs, you realize two things: A. You don't have enough hands or arms. B. You should have spent more time at the gym because all of that paraphernalia is heavy and awkward to carry.  I'm pretty sure both John and I were so stressed on the way out there we didn't even think to document the journey part of the trip with pictures because it was nerve-wracking.  We made it. That's all you need to know.

McKenna now has a picture smile that makes her appear slightly drunk in all of our pictures.  I'm hoping she'll come up with a better iteration of this smile in the future, otherwise people might start calling child protective services on me.

We spent lots of time at the beach:

Grandma & Grandpa planned ahead and bought some toys, crayons and a pool for McKenna to play in while she was visiting... she loved it.  She especially enjoyed Uncle Jared throwing a soccer ball in the pool to splash her.  

The cousins got to 'play' together, and I'm pretty sure that Blair wanted to keep McKenna to entertain Riley. 

This was the first time John had seen Riley since she was a week old... she's changed a lot! 

Yet another picture of Grandma with Cooper in his carseat, I promise we have let her hold him occasionally. 

We took about 40,321 pictures of us and the kids together... but with 3 under 3 it was a challenge to get them all looking at the camera at the same time.  Here are a couple of the semi-usable ones. 

All in all a really fun trip!  We spent a lot of time together as a family, got to see friends and spent some QT with the ocean. 

Future wife? Who knows...

Our Friends the Milburns came out for Thomas' sister's wedding in June, and it was the first meeting of future husband and wife Cooper and Aubrey who were born two weeks apart.  I often wonder how many parents have made this sort of statement and then it's actually come true?  I think it would be awesome if the Milburns were our in-laws or his in-laws or however it works.  Maybe we could have an arranged marriage for them... is that legal in Colorado?  I may have to look into it... or call a lawyer... hmm...  

Here are some pictures of their first meeting: 

 See he's already trying to hold her hand...

 I'm telling you... this is a vision of future events... I feel love in the air already.

Cooper's First Few Weeks

Since I haven't updated this since May 5th, a lot has changed in mini-Cooper's life... like the fact that he's not so mini anymore.  He now tips the scales at 14 pounds and has grown 4 inches since he was born.  Yikes.  Did I mention he's in 6 month PJ's and he is only 12 weeks old.  I think we're going to have an NBA player, or at least someone who can help me reach the stuff on the top shelf in the kitchen.

So when Cooper was a week old, my mom came to visit... for a week... and then as we were leaving to take her to the airport to fly home, I realized we hadn't taken a single picture. So here's what we managed:

 

Cooper had his first bath at home, the bad part about being the second kid and having an older sister is that a lot of your stuff is going to be pink, because Lord knows we won't be buying new stuff when the stuff we have still works.  Sorry bud, it's going to be that way for a long time. 

He met his great-grandma and great-grandpa, Ma and Pa as we call them.  They think he's pretty awesome.

He finally met his Aunt Catherine... she was late in arriving, but he wasn't.  She had been studying for a semester in Florence, Italy and finally made it home to see him in the middle of May.  

McKenna was pretty pumped that Aunt Catherine came home too... as were we since she is our primary babysitter :-). Date night here we come!

Cooper is a mellow guy, not a whole lot of tears or screaming.  In fact, he gives us three warning coughs before he's going to wind it up, and usually I can give him what he wants before he gets going.  He's courteous that way. 

...And yes, he still does a lot of this.  He's been sleeping through the night for 4 weeks already (except for last night of course, I think he didn't want me to get too used to all the sleep)