Squeezing in the last fun of summer!

I forgot to mention last week that while we were at the park Courtney had a small "accident" (think potty training wise). Thankfully I always have spare clothes with me. All that was required in this case was a new pair of underwear. She had on a skirt, so it made it really easy to change. I changed her and she looks at me and says "there, now I'm fresh as a daisy!" And she said it with the cutest expression on her face! One of those moments where I really wished I was videotaping it. I have no idea where she heard that! So cute.

Saturday morning we went hiking with our friend Kim and her 2 girls. Here are all 4 girls loaded up in the Flex heading out!


We went up to Fox Run Park in Black Forest. We didn't hike too far, as you can imagine. I had Kasey on my back and the other girls all walked. We had to take several breaks. At one stopping point I took this picture of the girls on a bench we came across:
They were all enjoying this view from the bench:
After a nice hike we went back to the car for our picnic lunch. We had managed to park close to a picnic table so we just sat there and enjoyed a nice picnic lunch. After that we stopped at the playground on the way out. This park is pretty incredible. It has hiking trails, biking trails, horse trails. Plus a few small lakes (or ponds more like). We saw several dogs swimming, or fetching, in the water. It has a beautiful gazebo in the middle of one of the ponds that people rent for weddings. Plus, towards the front of the park are lots of nice grass areas, and a few playgrounds. This park pretty much offers everything to anyone! And it's very pretty.

Saturday night Hubby had arranged a date night for us. So, the babysitter arrived and we headed out for dinner. The first place we went was a new brewery that recently opened up. It was 5:30pm (pretty early dinner time) and it was packed with a 45 minute wait. Since we had plans to see a 7:30pm movie, we decided that wouldn't work for us. So, we headed to a sushi restaurant that we both like. After dinner we headed to the movie theater at the mall and watched Toy Story 3. Pretty cute movie, very cute ending! After movie time we headed home. It was nice to have a date night!

Sunday was a quiet(-ish) day at home. Both girls and myself were fighting a slight cold. I thought it was best to not take Courtney to Sunday School. I was really behind on house cleaning. So, we stayed home and I spent the morning cleaning. We are all doing better but still have slight stuffy noses.

Monday was a big day. We met Susan and Zak at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Zak's parents and brother and sister-in-law, and their 20 month old daughter were all in town visiting. And it was Zak's birthday on top of all that. It was nice to spend time with all of them. Here are Susan, Zak and Courtney playing with the infrared camera. Courtney is in Zak's arms and it's her red and green face you see on the screen.

Courtney had a BLAST, especially running around with Uncle Zak. Kasey did a lot of stroller riding, but they did have one room for little kids that she was able to get out and run around. We had plans to go right to dinner after the museum, but Kasey would not fall asleep in the stroller like she normally does. Neither would Eliza, the 20-month old. So, I headed out with my girls for a car ride before dinner, and Eliza and her parents did too. Kasey was asleep before I left the parking lot. Courtney actually ended up falling asleep on our hour long car ride. I was so thankful, that would make dinner a lot easier.

Hubby and my mom came up to join us for dinner. My dad was feeling a bit under the weather, so he stayed home. We all went to Casa Bonita. If you are not familiar with Casa Bonita, let me try to sum it up. It has been there forever. It's pretty awful Mexican food, but you HAVE to buy a meal, its kind of like the price of admission. Once you get that, you move on to a table. We were extremely fortunate to somehow get one of the best seats in the house! We were right by the waterfall. Everyone knows that you don't go to Casa Bonita for the food. You go for the entertainment and sopapillas. Where they have their waterfall and pool, they have all kinds of little skits or shows. They have a cliff diver who comes out and dives pretty regularly. They have arcades, puppet shows, a "haunted cave" (not for under 5), and little rides for young kids. Kasey and Courtney got a kick out of those:

Here's our whole gang!
The girls loved Casa Bonita. They both loved watching the little shows or cliff diver and running around. It was fun to see both of them enjoy it so much!

Today we went to the America the Beautiful park again, but this time with our friends the P's. Here are Kasey and Makala on the swings. This happens to be a picture of Makala's very first time on a swing! I think she is 7 months old now.

And of course after the park we went to the fountain. Here are all 4 girls enjoying the water:

We let them run around in the water for about an hour, until the older ones started to complain that they were hungry. It was hard to get Kasey out as usual. She just LOVES to play in the water! Probably because it's shallow enough that she is able to walk around on her own and I don't need to hold her. So, she can do as she pleases, which makes it just that much better!

Once we got the kids in dry clothes we headed to Poor Richards downtown. It's a little cafe with some pretty yummy food. I had a humus pita that I enjoyed very much. Kasey ate a slice of cheese pizza, the whole thing! And Courtney mooched off Addison's PB&J, and ate very little of her own salad (which she wanted because she thinks she is a rabbit). Kasey napped a bit between the park and lunch, and a little bit at lunch. That ended up being her only nap of the day.

We came home after lunch and I tried to put both girls down for a nap. Neither one napped. Yikes.

At 4:30pm, we headed up to our neighbor's house up the street. We have become friends with her over the years because she used to have a red husky dog named Makita that she walked every day. Makita was very old, and didn't move very fast, which always gave us lots of time to chat. When Courtney was younger she nicknamed Makita "Red" because of her color, and she couldn't say Makita. So, we always called her Red. Makita passed away this past February. But our friendship with Ann has stayed. She invited us up for dinner, her mom and her 6 year old niece were in town visiting. Ann made quite the feast! She made chicken wings, buffalo short ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled corn. Courtney had fun running around with Jessica (the niece) and Kasey had fun following them around. We hung out in her backyard and enjoyed a nice evening.

Then we came home and I dunked the girls in the tub real quick because our evening wasn't over! I agreed to babysit for my friend Bonnie who I know from Ministry team. Her and her husband don't have a family support system here in town, and I don't think they have lived here long, so not much of a friend support system either. I told her I would watch her son if she ever needed. So, we watched Caleb for the evening. He is going to be 2 next month. He arrived bathed and in his PJ's because it was just about bed time for everyone. We let the kids play for about 20 minutes and then we had a story/singing time with all 3 kids. Then just like that, we got all 3 kids down! And there was hardly a peep out of any of them! It was nice! About 2 hours later Bonnie arrived and took Caleb home. I knew we held on to our pack n play for a reason. We set it up in our room and that is where Caleb slept. Jeesh, if only having 3 kids was that easy I would do it! But, I know better.....

Well, it's getting late and it's been a long few days. I hope all of you out there are well.