Anniversary Vacation

Kevin and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We were trying to figure out something big to do and thought about getting away for a couple nights. You'd think being an anniversary get-away we'd go without the kids, but we wanted the kids to come so it turned into a family vacation. The last time I stayed in a hotel was when we went to South Dakota right after I found out I was pregnant with Bradley - so just over 5 years ago! That's just crazy to me. And it was crazy thinking that our kids, especially Bradley, had NO idea what it was like to stay overnight in a hotel and go on vacation. So - long overdue!!! We were kind of debating between Glenwood Springs or Yellowstone and because Glenwood Springs was half the drive we decided on that. We only had a couple days because Kevin could only take off 1 day, so we headed up on a Friday after he did a couple things that morning and got back on Sunday night. I was a little worried about Gracie in the car for 4 hours. She is VERY independent and VERY strong willed and has NEVER liked the car seat because she doesn't like being strapped in to anything and not having freedom to go wherever she wants. Even when she was a baby she would push and pull at the straps and grunt and squirm and try to get out for a whole hour straight. I was kind of expecting her to fall asleep since it was approaching nap time anyway, but that didn't happen. However, they were very very good. They kept each other occupied and were being very nice to each other (for the most part). I just switched their car seats and I'm so glad I did. Bradley used to be on the other side with Sammie in the middle and Gracie just can't keep her hands off of her and would bug her constantly (and take her paci), so now it's MUCH better! Sammie did sleep off and on and was a sweetheart as usual.

It was so cute how excited they were. The hotel was very nice, it had a nice indoor pool with a HUGE slide. The first night we just hung out, ordered pizza and swam. I didn't get any pictures of the pool, which I'm sad about, but I kept debating bringing my camera and taking pictures or getting in the pool and swimming with everyone and every time I opted to swim :) (even though NOW I wish I took some pictures :) ) The slide was big and winded around and the first time I went down sitting up and it was SO much fun. Then Kevin went and told me to lay down so that you go faster. The next time I did I layed down and was going so fast that I pretty much got whiplash going around one turn. I heard my neck and back crack and it was sore the rest of the trip!

The next day we went on the tram up to the Glenwood Springs Adventure Park. The tram ride was a lot of fun. We were in the tram with a girl who worked there and I was taking so many pictures and she was texting on her phone the whole time - I guess it's not very exciting to her anymore - but we sure thought it was cool! :)

       

 

 

 

I ended up having mixed feelings about the Adventure Park. Gracie was about 1 inch too short to ride almost all the rides, even though all of them I would have gone with her and she would have been totally fine. A couple of the workers let her slide which I was VERY appreciative about. But all the others just made it SO hard on her. Standing in line to get on a tiny little Farris wheel then being told that she couldn't go just crushed her. It was a mess because then I didn't want to go at all, but then Bradley wanted to go so bad. I was SO mad at the lady because her head was touching the pole, she would have been just fine, but whatever... One nice lady let her get on a roller coaster when we first got there and the place was pretty deserted. Gracie was fine the first 2 times around, then she started crying which REALLY surprised me - I thought Bradley would have been more likely to do that :)

We rode the Giddy Up ride a lot because there was no line at all and the guy was one of the nicer ones that let Gracie ride.

Sweet baby girl just fell asleep watching all the excitement :)

We sat in the sandbox for a long time letting them dig and play since Gracie was so limited on what she could do, then decided to try out the 4D 5-minute movie - worst mistake of the trip! I didn't really know what to expect. Sammie and I sat behind everyone in the non-motion seats and I didn't even bother putting on the 3D glasses. Not even 15 seconds into the movie you got sprayed in the face with water as the car in the movie splashed into a puddle - and all hell broke lose! Bradley and Gracie immediately started screaming at the top of their lungs and we had to grab what we could and run out of the theatre. We had to go back in later to get the rest of the stuff we couldn't get in the haste to get out. It was such a mess. For hours, no, actually WEEKS, they would both randomly start complaining about how scary that movie was. Gracie would say "No like movie! Scary! Sprayed water in my face!"

 

 

They have a canyon swing that Kevin was going to try out but then we completely forgot about it since it was kind of off on its own. This was when we went to check it out and the kids didn't like how loud it was :)

We came back down the mountain and had lunch and relaxed at the hotel for a little bit then went back up right before it closed for the night, thinking that it would be less busy but it was worse. Then the next morning we got a late check out so we could go swimming in the pool all morning and we were the only ones so we got this huge pool all to ourselves, it was so nice. On the way back we stopped for lunch and Kevin took one bite and his spaghetti and meatballs got stuck in his throat again. I don't know if I've talked about his tiny throat issue on the blog before - but it's just that - he has a tiny throat. Food gets stuck very easily, he's had to get his throat stretched 2 times now and has learned how to deal with it pretty well and can usually get food out by himself - luckily we've only had to take 1 trip to the ER. This time it was lodged in there the longest it's ever been because he was being stubborn and not wanting another medical bill from the ER. If it was my choice we would have gone in, but 12 hours after it got stuck he finally got it out. It was an unfortunate way to end our vacation but thank God it didn't happen on the way TO our vacation.
I was thinking this little mini vacation would be the perfect amount of time. I hadn't taken a vacation in a long time and was even hesitant to do this one, I'm definitely a home-body and don't really like going too far from home. When I got back home - I was so sad! I could have easily stayed another day or even two and am longing to go on another one soon. Now that I know what I've been missing I don't want to go too long without one again! It was just so nice just being able to hang out together and not have to worry about day to day chores and obligations and Kevin needed a break from work and one mean client in particular. We're thinking about going to Colorado Springs next time because we haven't been there in a while and it's still close to home. Maybe some day we'll venture out of state! Gasp! :)

The Next Move

A little over a week after we moved Gracie into Bradley's room we moved Sammie into the nursery. She was SO crammed in her little bassinet. She was waking up quite a bit in her bassinet every night so I was hoping that having more room would make her more comfortable and maybe not as hot. She seemed to like it at first, she loved looking at the mobile and was stretching her arms out and rolling around, but I guess it was all too exciting because she couldn't get to sleep. I kept going up there and trying to feed her some more and making sure she had her paci, but it took a very long time for her to finally fall asleep. I was VERY close to putting her back in the bassinet in our room and trying again another day, but she did finally fall asleep. As soon as she did I went to bed because I figured it would be a long night of her waking up over and over - I was wrong. She finally got to sleep around 10 and slept until 5 - I would say it was very nice but it's not like I actually slept straight through. I kept getting up to go check on her to make sure she was ok, and then around 3 I had to go downstairs and pump because I was so used to feeding her multiple times by that time of night :) She's been doing wonderful every night and usually sleeps 9-5 or close to that. She will sleep on her belly a lot now and I LOVE walking in the room in the morning and seeing her on her belly holding herself up and looking at the door. I was pretty sad the first night without her by my bed and it still seems empty when I go in there to go to sleep, but the extra sleep and seeing how much she likes it makes me feel much better :)

Monster Trucks

One of Bradley's obsessions right now is Monster Trucks. The other morning Kevin was on his way back into town from a bid and saw a Monster Truck in Loveland at an opening of an auto parts store. So I rushed to get the kids ready so we could go see it. It was the famous Big Foot - the very same one Bradley has and loves! Can you tell the difference? :)

I don't think Bradley was as impressed as I imagined he would be, but I guess they aren't quite as exciting when they're not moving and you can't even touch them. The bounce house quickly became the center of their attention.

What an evil look! Watch out Gracie :)

The Sowbug Killer

One of Bradley's most favorite things to do outside is find sowbugs - otherwise known as roly polys. He is so very gentle and sweet with them, as he is with everything actually. Gracie on the other hand, bless her heart, is not. The other day Bradley found a little critter habitat that we actually got from a kids meal forever ago and he was so excited to go find a roly poly to make it their home. He went outside and quickly found one and introduced it to its temporary home. He would bring it inside to show me and then go back outside. Then Gracie started to notice all the excitement... I was in the kitchen and they were outside right next to the patio door. I heard Bradley gently talking to Gracie telling her to be very careful and saying it was his friend - then I hear a panicked "no no no NOOOO!" and then a blood curdeling scream and I run out there to find Bradley sobbing holding an open, empty critter habitat with Gracie standing next to him - holding PIECES of roly poly in her hand. Man was I mad! I grabbed Gracie and put her in time out (after a few spankings) yelling at her that she CAN'T kill roly polys like that. Bradley was such a sweet boy, he was so very sad and I told him how sorry I was. He quickly calmed down and even went over to Gracie in time out and, again very gently and calmy said, "You just can't kill roly polys, he was my friend, that hurt him". She was crying and crying and saying "sorry" over and over. Afterwards I went over and asked her if we're supposed to kill roly polys and she would say "yes, like this" and do this ripping and twisting motion with her fingers. We have had MANY MANY talks about this since then, but I still don't trust her around small, fragile bugs, animals, or... actually anything fragile :) It is crazy to me how different Bradley and Gracie are. He has ALWAYS been so gentle with everything, even when he was SO young. And Gracie is just SO not :) She is spunky, and tough, and ornery, and SO strong-willed. She just cracks me up. She will go out of her way to stomp on bugs outside and Bradley will run the other way if he finds any (other than roly polys). I am trying my very best to explain that we need to leave bugs alone and that they belong outside and that's their home and we shouldn't bother them. That girl is one tough cookie! :) (PS - The only reason I know roly polys are actually called sowbugs is because a couple weeks ago I found the nastiest looking spider in the middle of my house and looked it up online and it was called the Sowbug Killer Spider - needless to say Bradley was very mad at the spider, even more so than other spiders. Kevin said Gracie probably let it in :) )

Fridge

I just love how she opens the fridge - well, to be more specific - I just love the WAY she opens the fridge, NOT that she actually CAN now because I can't keep her out of it!!!

The Big Move

We spent several days getting Bradley's room all ready and as clean and organized as possible before we moved Gracie in there. Although it's pretty close to impossible to clean or organize with their 'help' because they follow me and undo everything that I just did, but I digress :) The beds turned out great I think, even though we changed plans about the pvc tent part for now. So we decided to make bed rails out of the pvc since we're too cheap to buy them :) They were very easy to put together and I made slip-covers for them. I was going to sew them on there making little tubes for the pvc, kind of like curtains and curtains rods, but I got lazy and wanted to hurry and get them in there together, so I made it more like a pillow case that just fit over them. I would actually like them to be tighter so I might go back soon and sew them just a little smaller, but for now it's working :) I just got the bins for under the beds, Bradley's are red and Gracie's are turquoise. I wish they were a little bigger than they are, but they are the biggest I could find without spending $12 a piece for nice baskets - again, I'm cheap :) My plan is to take pictures of the toys that should go in each bin and put them in label holders on the front of the bin so that HOPEFULLY they can start to realize that everything has its place and help me put away toys and keep them somewhat separated and organized, we'll see how that goes :)

I tried to make Gracie's part of the room as girly as possible seeing that everything in there used to be boy and pretty much everything in the nursery is neutral.

Yes, we still have the paci :( I figured I'd let her have it until she got all settled in the new bed, then move onto that battle. I am expecting the worst (which I seem to always do with change, then it's nice when I get pleasantly surprised, but this time I really do think it's going to be difficult, we'll see...)

Angel is so cute, she really does wait for Bradley to go to bed, then cuddles with him all night long. I wonder if that's going to change now since Gracie is in there and hassles her a lot! Hopefully not, hopefully Bradley can keep her away from her :)

The first night they did great, they talked for a while which was expected; Gracie got out of bed and wondered around, which was expected and we quickly learned that we needed one of those plastic child-proof door knobs on the inside of the room so she couldn't get out. It took a while for them to fall asleep, I was way sleepy but didn't want to go to sleep before she finally fell asleep, so it was definitely a late night - but all in all it was really cute having them in the same room. Bradley used to come downstairs a lot when going to bed with many different excuses - the classic needing a drink of water, being cold or hot, needing to go potty, and of course asking Daddy to come lay with him (never Mommy, urgh :( ). When we put Gracie in there we explained he really needed to show her how you're supposed to stay in bed and go to sleep. Every single night he has fallen asleep before she has. We'll go in there and she'll be sitting in his bed next to him staring at him and she'll say "Bradley's asleep!" Yes, we know, stop watching him sleep (creepy) and get in your own bed and sleep!! Lately though she wants to sleep in his bed with him, which is adorable I think, so I never make her go back to her own bed. Sometimes we'll find they switched beds, sometimes we'll fine one or both on the floor - who knows really what goes on in there during the night, but I'm loving how they are together :) We do have a video monitor in there but it only shows part of the room and we did explain to them that we can see and hear them, so Bradley tested it one night and just started very quietly saying "Gracie's playing with toys" over and over and I went up there and he was just amazed at how I heard him :) Oh and now both of them will come downstairs, Gracie first with Bradley following, she'll ask for a drink of water and Bradley will watch from behind to kind of test our reaction - you can tell that he puts her up to it! I love their relationship and I love how they have each other!!! They were both really excited to move into together and have been getting along really well in one room together, it's very sweet!!!

Day at the park

A couple weekends ago we went up to Laramie for a little family reunion with Kevin's family. It was a beautiful day! The kids had a blast playing together and it was so nice to get to see everyone again. I wanted to go around and take a bunch of pictures, but Sammie and I ended up laying in the grass in the shade and watching everyone play for most of the time. Then she fell asleep so I was pretty confined to that one spot :) It was just such a nice, relaxing day.
Sammie was experiencing a little stranger danger and didn't want anyone but Mommy or Daddy :)

So sleepy...

Out!

Gracie was saying "pretty hair!" She's not used to all that hair :)