Father's Day in the Mountains

For Father's Day this year, my parents drove the 12 hours to visit us in Colorado. We kept it pretty low key with stroller walks, long breakfasts, and lots of easy shopping. We did take a full day to drive into the mountains of a local mining town for pictures. My mom and I bought matching shirts on base  {my dad is a retired Army Captain, so they stayed on base at the Air Force Academy to do something unique} and we wore them for a picnic lunch in Victor, Colorado. The weather was perfect- low 60's and cool. At 10,000 ft. elevation, the weather can definitely be unpredictable. We had a great picnic lunch overlooking the lake and then hiked with the tripod out onto the edge of  the reservoir for views.

We drove down into the Front Range area of Rampart Road.

The mountains are just too gorgeous!

We did a bit of off-roading on a dirt road- and even saw a few wild big horned sheep.

Almost every night, Harbor rode back to the base with my parents for a sleepover at the Officer's Lodge.  I don't think he wanted to ever come back home.

They had The Egg and I for breakfast several times, and he even went  early morning shopping with them and picked out a few things for him and the other two kiddos.

My parents kept all three kids late one night and we went out on a much needed date.

Our first date since Christmas!

We saw the newest Jurassic movie and ate at a quaint steak house overlooking the city.

We spent two different nights walking a local bike path with the stroller.

The kids always enjoy the simple activity of just being outside.

Harbor recently used some extra money to buy a scooter, but tired of using it and David ended up riding it the entire path.

While David worked, we drove down to the Paint Mines.

The kids slipped and slid down the gravel shortcut we took to the mines, and we had to hold them and carry them, but we all made it safely down.

The boys love to collect rocks and explore.

I do, too.

The mines are one of my favorite places.

It isn't common anymore to visit a place and feel small.

The mines are millions of years old and just a great place to ponder and reflect life.

After all the work to get to the bottom, the skies turned gray.

Storm clouds rolled in and we high tailed it out of there.

It was a quick, but enjoyable visit.

We hiked and waded in a few waterfall areas.

And jogged with the double stroller.

After my parents went back South, we took the kids to the park on the bikes.

We have officially made cookies for the first time in the apartment.

Which is pretty much a rite of passage for our family.

: )

and Harbor has scored a new lunchbox for 1st grade!

Summer is flying by!

Seven Days

My mom was only here seven days on her last visit, but we somehow managed to fit a lot in!

She and Harbor William spent a lot of time outside.

This is our driveway and I wanted to show you that you can see four homes past ours down the street. All of these homes are roughly 2,000-3,000 square feet and they are soooo close! Big city living amazes me!

They played in the front yard and collected sticks and leaves. Our street is so dreamy, especially in the Fall.

Daddy and Harbor "camped out" after dinner on the couch.

And Harbor and Gigi headed back outside for more sidewalk chalk fun.

This is our neighbor to the left of us as seen from our driveway. The only thing that separates the homes here are driveways. No sides yards at all. Notice the AC unit in this picture? It is our neighbors. And, yes, I think they technically consider that their side yard.

I have to keep Harbor out of their grass. : ) Funny, isn't it?

This is our very expensive back yard, that people here refer to as a "garden." You pay a lot of money here to have a garden. You can see the neighbor on the right hand side and many homes past that. These homes are massive, all of them 3-4 stories, but so close. It is true on HGTV House Hunters... people in big cities live on top of each other. Good thing we love our neighbors.

After being back home in Arkansas for three weeks, Harbor got used to going potty on the farm. Now that we are back in Detroit, we are working on explaining the difference to him. It is a work in progress!

We visited the library here in our historic neighborhood.

And took Gigi out to eat at our favorite Greek Cafe downtown.

We drove to the next town over, where David works, to explore the local marina.

And we visited one of my favorite parks, Elizabeth Park, off the mouth of Lake Erie. With its old crumbling bridges, you immediately feel like you are walking onto the set of, "The Secret Garden."

We spent time on the waterfront

and watched the local high school girls in the Rowing Club practice.

I love that high schools here have hockey and rowing.

And Fall is here! All of the trees have changed to brilliant hues of yellow and red.

David, never to be without a project, set to work building a new back step and tiling it.

Thank goodness he is handy! An 82 year old house requires a lot of care.

We ate out a lot

and I took my mom window shopping in our historic downtown.

We ate ice cream

and wandered in search of Fall leaves.

We strolled the neighborhood, admiring homes and pretended to pick one out for Gigi and Poppy. : )

We took Harbor and our dog, Bichon, to the local splash fountain.

And Daddy kept working. And Harbor kept watching, hoping to help.

We went on a date to dinner and a movie. Twice! Thanks, Gigi!

Dinner and a Movie Take Two!

And we even fit in a bike ride along Lake Erie's coast.

The air was crisp and the boats had sails out, billowing in the cool Autumn wind.

You have to tread carefully, lest you ride your bike into the water for boat watching.  : )

Daddy always has a helper. Thank goodness. What ever would we do?  : )

It was just warm enough to not need a jacket and just cool enough to not break a sweat. Perfection, I tell ya.

I love the Fayetteville bike path, but seriously. There is no comparison here.

Seagulls and sailboats win every time.

Thanks to all who left such sweet comments and sent such nice emails about our train ride. Yes! You should look into it! Riding the train feels like an ol' west adventure. And don't we all have that on our bucket list anyway?  : )

I'm about 1/2 way finished with 150 handmade Christmas cards, and my home is adorned with pumpkins, fall leaves, and festive blowing flags.

Can't wait to share them all with you!  : )