70s in February???

We enjoyed record-breaking temperatures. I love that Colorado has so many days of sunshine, but when you couple it with February days in the 60s and even 70s?!? We planned to go to the park, but Emma and Myles were content to play in the backyard...so we did just that: Bubbles, swings, sand box, monkey bars. I'm ready for Spring! Too bad Colorado is such a tease and our biggest "snow months" are still coming.

Old Man Luke

Luke celebrated his 100th day of school. We dressed him up as the old, 100-year-old man and got quite a chuckle out of it. My favorite part was when Luke found his whoopee cushion and got really excited. He exclaimed, "This is perfect! Old people fart a lot!" Ha! Well, you still can't take it to school.

Crested Butte

Bryan and I escaped to Crested Butte for a weekend of snowshoeing and skiing sans kids. We had a great time! We snowshoed on a trail in Monarch pass on our way to Crested Butte. The views were beautiful at the top and we blazed a new trail on our way back.

After we checked into our hotel, we caught the shuttle for downtown Crested Butte. Bryan researched a few yummy restaurants for us to try out. The first stop was Ginger Cafe. Bryan rated the Pad Thai the best he's tried and I gave the Green Curry 4 stars.

On Saturday we skied/snowboarded Crested Butte resort. We learned the perks of a ski-in/ski-out location. Amazing!! We had a blast exploring and realizing that I'm a bit of a wuss and would be content to mostly cruise now. We made a pretty funny memory when I attempted to take both Bryan and myself out on the rope tow. Best part was this particular rope tow was to "experts only" terrain, ha! People watching us had to be calling ski patrol to give them a heads up of the girl in blue pants! We were keeping our fingers crossed for a powder day, but ended up with a few inches of fresh snow the night before. We'll take it. Earlier this season, they had to close the resort because of too much snow! Talking to some of the "locals" they said that there were parts of the mountain that they skied for the first time this season due to all of the snow (and they had been coming since the 90s).

 

That night, we dined at Stash Pizza. It was oh-so-good! We ordered the Hampton and it did not disappoint. After a full-day of skiing, I cashed out around 7:00, real party animal! We enjoyed a slow morning on Sunday and made our way back home to claim the kiddos. It was a very enjoyable weekend away with just the two of us. Grateful for wonderful friends who swap kids around to make this possible!

Emma's Date Night

I took Emma to Claire's at the outlets to pick out one piece of jewelry. She loved ooh-ing and ahhh-ing over all of the selections. We chatted it up while perusing the walls of glitter and glam. With a little guidance, she was able to pick out a necklace with a locket.  I think she's worn it every day since then. After our high-end jewelry shopping we stopped off at McDonald's for an ice cream treat and chatted about family vacations, preschool, friends, fingernail polish colors, church songs and every other topic that came to her mind. It was hilarious and very enjoyable being able to give her my full, undivided attention. On the way home she whispered to me from the backseat, "Mom, thank you for bringing me on this date. I love you more." I responded, "I love you most." This an exchange that occurs most nights when tucking her into bed. One of my favorites that she came up with was "I love you to Japan and back." How I love this 4-year-old of mine.

Errand Buddy

Myles is my buddy in the mornings when Emma and Luke are at school. Most of the time he loves running errands with me, but we did have a morning where I walked into Sam's club, bought one thing and then walked right back out (my list was much longer than one item). I have a feeling the "terrible twos" are starting to appear. Good thing he's so cute that I almost (ALMOST) forget about his tyrannical raids.

Love the penny horse. 

Oh, and he strongly dislikes the car wash. 

Helpers

Emma is so good to Myles, well, 90% of the time. :) They were a great cleaning team when helping me around the house while Luke was at school the other morning.

Rodeo

Elizabeth found a deal for the National Stock Show's Rodeo and asked if Luke and I would like to join Charlie and her on a double date. That was an easy decision, of course! We had a great night on our double date. The stock show comes every year to Denver, but this was our first time going. It looked massive. Lots of vendors, buildings, parking, shows, etc. I would like to go back during the day one of these years to explore more. Luke was excited to watch the cowboys wrestle steers and the mutton busters. He was convinced he could stay on as long, if not longer, than the participants we watched. Unfortunately, he is too big now and we may never get to test out his confidence with his mutton bustin. As we were walking out of the arena after the rodeo, Luke's eyes were so big as he took everything in. He told me several times, "Thanks for bringing me to the rodeo. This is the best night ever! I like just me and you time, Mom."

Luke was very impressed with how tough Cowboys can be.

It was a tight squeeze on the shuttle back to our parking lot!

Such a fun date night with my little man. Thanks again to Cramers for the invite!