fourth of july weekend.

charlie and i both had 4 days off for the fourth of july.  the original plan was to head back to telluride for the weekend, just like we did last year.  however, since we just got back from visiting family in maryland and neither of us had planned anything.  so instead we ended up with a relaxing four days around home.  although i really do love telluride, it was nice to have a slightly cheaper break and since we both know that we have a vacation planned in september we don't feel like we missed an opportunity to go somewhere this year.  

on the fourth we met some friends at chatsfield reservoir.  they have a boat and invited us to tag along while they wake boarded and tubed.  the also invited the dogs, but both charlie and i felt like it wasn't fair for us to bring two huge dogs on someone else's boat.  and since we had a feeling that henry would handle the boat the same way he did the canoe we just brought dunkin along.  dunkin loved the boat and did great.  when he wasn't enjoying the breeze, he was sleeping.  avery had a pretty good time.  she wasn't a huge fan of having to wear a lifejacket, but fell asleep almost immediately.  we had planned to watch some fireworks either on our front porch or somewhere else in our neighborhood that night but both avery and i crashed pretty early so charlie took the dogs to watch the show.  

on friday we ended up buying a car.  we've been looking for a while.  with the combination of a second baby due later this year and charlie's car getting a bunch of miles on it from all the driving that he does for work we figured the timing was good.  we ended up trading in my car, since it couldn't fit the double stroller and i had nightmares of being stuck at home with 2 kids when charlie was gone for work.  i'm taking the jeep since i won't put many miles on it and charlie got the new car.  we ended up with a subaru outback, which i guess makes us official coloradans.  

we took avery to the pool on saturday and then hung around home for the rest of the day.  and on sunday we hung out in boulder, let avery play at the splash pad on pearl street, which she was not a fan of.  and then ate at pasta jays and walked around the neighborhoods while she napped.

it was such a nice break.  since my favorite thing to do is to hang out with charlie and avery i was pretty happy all weekend long.   

a few of my favorites.

i have been terrible about taking pictures with our 'good' camera lately.  but i've been trying to remember lately because the camera really does take so much better pictures.  

we bought a year pass to the aquarium a few months ago and have been trying to go once a month since then.  these were a few pictures from our june trip that we managed to squeeze in just in time.  

the otters are a favorite and we always spend a lot of time watching them do flips.






in the tunnel watching the 'mermaids'.

we've been spending a lot of time outside lately.  i love summer because our house feels about a thousand times bigger since we hang out on the deck, on the porch, in the yard and going outside always makes avery happy.  we eat all of our snacks outside and she frequently asks to go out to just walk in the grass or play with her water table.  

'bo bo' is like a little tiger outside.  avery's always amused watching him sprint around like a crazy cat although fortunately she hasn't witnessed any of his rabbit kills yet as i'm not quite sure she'd really understand that.  

that belly!

henry is always funny.  even when he knocks her over.  

sigh.  she's getting so old.  might have to frame this one.  

walking.

i can finally call avery a full-time walker.
she was a little late to hit this milestone but i think because of that, it's been one of the sweetest things to watch and one of the most rewarding milestones we've seen her achieve.  she started taking steps at 16 months but was pretty determined to do things at her own pace.  this week she made that transition from walking a lot but still crawling to walking everywhere.  she's still a little wobbly but i can't explain how amazing it's been to see her take off like this.  both charlie and i could just watch her walk around the house all day long and can't stop talking about how happy we are for her.  a bonus of walking all the time is that her face is the perfect height for doggie kisses. congrats avery girl, but take your time with the running.      

summer

i cannot explain how happy i am that summer is finally here.  we had such long, cold, snowy spring and i was beginning to feel like it would never be warm enough for flip flops or dinners outside.  i think i was completely spoiled by last years spring, which came so early.  anyway, now that it's here i'm trying to enjoy it before fall comes too quickly.  it always feels like summer is the shortest season of the year.  

we've been enjoying popsicles, eating all of our snacks outside on the front porch, trips to the playground, and hot, sweaty naps. 

we're ready for the fourth, although i have no idea what we'll be doing.  i may have to make a blueberry pie because looking at that one makes me hungry.

avery's been playing with her water table almost every day and we've been walking a lot and taking advantage of cool parks.

we had the perfect beach day when we were back east, although it made me wish we were close enough to come every weekend.  we played outside in the rain and finally broke in our fire pit one night after avery went to bed.  

18 months!

i cannot believe that avery is 18 months.  i feel like the time just goes faster and faster.  and i know i always say this but she's at such a cool age right now and is so fun to be around.  she's really communicating a lot and has recently started putting two words together.  "oh no" is her current favorite thing to say and can mean anything from "oh no, i dropped my snack" to "oh no, henry is looking at me weird".  she says it all.the.time.  hilarious and a bit annoying at times.  

she's still not walking full time.  are you surprised?  she can walk and she does walk but on her own terms.  the doctor wasn't worried saying that she would get there in her own time frame, which made me feel better.  i've always felt that she's been a super cautious kid, which among other things has led to her being a late walker.  she was actually doing a lot of walking before our trip back east and then sort of stopped for a while when we were there since everyone was carrying her around.  she's really into walking while holding your hand, which is a nice change from before when she would throw a fit if you attempted that.  

she still loves her animals.  now more than ever really.  and they are so incredibly patient with her that sometimes i don't think she realizes how lucky she is.  ollie is a clear favorite and he's the recipient of most of her hugs, kicks, eye pokes, tail pulls, and hearty pats.  he is the most tolerant cat that i've ever met, even letting her sit on top of him.  she loves the dogs, too and i do think that they missed her when she was gone as they've been extra nice since we got back.  i'm especially proud of grumpy henry.  

she loves the water.  the pool, the ocean, her splash table, and even washing her hands at the sink.  and she definitely prefers outside to inside.   

she still loves her books and has been reading to herself a lot lately, sometimes even preferring that to us reading to her.  i love watching her read and really hope that her love for books continues.  when we were flying it was the books that kept her entertained for the longest.  

she's a pretty good eater and will try just about anything.  favorites are fruit, pasta, pickles, and anything that we're eating.  she can be picky in that if i offer her yogurt she'll turn it down and then when i eat it that's all she wants.

she's sleeping well at night, although the traveling and the time changes has thrown her for a loop.  she was a mess when we first got to maryland and then has been waking up super early since we got back. she's definitely still on east coast time and i'm hoping that in a few more days she'll adjust back to mountain time.  

she loved the beach this month and i'm so excited to take her again in a few months.  

she can be a little weary of strangers and definitely does not like them touching her or me.  something that i've learned after a few doctors appointments.  her 18 month checkup was a little sad because as soon as we walked in she started saying 'no, no, no' like she knew exactly what was going to happen and was not at all okay with it.

i've loved having all of this time with her and watching her grow up.  it makes me a little sad at times that she won't get as much one on one time as she get's now.  her favorite thing is when all three of us are hanging out together, but hopefully in a few months having four of us will be just as exciting to her.  

2 weeks in maryland

we got back a few days ago from spending two weeks in maryland.  charlie actually only stayed for one week but avery and i stayed for two.  i was lucky enough to be able to work remotely that second week while my mom watched avery, which was amazing.  i feel like we did a lot in 2 weeks but i'm cramming all of these pictures into one post because otherwise i'll never finish writing it.  

our families are about 3 hours apart so we always end up splitting the trip into two parts:  one on the eastern shore and one in the d.c. area.  this time we all met at the baltimore aquarium to take avery and her cousin there and then we headed back to the eastern shore for a few days.  i forgot our camera (of course) so all i have are iphone pictures and i don't have any of the aquarium.  avery really liked it although it was a little long for her attention span.  we're used to the denver aquarium, which is smaller. we even skipped a few exhibits at the end because everyone was hungry and the kids had just had enough.  

one of the things that i knew we had to do was to take avery to the beach.  she had been to see the ocean when we were back in october but i wanted to do a real beach day with her so that she could play in the sand and the ocean.  she loved the beach.  she could have stayed there forever.  we have another trip planned to california in september and it was nice to see she was so into it.  she was happy to dig and play in the sand all day, the ocean was freezing but she did really well with it.  we took her in a few times and even took her out to a sandbar for a bit and she had a blast.  

it was also really fun to watch her play with her cousin.  she adored him and was happy to watch him and follow him around the entire time that we were there.  it's always so cool to see them together and it always makes me wish we lived closer so these trips weren't so far apart.  we took them to ride some rides in ocean city and avery surprised me with how into the rides she was and how happy she was to do them alone.  the carousel was a favorite but impossible to get a picture of.





we came back to d.c. in time for a wonderful wedding.  charlie and i had our second and third 'date nights' at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, which was fun although i'm always happy to head home to avery.  the wedding was beautiful and they had the perfect weather for it.







the next day was father's day and also when charlie left for denver.  sort of a lame father's day for him although it was nice for me to see my dad and spend the day with him.  i watched him assemble a dresser for my sister so i don't think that anyone had a really relaxing father's day.  my mom made crab cakes and blueberry pie for dinner that night, which pretty much made the entire visit.  and avery gave everyone the gift of screaming through the whole meal.  we went to d.c. the next day to attempt the zoo or a few museums.  unfortunately it was really crowded so after the american history museum we ended up heading back.





i

 squeezed in some visits with friends after work the next few days.  always so cool and weird to be sitting with a friend from college and watching your kids play together.  we had plans to head to the university of maryland pool, which would have been so cool but since it rained all day we watched our kids splash around in puddles, gave them a joint bath, and then took them out for ice cream.











and it was also really nice just to hang out with family and have avery spend some decent time with them.  she really loved everyone, especially the animals.





it was also really nice to get back home and see charlie.  the last 10 minutes on the plane avery kept saying "daddy, daddy, daddy" so i think she was happy to see him and i know she was happy to see the animals.  avery and i came home to a clean house, clean dogs, and presents from charlie.  so i'm guessing he missed us, too.  and it was really, really nice to have a clean house to start the week with.