Easter in Colorado

Let's all pretend that I wrote and published this post a week and a half ago like I intended to. That would be before our household got its nasty visit from the stomach flu and was subsequently bathed in yucky bodily fluids that I'm still hopeful will submit to spring cleaning. Yuck!

Saturday morning, April 11th, Nana came over to entertain Sofie while we finished packing for our Colorado trip and later drive us to the airport. She brought two giant Easter baskets and one of them had those little pill-like capsules that turn into sponges in warm water. Sofie was pretty fascinated by their transformation...


Sofie's first airplane ride was somewhat miserable, though I suppose it could have been worse. We were quite smooshed on a full plane and Miss Sofie made a poo-poo (always fun to change a diaper in a bathroom with no changing table) and had a couple of short meltdowns. Our flight was scheduled to run into bedtime and I had hoped that she would sleep for the last hour or so but no such luck!! Fortunately, she really enjoyed watching the take-off and landing out the window and since it was such a clear day we had a nice view for a good fifteen minutes of each.

Sofie sat on Daddy's lap for take-off and after we had left the ground he told her, "Sofie, we're flying!" to which she replied, "We fly!"

We were excited to find that the Easter bunny knew where to track us down on Easter morning and brought Sofie a nice Easter basket at the Vance's house. Sofie had lot of fun things in her basket this year, but of course she's already got a mad case of chocolate-radar...

The Easter bunny also outdid himself by hiding plastic eggs inside and hard-boiled eggs outside and the kids enjoyed hunting for them in lots of tricky hiding spots.

We had an eventful trip despite the unfortunate rainy, cold weather. It was so fun to see the family and how the kids have grown. We, of course, saw them at Kyle and DeAnna's wedding in October, but didn't have much time to spend with them then. The changes I see in them between our visit always remind me just how fast kiddos grow and change and makes me want to freeze time for a bit to enjoy our sweet little girl. Sweet little Lillian is now quite a lady. She is inquisitive, precocious, and brave. She and Sofie became quite fast friends and I found myself overcome one day as I turned around to check on them while driving in the van and found them quietly holding hands. Wish I'd had my camera handy! Clayton has grown up so much from the little boy who came to visit when Sofie was born and promptly adopted a teddy bear to cuddle and love. He is obsessed with all things firetruck, jumping in puddles, and chocolate milk. He and Sofie also had a good time playing together and she wandered around a little aimlessly for a few days when we returned home not quite knowing what to do with herself without her friends :(

During our stay we enjoyed several picnics, a brief hike at Rocky Mountain National Park, a trip to Boulder's Pearl Street Mall (where Sofie enjoyed riding on a rocking pig which I fell in love with)

a trip to the Children's Museum, and one to the Butterfly Conservatory where we checked out the butterflies...

creepy crawlies...

(See what I mean about Lillie being brave?! That's a real live tarantula crawling on her hand!)

starfish...

and horseshoe crabs...

and had plenty of good old fashioned family togetherness. Our plane ride home was much more comfortable and as always it felt good to come back home after a busy week. We hope to see the Vance's again sometime after Gray is born if we're lucky and we're already looking forward to it!