Nashville

Last week I was lucky enough to tag along to a conference with Cal.  It's not that I was excited about the conference (it was for hospital supply chain...) but that it was in Nashville.  I love country music, so this was a perfect place to go.  Cal went on Sunday, and I met him there Monday, and left the boys with my parents who so kindly watched them for us.  Again. 

My first night there we got to go to a concert at the Grand Ole Opry (with the conference goers).  I was so excited!  They had 5+ different groups perform.  We heard Little Jimmy Dickens, Emily West, Restless Hear, Kellie Pickler and Blake Shelton.  They were all good, but Blake Shelton was incredible.  It was open seating and we were only maybe 7 rows from the front, and to the side a little.



Blake Shelton




Kellie Pickler

The concert was so much fun.  I was in heaven.

We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, where the conference was.  This place was amazing.  It is HUGE.  Like a small city.  Seriously. 



A stained glass ceiling in a foyer.

There were multiple atriums that were huge and covered with glass ceilings.  In these, there were rivers and boats and ponds and fish and waterfalls and trees and buildings with shops and restaurants.  There were 13 restaurants in the hotel, if that gives you an idea of the place.  It was neat.  I was certainly not bored while Cal was enjoying his long conference days.  I got to sleep in, workout, read by the pool, and get a pedicure...  It was tough. 

One of the atriums.



Our last morning there, Cal had some time to venture out into Nashville with me before we had to head home.  We got to wander through the Country Music Hall of Fame, walk the historic downtown area, and eat at the Wildhorse Saloon.  It was a fun city and it would have been nice to have more time there.  It's always a little hard for me to leave the boys, but it is always so nice to have a little break and "recharge the batteries."  So glad I tagged along!

Still Alive

Pretty things.

More here.

I'm getting the photography itch.  Maybe I'll actually get some more pictures posted over there. 

One of these days...

Laughs

So this morning while Zach was at a friend's house Austin and I had a little one on one time.  So what do I do?  Plop him in my chair and snap a few pictures before his nap.  Luckily, he thinks I'm pretty funny.  :)

Garbage.

Phone Photos

Now that I have a nicer phone, I can catch some little moments that I never did before.  Here are a few fun random ones from this summer.



Flying kites with Grandad Cal and Pete and Austin over Memorial Day.



Smiley boy.




Austin getting his allergy tests.  (They came back negative, and eventually the mystery rashes have just disappeared).  He did well, but was super wiggly and it was really hard for me not to smear the test dots on his back.  We were just happy that he was not allergic to anything!



One of many trips to the Denver Zoo. 



Austin really likes the giraffes.

Zach, ready for work.  Some days he gets really upset when Calvin leaves without him when he is determined he is going to work too.  I'm not sure where exactly he expects Cal to take him?  Soon enough buddy!

Snuggles and books with Daddy.

Austin loves this car.  It is our neighbor's and he is convinced it is his.  We play together a ton and he always makes a bee line for it in their garage.  No matter how long he has been in it, he still cries when it is time to go and I take him out.

Cutie trying out a bike helmet. 

Silly face at the pool.

Austin is our water boy.  Not only does he love being in water and get sad when he can't get in any body of water, he keeps us all hydrated too.  I got the boys some matching (different colored) water bottles and they love them.  Austin insists that we all drink from our water bottles at the same time.  He carries his with him everywhere.  If he wants a drink, he gets Zach's water bottle and yells, "Dack!!"  (Zach) and takes it to him, then drinks.  He also wants me to drink with them.  "Mom! Ah-der!"  (water)  It is just so funny how intent he is about the whole thing.

Just Another Summery Saturday

This weekend our "Summer of Fun" (so named because I'm not pregnant and puking and we don't have a newborn limiting us) continued as we packed in as many fun things as we could.  Yesterday morning we headed to the Boulder Farmer's Market and met my parents there.  We enjoyed some yummy food and good people watching.

Is it just me or is a farmer's market a beautiful place?

I love all the vegetables and flowers...

We of course visited the balloon man.  Zach requested a green Cat in the Hat.  And a dog for Austin.

I don't think this was quite what he had envisioned, but he was thrilled.  A cat ON a hat.  It was pretty cool.

Yum!

My parents have taken Zach to the market a couple of times and they always have to get popcorn and sit by the creek and eat it.  So we had to continue the tradition.

After Austin got a nap we all headed to our neighborhood pool for a cool down.  The boys love it!  We tried to go Friday evening but as soon as we got there the lifeguard blew the whistle and closed the pool for lightning.  Austin was so sad and screamed and thrashed and threw a mighty fit.  Poor little water baby.  We went home and played in our baby pool.  So we were glad we could make it Saturday.

They both love the slide.  Zach can go down by himself now, and goes over and over.

Ah, summer.  You have been good to us!

Morraine Park

Camping the second time around went much more smoothly.  We camped at Morraine Park up in Rocky Mountian National Park.  I always forget just how extroidinarily beautiful it is up there.  We met our friends the Westers up there that evening.  By the time we got up there we could see that it was going to rain, so we hurried and set up the tent/bouncy castle.  It was good we hurried because as soon as it was done, it started to pour.  The boys had a great time bouncing around to wait out the rain. 

A little testing out of their sleeping bags.

After a good wait of maybe 45 minutes, Cal and I looked at each other and easily decided that we didn't want to cook in the rain and mud with the boys.  So we jumped in the car and drove the short distance to the edge of Estes Park and found a most delicious BBQ place to eat.  Roughing it.

On the drive back to camp we lucked out and saw some good wildlife.  Below, Zach and I are checking out 5 baby coyotes in the rain.  We also saw elk, deer, and two brown bears.  I was just happy the bears were on the side of the road and not in our camp, as they told us they have been having some problems. 

Finally meeting up with the Westers for a little campfire and smore making.  The boys were getting tired.  In fact Zach was begging to go to bed.  Um, okay?

After some wrestling in the tent by Austin not wanting to get to sleep, Cal took Austin on a short drive to get him to sleep, and Zach passed out.  They did well until 5 when Austin decided it was time to get up.  We let him play in the tent awhile, hoping he would go back to sleep, but no luck.

We had the perfect campsites.  There were some great rocks for the kids to explore and they all had a great time together.

While we were packing up the kids decided they were looking for "aminals" and "rescuing" them.  These "aminals" were little pieces of broken knotted branches.  So Cale Wester told the kids there was an "elk aminal" that needed help (or something like that) and the kids went running to see.  When they got there they were very dissappointed.  "That's not an aminal!!  That's just a stump!"  Oh.  We thought any old piece of wood would qualify, but we were wrong.  Here they are looking at the stump.  I love their imaginations!

Zach and Kira trying to pose for a picture.  Neither has a very natural camera smile right now.  Cute, though.  These two are good buddies.

Austin was exhausted and fell asleep within a couple of minutes back in the car.  We had hoped to go on a little hike, but were all pretty tired.  So the Westers headed on home and we stopped to throw rocks and sticks and anything that could be picked up into a very full stream next to the road so Zach could play and Austin could still sleep.

Great fun!