Memorial Day Weekend...Denver Here We Come!

We headed out of town on Memorial Day weekend for some relaxing and to celebrate my sister's 30th Bday!  We haven't ever taken the kids to Denver before and Richard and I hadn't been there since before we got married.  It was fun to head out for some new adventures!  Thursday evening, Harper headed out with Aunt Melanie, Uncle Cole and Hazen because Richard and I had to work on Friday.  Owen finished up his last day of school that day too.  Friday afternoon, Richard took off to drive as well.  However, Owen and I flew that evening.  1 hour in a plane or 10 hours in a car...you know why I picked that route!
Saturday morning we were all up and at 'em ready to see the sights.  Our first stop was at the American Girl store for Harper to spend her birthday gift cards.  She got McKenna and Kit's hair done and chose some really awesome things for Kit.  We shopped around at several places throughout the day and that night headed to Pearl Street in Boulder to celebrate Melanie's birthday.  We ate super yummy Mexican food.

Sunday morning we got up super early and loaded up the family to head to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We arrived before all of the crowds, which was nice...but it was still a little chilly.  The chill didn't last long, as we started our hike to Cub Lake, the terrain steepened and the sun came out.  We were shedding clothes left and right!  After 2.3 miles up, we reached the beautiful lake with a pristine view of the mountains.  We sat for awhile and ate snacks...and rested.  Then back down we went.  On the way down we met tons of other hikers...we were glad we beat the crowd.  4.6 miles later, we reached the car.  Best part was...Owen hike almost the entire way...all but about 0.2 miles of that.  His little legs had to have been pooped!  We stopped a shady picnic table for lunch and then headed to Estes Park for a little bit of shopping.  After that we headed back for naps and swimming at the hotel.  Another trip to Boulder for dinner and the vacation came to a glorious end.  Monday morning we all loaded up and headed back home.  The trip home went really well..I think they were still tired from the hike!  We can't wait to go back to Colorado!

Last Day of School

Harper & Owen's Last Day of School was May 23rd.  It is so hard to believe that Harper will be starting 3rd grade in the fall, her last year at her elementary school.  And that Owen will be joining her at school for Pre-K.  He is so excited!!!

Here is a pic from the First Day this year.  Crazy how fast they grow!

Hershey's Track Meet

On thing I can remember as a kid growing up...at the end of the school year...was the Hershey's Track Meet put on by the city Parks & Rec Dept.  This year, I was so excited when they added a 7/8 year old division, so Harper could participate.  Each participant could sign up for two events and she (we) chose the 50m and 100m dashes.  The weekend before the meet, we went up to the track to practice sprinting.  Harper is great at long distances (well...5Ks) but we wanted her feel the difference in a sprint.  Richard and I both talked to her about starting fast, running as fast as you could and not stopping until you were past the finish line. 
The day of the meet finally came and she was ready.  You see...she had motivation...if you won the local event...you get to go to state...win there...and then you get to go Pennsylvania for the National meet.  It was a very hot afternoon, so we kept cool under and umbrella until her race group for the 50m was called.  She walked proudly and lined up in her lane.  Some of the other girls were holding their ears because of the gun...but not her.  As soon as the gun went off she took off, long legs and all...and she WON!  She was so proud of herself and her blue ribbon.  When we had been practicing she did pretty good at the 50m, but she would always slow up on the 100m.  So when the 100 m race came around, we gave her a huge pep talk about not giving up.  Time for the 100m...gun goes off and she was off.  She was well ahead of the pack but started to slow down around 50m, but I could tell when she caught sight of another girl in her peripheral view and then Harper took off again.  And she WON again!  Two blue ribbons and two slots at the state meet later this month!  We are so excited for her...best of all...she absolutely loves to run!!!

Color Me Rad...if you say so!

So, those of you who know me...know I am kind of a clean freak.  Therefore, I have never been very interested in any of those mud runs or color runs or anything of that sort.  I just like to run and sweat...that is enough for me.  But with much convincing from my daughter and my friend...I agreed to run the Color Me Rad 5K when it came to town this year.  Again, all I could think about was how messy we were going to be.  So much so that I took an old shirt and repurposed it into a tank top (Thank you Pinterest!) for the run.  When we were pulling off the highway to the race, you could see a huge thick billowing cloud of pink dust!  Oh boy!
But boy was I surprised...I love it!  We actually had a ton of fun!  The girls were so excited to get messy and Harper just couldn't get enough of that color on her and I.  We had a blast during the race and even stayed at the end and let the kids color themselves some more!  Next year, we will have to take the whole family to get colored up!  And maybe now I will branch out on my running a little more! :)