Happy Anniversary to Joe and Sally

Dan and Noah and I recently returned from Iowa where we helped Dan's parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. It was great to see Dan's family and Noah had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa, for sure! Happy anniversary and congratulations, guys!

Uncle Mikey's Visit

I am a little behind on my blog posts, but here are some pictures from Mike's visit. Noah had a blast with his Uncle Mikey. So did Dan (especially with the fishing!).

Yum: This is the first time Noah has held a fish: Fishing near Aspen:

Getting clean in the river. I will spare you the pics of Uncle Mikey doing the same:

King of the campsite:

Classy:

Breakfast:

I also have some pictures from the Maroon Bells somewhere. I will try to find them and post them sometime this week.

Music in the Meadows: Dotsero

Our neighborhood associations do about 4 concerts every summer and they call them "Music in the Meadows." Last Wednesday, the band was Dotsero, a Colorado jazz band that has been voted best in Denver for a ridiculous number of years. They were pretty good, but modern smooth jazz just really isn't my thing. I prefer that wild jazz, like Ben Markley, a dude I took Dan to see downtown for Valentine's Day. Anyway, it was a gorgeous night and we all had fun. Here are some pics:

Noah getting a baloon animal made: The show: Swinging at the park right by the concert: Noah with his cupcake:

Swimming, For Real

Noah is starting to swim by himself! He can totally go across the pool by himself with a noodle and he is starting to get it even without a flotation device! He has another session of swimming lessons starting in a week and a half and I am excited to watch his progress! Here are some pictures of him swimming with Daddy.

School's Out For the Summer, Yeah!

I am now officially on summer break. That means I only work 6 days between now and August 10, which is our first day of the new school year. On Friday, I got my first ever massage to celebrate my first day off. Thanks, Dan, for that gift certificate you got me for mother's day!

It is a good thing that school ended when it did because the politics were getting unbearable for everyone. My boss is not returning next year and no one knows who the new boss is going to be. The old one was "forced out" and people are freaking out. I am just trying to stay out of it.

The running isn't going very well right now. I am down to running 3 days/week for 2 weeks now because I am trying to let my shin splints heal. It sucks and I am going nuts. I am really afraid I am going to have to take time off running completely to get them to heal. Right now, I only have 3 runs scheduled for this coming week too. A 4 miler at 12% grade on the treadmill, a 7 miler with Debbie on Tuesday, and a 12-13 miler on Thursday. Then I am planning on taking 3-4 days completely off to see if that helps.

What is going great right now is all this extra time I have with Noah. In fact, I need to get off the internet because he just got up from his nap and I am taking him to the pool. I have pictures to post from Randi and Sophie's visit last week, but I'll have to do it later.

Pictures From G.G.'s Visit

My mom came to visit for Noah's birthday last weekend. We had a lot of fun and stayed very busy. We went to the Aquarium, shopped a little, and mom took Noah to Toys R Us and bought him his birthday presents. Noah loved that, as you can imagine. Here are some pics from her visit.

Noah running at the park:Take my hat, mom:

At the ballpark:

Noah with his GG:Lounging at the park:

Noah and Dan:

My little hiker:

Kissing GG:

Noah and GG:

Opening his present from Aunt Amanda:Making GG's present:

Pics of Noah, Grandma, and Grandpa

Since I am really far behind on pretty much everything, here are the rest of the pictures from when Noah's Grandma and Grandpa were here. I promise I'll have pictures from this past weekend posted in a day or two. My mom was here and we also went to the aquarium, so there are cool pics from that. I finally got Noah's thank you notes done from his birthday... now if I could just get them to the mailbox. Never thought that was the complicated part, did ya?

This one cracks me up:

Noah's Birthday Party

We were really nervous about having a bunch of 2 and 3 year old kids at our house for Noah's party, but it was really not that bad. Noah and his friends clearly had a blast, and Dan and I even thought it was fun. It was nice to have some time with the other parents from Noah's school. A few of them are totally cool and we already have an invite to one of their houses out of the whole deal. I can't wait!

Anyway, the theme was Pirates and Princesses, but we didn't make anyone dress up. We just had hats and tiaras and temporary tattoos. We did a couple of games and I hid Pirate's Booty in the sandbox.* But most of the time, the kids all just played in the backyard or jumped in the bouncy house. Then we had a pinata (which was of course really hard to crack open). And we sugared them all up with cake and ice cream and sent them on their way. I am sure their parents really appreciated that.

Below are some pictures from the party. Actually, there are a whole lot of them. I may have gone a little overboard. But it's not every day that my little guy turns 3!!!

*I said "Booty."

Noah opening presents:

Noah in the bouncy house:The lollicakes that Kerry made for the party (they look like lollipops but they are actually the best cupcakes I've ever had in my life): Noah's friend, Dylan, in the bouncy house: Katie and Ryan having their snacks:

Noah and Andrew waiting to do the cake:

The whole gang:

Noah with his ball that came out of the pinata:

Kids scrambling for the pinata loot:

Rhyann, ready to take her swings at the pinata:Noah taking his turn:

Noah and Rhyann having fun in the bouncy house:

Rhyann (Noah loves her and she loves him too):Rhyann playing "Pin the treasure on the map":Noah getting ready to play:Rhyann and Noah coming out of the playhouse:Noah and Andrew digging for treasure in the sandbox. OK, really they are just playing in the sandbox:Katie in the bouncy house:Zachary:Rhyann and Andrew:Ahoy, Maties: