Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Insta Friday

Hello Friday before Easter!

We had a pretty calm week after spring break.
All three kids came back with colds, and I still haven't recovered from our trip.

Maybe I'm getting old.
The kid at the drive-thru Starbucks did call me ma'am yesterday.
I blame it on the mini van.

I got my spring/summer Scentsy bars this week!
I was so excited to use them...

and then this is what I woke up to Tuesday morning.
Doesn't really bring beach, or sunkissed citrus, or fresh strawberries to mind.
Damn Colorado.
One year it snowed on my birthday.
My birthday is June 2nd people!

These things are amazing.
As in why in the world would I ever make homemade cookies again kind of amazing.

This chick makes me smile multiple times every.single.day.

My incredible, smart, gorgeous niece that is going to run this country one day loaned me a bag of books to read while I was in Kansas.
I love memoirs.
I love para-normal romance too, but memoirs may be my favorite genre.
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons...The Memory Keeper's Daughter...Joy Luck Club...Water For Elephants...
good stuff right there.

This is the first book I decided to read out of the bag.
I'm on page 59, and just want to neglect my housework and read all day.
Can I just say footbinding was vicious. Wow.

Brody loves this thing.
Which makes doing my one hundred thousand loads of laundry each week a little easier.

Andy surprised me with these yesterday,
and sent me to Kohl's to wander around aimlessly and try on dresses for hours...
I mean to get AJ some slacks to wear on Easter.

The kids helped me stuff eggs for the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.

I had my heart set on the combo on the right, but AJ said he wouldn't wear purple.
I decided not to fight that battle.
But dang, he would have looked dapper in that lavender.
Now let's just see if he really wears the clip on tie.
He's so opinionated about what he wears, and is always telling me I take his coolness away...or that what I pick out is lame.
What?! He's 5. I didn't think this stuff started for another 8 years.

My family and I like to send iphone pics of old photos to each other.
I have some pretty rad photos floating around out there.
Check out me and my little sister back in the day.
That outfit is something.
Man, we were little.
And are so blessed to have each other.

Happy egg hunting this weekend!

The Easter bunny hasn't decided if our kids are getting real chicks yet.
I think it would be awesome.

I used to get little baby ducks that were dyed pastel colors, an excessive amount of candy, and a tooth brush in my basket every year.

And my brothers would hide our eggs in ridiculous places...up in trees...
under the sleeping dog...inside the couch. I would sneak out my window and try to watch where they were hiding them.
I kid you not. It was rather competitive.

I love those memories.
Those were the days.

The Rest Of Our Trip

In addition to Great Wolf Lodge, our trip was full of fabulous quality family time.
My cup runneth over.
I am blessed with the greatest family.

I just wish they all lived on the same street as me.
Wouldn't that be great?!
We could borrow eggs from each other and watch each others kids.
I digress...
I'll keep dreaming.

When we arrived my lovely sister, Jess, gifted me with neon nail polish, a Starbucks gift card, and Godiva chocolate caramel Gems in an adorable Starbucks mug!
Um. Hello?! That girl knows the way to this girl's heart.
And she should move to Colorado.

Brody got to play with his cousin Vincent.
They are 6 months apart.
So cute.
I love those boys.

We ate at the T-Rex Cafe for dinner one night.

Wow. Talk about fun over-stimulation.

There were beautiful yellow tulips at the shopping center outside the T-Rex Cafe.
After I explained to Abby that we do not punch flowers and bribed her with ice cream, I was able to get this sweet, calm, non-violent picture.
That girl is a piece of work.

Andy was on his own with all three kids Saturday at GWL while I went out with the gals.
He's a brave man.
Uncle Jon and cousin Jamie were there to help.
I tried not to think about it.

We started with lunch at The Melting Pot to celebrate Jess turning 30.
It was delightful.

Here's the birthday girl!
Such a lady that one.
So strong and loving.

We gifted her with a jewelry holder.
But, what's a jewelry holder without some new jewelry?!
So, we spoiled her with a few new pieces.
That pink necklace is my fave.
If she were my neighbor I could borrow it all the time.

From The Melting Pot, we went to Starbucks at Target...
where a nice stranger indulged us and took our pic.
Andy said if he saw this group coming his way, he would run the other way.
Ha! I think they are all pretty amazing women.

After everyone had their beverage of choice, we descended upon a nail salon.
All 8 of us.

I am loving neon colors this season.

I felt special to be apart of one of my niece's first pedicures.
Such a grown up experience.

I love flip flops and freshly pedicured toes.

We even went to Charming Charlies....
where I almost bought these...

but the very small practical voice inside me said,
"What would you wear them with?"
So I didn't get them.

But as soon as we started driving back to Denver,
regret consumed me,
and I called my sister to go back and pick them up for me.

I'll just have to buy something to wear with them.
Right?!

Great Wolf Lodge

After driving past Great Wolf Lodge a couple times on trips to visit my sister in Kansas City,
we decided to check it out.

We stayed 3 nights and spent 4 days at the resort.

This place is a kid's paradise.
Everything is truly catered to children.

It was incredible!
If you ever have the opportunity to stay at one, don't miss out.
The kids were on cloud 9 the entire time.

It was expensive. I'm not gonna lie.
But I would say everything lived up to or exceeded our expectations...
and it is an entire vacation within itself.
We did feel that the food was over priced at the resort
and left to eat out most meals...
or ate in our room that had a microwave and fridge.
Be prepared for that.

The kids enjoyed the daily story time and puppet show in the lobby.

We spent many, many hours in the water park.
The life guards were alert, compassionate, and on top of things.
There were a lot of water slides for both Abby (age 3) and AJ (5).
There was a pretty good size area for Brody (6 months) to enjoy.
We felt safe and all three kids were entertained.

Playing mini golf with these two was hilarious.

We purchased a Paw Pass for each kiddo at $60 each...saving $40 with each pass.
We figured we would end up doing all the activities anyway, so might as well be smart about it.
The pass included selecting a bag of rocks from the gift shop (and we all know how much AJ loves rocks),
filling a cup up with candy from the gift shop,
decorating a resort t-shirt to take home,
32 tokens at the arcade,
a build-a-wolf animal at the stuffing station (which the kids are still sleeping with every night), Magic Quest wand and game (AJ picked the wizard name Quest and Abby picked Magic Hat),
and one glitter tattoo that lasts up to 3 to 5 days.

Truly, I think the best part for the kids was getting to sleep in bunk beds
in their Wolf Den.

We didn't check out the spa...maybe next time.
Because I'm sure there will be a next time in our near future.

Last Week's Insta Friday

Hello!
Feels like I've been gone forever.

Last week the kids were on spring break.
I spent the beginning of the week getting ready for our big road trip,
and the second part of the week in Kansas with the greatest family in the world.

Before trip preparations began, I saw Hunger Games with my BFF.
The movie was pretty good, but man I forgot how good Junior Mints are.
I have to buy those things more often.

We polished off that gigantic tub of popcorn...and got a refill.
Wow. That was a lot of salty buttery goodness.

I don't know about you, but I pictured Rue more pixie like...
and never envisioned President Snow as a Santa look alike.

The weather last week was gorgeous.
Our trees starting blooming.
Spring was in the air.

On day one of the kids' spring break, I attempted to take them to the Zoo.
If you look closely, over to the left of the picture you can see how close I got.
We sat there for about 30 minutes after waiting 20 minutes to turn onto that street...
because every other person in the entire city of Denver...
possibly the entire state of Colorado also took their kids to the Zoo on the first day of spring break.
From there, we looked for a parking spot within 2 miles of the Zoo for another 20 minutes.

I'm not flippin' kidding.
It was worse than the mall the weekend before Christmas.

It was painful.

We left and went to Monkey Bizness.
Where I found a parking spot right away and walked right in.

It's a good thing I had this.

We discovered Brody hates peas.
It's hilariously entertaining.

I discovered I'm addicted to Draw Something.

This stuff is amazing.
Amazing I tell ya.

You can buy 12 milk bottles for $30 online...
or you can turn these little guys...

into these adorable guys for only $13 from Costco with a little hot water and elbow grease.
Plus you get to drink all that fabulous coffee beverage.

I love paper straws.
Don't they just scream classic, sophisticated party time?
They were perfect for my sis' 30th birthday celebration...
that was in Kansas.

So Thursday I saw a lot of this...

and did a lot of this...

The trip was awesome.

Awesome people.
Awesome food.
Awesome hotel.
Awesome travel companions.

I promise to tell all...
later.