Life lately...

I absolutely love this time of year.  The older I get, the more I love it.  The only thing better than all of the holiday traditions and events is experiencing them with kids.  Last year Hadley didn't care for Halloween.  This year she was talking about it for weeks.  She decided to be a Fairy Princess, which was perfect because she was recently a flower girl in a wedding so she had the dress and Granny found some fairy wings at the dollar store.  Side note - Hadley has worn this dress for the wedding, her birthday, and Halloween.  Money well spent. Anyways, this year Hadley did not want to stop trick or treating.  She thought it was the coolest thing.  We were out for almost two hours and this girl got so much candy!  She even said "mommy I want to do this all night long." Ha!  It was the best.  Brynlee used her cousin, Evie's Halloween costume and made for the cutest elephant ever!  She was a trooper and loved going up to the doors with Hadley.

We've been spending as much time outdoors as possible lately.  These two are seriously so much fun!

This might be my favorite photo ever.  Pure joy! 

I had Friday afternoon off because my niece was sick.  I picked up Hadley when I got off of work and headed home.  The girls and I spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside.  That evening we went over to my dad's house and attempted to fly Hadley's kite.  It wasn't windy enough, but the girls enjoyed watching ZB running around trying to get that darn kite to stay in the air.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Granny's and then I took Hads to her first play at The Rose.  We watched The Little Engine that Could.  I couldn't tell if she liked it.  She just started at everything very intrigued, but she has been talking about it quite a bit since then and she says she likes it.  Thumbelina is coming in February so I'm excited to take her to that.

One another note... Hadley was a flower girl in September and we just received this picture.  My heart seriously melted when I saw this.  When did my baby get so big?!

xoxo, 

Amanda

What life is about

I've started this post many times, but can never quite find the right words to complete it.  Life has thrown some events at me lately that has really made me think about how short life really is.  About how quickly it can be taken from you, or from your loved ones.  These events make you take a step back and appreciate everyone around you, and at the same time have made me rethink about how I am spending my time.  In order to focus my time and energy on the people I care about the most and the things I find most important, I decided to delete my social media accounts for the time being.

If you care to get updates about life lately and the little things I am passionate about, please subscribe to my blog and follow along.  If you want to catch up, reach out and let's grab a cup of coffee. :)

Because this is what life is truly about...

Vail 2018 Day 1

We headed to Vail this summer and we had the BEST time!  We weren't quite sure what to expect as neither ZB nor I had been to Vail.  We knew we wanted to take the girls to Colorado, but weren't quite sure where to go.  It came down to Colorado Springs or Vail.  After a lot of research we decided to go to Vail and now we want to go back every summer!  I'm going to recap our trip to Vail.  There were so many amazing memories and I want to remember them all so I'm going to do more than one post.  Enjoy!

Vail 2018 Travel Day & Day 1

Travel Day...

We headed out early Sunday morning (June 24th).  Both girls had no idea that they were about to ride in their carseats for so long. ;)  Hadley knew were going to Colorado because we had been talking about it for weeks.  We even checked out some books from the library.  She was most excited to see mountains and water.  She was not excited for bears... ha!

The drive wasn't too bad.  Both girls did such a great job.  We even had to pull over for 20 minutes to avoid hail.  It ended up taking 11 hours total.

We stayed at the Sitzmark Lodge.  The location was PERFECT.  It is right in Vail Village so we ended up parking and not getting back in our vehicle until it was time to go home.  Once settled into our room we ventured out and found a place to eat.  We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Casa Mexico.  It was good, but nothing special.

We spent the rest of the evening walking around Vail Village and visiting a few shops.

Chocolates from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Day 1

Hadley was SO excited to be on vacation that she woke up at FOUR THIRTY! A.M.

I have to admit, it was adorable.  She hopped out of bed and ran straight for the door.  I had to show her that it was dark and beg her to come back to bed until it was light out.  The poor girl was just so excited.  Every 10 minutes or so she would say, "mommy I'm going to check if it's light out yet" and she would run over to the door and check and then run back to bed. Vail was still sleeping, but we finally gave up and just got out of bed.   Our hotel didn't start serving breakfast until 7:15 and the first coffee shop wasn't even open until 7:00!  I was so tired, but it was seriously one of my favorite memories.

Hadley's "I'm Not Tired" shirt was perfect for this 6am stroll. 

Gore Creek was right outside our hotel room.

Finally a coffee shop opened! ;) 

We found an adorable local coffee shop called Loaded Joes.  I got a Snickers latte and it was delicious! Once we had our coffee we headed back to the hotel, which was right down the street, and ate breakfast.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring Vail Village.  It is SO beautiful in the summer.  We walked the cobblestone streets and enjoyed the scenery.  There were flowers everywhere, which Hadley LOVED.  It was so nice staying right in Vail Village because we could head back to our hotel any time we needed.

They figured out the best way to travel.

Gore Creek

I didn't have many places planned that I wanted to eat, but Up The Creek was the exception.  I read great things about it and was super excited to try it out.  We decided to eat their for lunch because with a toddler and baby it was our best chance at actually enjoying the meal. ;) ZB had the fish tacos and I had a chicken sandwich with parmesan fries.  It did not disappoint!

We sat outside right next to Gore Creek.  It was perfect for the girls.  While we waited for our food ZB and Hadley went on a little stroll.  Talk about lunch with a view.

After lunch we played in a big open green area for awhile before heading to the fountain.  This fountain was one of the major hits of the trip and one of the things I was looking forward to the most. #itsthelittlethings The fountain was in the center of Vail Village and open for kids to run around and play in.  Both of the girls LOVED it and played in it every day at least once.

Brynlee napped while Hadley played in the fountain.  We then headed back to the hotel since Hads was soaked.  Her and Zack got into their swim suits and headed for the pool.  We had a view of the pool and mountains from our room so Brynlee and I watched them swim for awhile.

After swimming we decided to walk around some more.  While walking around both girls fell asleep - Hadley had been up since 4:30 and hadn't napped so she was exhausted!  We couldn't help but laugh when they both fell asleep in the carriers.  We decided to hit up Vail Brewing Company for a beer.

When the girls woke up they wanted to play in the fountain again so we let them run around.  Seriously this fountain was SO fun.

Brynlee's faces in these pics crack me up! 

Ice cream!

Since the girls were soaked we went back to the hotel again - the location of the hotel was key! It was so helpful to be able to go back to the hotel whenever we needed.  After a change of clothes we headed out again and found the cutest pirate ship park.  On the way to the park we stopped for a smoothie at another cute coffee shop called Yeti's Grind.  It was SO cute and ended up being my favorite place to get coffee. ;)

It had been a long day for the girls and we knew sitting at a restaurant wasn't going to be an option.  We opted for pizza at Vindetta's and found a spot by Gore Creek to eat it.  This ended up being my favorite meal not only because the pizza was amazing but because it was so enjoyable for everyone. And who doesn't love sitting my a creek eating pizza?!

After pizza we went back and got the girls ready for bed.  Zack went back to Vail Brewing Company for some beer and then we sat outside and enjoyed a beer while talking and looking at the mountains.  The day was just amazing! It was busy, yet relaxing.  We didn't have a to do list and simply enjoyed the day with the girls.