August 30 - Muddy Paws

Bella Rose....I'm thinking we should have named her: Muddy Paws. This was Sunday afternoon after being outside for 10min. Our back porch looked like a crime scene.

Turns out she just loves mud. This was yesterday. I let her out and then jumped on a conference call. I looked out the window and saw this..

She has a penchant for diving head first in mud!

August 27 - Back to School

Back to school time! All three kids started new schools/classes last Monday. Julia is in 6th grade at Brookside in the science magnet program, Luke is in 3rd grade at North Pointe and has 2 teachers this year, while Jillian is now officially in preschool. 

Julia
Brookside is not our zoned school so we have a carpool for this year. Hannah (my friend Tammy's daughter) and her neighbor also attend so we split the drives. JD and I handle Thursday and Friday mornings as well as Monday pickup. The kids take the bus from Brookside to our zoned school so I don't have to travel far in the afternoons. So far Julia is enjoying the school aspect and working on making friends. 

Luke
Third grade is the first year with 2 teachers. Luke's homeroom teacher is in charge of reading and writing while his switch teacher is in charge of science, math and social studies. Luke keeps thing close to the chest but he seems to really like his switch teacher. His homeroom teacher also has 2 crazy dogs and 2 hamsters which he loves to talk about. 

Jillian
Jillian moved from daycare to an official preschool classroom and so far it has been an amazing transition. Her class size went down from 18 kids to 10 and she's working on numbers, letters, colors, etc. She has show and tell on Fridays, does yoga and LOVES her new teachers. 

August 25 - She's 11!

Julia's birthday was on the 18th and she turned.....ELEVEN! Wowsa, I can't believe it. The evening before her birthday we had the Girl Scouts over and did a mini-celebration for Julia and Hannah (another August birthday) with ice cream cake. On her actual birthday, we headed to Schlitterbahn for our 'day before school' tradition. Her friend Jill came with us for the 2nd year in a row and the girls had a blast! After Schlitterbahn, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for birthday dessert. Happy birthday Julia!! 

Thank you to all of our friends and family who reached out to wish her a happy birthday. It's tough living so far from family but wonderful that many still remember special days. 

August 23 - Frisco Bike Park

After an amazing week, we had one more full day of vacation in beautiful Breckenridge. JD, Julia and Luke went on a 9 mile bike ride to Frisco. On the way, they stopped at some cool parks, saw horses, cows and a nice lake. When they arrived in Frisco the kids went to their first ever bike park. The park is open to the public and has different area: Peninsula Pump Track, Royal Roller (beginner flow trail), Buffalo Run (intermediate jump trail), Ten Mile (advanced jump run) and Peak One (dirt jumps). The kids spent the majority of their time on Peak One, mastering the beginner course and moving up to intermediate. Julia wiped out on her first run but dusted herself off and kept going. They loved it and said this was their favorite part of the entire trip!

While the big kids were biking, Jillian and I went on our own adventure. We hiked in the woods to find a 'troll' and then explored some trails for awhile Next up we looked at the all the beautiful flowers around town. One thing Jillian loves...flowers!! After lunch, we headed to Frisco to pick up JD and the big kids and then we headed back to town. We went out for pizza and ice cream and did some local shopping. Another great day!

Troll and hiking silliness

Adventures on the way to Frisco

Beautiful Breck

August 22 - Spruce Creek Hike

Hiking time! JD, Julia and Luke drove to Spruce Creek Trail and hiked 4 miles. They planned a few more miles but it started to thunder and they headed back. The scenery was beautiful and they all said it was fabulous. I think the kids favorite part were the walking sticks they found! There were so many awesome pictures from the hike it was tough to pick a few for this blog. So..hope you enjoy them!

As for Jillian and I, we had another great day of donuts and hot chocolate, fun at the park, trips around town in the trolley and journeys up and down the mountain on the gondola. We also went shopping and she picked out this flamingo purse and unicorn stuffed animal. She was very proud wearing her new purse around town!

When JD and the kids came back, I took a walk from our condo to the top of where the gondola ends (at the adventure park). It was a beautiful walk and nice to experience the great outdoors without carrying around a toddler LOL. I took the gondola back down the mountain, found a cute little restaurant and had a glass of wine and then headed back to the condo for dinner. After dinner, JD and the kids swam and then we headed into town for dessert. It was a fabulous day!

Hiking

Fun with Mommy

Swim time

Cool robot

August 21 - Epic Discovery

Our next day in Breckenridge was checking out their adventure park called Epic Discovery. We hopped on the gondola, picked up our wrist bands and were ready for fun! The magic weight for kids to do most activities is 30 lbs. Jillian was...29.5lbs. They weigh everyone before every attraction so we know she was just under the min requirement. She was able to do the alpine slide, maze, mini golf and they allowed her to do the trampoline. She LOVED the trampoline and did it repeatedly! After a big lunch, she hit the magic weight of 30lbs. She was ready to try the zip line and then the park shut down for lightening. Doh! 

Luke was excited to finally break the 48" mark and do the big kid zip line and ropes course. At Vail, 48" is the magic height. Well, the good news is Luke is finally over 48".

first chairlift ride

The bad news for both he and Julia is that Beckenridge Epic Discovery also had a min weight of 75lbs. That's okay, there was still a lot to do. They loved the alpine slide (Jillian loved this too and kept telling me "Faster Mommy!"), mountain coaster, trampoline and tubing hill. They also tackled the maze. Julia was out first in 4min, JD and Jillian were out next in about 10min and Luke finally made it out in 16min. Luke also did some 'gold mining' for gems while Julia did the rock wall. It was a blast!

Alpine Slide

Mountain Coaster

Trampoline Fun

Mini Golf

Rock Climbing

August 20 - White Water Rafting and Park Time

Next up, rafting time! JD, Julia and Luke spent the day rafting and in their words it was "Epic!" and "Legit!" Needless to say, they had a blast. They drove to Vail to get on the bus with the rafting company and traveled about 40min away to the drop point. They went down the river for a few hours, stopped for lunch and then continued rafting for a few more hours. 

While the big kids rafted, Jillian and I spent the day around town. Our first stop? A local donut shop! We munched on mini-powdered sugar donuts and hot chocolate (chocolate milk for Jillian) and then found a small park to play in. I several grandparents there with their grandchildren and spoke to one grandpa from New Orleans who usually vacations in...Lake George! What a small world. He said upstate NY was too humid so they were trying Colorado this year. 

After the park, we headed back to the condo for lunch. We then took the Main Street Trolley around town and did a few loops on the gondola. It was a beautiful day to spend outside with my adorable little lady!

Epic Rafting Adventure!

Fun Around town!

August 16 - Welcome to Breckenridge

Goodbye Santa Fe! After a quick breakfast at Panera, we headed north to Colorado. The drive is so beautiful. I love seeing the mountain range change from desert mountains to a lush green mountain landscape. So unique and gorgeous! We took a winding road (super sharp steep turns) on the way to Breckenridge and it was just breathtaking. 

After several hours, we finally arrived in Breckenridge. Breck is an old mining town with a historical district. Main Street homes and shops have a Victorian flare and are very cute. Our condo was 1 block off main street and the kids were super excited about our loft and bunk beds. We unpacked and headed out to dinner at a cool place with arcades. The kids loved that! 

grumpy Luke

Our first full-day there, we continued to explore. We walked to Railroad Park where Jillian had fun playing while Julia, Luke and JD checked out the trains. We took the free bus (like Vail, they have a free bus system that takes you around town) and took the free gondola up the mountain. There we were shocked to find...SNOW!! The kids had a blast throwing snow balls and sliding down the hill. It was an awesome first day! And zero humidity, I loved it!

Luke and his bear - so cute

Condo View!

Around town

Railroad Park

Snow!

August 14 - Santa Fe

heading out of the driveway!

Okay Dimpled Munchkin fans, we are back from our summer vacation. Prepare yourself for an onslaught of blog posts and A LOT of pictures. Our initial plan this summer was a trip to Jamaica (a week in Jamaica is cheaper than 4 days at Disney, no joke). Anyway, I booked it in June 2018 and we've had a countdown going since. In June of this year, JD was concerned about traveling to the Caribbean during hurricane season. After going back and forth (risk it? don't risk it?) we decided to re-book Jamaica for spring break and head back to Colorado.

great traveler!

Our favorite place to stay in Vail was booked so we decided to try someplace new, Breckenridge. JD booked a condo on AirBnB and we were all set! Now, what to do with the dogs? I decided to keep Apollo home as I'm afraid he'll think we've abandoned him if we boarded him. One of Julia's friends stopped by a few times a day to feed, walk and play with him. Bella was boarded at the vet all week and I lie-I was super excited for a week away from her so I could sleep past 4.30am!

We dropped Bella off at 7.30am and were off. Our first stop was Santa Fe, NM. Instead of driving to Colorado the following day, we decided to stay in Santa Fe for 2 nights. Our first stop in the morning was Meow Wolf. Meow Wolf is an "must do" if you ever find yourself in NM. There is a Victorian house with secret passages into an alien type world. Mystery buffs and search the house for clues to "find out" exactly what happened to the family, which is what JD, Luke and Julia spent most of their time doing. Jillian had fun just running around.

peace out oppressive heat!

The best part about Meow Wolf is that kids can touch everything. We then headed out for a NM Mexican lunch, which is different from Tex-Mex (no free chips!). I dropped JD, Luke and Julia off for a 'surprise activity' that JD planned (pottery) while Jillian and I hit up Target. Julia and Luke were not excited about pottery but seemed to have fun. We headed to the hotel pool that night (the water was freezing!).  

Meow Wolf!

Pottery!