Tubing with Annika

Wow! What a beautiful, fun day we spent at the lake with Estelle's friend, Annika, and her mom, Lindsey. Anni was a little nervous at first, but after a very short time, both girls were pumped about being on the tube. Here a few great shots from the day...

(yes, that's Bryan, chilling on the tube in the background)

Check out those brave girls!! By the end of the day, both girls were giving us the "thumbs-up" signal to "go faster!"

Rocky Mountain High

We recently returned from a great family vacation to Colorado. Bryan's family reunion was in Denver this year...the last reunion we attended was the one we hosted here, and Estelle was in the last throes of incubation (I was huge!). So we were very excited for her to meet the whole clan. She had a blast swimming and playing with her cousins and meeting aunties and uncles.

There was plenty of time for other activities in Denver -- we went to the zoo...

visited an enormous water park... and took some family photos at the Red Rock Park and Amphitheater.

We finished up our stay in the Mile High state with just a couple of days in the mountains, complete with a day long river rafting trip. The highlight was definitely Bryan and Patrick's jump from 30 ft. high Devil's Cliff. Estelle was disappointed we wouldn't let her jump from that height, so the guides let her jump from a shorter rock -- about 5 feet above the river. Here we are, getting ready for our day on the water...

July 4th festivities

We had a fabulous 4th, kicking off as usual with the local parade...

and then heading to Uncle Mike's for boating and tubing. Here she is on her very first tube ride with cousin, Delaney. My stomach was churning the entire time. After it was all said and done, she said, "But mommy, I wanted daddy to go fast so I would fall off!"

And finally, a boat trip to see the fireworks, courtesy of Uncle Mikey.

There were so many helpers, even mommy and daddy got a chance to kick back and enjoy the sunset.