Colorado

We went to Colorado from Thursday to Tuesday to celebrate Bill's brother Evan's graduation from his MBA program and tacked on a few extra days to visit with my family. The graduation was great - well we heard it was great, but Isaac and I only got to see 10 minutes of it before I had to take him out because he kept talking so loudly, so we took about a thousand laps around the auditorium. After graduation we had a nice dinner with the Anderson family and Isaac made the rounds, finally getting to meet his great-Aunties and getting fed dinner by Great Grandma Jo.

The next day we went to the Boulder Farmer's Market with Alli, Evan, Adrienne and Rachael- Isaac got to try a smoothie for the first time and loved it. After trying - successfully albeit sloppily -to teach him to drink from a cup, Aunt Alli entertained him and got him to try some new foods.

Evan had a graduation BBQ for the whole family on Saturday, including his two BIG dogs. We tentatively introduced Isaac to Mogely, but there was no need, Isaac had no fear and and even shared some of his food with him! Grandma got to feed him a big dinner and another first- Isaac got to try Uncle Chad's famous ribs - and thought they were as delicious as the rest of us did!

We also got to spend a lot of time hanging out with Grandma Gerri and the Schrutt family this weekend. In the morning all the kids sat mesmerized by Baby Signing Time. Jaden was so sweet and patient with Isaac, and even played ball with him in the basement where there are more toys than at Toys'r'us! While Isaac enjoyed those toys, he couldn't get enough of his new blackberry - mine broke so I got a new one, and he spends lots of time trying to mimic Bill and I while playing on the broken one! Kristin helped me give Isaac and Arielle a bath - with only two babies Isaac was a lot less overwhelmed, and even had fun in the bath. Aunt Alli tried again to teach Isaac to drink - this time from a straw. And Isaac tried (numerous times) to get Grandma's fake duck to take him for a ride.

Finally, Grandma Gerri threw a big early-1st birthday party for Isaac so the Colorado contingent could celebrate with him. The decorations were adorable - and the cake was great - reminiscent of the ones Grandma Gerri used to make when Jen, Alli & I were babies (sorry Isaac, your mommy wasn't born with that creative gene- its Carvel crunchies for you!!). Isaac didn't know what to do with the cake though -he hasn't really had anything like that yet. We gave him the cake after everyone sang to him and he just wanted to turn the plate upside down so he could see Elmo on the bottom. Oh well - it was just the dress rehearsal, maybe he'll actually eat it for the real thing?? He did have fun ripping the wrapping paper, and got lots of great gifts which all the kids generously helped him break in before they left, and new books which Aunt Jen and Talia helped read him.

Isaac spent the night with Grandma while I went out on the town with Jen, Alli and Kristin and Bill hung out with Evan and Rachael. They had a blast (as did we) and we took all the kids to the beautiful Stapleton pool in the morning. We all were impressed with Jaden's courage as he jumped off the diving board solo and swam all the way to the side! Isaac watched in awe...some day soon!!

On our last day we took a road trip up to Red Rocks to see the concert venue and have lunch with Bill's Uncle Jim and Rox. It was really beautiful up there and it was great to spend some time with them. After that it was back to Alli & Chad's (they so generously let us take over their place with toys, books and the pack'n'play) for a nap before Grandma & the Stamms babysat so we could go to a fancy dinner to celebrate Evan and Adrienne's engagement - lots of good stuff going on in Evan's life!!

Overall it was a packed, but really great week where we got to see lots of family and all had a good time. Isaac did not sleep for one minute on the way back, but we were prepared with his new birthday toys and he smiled through the whole flight! Phew...