if you took a holiday...

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Erin, asked if I would like to housesit while she went to California with her family.  They live in a great area of Denver and I love their house, so I was up for it.  They have a daughter, Linnea, who will be 2 in June.  So I knew it would be childproofed and that Ian would love being able to play with some new toys!

Friday after I got home from work we packed up the car and drove south.  We weren't sure how the weather was going to play out so we had a sunny plan and a rain plan in place for Saturday.  We got there about 7 PM and settled in.  I am still amazed by the amount of stuff we have to take for a little overnight as a family of 4.  I have come a long way from being able to move from place to place with only a car full of my belongings, that's for sure.  We got Milo fed and ready for bed.  I wasn't too nervous about him, but more nervous for Ian and how he would handle it.  He did fabulous!  I got Milo to bed while Casey and Ian walked to Peter's Chinese for takeout.  Yummy!  Milo snuggled up tight in Linnea's comfy crib and the three of us enjoyed a nice dinner.  Once the kids were in bed, Casey and I got caught up on episodes of Dexter (we recently became addicted during our free trial with Netflix!) and I started my ever important IKEA wishlist...July 27th is right around the corner!

Saturday we woke up to a blue sky and sunshine.  Woohoo!  It is about time.  Ian played some songs on the piano for us while we got ready for our trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens.  He loved the piano - Daddy even showed him how to play Mary had a little lamb.  Cute!  Of course, my camera died a few minutes and only 2 pictures into the gardens so please forgive my lousy pics...

 Ladies and Gentlemen, Mister Sir Ian Walker...I requested Rocket Man;)

 Milo was so excited when I told him about our plans for the day!  Okay, so it was really just the bananas he was having for breakfast. 

I wasn't prepared for the cost of the DBG - $34 to get the four of us in!  I was standing in line to buy tickets and a woman tapped me on the shoulder.  She asked if I had to buy tickets and when I replied with yes she handed me 3 tickets.  What?!  She was a member and had free passes that expired today.  What a blessing.  It sure made me enjoy my time there more knowing that it was a free experience.  I tried to pass on my tickets when I left in an attempt to pay it forward, but everyone was a member.  Now I know why...

 Ian and Daddy chillin' by the water after several minutes of rolling down the hill.  So much fun!  We encouraged Ian to run to the top and do somersaults on his way down.  Before we knew it there were 10 kids rolling, running, somersaulting down the hill.  It was awesome!  I started to roll, but quickly realized it was not the best plan.  Ha!

I wanted to get Milo out and let him play on the grass, but when I walked around to the front of the stroller I saw he was wiped out.  Who knew all that "strollin'" would knock him out!

 Ian is surely trained to say "Cheese" whenever I pull out the camera or my phone - now we have to work on him saying cheese and looking at the camera.  But I still love this picture!

Our plan was to hang out in Denver on Sunday, but poor Milo woke up with a fever and was very lethargic.  I wanted to get him home and comfortable as quickly as possible.  We chose to forego our Sunday plans and head home.  I was praying the whole time that he wouldn't go downhill and require an urgent care visit because he was scheduled to see his pediatrician this morning.  I am happy to report there were no urgent care visits needed - just a lot of TLC!

Ian was happy to be home, even though he had a lot of fun on our trip - he wanted to get back to his own backyard and toys.  We enjoyed the rest of our family day.  Casey had to work at 5 AM on Monday (ick!) so it was just the boys and I for most of Monday.  We took it easy and stayed in our PJ's all day.  We drove around looking for trains in the morning, but didn't find any.  Only heard their whistles.  Then it started storming so we headed home for some downtime.  Ian really wanted to play outside and I told him he could after some quiet time as long as it wasn't raining.  He jumped at the chance to go outside after his nap and he even brought tears to my eyes when he brought me this bouquet...my heart melted.  I asked if I could take his picture and he replied, "Yes, but you have to hurry because these need to get in the water."  LOL!

Lastly (and completely off topic), I want to give a very BIG congratulations to my business partner, Monica, and her husband, Christian.  Today they found out that they are welcoming a baby girl in October.  I cannot wait to meet little Miss Baby Black and spoil her with all kinds of obnoxious things that will drive her Daddy crazy;)