Ady is getting closer and closer to being 2 years old, and a day doesn't go by that she isn't learning something new. This week, for example, she learned to climb up the steps of her slide all by herself, get seated on the top of it, and go down all by herself! She also learned how to say several new words, one of which is "brother". We also brought Charlie's kennel up from the basement and Ady and Scott turned it into a cool cave for her to play in. Here they are both playing in the kennel/cave!
Scott's boss gave us her daughter's old toy kitchen set shortly after we had Adyson to give to her when she was old enough. This week I bought her some little pots and pans, and then we brought up her little kitchen. She has been playing and playing and playing with it since then!
She never ceases to crack Scott and me up, and it is so much fun to get to experience each day from a toddler's perspective. I recently got her her own pair of "big girl" sunglasses from Walmart, and she loves getting to wear them. Here she is sporting her new look.
We took this above picture last Thursday on our way up to Loveland. Scott's mom and dad agreed to watch Adyson for TWO WHOLE NIGHTS for us so that we could stay for a long weekend together in Denver for our 5 year anniversary. We headed up Thursday morning and stayed the night at their house, then we headed off to Downtown Denver for a trip for just the two of us. Needless to say, we had an incredible time! It was so nice to get to reconnect and to get to spend so much quality time together doing whatever we wanted. Here are some fun pictures and stories from our long weekend.
We left from Loveland to head up to Denver at about 10:00 on Friday morning. I hadn't ever been to the Aquarium, so that was the first stop for us on our trip. Our check-in time at the hotel wasn't until 3:00PM, so we had plenty of time to explore. What a cool place to go! They have so many different kinds of fish and sharks, and it was breathtaking to see all of the different colors!
Here we are at the Aquarium:
I even got a picture of Scott (AKA "Sharkie" to his family) by a shark:
They randomly have some tigers that live in the rainforest part of the Aquarium, so I took some pictures of them. They are so fluffy! I wish that tigers could be nicer and friendlier because I would really like to scratch their ears and rub their tummies. Aren't they darling for ferocious beasts?
We got hungry, so we decided to check out the restaurant at the Aquarium. It was super cool because it is situated right next to one of their largest aquariums in the building. As you eat your food, the fish are swimming along the walls. Pretty sweet! I did feel a little guilty eating fish tacos in their presence, but did I mention how delicious they were? Wow! The chef even wrapped the back end of my tacos with tinfoil "fins" so they looked like real fish! It was pretty creative and YUMMY!
After we finished lunch, Scott and I still had some time before we could check in to our hotel, so we decided to walk to the Downtown REI. We love REI, and neither one of us had ever been to that store. It was HUGE! We must have walked around for over an hour looking at things. We didn't buy anything, but it was awesome just to see it!
Above left: Inside the flagship REI Above right: A view of Downtown Denver
After all of our walking around, we were both ready to head to our hotel. We used a site called Hotwire to get our hotel room, and we got a pretty sweet deal. You basically tell them the general area you would like to stay and the type of hotel (3 stars, 4 stars, ect), and then it books you a random hotel in those specified ranges. Once you pay, you get to find out what hotel you will be staying in. We did it last year, and ended up in the Brown Palace! This year we got to stay in a hotel called the Hotel Teatro. It was gorgeous! It is a pretty small boutique hotel, but it was absolutely beautiful with great customer service. It is also in a great location right near the 16th street mall and the theatre. Here are some pictures from our incredible room.
Above: This is a picture of our view down from the 8th floor! SO cool!
Above: The view to the left outside of our window
Below: In case you were wondering how we got such clear photos out of our window... The middle of the three windows opened, and there was no screen. It was awesome! We loved leaving our window open and getting to sit 8 stories up above the city!
That night, we ate a very fancy and special meal for our actual anniversary at the hotel's restaurant called Kevin Taylor's. I definitely could not eat that rich of food all the time, but it was still quite the treat! We both enjoyed every bite of our meal. For dessert? Scott had a delicious chocolate cake, and I had the best crem brulee of my life. I even took a picture of it! mmmm... I wish I could have another one right now!
That night we decided to rent a movie in our hotel room, and we stayed up till past midnight watching a move! It made for a long day, but we both had a BLAST!
The next morning, after sleeping in, we were ready for another day just the two of us. We decided to try a local restaurant with good reviews called "Snooze". Let me just say, Scott and I pigged out on some incredible and unique breakfast foods that morning! It was such a cool restaurant. They had some of the weirdest pancake combinations, but all of the ones we tried were mouthwatering: Rhubarb and strawberry, sweet potato, and pineapple with almonds and cherry sauce on top. Delicious! We can't wait to go there again someday!
Pictures:
Below left: The restaurant logo Below right: Some spraypainted artwork in the waiting area
It was a rainy weekend, but we did not let that dampen our spirits! The hotel dropped us off at the restaurant, but instead of calling them for a ride back, we decided to walk back to the hotel in the rain. It was so romantic and fun to get out in the big city during the rain storm.
(below picture: on our rainy walk. I love this picture of us!)
Later that day, we went to go see a movie at the theatre on the 16th street mall. We saw the A-Team. It was such a ridiculously funny movie. There were some parts where I could not help but giggle uncontrollably. Scott and I love going to movies, so we had a blast getting out to go see a movie.
That evening, we got tickets to go to the Rockies game. We were both kindof worried that it would get rained out, but it held off until the end of the game. It was a knuckle-biter of a game, let me tell you! (I just realized the correct phrase is nail-biter, but scott thinks it is funny when I mess phrases up so I left it in for him). The first 6 innings went by in just about an hour and no one scored the whole time! We had a blast watching them play, though, even if it wasn't a high scoring game. It was just nice to be there together. We had dinner at the stadium, and we decided to go traditional baseball game meal: I ate a delicious hotdog with sour kraut, pickles, and mustard. Scott ate a braut with sour kraut and mustard. Mmmm! Quite a different meal than the night before, but absolutely amazing! The Rockies won the game, and we had a blast! All in all, it was another great date day for Scottie and me.
Here are some pictures from the game:
Above: It wasn't a very warm day for baseball, but at least we didn't get sunburned or rained on. It was great! The Rockies were playing the Toronto Jays.
Below: Us at the game. It clearly was super crowded, but we managed to squeeze this preggo in.
Below: Another picture of us together at the game. Go Rockies!
Below: During the 8th inning it started to rain lightly, so we bundled up. As stated before: Nothing could dampen our spirits!
The next morning, we went to a delicious breakfast at another hotel (such traitors, I know!) It was a great way to finish off our long date weekend for our fifth anniversary.
Over our long weekend, we had a lot of opportunities to talk about our past and our future together as a couple. What a healthy thing to do in any marriage. It was fascinating to look back over the last 5 years of marriage and to see all of the areas of growth we have made. I am excited to watch as the next 5 and the 5 after that and so on and so forth go by. Scott and I have had our rough spots the last few years, but it is great to remember why we are together and that we are better together as a team. Marriage is such a precious gift, and we are enjoying the adventure of it every year that passes. By God's grace we met and by His grace we will stay together to enjoy many more wonderful memories throughout the future.
Here are some other random pictures from our weekend.
Above: Just a fun picture from our window. I love Scott's expression!
Above: Hotel Teatro sign from above.
Above: The view right as we entered the front doors. So pretty!
Below: The ceiling of the hotel lobby
Below: Us before we left to go to the Aquarium. Also a good belly shot of me at 30 weeks pregnant with Jackson.
I am happy to report that while we were gone, Ady had a great visit with her Nana and Pappy. Tricia graciously met us at the Park Meadows mall on Sunday afternoon so that we didn't have to drive all the way to Loveland to pick our little lady up. It was so nice to see that little "boo" after so long. She fell asleep in the car pretty quickly after playing so hard all weekend. Isn't she a sweetie? *sigh*
As I finish this blog update, I just want to also give a shout-out to our best friends Corey and Blythe who also graciously watched Charlie for us all weekend so we didnt have to worry about bringing him with us or put him at a kennel place all weekend. Our long and wonderful anniversary would not have been possible without the support and help of our dear family and friends! Thank you!!!! We love you guys!
