Before the Storm

Old Town is never boring, and because Fort Collins is seriously amazing, there is always something going on in Old Town.  We went downtown to check it out.

Of course that meant we had to ride the giant fish.

Rose thinks this is her fish.  If another child approaches it, she will give that poor kid a pretty serious glare.

And hug the giant bear.

Oh hi new piano.  We haven't met you before.  Why yes, we will play you for a moment.

That night in Old Town there was a free concert, and the band was playing great classics from bands like the Beatles.  It was great fun.

The best thing I saw all night was a homeless man dancing to the music.  He grinned widely, showing the crowd his rotten teeth.  He moved to the beat clutching his walker, and a woman from the crowd even danced with him for a song.  Ahh, the power of music.  It's a great thing.

I cannot even express how much I love this.

While I was enjoying the dancing crowd, my family was eating yummy nummy ice cream.

Suddenly our peaceful ice cream eating music listening evening turned into a lightening bolt thunderstorm frenzy of mass proportions.  We tried to wait it out, because it never rains for more than two minutes along the Front Range, but the storm never stopped and we had to bolt for the car.

It ended up being a pretty big storm that brought hail and flooding and downed tree branches.  Never a dull moment...

A Hot Afternoon

Come over and splash in your backyard?  Why yes, of course.  We're always up for that!  Dale, Rose, Claire and Vivian are always a blast to watch.  Even when it's a million degrees outside and almost nap time.

Jenn wrote all over her fence with chalk, so that the kids could take turns squirting it clean with the hose.  I mean, talk about awesome good times.

Pool Time with the Paltes

June 26, 2013

Off to the pool with the Paltes!  Here we go!

We were quite the caravan.

Movie star Rose.

Abbey's neighborhood pool is perfect for mommies and their kids.  There is a fabulous gated wading pool for the little ones, and there are even tables and chairs in the shade for pale white folk like myself.  I can actually sit down and observe my children wading around in the pool!  (Insert major shock followed by extreme wild excitement.  Maybe even a little panting and giggle snorting.)

I have really enjoyed watching all the adorable kids this summer.  They each have such distinct and fun personalities that I'm constantly smiling.

Addison always makes me giggle.

I mean, really?  Too cute.  Too too cute.

What fun!

Watching Daddy

We've only been able to watch Daddy play softball a few times this summer, and we love it when Zachary and Mason are there to watch their Daddy too.  And maybe I should clarify.  By watch, I mean do anything but watch.  In fact, going to Daddy's softball games is really just an excuse to go crazy in public right before bedtime.

This picture makes me giggle.

Once the apples disappeared, so did the calm.  Then there was a whole lot of this...

And this...

And this...

Suddenly everyone was a wild animal, and for a while there I feared for my life.

Rose had no interest in all the roughhousing.  Instead she kept far away from the boys and played by herself in her own imaginary dream world.

Perfect princess.

Okay, on occasion there is a little bit of game watching.

We love Daddy.

Splashing Around

I suppose we are getting braver.  Or maybe we're just getting more and more crazy.  Whatever the case, Abbey and I decided to take our kids to see a movie and then splash around in Loveland.  To my surprise, the movie went off without a hitch, and every single little one loved it.  They giggled and snacked, and it was so much fun to watch their reactions to the giant movie screen.

At the splash pad, the girls were curious yet cautious.  No one stayed there long, and all three came running toward their mamas after a giant squirt attacked them.

Dale, however, was brave and loved running in and out of the water.

There was much interest in the nearby orange cones.

We could not get them to stop moving them around.

Dale adores Elizabeth, and now that she is smiling, Dale is even more eager to interact with her.

There was a lot of love going around.

A miracle moment caught on camera.

And darn it!  The splash pad is right next to a gelato place.  It would be downright mean not to eat it.

Friday Night at the Orchard

Wanna go to an extremely crowded place with tiny kids and just hope you don't lose them?  Sure!  Let's go!

The Orchard shopping center in Thornton has free Friday night concerts in the summer, and it's right by the Palte house, so when Abbey suggested we go play around there, (because she's nuts), we were in, (because we're nuts.)  Do two crazy mamas make a sane one?

Dale shows Addison and Emily how to go crazy on the splash pad.

Also nuts is the Sebring family, so they joined us for the fun.  It was so nice to have everyone back together again.  This time there are SEVEN kids!  Jeesh!  Ten, if you count the Daddies.  And we were all back in the same place at the same time for the first time in years.  Yep, years.

These dudes.

They were rather agreeable, because we were on our way to get them ice cream.

It's great to be back with my peeps.

The Farm

Well howdy there folks!  

And yeehaw to y'all!

Ain't nuthin' like spendin' a sunny morn workin' at the farm!

The Farm at Lee Martinez Park is a city petting zoo that is just the right size for my kids, and when they had story time with milk and cookies, well shucks, off we went.  Cuz we sure as shootin' were not about to miss that!

Oh the stares we got standing there with our milk and cookies.  Rose even got her picture taken by a city employee for being so adorable.

Story time was a great rendition of The Three Little Pigs, which involved the pigs calling 911 for police assistance, and my kids loved it.  But they loved even more all the stinky animals nearby for staring at and feeding.

Dale fed those animals like it was his job.

This was the only time Rose let that poop machine touch her precious princess hand, and then she was so over it.

The feeding ended rather abruptly when a goat snatched Dale's entire bag of food and gobbled it down, bag and all, while poor helpless Dale stood there screaming.  It was about the funniest thing I've ever seen.  We had to explore the rest of the farm in length just to get over it.  Darn goat.

Dale begged to wear his rain boots after seeing Rose's cowgirl boots.

Then Rose drove this tractor all over the farm, hollerin' at every goat, sheep and cow to "Get outta here!"  No, not really.  But I bet she totally would have if she knew how to drive/the tractor actually worked/her mama wasn't looking/she wasn't two years old.

This princess is one tough cowgirl.