On Saturday we got to host Cannon’s dream party.

His school was right next to a water park and almost every day for months he wold ask me if it was open, even when it was snowing. The park is only open in the summer, so I asked Cannon if he wanted to have his birthday party there this year. Cannon said what he wanted more than anything was to invite all of his classmates. So we rented the biggest space we could and invited everyone.

I didn’t get very many photos at all as we had over 50 people there and was just enjoying Cannon’s special day.

We all had a good time and had great weather.

I am so happy after a couple of years of family only parties we were able to give Cannon a big party with all his friends. Next year Emmy gets the big party.

We had the best day celebrating Cannon. We let him choose everything we did. Honestly Cannon loves almost everything so it’s easy to make him happy but we did our best to give him the best day.

His theme this year is Space so we decorated the breakfast nook and surprised him with his gifts in the morning.

Both kiddos were so excited when they saw the set up in the morning. I was impressed that Emmy was just as happy as Cannon and not jealous at all.

We had birthday cake pancakes for breakfast and opened gifts before packing up for the day.

We spent the morning at the Children’s Museum so Cannon could climb the outdoor structure.

Emmy wasn’t old enough to climb so we hung out at the water feature while Cannon and Cory climbed.

After playing all morning we grabbed lunch then drove to the theater.

We haven’t been to a movie theater since 2018 and Emmy has never been. In 2018 we watched Cannon’s first movie and it was Toy Story 4. When I saw that Lightyear came out in Cannon’s birthday I thought we had to go!

We went to a theater that had reclining seats and there was only three other families there, so nice! We all loved the movie, it was so good, but definitely not a “Toy Story” movie.

After the movie we grabbed some pizzas and my parents came over for dinner.

Cannon requested a homemade banana cake with butter cream icing.

We loved spending all day celebrating Cannon. He is such a special kid and growing up so quickly, I love every day I get to spend with him!!!

I really love our simple, slow summer mornings.

I do miss getting out and walking every day, we used to do this when Cannon went to our neighborhood school for preschool. We even kept the habit going during stay at home orders in 2020 by walking around our house. We fell off the wagon when Cannon went to a school last year that we had to drive to. I realized bow much I missed it and so much research says starting your say with outside time is really beneficial.

While hanging out in our driveway we noticed a Robin’s nest in our tree it was fun to see the chick (took this pic from far away to not disrupt the nest).

We had some errands to run for Cannon’s birthday for gift wrap, ordering cupcakes, etc. so the kids talked me into getting this play Taco Truck at Target.

They are LOVING this thing! They made a menu, priced their food and practiced with counting money. I call it a win!

For the afternoon/evening I should have probably stayed home to get some things crossed off my to-do list but summer days are so fleeting, instead we went to the pool for some time in the sun. Then home for dinner, bath and bed.

Are you a yes man for fun and deal with the mess later(or not) OR a more stick to your tasks and stay on top of things type of person?

We got to spend our morning playing with some of our favorite people. It’s so nice when my kids make friends with kids and those kids have amazing parents! We then had to run Costco for some staples and I actually loved such a mundane task because Cannon and Emerald were such good helpers, so fun to be around and I just fall more in love with them all the time.

We had a little “down time” after lunch, meaning they watched a show and I did some work on my computer before I had to run off for a hair appointment.

It’s been over six months since I have been in and over a year before I had a cut, it was so needed! I took about 4 or 5 inches off and refreshed the color. Someday I will have to branch out and try something different.

While I was at the salon Cory spent some quality time with the kiddos.

They rode bikes down to the creek, played, had a dance party and had the best time.

When my appointment was done we went to the pool, Cory hasn’t gotten to go yet this season so it was fun to go as a family!

Then home for dinner, games, books and bed. Lately Cannon has ben loving reading BOB books to us and it’s just too cute!

We had the best simple summer day! I could live the summer life forever.

We had a slowish morning because I had to get some laundry put away after our trip or we would be living with piles of clothes forever.

I am trying something new of having Athletic Greens every morning. So far so good, it has to be really cold for me to enjoy it but some ice water does the trick. I was convinced to try it by David Roche on his SWAP podcast (you should really listen, they are the cutest, but also not appropriate to listen to with the kids).

I am trying really hard to bring good habits back to my life.

Cannon had swim lessons in the morning, he is making good progress and I hope he can be safe(r) in the water soon.

Emmy enjoys going to watch but we need to get her in the water soon.

We rushed home to have lunch then met friends at our neighborhood pool. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the kids at the pool because they are running 100 MPH to get in the pool, so here is a cute one from last year.

We had BBQ (veggie) burgers, corn and watermelon for dinner and it really felt like summer. I just never want it to end, I lOVE simple days together like these.

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How is your summer going?

I always love waking up with Emmy in the camper!

I also love how much outside time we get while camping, outside immediately, breakfast in the fresh air, watching for trains across the river, it’s all good.

We had to pack up and head back to reality.

We did make time to stop at one of our favorite playgrounds in vail on the way home.

A friend recently said that she doesn’t like to go to playgrounds while traveling because they have them at home and seems like a waste of time. I get that but we love visiting new playgrounds when we travel.

Are you team travel playground or skip it?

We started our day with breakfast riverside.

Can’t beat the views of this campsite!

We decided to drive over the Rifle Falls State Park to enjoy the falls, caves and a little hike.

Luckily all the dogs are allowed on the hikes as well.

This is our third time visiting Rifle Falls and I love it every time, a great hike for kids and adults.

We went back to camp for lunch with my entire family.

My parents decided to stay in camp to relax and stay out of the 90+ degree heat. We took the kids and met my brother up in Aspen to visit the John Denver Gardens.

It was a nice visit but I do wish we could have stayed longer visiting, I love Aspen. I already asked for a visit to Aspen for my birthday this year.

We went back to camp to enjoy father’s day dinner and raspberry cake with my Dad.

Emmy approved of it all!

Just a quick check in today because we are off to Glenwood Canyon for a little camping with the entire family to celebrate Father’s Day. We are a week early but we were NOT on top of things this year and had to celebrate a week early to get a campsite for all of us. Reminder to myself that next year we need to plan this in January so we can go to a cool state park.

We started the day with a playdate with one of Cannon’s class mates that Emmy also loves. I wanted them to get some time playing outside before spending the entire afternoon in the car.

It’s about a three hour drive to Glenwood and we left in the afternoon.

We stayed at a RV park which isn’t where we would normally camp but it was right next to the Colorado River.

We had an amazing pizza dinner and fell asleep to the sound of the river.