summer, summer

Eliza turned one and, blink, two weeks pass. We ended up having another couple over for dinner the Saturday after Eliza's birthday. They have a son that is a week younger, so I thought we could have a mini celebration. I made a cake for Eliza and let her blow out a candle and eat a slice. I find it so funny how she "got" the whole concept. She even blew out the candle. And I think that look on her face when she ate the cake all by herself, will always be a memory of mine. 

Then the following week we had a jam packed week filled with outdoor fun everyday. Apparently, we had so much fun, the girls could not handle it all. That Thursday, Madison had a fever of 105 and Eliza kept throwing up. Both of these ailments caused them not to sleep more than 45 minutes at a time. This sickness lasted about two days and two nights, we were exhausted. However, we had made plans to go to Estes Park to visit our friends that started an open air adventure park there. We managed to get to Estes and it ended up being a fun trip. We rock climbed with the children (our friends have two kids the same age as the girls). Two of us would climb and then the other two would make sure none of the children jumped off the cliff. I was incredibly rusty, but it makes me wish we could find more time to climb. I guess it will still have to be put away into the, "some day," category of activities. Then we hired a babysitter for after the kids went to sleep. We went to the local bar that Will and I used to go to when we worked in Estes. It was great! We had the place to ourselves and sat by the fire pit on the porch of the bar. Our conversation mostly included topics other than our children. 

Now, we are still going with the activities. We hosted the group from our church last night in our backyard. We have been working all summer on putting the finishing touches to the yard and I am so thankful we could have people over. Tomorrow my brother and dad get in to celebrate the fourth with us. I am really looking forward to their visit because we have not seen them since Christmas. Hope everyone enjoys the holiday, it is probably my favorite!