Our "All-American" 4th of July weeekend

I say "All-American" because my Dad is technically the only true "all-American" among the whole lot of us. That's what you get for having a Canadian mother and a Norwegian husband. But our party of foreigners and half-breeds celebrated the 4th of July in iconic American style.

We at barbecue in American-sized portions at our favorite local joint.

I carefully rationed all of my caffeine allowance for the day so that I could enjoy my ribs and pulled pork with a side of Diet Coke. To do otherwise would have been un-American... in my estimation.

We splurged on a large package of over-priced fireworks made in China, but sold out of a tent in the Walmart parking lot. What's more American than that?

And we gathered in the local park with some of our favorite (authentically American) friends to set off our loot and to watch a rather impressive and obviously very illegal fireworks show that one of our neighbors orchestrates every year.

Look at all of these cute blondes! 

It was interesting to see the different reactions that the kids had to the fireworks. Half of the kids inched up as close as they possibly could to the action (Kai and Hayden) while the other kids inched slowly away. 

And then there was Ari.

Anytime the sparks flew a little higher than he expected, or when things got noisy, he would bolt for his safe place.... which apparently was in the center of this blanket.

 Here's a couple of shots of my cute parents.

While the fireworks were supposed to be the main attraction, I could have sat around and watched this guy all night. He is the world's sweetest baby and I have a big time baby crush on him and his cute mama happens to be one of my favorite people, too.

The next day we continued the fun by taking the kids to their first Rockies game. We splurged to get shaded seats in the infield which was expensive, but totally worth it. And then we splurged some more on every type of stadium food to try and keep the kids preoccupied eating for as much of the game as possible.

Kai is getting old enough to actually enjoy outings like this. He didn't last the entire game, but for a good chunk of it he was somewhat engaged asking questions about what was happening on the field and cheering with the crowd. 

This guy required a little more entertaining, but ended up lasting 7 innings with just a few breaks to walk around the stadium. 

When the game got slow I entertained myself by taking his picture. But I forgot to bring my lens that zooms in and out, so it was a little difficult to frame the shot and get a quality picture. Still, I find his facial expressions and just general personality to be endlessly entertaining. So I have to share a few shots.

I think this guy is pretty cute, too. And since the tickets for the game were actually a belated birthday present for my baseball-loving dad, I thought it was fitting to include his picture in this post, too. 

Luckily, the Rockies stadium is pretty kid-friendly as far as stadiums go. So when the kids totally burnt out in the 8th inning, I was able to take them over to a little gated play area where they were able to get some of their wiggles out.

In the end, it was a pretty exciting game as far as baseball games go. The Rockies ended up edging out the Dodgers for an 8-7 victory. Not that I got to see it happen. Oh well! We all had a good time and it was the perfect capstone to our patriotic weekend.

Happy 4th, y'all!

Quality time with Grandma and Grandpa

The best part about my parents both being teachers is that they get extended periods of time off where they can come see us. This past month we got to have them here for two whole weeks. We managed to pack a lot of fun into that amount of time, but it still didn't feel like enough. I'm trying to convince them to come out for the whole summer next year. I think that plan sounds more relaxing for me than it does for them. But we are happy to take what we can get and happier still that they left with promises to come back for Thanksgiving in November... when we will be a family of 5!!!

Here are a few highlights from their trip.

We were lucky enough to have my mom here over her birthday so we headed up to Boulder for the occasion. We spent the afternoon downtown, checking out the sights with the family and eating at The Cheesecake Factory, one of my mom's faves, and then sent Yo and the boys home so that my parents and I could head over to CU's campus where we not only got a nostalgic tour from my dad who spent his freshman year of college there, but also got to see a really fun production of Shakespeare's The Merry Wive's of Windsor.

My family is no stranger to Shakespearean Festivals. We spent many a summery night in outdoor venues watching Elizabethan classics as a family thanks to my father the English teacher. So it was a really fun and fitting way to spend some quality time with the folks.

I forgot to mention some other "exciting" news that coincided with my parents arrival. We bought a minivan. With baby #3 on the way, we knew it was inevitable, but decided to push up the timeline a little bit so we wouldn't have to deal with the logistics of transporting 6 people to and fro in our 5 passenger vehicles. I have to admit that when we signed the dotted lines on our loan paperwork it was a little hard to feel enthusiastic about incurring that much debt for a minivan of all things, but I am excited to have the extra space and such a family friendly vehicle. And what that beast lacks in pick-up (I miss my zippy Accord) it makes up in lots of bells and whistles. Not the least of which is the snazzy built-in entertainment system. And with 8 seats that can be adjusted in lots of configurations, we are excited to put this car to use.... which is good because I will be driving it for the next 10-15 years I'm sure.

We definitely having been putting it to use so far. The day after we went to Boulder, we headed back that direction to Estes Park to attend a Scandinavian Midsummer's Festival. Months earlier I came across info for the festival when I was looking to see whether there were any 17th of May celebrations we could take the kids to in Colorado. There weren't. And the Estes Park festival was the only Scandinavian festival that I came across so I was determined to get Yo and the kids up there for a little culture and thought it was all the better that my parents would be in town to join us.

I'm glad we went, but this may not turn into a yearly tradition for us. Estes Park was swimming with people, but the Festival itself was not the big draw. In fact, it was pretty underwhelming. There were food tents, but they were serving your generic festival fare and not the least bit Scandinavian. There were craft tents, some of which sold some Scandinavian goods, but Yo and I figured we would rather get the authentic versions the next time that we were in Norway. And there was a stage with some enthusiastic, but rather geriatric performers decked out in their traditional costumes (bunader) dancing stiffly on a stage. Apparently this was the main attraction.

Unless, of course, you are into Viking reenactments.

Clearly Ari was gripped by the slow paced, choreographed sword fight happening 20 feet in front of his face. Me too, Ari. Me too.

So I wouldn't give the festival rave reviews, but I'm glad we got a chance to get up into the mountains with my folks. The drive up was beautiful. And I'm anxious to make a return trip to Estes Park sometime this Fall. In the off season.

Our next excursion was one that we've been looking forward to since moving to Colorado. My kids are both into dinosaurs...big time...and it is so fun to live someplace where so many dinosaur fossils have been discovered. We've been slowly making our way from one dinosaur exhibit to the next. When my parents were here we finally made it to the Dinosaur Walk, a 5-mile stretch of road where you can see exposed dinosaur bones and even distinct dinosaur footprints in the rock bed. We opted to take a bus tour since it was our first time there. Our tour guide was full of really interesting information and totally enhanced the experience. I thought I knew a bit about dinosaurs before, but she added really interesting insights into paleontologists latest discoveries and theories that turn some of what I thought I knew about dinosaurs on its head. Okay, I won't get more into the nerd talk, but these things are exciting especially if you have dinosaur-loving kids like I do.

Ari insisted on having his own seat on the bus. He thinks he's such a big man, but the binky totally gives him away. ;)

Kai getting to feel a real dinosaur bone

The Hoytster humoring his daughter by posing for this pic. (Thanks, Dad!)

Yes, Ari is this much of a ham all the time. Part of the reason why I love to take pictures of him. That and he doesn't run away every time I pull the camera out.... like someone else I know (ahem, Kai).

One of the kids favorite parts of the day was getting to scale the rocks.

One of my least favorite parts of the day was having to scale the rocks to rescue Ari who was better at going up than down. And once I hauled my pregnant belly up there, I had no way to help Ari down myself without passing him off to one of my parents. But somehow every time I flagged my mom to get my dad's attention to help me, he thought I wanted an awkward picture taken of me climbing with belly and an almost 2-year-old in tow. Thanks again, Dad.

Ok, I'm gonna nerd out on you again (consider yourself forewarned). See the bulges in the rocks on the below? Those were created from the weight of large Brontosaurs walking on the ridge above.

Pretty mind-blowing, eh? And the next picture is of lots of Theropod footprints some of which belonged to baby dinosaurs some 70 million years ago.

My parents are nicer than me and indulged Kai's request to sift through a $10 bag of sand to find his very own fossil keepsakes. Aren't grandparents the best? And, of course, Ari had to get in on the action.

Kai was pretty pleased with his bag full of loot

Wonder why Ari looks so dazed and confused in this pic?

He was probably still trying to wrap his brain around what he had just seen...

I only wish that I knew what he was thinking in this pic.

There was a bit more to explore at the attraction that we didn't get around to because my kids were tired and I was hungry. So we will definitely have to make a return trip sometime soon. I don't think the kids will complain. They pretty much loved everything about the excursion... especially getting some quality time with their awesome grandparents.