Owen's 1st Birtday

I can't believe a year has already gone by since the birth of our adorable baby boy. Owen is officially a toddler now. The baby year flew by. We loved almost every second of it. ;) And it was definitely too fast. I keep telling Owen he can stop growing for a while.


We celebrated Owen's birthday on Sunday during our Estes Park vacation. We had lots of family there to celebrate with us. Mom, Dad, Travis, Amber, Ethan, and Nana were already staying in Estes with us. My Aunt Connie, Uncle Jim, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Brett, and cousins Mark, Kyle, Cullin, and Cassandra were able to come up. It was so great to be able to share this with family!!!

Because Owen loves music so much we decided to do a Rock n' Roll themed party. Even the cake was decorated with records and a juke box. Owen was a little overwhelmed by everyone staring at him and singing "Happy Birthday." But he got over it quickly when we wrapped him in a garbage back and allowed him to dig in to cake. He loved it and was covered in it. He also got lots of fun toys which he played with the rest of the week (we had a lot of fun figuring most of them out.)


Thanks to everyone for making it such a wonderful first birthday for Owen!!!

Estes Park Vacation

Caveat - our computer crashed with all our Estes Park pictures on it - so I only have those sent to me by family until we can retrieve those on the dead computer, so more pics were finally added in Oct.

My grandparents bought a house in Estes Park, CO, the year I was born. I've been visiting there all my life. It is my favorite place to go. I was finally able to bring Robbie with me and Owen got his first trip to Estes as well over this past week. We had a wonderful time! This will be a long post.

We flew out on July 4th. Owen was great and slept on the plane almost all the way there. It's such a luxury to fly direct. :) My parents drove out a few days earlier. Travis, Amber, and Ethan had arrived that morning. And my grandmother, Nana, arrived at the same time as we.

We finally got to meet our new nephew! Ethan is 2 1/2 months and is ADORABLE!! They call him "Growly Bear" because his baby talk is more like a little growl. He has a full head of dark hair and is already a great sleeper. Too cute.

Friday night, Daddy and I looked after Owen and Ethan while everyone went to see the fireworks. We were able to see them from the house. Saturday the boys went hiking and then the ladies went shopping. Downtown Estes is very touristy and also very lovely tucked right against the river with a great river walk. Sunday was Owen's birthday party (I'll write a separate post on that).

Monday we all went to Blackhawk to visit the casinos. That night Robbie and I had a great date night (we saw "Get Smart" which is hilarious. Tuesday we all went to dinner at the Stanley hotel (the hotel the book "The Shining" was based on). Wednesday Amber and Travis flew home. Robbie and I took Owen on a pedal cart around the lake. He loved it - one of his favorite parts of the trip we think.

Thursday Dad took Robbie, Owen, and me on a hike from Bear Lake to Bierstadt lake. Beautiful views although the heights challenged me a little. :) That evening we went to dinner at the Baldpate Inn. It has a room full of keys (some famous, most not), a terrific view of Estes, and hummingbirds everywhere.

Friday Dad, Robbie, and I drove up Trail Ridge Road. I don't know why I get suckered into this every time I visit. It's all mountain edges, 1/2 above the tree line. Quite terrifying. And no, I did not get to see any big horn sheep. Uncle Richard came up to visit in the afternoon and Uncle Jim and Aunt Connie came up to stay the weekend that evening. Friday night Robbie and I had date night number two. We went to see "Wanted" at the Park Theater in downtown Estes. It has been running since 1917 and is a really neat old theater.

Saturday Robbie and I took Owen for a hike up to Nymph and Dream lakes. We didn't quite make it to Emerald. More beautiful views. That evening Robbie and I trounced Dad and Uncle Jim in a game of Trivial Pursuit (Pop Culture of course). Robbie won the whole thing.

We flew home Sunday. It was a wonderful trip. So great to see so much family. I can't wait to go back. Hopefully sooner than 4 years from now. :)