Agggghhhhhh….July is here. That means we’re halfway through the summer which makes me cry tears of sadness. We are trying our best to fit in all the fun we can….
Starting with the 4th of July. It was an easy decision to head back to Fort Collins for the event, for 2 reasons. #1 Our plan is to move back there just as quickly as our house sells. #2 We don’t know anybody here in our new neighborhood so we have no better option.
So, we made some pickled shrimp and a pasta salad and headed up the highway to the Fort Collins Country Club for the annual pool party. We arrived a little late and missed the greased watermelon toss and the adult beer scavenger hunt, but still managed to have plenty of fun.
One of my little people though does NOT like the best part of the festivities, the amazing fireworks. So, this is where we were during the show….inside, curled up into the fetal position. Poor girl.
Because the 4th was on a Wednesday this year, John didn’t get to have nearly as much fun as me (i.e. cocktails). The kids and I stayed the night and he went home to rescue the dogs (who also do not like fireworks) and go to work the next morning.
The next day we spent probably my favorite day of the whole summer. We invaded Denise’s house again (she hosted the BBQ the night before) for leftovers and just hanging out. The kids all adore each other and pick up playing right where they left off.
They “swam” in Bob’s new Michael Phelps Swim Spa for hours.
And then when the weather threatened to get a little dicey, they decided that would be a good time to go out on the lake. Not to worry, we get them off when the lightening strikes in the front yard. But, what’s important about this picture is that I am the mean mom who makes my kids wear life jackets. All.The.Time. Without Fail. All 3 of my kids can swim and all three are pretty good swimmers….but that’s just it….pretty good. Until they’re not. Drowning is the second leading cause of death for kids under age 14, only behind auto accidents. And it happens quietly and in a matter of seconds. Especially in a lake where if they go beneath the surface of the water I cannot see them. I would be unable to get to them. So, it’s been a point of embarrassment for my kids for all the time we lived on the lake, and even more so because their friends are not required to wear them. We’ve had tearful discussions about it, but I do not waver on this one. Eat sugar, watch too much TV, stay up too late….but you will wear a life jacket.
Ok, I’m done on my soapbox. Thankfully, it’s not just me….their father and I are in 100% agreement on this one. First time for everything😉
On to lighter topics. I had the opportunity to teach my girls the finer art of Ladies Lunch. We skipped the bottle of wine on this day, but I did give them a flowchart about it’s importance.
And speaking of importance, the Mr and I had a much needed date night that following Saturday. We arranged our favorite sitter, caught an Uber and headed to Matsuhisa for something tasty and delicious. However, about halfway through dinner we got a text from our realtor saying that someone wanted to see the house the following day….at 10:00 in the morning. If you think we stopped with those two drinks and headed home like responsible people, then you don’t know us at all. We had 2 more drinks after that, and THEN headed home to begin the cardio cleaning. Ugggghhhh.
I love this picture of the happiest dog on earth. We decided to walk the dogs around the neighborhood during the house showing, which turned out to be more than we’d bargained for. Cooper is so spastic that he wore his toenails down to the skin and was bleeding everywhere. Meanwhile, my dogs with the short little legs were WIPED OUT after the first lap. Then we went around again….
Lastly, following the theme of cramming all of the summer fun into these last weeks, we headed out one afternoon to a new aquarium I’d heard about. Now, I had seen negative reports on Facebook and the local news about this place, so the investigative journalist in me had to check it out. We were pleasantly surprised, although puzzled by it’s location INSIDE of the Southwest Plaza mall. The amount of interaction you get with the animals is better than anywhere else we’ve been. We fed birds, pet iguanas, fed stingrays and pet a huge tortoise. Some of the negative press had to do with the training the workers have and potential “abuse”of the animals because of their lack of experience. I will say that I saw none of that. I’m no Steve Irwin, but the animals seemed well taken care of, and the workers were knowledgable and friendly, but still made sure we followed the rules.
Poor Jackson. This looks like a funny picture now, but the reality of how it all went down is much different, and proof that my boy is growing into a young man. Seconds after I took this photo, he went to remove his head from the shark’s mouth and somehow jammed those teeth into his forehead with force. I could tell it hurt bad and could see the tears welling up in his eyes. But, he was sooooo tough and didn’t want to cry in public. I tried to comfort him, but he really just needed a minute to “mind over matter” his way through the situation. We’ve all been there, right? I was proud of him.
