Colorado 2015 | Day Two

Wednesday | July 29th

{Run, guys golf, playground, hanging at home}

Porter woke up at five am this date, and I started a really awful habit that we are still currently trying to break: I handed him a 6 oz bottle in his crib and walked out. He loooooooves a bottle in the middle of the night in his crib and I know this is how he will always fall back to sleep for at least a few solid hours, but it's also creating a monster baby who now likes to wake up every.single.night at least once for this 'lazy' bottle. Sigh. Anyway, I was exhausted and could not deal with any other options to get him back to sleep. It worked, and can I still use the phrase 'whatever works' when my baby is over a year old? I think so. Yes, on vacation anything goes, I think.

At 7:00 on the dot Truman came into my room all excited and happy to start our day in Colorado. We did bring the big kids' Tot Clock because it's basically a part of our family at this point, and the kids really needed it to help them with the time change. We also brought two iPods and two docking station speakers because white noise is also a priority for us, always. And so just like clockwork (pun intended), Truman was waiting to exit his room until his clock turned yellow at seven. We sent him upstairs to see GoGo and PoPo and attempted to 'sleep in', but then Cecelia was in our room at 7:05. She was very proud of herself for not falling out of her bed, something I didn't think about before we arrived. At home their bunk beds are against a wall and they each have a small railing across the open side, so they really can't fall out of bed if they tried. Putting chairs right next to the beds in Colorado worked well, which is great because if Cecelia fell and landed on the tile floor it would be a rough start to a vacation day for all involved! Nate and I both went upstairs with Cecelia and listened for Porter on the old school 1980s monitor that somehow still works! I really missed the luxury of our video monitor on this trip though.







Nate and I sat out on the patio and enjoyed our coffee, mom had made a baked oatmeal breakfast dish, and I also made us egg sandwiches. YES.


Finally at 8:30 am I made Nate wake Porter because I thought he might be dead, since it was like 9:30 with our old Wisconsin time and I wasn't sure how we'd handle naps if he slept all morning long. He was alive and ready to party, I fed him breakfast and we all played for a bit.

Shall we eat an orange, unpeeled, buddy?




Mom had to run to Target to make a return so the rest of us went outside and tested out the many garage sale finds for kid toys my parents have accumulated. The electric car is still a favorite and I couldn't stop laughing at Truman driving Cecelia around, and then Cecelia driving Porter. It was frightening, it was adorable, it gave me flashes of my future with teenagers burning rubber in our driveway;)



My mom forgot to make us the traditional sign to welcome our family to the house. My brother pulled through with this beauty in her honor.


ZOMG.




The way he looks at her here.


Hey babes. I'm just riding with my sis, NBD.


Man down.


Magic Mike approves of this morning. He used to blow smoke out of his mouth and my brother and I loved him something fierce.


Oh, this guy, too.


I mean, all the heart eyes, I can't even, GAH.


We tried to force Porter to nap at 10:30 but it was a big fat fail, so we set up the kiddie pool and let everyone continue playing outside.


Mom came home around 11:00 and Nate and I set off for a run We knew it would probably suck because of the altitude---Fort Collins is at 5500 ft according to my brother, which is a LOT compared to Milwaukee! So we ran but stopped to walk a few times on our 2.6 miles, but it was great to exercise a bit on vacation. I'm becoming one of those people who craves exercise even when 'relaxing', and also I had way too much coffee this morning so the run was necessary to take the shakiness down a few notches. 

Mountains and a beautiful utility box behind us.


It was 80 degrees and sunny but (cliche alert) it's a dry heat, so it didn't even feel hot except when standing in the sun. Then it was absolutely summer time weather. On our run we discussed how incredibly majestic the mountains were and we wondered if people ever got tired of looking at them. If you live in Colorado or somewhere else with mountain views, do you sometimes not even glance at the mountains when they are in sight? Does that skyline become old hat after awhile? We were just enthralled. Also: the new construction homes in my parents' subdivision had us majorly dreaming about painting our house some of these beautiful/earthy/craftsman-like colors. (I'm still leaning towards blue-grays but Nate is all about brownish-grays, it's been a popular discussion of late).

When we were finished with our run Nate showered and I played with the kids a bit outside, then we headed in to make lunch. I have a quote from Cecelia this day which made me die laughing at the time: "The question is, I want a chip!" I think I might use the phrase 'the question is....' quite a bit but obviously she didn't understand the concept of a question. More of a statement and yes, the child loves her potato chips. 

Nate, my dad, and Michael all left at 1:00 for their first of many rounds of golf while Mom and I held down fort with the kiddos. And by 'held down fort' I mean that we put both Cecelia and Porter down for their naps, they didn't fight it, and Truman got his iPad time. Mom and I both read some of our books, I made simple syrup and iced coffee, and then I sat out on the patio with Truman to enjoy this quiet time fully. Eventually I took a shower, Porter woke up at 3:00 and we woke Cecelia at 4:00. 




The pool in the backyard was our post-nap hangout, Clif bars were had for a snack, and then we packed everyone up for a walk to a nearby playground. We left around 4:45 and it took about 15 minutes to get there with one scooter, one wagon, one Ergo, three kids, and two adults. I missed our Double BOB many times throughout this trip and this was one of them! I kept pointing out the mountains in the distance to the kids and Truman was totally uninterested, saying things like, 'Oh, there is a bunny rabbit!' I mean, CHILD, we have bunnies in Wisconsin. Pay attention to the majestic landforms to our left, geesh. 



















Anyway, the playground was awesome: a giant dragon, rock climbing, swings for my obsessed daughter, a few empty sand volleyball courts that begged us to play tag for a bit (and I nearly died from sucking thin air chasing Truman, but it was worth it), and perfect evening light. I swear the light in Colorado is different somehow, much like I'd imagine Greece to be. Colorado, Greece... same diff, right?

We left the park around 5:45 and this time I put Cecelia on my back in the Ergo and she adored it! Also, I think she is literally the same weight as Porter now, as she felt light as a feather to me on our journey home. I had Truman use the selfie stick at this point, and I believe Cecelia was singing us all songs on our walk home. Porter was happy with his pretzels in the wagon with big brother and life was good. 







Dinner time! Mom made tiny pizzas for the kids by using tortillas, red sauce and mozzarella cheese inside cupcake tins. She cut out the tortillas to be the right size for the cupcake circle and baked them in the oven. Perfect! Mom and I had a variation on a Caprese salad---fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, lemon olive oil and blueberry vingearette, plus chicken and avocado. So good.







We sat down to eat at 6:30 and Porter started to tweak around 6:50. Mom gave him a bath while I observed the older children eat/complain about their dinner. Truman was so tired he couldn't handle being vertical to consume his sugar cone for dessert but Cecelia had zero issues with the cone eating. Porter went down at 7:00 and then it was time for books and pajamas for the bigs (done with GoGo) while I cleaned the kitchen. I love my parents' new kitchen so much! It's still so odd that 'going home' doesn't mean going to my childhood house in mid-Missouri but I'm getting used to this whole change concept, I guess;) 

I heard Cecelia singing songs to Gogo and Truman at the tail end of their bedtime around 7:45--she was saying something about a white man and a red school house and ceiling fans. I love that child. The bigs were passed out by 8:00, except for the one time Cecelia did call out for me requesting another tuck in/more water/a kiss. 

Next Mom and I watched HGTV on their DVR (the luxury! I miss cable sometimes!) and we watched a few episodes of Beach Flip and chatted. The dudes had been texting, finished up their round of golf and they were finishing up dinner, planned to be home by 9:30. I uploaded pictures to Flickr and cracked a beer, because: vacation. Once the guys returned home we all sat inside with HGTV paused and chatted---so much to discuss, such as a possible family reunion next summer, our plans for the next day, briefly discussing their golf games and dad's aching joints. 

More beer. Nate and I retired around 10:45 and I read my book a bit. But Porter is awake and angry at 11:15 pm. WTF, whyyyyyyy?  I had to give him bottle and wait a bit after that to be sure he is asleep. Enter in all of the usual suspects of mom-worry: could he be getting sick, ear infection, altitude issues, regressing for some other reason? Or is vacation and a total change in routine just a lot to handle for my one year old? OR does he really just love bottles in bed? WHO KNOWS!! 

Worrying in vacation is still 100x better than worrying in real, everyday life. Deep thoughts from day two.