Last one

Cas, Charlie, Blaze and Case headed home this morning. :( Just a few last pictures from their visit...

I love this series of Noah playing with Blaze and dominoes. It became a great game for my boys to build towers and have Blaze & Case knock them down...with Blaze shouting "Timber!" every time. :) 

One of the other favorites in our house was playing the piano...

And one last picture this morning before they loaded up...

Yay! Such a sweet, fun visit! We really did have a fabulous time and are so thankful that they were able to come out here...happy, too, for the reminder of how much we appreciate being past the baby and toddler stage, lol. ;) Course, we're already missing those sweet baby snuggles... 

Splash pad

I'm almost done, promise. :) 

On Monday, we took Cas & Charlie and crew up to Old Town. We hit Ben & Jerry's (we have our priorities, lol) and the new splash pad there. Blaze was rather hesitant at first, keeping his distance and watching warily. After getting sprayed straight on in the face a couple times, though, he decided it was great fun and really got into it:

I simply LOVE how joyous Blaze was:

After a bit, Case got in on the action, too:

Those nephews of mine have no fear, I tell ya!

We got a picture of all five boys:

And more pictures...the last couple are from the Oak Street splash pad area. We'd journeyed that way after a bit (not as much fun but still good)...

After that, we put dry clothes on Blaze & Case and stopped at a few stores before heading home.

Happy sigh. :)

Union Reservoir - Part 2

Okay. I had to add more pictures...

Here are Asher, Nathan and Micah...

Blaze, just chillin'...

Marcy heading out...

Micah getting to his feet...

Quinn making his crazy eyes...

And, me in the junior kayak...

After the storm got us off the water, we headed back to Zach's to dry off and change. Then, we went out to dinner there in Longmont...choosing a restaurant with a nice outdoor patio area so that Blaze had plenty of room to explore while we waited.

And, Zach showed my boys his PokemonGo stuff. (For the record, we don't play PokemonGo. It looks like plenty of fun and I think it's great that it's something that parents and kids are doing together. Mine get enough exercise and are plenty familiar with Pokemon and weren't that interested, though, so we haven't done any of that.)

Much to Zach's chagrin, I had our server take a group picture...

We couldn't quite manage to get Blaze (sitting with Makenna) or Case to look at the camera, but I think it turned out pretty well. Happy three-fifths of our extended family!

Union Reservoir

On Sunday, Cas & Charlie left the hotel in Denver and we left our house in Fort Collins, and we all met up at our brother Zach's in Longmont. From there, he introduced us all to Union Reservoir (right near his place) and paddleboarding. It was a fantastic afternoon!

Here are Zach & Marcy taking Blaze out...

Then Charlie doing the same thing...

And Micah trying out the junior kayak (which he loved!)...

Asher really took to the paddleboarding and was more successful than most of us at standing while paddling...

Here's Zach giving Micah a ride, with his kids Quinn and Makenna in the water...

and me with Micah and Asher and Kenna in the background...

Since Noah opted not to get in the water and stay dry, he got to hold Case...

Meanwhile, Charlie and Cas went out on the paddleboards to try to stand up. (Asher and Nathan are also in the picture.)

I have heaps more pictures. :)

A typical Colorado storm came through as the afternoon progressed, forcing us off the water. But. The time that we had on the water was fabulous! Yay for time with family and trying new things!

Wedding

Saturday, Micah and I drove down to Denver to help wrangle boys while Cas was busy with wedding stuff. We hung out with Blaze while Charlie got Case down for a nap, then we all got ready and headed over to the wedding venue. 

The wedding venue was gorgeous and the weather, though threatening with rain to start, cooperated beautifully...as the clouds parted and the sun shone through as the bride entered. Perfect! I'm told that the ceremony was lovely, though Cas and Micah are the only ones of us who actually witnessed it. :) Charlie chased Blaze and I walked Case during the ceremony. Weddings are a lot to ask of small boys, which is why Micah and I were there, lol. 

After the ceremony, Blaze was stoked to finally have access to Cas...or, rather, her bouquet:

And I took a picture of the sweet family:

At the reception, there was a room just for kids...with a craft table (with a couple ladies manning it), a face painter, bean bag tossing, and a foosball table:

I love that Micah was totally comfortable and happy playing with a bunch of girls, adults or even little kiddos. :)

Meanwhile, Case and I hung out:

And Blaze thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed that they let him have all the foam stickers that he wanted:

As the night carried on, Cas and I took Case back to the hotel so she could get him down for the night. I then stayed with him while Cas went back to the reception to dance with her husband and fulfill her bridesmaid duties. Micah stayed with them to help chase after Blaze. :)

Eventually, they all came back to the hotel, and Micah and I drove home.

(By the way, Cas and I were sad to miss our cousin Anthony's wedding back in Prosser (WA) the same day. We definitely missed seeing everyone but the pictures we saw looked like everyone had a good time.)