Overnights with Grandparents

I missed documenting Sabine's exceptionally busy visit with Grandmom and Grandpa at the end of June, so I will post it quickly here, by copying and pasting Grandpa's update emails. I'm not sure where he found the time to send emails, in between all the park trips, crafting, playing, and playing some more. In any case, Sabine had a blast, and it was a nice break in the middle of a week with no camp.

June 23:

We had a big day today.

We played with trains…

...which expanded to bicycle…

… and alphorn.

Then we went to the park:

In the afternoon, we played with dolls, and played some board games.

Checkers (Sabine is catching on; she won):

Goose Game (a French game akin to Candy Land).  Lots of fun, but best of all was making up new rules as we went.

We were a little late getting a bath and getting to bed.  But by 8:20 she was sound asleep.

Lots of love,

  - Mom and Dad

June 24:

Sabine set the table for breakfast.  She got all the silverware just right.  And of course, there was a place fro Blueberry Girl, just as there has been for each meal.  Getting her nightgown on has been part of going to bed each night, and getting her dressed has been part of the morning ritual.

And of course, the magazine got some work this morning.

(A little later in the day:)

We went back to the playground this morning.  Then we went over to King Sooper’s and Sabine met Mom’s friend, Janelle the cake decorator.  Janelle wrote “Happy Birthday Blueberry Girl on a cake that Sabine picked out.  So now we’re back home, where we plan to have lunch and then a birthday party with the other dolls.  Then we plan to go down to Tiny Town, and come to your place from there.  So timing is still dependent on how things go (and what Sabine can be torn away from)

And sure enough, a few hours later, pictures from Tiny Town arrived:

Happy Fourth of July!

We spent the day of the fourth of July at the Denver zoo with cousins and friends. We had a great time, all the older siblings helped entertain the little siblings.











One particular highlight was Aspen and cousin H's first experience with Dipping Dots. Heaven!



It resulted in some very happy, and very worn-out cousins.



We had dinner at Aunt Dani and Nana's house, and then some friends joined us for the evening.



Aspen and I said goodbye to everyone, and she went down for a normal bedtime. Fireworks are probably still another year or two away for her and cousin H.



But Sabine and Daddy stayed up with the rest of the crew, Sabine even got to try sparklers for the first time, (with mixed results). But the fireworks were still a blast, and it was fun to spend a late night with friends and cousins!



On Sunday we went back to Aunt Dani and Nana's to celebrate cousin E's birthday.





The kids had a wonderful time running around outside and playing together.











Complete with cake and presents.









They even gave baseball a try, with some help from daddy and Uncle Jay.







(And then ran around some more.)







They were all worn out, in the best way possible, by the end of the day.

Happy Father's Day!

Now that we are nearing the halfway point of July, we need to quick acknowledge our favorite fathers, before we get even farther away from the actual celebration!

We spent the morning of actual Father's Day at home, with a few gifts:




(Inlcuding a very special one made at Lego camp and kept secretly wrapped up in Sabine's room for WEEKS)




And the best present, back scratches!

Then we went out to breakfast, and then over to Aunt Dani and Nana's for a fun afternoon with family and sushi for dinner!

Then we celebrated with Grandpa on Friday, with some good wine and steaks.



And that kind of wrapped up June! It was a good, blissfully healthy month.