Short but Sweet Sunshine

This past Sunday, we FINALLY got some nice weather.  It has been so rainy and gloomy that I feel like I have moved back to the Pacific Northwest.  The weather is a reminder that not one of us are rainy weather people so if we are going to relocate anywhere, it had better be somewhere with more sunshine than Colorado.  Since Colorado is one of the sunniest states in the country, we probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

We kicked the day off with breakfast at Starbucks.  Starbucks goal is to be a customers third place.  Their first place being home, second place work and third place Starbucks.  Without a doubt, Starbucks is high on our list.  It's not often that we spend a morning at Starbucks.  Usually, we frequent the drive through.  For fun, we went for beverages of choice and breakfast sandwiches.  It was a fun treat for all of us.

The rest of the day was spent outside.  It was mostly cloudy in the morning, but it was warm enough to enjoy the day and soak up some sun when it did peak through.

Oliver was very much in need of some outside time and he had a great time playing with the neighbor kids.  This is Brady and Oliver getting ready to tear up the neighborhood on their bikes.  (No, Oliver's not wearing a helmet.  His parents need to buy him a new one to fit his big brain that our grew his old helmet.)

That afternoon, there was 30 minutes where Oliver and Kellan's naps over lapped.  I spent those 30 minutes working on the blog while my toes worked on a tan.  When Oliver got up, he wanted to read a few books before he headed back out into the sunshine.  When I uploaded the photos tonight, I discovered Keith had taken a couple of photos of us.  Ahh... what a nice guy!

The nice weather came and went and we have had rain most of the week.  The weekend is right around the corner and we're hoping for something a little less soggy.  Here's to hoping!

U2 360 Tour

Sometime in 2009, we bought two tickets to the U2 360 tour in Denver.  Two weeks before the show in June of 2010, the show was moved to 2011 because Bono (lead singer) had emergency back surgery in Germany.  Exactly one year after his surgery, Bono and the rest of U2 took the stage in Denver at Invesco Stadium at Mile High.

Two weeks prior to the show, we lined up a baby sitter for the boys.  She was girl we knew well and the boys liked.  She graduated from high school the day before the concert.  I had texted her to confirm she was baby sitting.  She wrote back to confirm she would see us at 4:30 on Saturday.  At 4:40 I called her. At 4:45 I texted her.  At 5:00, 5:15 and 5:30 I called again.  We went into desperate mode to find child care.  All of our avenues came up empty.  Even though Keith and I were so looking forward to dinner with our friends and a night out at the U2 concert, Keith stayed home with the boys and I went to the show.  It was hard to go our separate ways after the high anticipation for a great night out.  A HUGE Thank You to my amazing husband who took one for the team to take care of our munchkins while I went to the show.  We figured at least one of us should go.  I tried to get in touch with the baby sitter again on Monday and have yet to hear from her.  We are actually a little worried about her.  Hopefully everything is OK.

I missed dinner, but met up with our friends at the stadium.  There were several of us at the show, but only Jen, Craig and I (and Keith) had seats together.  On our way up to our extreme nose bleed seats we saw the transportation needed for the U2 stage.

Jen and Craig headed up to our seats.

Jen and Carrie on our way to our seats.

The stage was the most amazing that I have ever seen.  It was almost unbelievable.

The Fray kicked us off as the opener.

The stadium filling in.

Craig and Jen watching The Fray.

Craig, Jen and Carrie watching The Fray.

Craig missing Keith.

Between The Fray and U2 we went to check out the merchandise.  I caught Craig with his hood up.  Come on buddy, it wasn't THAT cold.  After days and days of rain, the skies finally cleared up for one evening.  We even found this amazing sky line to take pictures in front of.

Jen and Craig

The evening was an emotional roller coaster.  We were excited for a night out and then it fell apart with a missing baby sitter.  I was missing Keith quite a bit.  After saving a considerable amount of money on dinner and a baby sitter, I decided to buy an outrageously priced t-shit at $40.  I was going for the conservative t-shirt but Jen and Craig talked me into the one I got.  I must say, I do love it!

Craig was loving my camera and took a bazillion pictures of the great t-shirt try-on.  Jen and I may have been having a little fun too.  It felt good to have a good laugh after the crazy start to the evening.

Sweater off.

T-shirt going on.

Ta-Da!

$40 concert t-shirt in action.

Jen and Carrie having fun.

Ok, enough horsing around.  Time for the main attraction.

U2 took the stage shortly before 9:00 and played for the next two hours.  It is the second time I have seen them and it was one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen.  I was sad that Keith missed it from the sheer engineering stand point of the stage.  I think he would have been amazed.

Super Zoom from the Extreme Nose Bleed Seats.

Craig, Jen and Carrie loving the show!

Jen and Carrie

The circular screen came down like a honey comb.

Toward the end, Bono asked everyone to raise up their lights.  Most of these lights

 are cell phones.

Jen and Carrie outside of Invesco Field.

Craig, Jen and Carrie having a street vendor burrito for the drive home.

The show was amazing.  It was great fun to hang out with Jen and Craig.  I missed Keith dearly.  Maybe next time it will be all four of us together again.

I have several video clips that I would love to share but I am still unable to upload videos.  I'm not sure if it's the new camera format or computer.  I did manage to get this one small clip up.  Who knows?  Maybe the files are too large.   Time to experiment.

Grand Mother's Day Gift

For the last few years, I have had all kinds of gift ideas floating through my head, specifically for Oliver's Grandma and Nana.  This year, we finally took action.  I even went out on a limb and told both amazing Mother's that their gift was in progress but it would be late.  I knew that it would get done if I had committed to it.  So far, we're making great progress, even it it's late.  Such great progress that I'm busting at the seams to post pictures of it.  However, since these Great Mother's are regular readers of the blog, I'll have to wait to post about it until they receive their new treasures.  As a hint, here are a few photos of Oliver and I working on the project.  Oliver is working on some projects to keep for himself, so the mystery is not completely given away. 

I told Oliver he could pick anything he wanted to paint.  As a horse fan, he picked this little horse.

Oliver wanted to try his hand at one more project, so he picked out a new piggy band.  The piggy bank he has at home is nearly full, so he's ready to start another account.  I'm so excited about this piggy bank.  I think it will be a keep sake for some time to come.

Ok, that's enough for now.  More to come in a few weeks once Grandma and Nana have received their gifts.  We aren't quite finished, but I have high hopes for the final product.  I hope that it's worth the wait. 

Fountain of Shells

Our last day in Florida, Keith told Oliver that they would make a water fountain out of Oliver's shells.  He has asked to built a fountain every day since.

Oliver "Can we build a fountain today"

Keith "I need to buy supplies"

Oliver "I have supplies.  I have screws and nails and a hammer"

Keith "We have to go to the store for supplies"

Oliver "Can we go now"

Keith "No, maybe tomorrow"

Oliver "Oh, Ok"

This is the daily conversation that occurred.

Last week, Keith researched fountains online and found one at Target that he could take apart and use for a shell fountain.  On Friday, Keith picked up the fountain and Friday night they worked on the project.  We had told Oliver that they were going to build the fountain but by the time we got to it, it was getting late.  Late or not, Oliver's mind is sharp and his memory is long.  He doesn't forget much and he reminded us that he and Daddy were going to build a fountain.  So, they built a fountain.

Since the project was quite intricate and included drilling holes in shells, Oliver's key job was supervisor.  He eventually got to help drilling but I missed it.

Is he tired or bored.

I'm betting he is tired AND bored.

Who is having more fun, Keith or Oliver?

That night, they had to leave it to let the glue dry.  In the morning, they filled it up with water and tested it out.

Oliver with his new water fountain.

Our plan was to put it in his room.  We decided that it was probably a better idea to leave it on the kitchen counter.

Looks good guys!