Birthday Cake and a Playground Too

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Peanut Butter Jelly & A Baseball Bat!," now does it?!

HA! Well, this upcoming weekend is one for the books.

My little Coop is turning a year old, and the festivities will be wild. We are opening up the playground for it's first full day of play!! I will take lots of pictures - if I'm not running around crazy - which is likely.

I hope it brings my boys lots of smiles over the years, as it has been a labor of love from their daddy and all of their neighbors. Not to mention the grandparents who funded the project!

so many changes, so little time....

ahhhhhhhhh, oh how i have neglected my blog!

well, on the playground front, there is very little progress since my last post. life has gotten crazy busy, and the weather has gotten crazy HOT! it WILL get done.

however, about everything else around here HAS changed!

i have gone back to work full time. back to the world of graphics and printing. and in all honesty, i'm loving it! it's hard to be apart from my boys and my mom friends, but nice to be back in the adult world. so it's a bittersweet transition.

in my transition, both of the boys have gone through changes as well. rylan is going to preschool...and what a change this has been. every morning is still a bit rough...but i think we're past the "mama, don't leave me! i love you! are you going to come back?" stage. he comes home every day full of energy and with stories of how much he loves his big boy school. as his mom, i can already see huge changes in how much he's grown up in the past 2 1/2 weeks. i don't feel like quite the deserter every day, as i did the first day i left him at school (he and i were BOTH in tears that day) the change is bittersweet.

coop is currently hanging out at home with a wonderful neighbor and friend until he turns a year old and can walk. (a requirement to go to preschool.) needless to say, we've been practicing walking A Lot since his first birthday is just a couple of weeks away!! i think we'll make it! and he has a new best friend in the neighbor's dog, benny. so, so very cute.

so there's a new car (so that both are kid-carting equiped), a new job, a new schedule, new schools, and....and....almost a birthday. coop, my baby....almost a year old. we will celebrate - my little surfer baby - but i'm so sad to see you grow sometimes!

it's amazing to see all the changes that have come in the last couple of years...and it still awes me to recognize this as my life. it's a crazy life - but i'm so blessed that it is mine.

and the build goes on..and on...and on!!

The build is progressing - and we officially have a slide! It took 2 men, 5 hours, a couple nice sunburns, multiple pitchers of koolaid, and several attempts both with and without the assembly directions!

However, look at the results! It's coming along great, and I have to say, I have tested the slide out myself...the kids are going to LOVE it! Of course, in that process we also realized that the slide is not exactly up to the heavy duty adult load. But maybe if you haven't had a quarter pounder with cheese that day, you'd do alright!

Rails are going up, the clubhouse is complete (minus the sitting porch of course), and it's getting pretty close! Rylan is pretty excited and seems to think that his clubhouse windows work best for a fast-food drive up or a bank. What a lifestyle!

Here's a view from inside the clubhouse, as well as a view that shows off from one of the tall tours, showing the bridge! Yes, there is a bridge to connect the two towers!

Next up is the swing arm, finishing railings, the rock wall....and more to come. You'll have to stay posted...and then come to play and celebrate the completion!!

you're KILLIN' me ...Day 3

why did i think it would be FUN to bring two such small kids on vacation?! oh right...it is. well, mostly. but let me tell you, home is sounding pretty darn good at the moment! (it's naptime and Coop is crying loud enough to wake neighboring countries!)

today...it looked like huge thunder clouds were going to ruin any possibility of a good time. and to be honest, the pool alternative didn't go over too well for rylan yesterday...so i was a little concerned about what today had in store.

no fear, thus far, the day has turned out to be GORGEOUS! take a look.






cranky boys, but gorgeous weather. after driving around in the mountains again, we headed off for some miniature golf. this was a BLAST. rylan and jason went head to head for 18 holes of of putt-putt. jason pulled of a victory in the last couple holes, as rylan's attention span gave out. i say it was lucky for jason, i think rylan could have taken him! give him a year or two, and daddy's toast!

then there was the ski ball, the video games, the race car driving,

more video games, and to top it off....McD's for lunch. who says a day can't be all about rylan!? coop enjoyed watching daddy and rylan...and hangin' with his mama by the waterfall...

and watching the fly fishermen in the stream just on the other side of the fence at the golf course.

whew. not a bad day at all, huh? one more day to go.

"peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat" - day 2

yes, thanks to my husband, my three year old is now singing that in the car. and loudly! it's actually pretty cute. if you're like me, and have never heard the actual song - if you could call it that - it's quite funny!

so after 18 hours of straight no naps, no sleep yesterday, the boys slept in a whole hour and were up by 7 am KC time.

YAY.

jason and i are just thankful that we crashed not too long after them so that we could handle it. oh, well, as i guess jason is back to sleep AGAIN, maybe i should rephrase - I am happy that i can handle it...LOL

today there are gorgeous low clouds over the mountains, and YES, i have had my camera with me today!

we drove up trail ridge road, fed some chipmonks, (see above)

and saw some gorgeous scenery.

we then took the opportunity for our 1st photo as a family of 4! better late than never!

and THEN after packing SO well for the boys...jason and i both forgot jackets...so we're did that too!

and now - they are all three snoring. i bribed with mini-golf or swimming if they would all just take a nap. i win!

projectile vomit - day 1

SO, we're on our roadtrip to estes park. a 12 hour car ride when we throw in a few stops to ward off insanity and starvation. halfway through kansas, rylan projectile vomits bright pink lovliness all over the backseat. twice. and cooper pooped. twice. so, it's smelling pretty nice in the car.

luckily, the rest of the drive was fairly uneventful. all day we told rylan we were driving to the mountains. so once we see them, "look mama, the mountains! we found them!"

we sure did.
we also found elk, mule deer, and a coyote.
did i have my camera with me? no.
of course not!

after a 3 am wake up. 12 hours of driving. 18 hours of kids with no naps. i'd say day one is officially over.

day 2 - bring it!

Phase 3 - It's Getting SOOO Close!

So, the boys and I left for another adventuresome weekend at the lake while the build went on. Our short trip saved my sanity from slowly stripped by Rylan's constant, "Is my playground here yet?!" Or from his cute little bottom being stuck to the back porch all weekend watching every single moment of the build.

And here's the progress: it's lookin' SO good. (and we've even played on what's been built - SO FUN!!)

Isn't my husband amazing?! (And all the neighbor guys too.)

The 3 towers are all decked. They then framed in the tunnel and the clubhouse.

One side of the club house and tunnel are boarded.

Rylan came home and loved it! Here he is sticking his head out one of the two windows of his clubhouse.

What's left?!

Well...next up is to finish boarding the other side of the tunnel & clubhouse. Then we will need the rock wall and the swing arm. Then we will need Mama to come out and choose where I want all the guard rails to be, those will be put in. Then the bridge between the two towers. Then there is still the addition of the toys & the slide! But it's already SO GREAT! YAY!