Leaving on a jet plane!

Sam, Nathan and Adriana-3 monkeys on the couch

Reading maps at the zoo

Checking out the ducks on the river

Cupcake party!

Sleeping on the plane

Watching TV on the plane

So this month Adriana and I set out to go see my BFF Rachael and her boys in Kentucky. Adriana hasn't been on a plane since she was 9 months but her friend Will flies a lot and she has asked me repeatedly to go. So needless to say she was more than excited for our trip.

She loved the airport more than anyone really should. Moving walkways, big windows with planes outside...she had a blast. And when we finally got on the flight and it had TV on the back of the seat (thank you Frontier) I am not sure she could have been more happy. One of Ade's favorite things is to listen to songs on my iPod with my earphones. So using earphones to watch TV just made the experience that much more fun. She fell asleep pretty early into the flight and slept the entire way. She woke up when we were descending and looked out the window and saw the clouds as we were going through them. She got so excited and screamed "mommy we are flying in the clouds". She had a blast.

We had a great time in KY. Adriana got along famously with Rach's little boy Nathan. He is 4 and they played so well together. Nathan introduced her to the world of Spiderman (and now superheroes are a big part of our lives) and she loved to follow him around. Rachael also has an 18 month old named Sam, and while Adriana had nice moments with him, she did not display her best behavior (or even good behavior) with him. He is such a cute and sweet boy. She talked about him constantly when he wasn't around. Kids. I won't even pretend to understand how they work or think. It takes too much and is exhausting. :)

We had a really great time with them overall and spent some fun days at the water parks in KY and the zoo. It is so great to get to spend some time with Rachael's family and have our children get to know each other. And even though we had a blast, when it was time to come home, Adriana was more than ready to get home to Daddy and Clyde. All in all a great trip and lots of good memories. Adriana asks for Nathan daily and when she got a spiderman figurine in her happy meal the other day, he thought Nathan sent it to her. It was so cute I just let her think it. :)

Traditional 4th of July Steamboat Trip

Ready for fireworks, even though I look mad. :)

Happy 4th!

With Ally

With Daddy at Rodeo

Check out my hat

Hikin'

Falls with Daddy

At the falls with Ally and Brandt

So for the past 2 years we have gone to Steamboat with my family for the 4th. We love to go and have such a good time that I am hoping we continue each year. Adriana has a blast at the hot springs pool, the condo pool, the rodeo, the parade. Just about anywhere we go and her cousins Ally and Brandt are. :) We missed having Chad and Tara with us but they stayed behind in Denver this year.

This year we took her to the parade as well as her first rodeo. She loved it. She also got a nice new pink cowboy hat. She also was awake this year for the fireworks, which she loved. She loved all the colors. The loud sound of it didn't even bother her. It rained a lot that day and got very cold so instead of going down to the baseball field to watch them, we set up camp behind our car in the parking lot and bundled up. We also did Ade's first "real" hike up by Fish Falls in Steamboat. It was great and she was a trooper (and so was daddy for carrying her most of the day)

We had a great time and can't wait to go back next year!

America's Best Petting Farm

Baby cow

She loves goats! What is better than that? Baby goats!

She fed the rabbit. So happy!

Ready for my train ride

She is the 4th one back in the green sheep car

Holding a baby chick

Sheep!!

So I don't know if is truly America's best, but Adriana thought it was. The last day of our road trip we took Ade to the Petting Farm outside of Mt Rushmore. She is a huge fan of petting zoos and goats, sheep, cows, chickens, etc and so she had a blast. They had lots of babies so literally she was in heaven. They had a barrel train that she rode all by herself and was very happy to do so. We had a blast.

Road Trip

With Daddy and the Presidents

Flags at night

Ade with George, Teddy, Tom and Abe

Etch/Roaldson's on a boat

Chilaxin on the Boat

Ade, Rob, Maddie and Anna

Swimming with Daddy

Playing in the Discovery Center at the Zoo

It rained us on at the zoo, she didn't care, she had her Clifford Umbrella

Looking for otters at the Bismarck Zoo

Painting Aunt Janine's hand

Making Rob's Father's Day present at the pottery place

Awesome Eiffel Tower

Ready for my hike!

It has been a while since I last posted. A lot has happened, I just haven't gotten a moment to capture it down. Here is a summary of Adriana's first big road trip.

The beginning of June we took a road trip to North Dakota to see Rob's sister and her family. It is quite a drive so we decided to split up the drive into 2 days each way and do some site seeing along the way. Going up we stopped and stayed in Hulet, Wyoming (a town that made me appreciate the variety of restaurants and cell phone coverage living in a bigger city) outside of Devil's Tower. It was a cute little town where you could walk anywhere you wanted to go and actually our hotel was pretty nice. We decided to hike around Devils Tower, which is only 1.3 miles. Ade rode in style in a backpack on Daddy back and loved the "awesome Eiffel tower".

After that we headed back on the road and arrive in Bismarck, ND that afternoon at the Roaldson house. Adriana was very excited to see her cousins Madeline and Anna. They were so great with her and played with her constantly. She really had a blast. She stayed up late, slept in and napped at 5. Completely off schedule but she did great. While we were there they took us to the museum, the pool, the zoo and on a boat ride down the river for dinner one night. It was Adriana's first boat ride. It was a big boat and she loved it. We had a great time and their family was so nice and welcoming. Thanks Aunt Janine and Uncle Jon!

After we left Bismarck, we headed south to South Dakota to see Mt Rushmore. When we arrived it was dinner time and after dinner, Ade was in a great mood so we decided to go see Rushmore at night. We got there about 7:30 and ended up staying until after 10. Both Rob and I had been there but never at night. It was pretty cool and Ade had a blast running through the flags and all around. She was pretty interested in the presidents and informed us that George Washington was her favorite (I still believe that she had some coaxing from Daddy on that one). As we were leaving and she was tired, she informed us "Mommy, Teddy Roosevelt played in our backyard with Clyde". Grandma Carol has a little dog that Adriana loves named Teddy that comes over when Grandma babysits.

All in all we had a great and very successful trip. By the last day we were all ready to get home and Adriana was very ready to see Clyde. He will never know how much he was missed. :) We made one last stop at a petting farm outside Mt Rushmore. Adriana loves animals more than anything so petting zoos are the best! I will post those pics in my next post.

Trip to Louisville

So this past week Adriana and I set out to Louisville, KY to visit Rachael and Nathan.  We had a really great time.  It was nice to get to hang out with Rachael and I haven't seen Nathan since he was 3 months old...and he is now 2.  (I am a horrible friend)  Nathan is such a sweet boy and he was so nice to Adriana the entire time we were there.  He shared his toys and was great at letting me know if she was doing okay or asleep when we were in the car.  Each morning he would come looking for "baby ona".   We had a lot of fun and it made me wish even more so that Rachael and I lived in the same place.  We just have to get one of our husbands to agree to move. :)  (For those of you who may not know, Rachael and I have grown up together and been the best of friends since 5th grade.  We even have pictures of us in preschool playing together.  We were definitely meant to be lifelong best friends.  We haven't lived in the same place for a lot of that time but have always found ways to visit each other and talk in some way daily)

It was my first trip on a plane with just Adriana and I.  No Rob to help or hold her when I got nervous on the flight.  I have to say Adriana did beautifully.  She was happy and only threw a minor fit during our 9 hour travel days and 2 flights a day to get there and home.  I got more comments on what a happy and active baby she was.   She and I met a lot of great and helpful people during our trip.  

Adriana tried a lot of new things when we were there.  Lots of new food (it is a benefit of having a friend with a 2 year old to tell you what they tried and worked well, it was great!  We discovered a lot of things I was nervous to give her but finally did with Rachael's encouragement)   Adriana also tried a swing for the first time.  She loved it.   The above pictures of are of her swinging and then we had a pool party in Rachael's backyard (diapers required, clothes optional).  

All and all it was a great trip.  Many thanks to Rachael and Nathan for letting us crash their house for a week.