4th of July - Blues Traveler Concert

Before we had Adriana, Rob and I spent every 4th of July at Red Rocks seeing the Blues Traveler in concert. I love them and converted Rob to a fan and made him love them too. It isn't a bad time, they play great music, you can see the entire Denver metro area and can watch the fireworks light up the sky all over the city. It is a pretty great way to spend the holiday.

We haven't been since 2006 and have spent the last few holidays in Steamboat with my sister and her family. (which I love and really missed doing this year). We were not able to do that trip this summer, so we decided that we would give Red Rocks a try. There is a lot of thought that goes into taking a 3 year old to a concert. I have judged many parents in the past for bringing kids to concerts. I mean, they are loud, often have lots of not so legal things going on, and well, it just seems like a bad parenting move. But we talked ourselves into it. First, because it is Red Rocks and it is outdoors. Second, we decided we would sit at the top of the ampitheater. It actually isn't too loud up there and being outdoors, we figured it would be ok for her ears. And all the other reasons, we just talked ourselves into it because we could walk around with her and she would be so excited to see the fireworks all over the sky.

Adriana has been to see Yo Gabba Gabba live but this was technically her 1st real concert. First concert at 3 years of age, pretty good deal. It was only a matter of time with us as her parents. She loves music and loves to dance and I am really excited and hope she will have the love for music and concerts through her life that Rob and I do.

She did great. Our friend Oscar was with us and that provided her with even more entertainment. And actually we had about 5 other 3 year olds at the show around us. We sat at the very top and she could see all the fireworks over the city. She danced and had so much fun. She loved running around and being outside and was so fascinated with the big red rocks. In fact she named one Alligator. Still not sure why.

She lasted until about 10 and then told me she was tired and fell asleep in my lap. We stayed about another hour while she slept on me and then we headed home.

It was a great way to spend the 4th. And a future concert lover was born.

Renaissance Festival

The summer of fun continues!

This year we took Adriana to the Renaissance Festival for the first time. It was Rob's first time too. I had been once before so I kind of knew what to expect. It is always an interesting trip and great place to people watch. We had a lot of fun and Adriana loved it. She got to ride a llama, an elephant, got her arm painted, went through a hay maze (which she was way better of getting out of than her Daddy) watched a jousting match and visited a dungeon museum. Just another normal summer day.

Summertime...and we're living easy

Some of my favorite shots from the summer. We have spent most of it playing with friends and at the pool. It has been perfect.

Our first Field Day

I tend to think that at 3, the first milestones don't come as much, but as always I am wrong. This year Adriana participated in her first field day at school. I am going to admit I was very excited for it. I love field day, find it so entertaining and 3 year olds running around trying to be organized, did not disappoint.

She had a blast! And they really had everything under control. I was quite impressed. And another reason I have such admiration for teachers. They have a patience and organization that I do not seem to come close to possessing.

Since she is in school on Monday and Friday (and the only preschool class that does) she was able to get to enjoy in field day twice. I can't even begin to adequately describe her excitement to go back on Friday when she found out they would yet again get to play. They ended the day with popsicles and a bounce house. Pretty much the highlight of the school year.

Just to add to the excitement, my Grandma was in town during field day week and was able to come see Adriana in action. Not only did this excite (and distract) Adriana, but my grandma was pretty happy too.

Schools Out for Summer!

Year 1 complete!

Ready for the pool. Brobee backpack and Tigger fanny pack and all!

Summer is here!

At the end of May Adriana completed her first year of preschool. It was the first of her 3 years she will be in preschool so not truly a milestone, but it was a big deal for her. She was a little weary of school for a while but the 2nd half of the year she loved it and loved her classmates. So the end of the school year was actually not that happy of an occasion. She was not happy to learn that she didn't get to see her friends a couple times a week like she had been. I guess I need to get to setting up those play dates.

We are 2 weeks into summer and I can report that she seems to have no issue with missing school. She started a summer fun class at the Rec Center with her friend Emma from school. Yesterday was her first day and I was a bit nervous. They take the kids swimming and well, Adriana isn't exactly a swimmer. She loves the water and pool, but is not a fan of water splashing her face and hasn't figured out the essential breathing under water. So it makes me nervous. And made me realize she really needs swim lessons. I should have put her in them this spring for the summer. Oops!

But when we got to the class the teachers assured me they are in the pool with the kids and they don't let them go past a certain point. Also, her teachers are the same teachers that she had for a summer program last year at the Rec Center and they remembered her, so that made both her and I feel better. Plus, her teacher from preschool daughter's are in the same class so she was excited to get to see her again.

So here comes summer. I think that our days will be spent lounging at the pool, with some other activities thrown in for good measure. I have no complaints!

Disney on Ice

I am not sure how I forgot such an important event that happened in April. In the beginning of the month Adriana and I went to her first Disney on Ice event. And it happened to be the Princess version, so needless to say, it was a success!

Our neighbor got us tickets and we ended up sitting on the floor right by the ice. They were pretty great seats. At first, when the lights went down, Adriana got a little nervous. And a few times she got scared (especially when the sea witch from Little Mermaid grew into the big witch) but other than that, she loved it.

At intermission she was adamant that she wanted a sno cone. She was so excited and I spent like $13 on the infamous mickey mouse cup of colored ice. She had about 3 bites and decided it was too cold....lessons learned for both of us.

All in all we had a great time and it was really cool. They did Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella. We had a lot of fun.

April in a nutshell

So another month went by and radio silence on Ade's blog. I would like to blame the fact that I am busy. That nothing has happened. That life has just been the same o same o. It really has been anything but and well, I just haven't been on the computer.

I would love to put funny updates and things that happened. Very thankful for Facebook as I usually post there and I will have to go back and write down all the things Ade says to me and have a running post for that. She truly is hilarious and every day does something more cute and sassy than the day before. I wish I had an app on my phone for this blog and I could just plug it in as it happens. I take a lot of videos and as tech savvy as I think I am, I cannot figure out how to upload them on this site. I take that back, I can but then when people try to view them, there is an error. Hmph. I guess I should research that.

But back to Adriana and the month of April. The reason we are here. She has been growing and having the time of her life these last few months. She has come out of her shell a bit and made a lot of friends in preschool, as well as the mom's group I belong to, and while it is a work in progress, she is working on sharing and being nice to others. In fact, lately, she has been so nice that the minute another child tells her they no or that they don't want to play, it results in many a tears and cries (and loud screams. Un nerving! Can anyone tell me how to make this stop?) I wish I could get her somewhere in the middle of completely mean, stay away from me and falling apart if someone doesn't agree with her. Awwww parenting!!!

This year for Easter (or the weekend before) we went to Adriana's Grandpa John and Grandma Chicken's house in Fort Collins. Last year they had a big Easter Egg Hunt for all the grandkids and it was so much fun they did it again this year. I am very glad they did as Adriana asked about it several times when she learned Easter was near. As always, we had a blast! She enjoyed finding eggs and loved playing with all her cousins. We spent Easter day at my sister's house where Ade was showered with a ridiculous amount of Easter candy. When all is said and done, I think we got more candy for Easter this year than Halloween. Insane!

We also went to the first Rockies game of the season in April for my birthday. It was freezing and windy that I thought for sure we wouldn't be there longer than 10 minutes. Like her momma, Adriana loves Coors Field as much as I do. Although for different reasons. They have a kids play ground that she loves. We stayed a while and had a blast. She got to meet Dinger and get his autograph. We stood in line to meet him, and the closer we got to him, the more afraid she got. I had to hold her for the picture we took with him. He is very big and very purple. :) But from afar, she thinks he is great.

The only other major thing that happened in April was the lack of sleep throughout the Etch house. Ade started getting up multiple times in the night and decided sleeping between the hours of 2 and 5 a.m. was not going to happen. This resulted in no one in the family getting sleep. We tried to break this cycle for a couple weeks. Usually it gets better but it just kept getting worse. No one in our house was sleeping. We all were exhausted and I was at my wits end. Which made trying to transition her back to sleep even worse. No patience mommy is not a lot of fun. And very tired and sassy 3 year old is not too fun either. We finally had to put a sleeping bag on our floor and tell her that she could come in the middle of the night and sleep in it if she doesn't wake us up. I even got desperate enough to take her to the doctor and make sure nothing was wrong with her. She definitely has allergies but this was something else. We went through the scared phase, sick phase and just flat out defiant phase all in April. Rob and I went out of town for the weekend at the end of April and I am pretty sure we slept 3/4 of the weekend. But the sleeping bag worked and she now has a mattress on our floor. As I type, I can feel judgment, and believe me, I vowed that my child would never sleep in my room. But when you haven't slept for a month, you do things you normally wouldn't. She goes to sleep in her own room and transitions to our in the middle of the night, sometimes earlier. It is quiet, she doesn't wake us and for now that is all Rob and I can ask for. We will worry about the rest later.

That is about it. Hopefully I will keep up a little better from here on out...