Someone please tell me how to make it through a busy holiday weekend with young kids and not wind up completely exhausted by the end. All brain fog and tiredness aside, we had a really fun 4th of July! Kicked things off on Friday with a splash pad playdate, then saw fireworks at the Rockies game before having a lowkey start to the 4th that ended with a family BBQ and our own little fireworks show. Topped it all off with a very toasty picnic in Boulder to celebrate both my brother and I’s birthdays this week. Whew!

Since Dempsey was off from school on Friday, Hannah and I arranged to get together up in Dacono at the Clem Dufour splash pad. It was a really cool spot and wasn’t too busy, thank goodness! The 5-year olds are so fun to see together ❤️ We stayed for a while and even got some really good popsicles before packing it up and heading home around 2. Lydi fell asleep in the car immediately but woke up as soon as we got home. Still, some nap is better than no nap.

Felt like we were home for 5 minutes before it was time to get ready and head to Illegal Pete’s for dinner before the Rockies game. Kids were slightly crazy during the game and apparently it poured during my 8-minute trip to the bathroom with both of them! Rockies won and we eventually made our way to the field for the fireworks. They were both so excited to do this and then kind of lost interest in the show halfway through. I think they were both tired. Took forever to get out of the parking lot but then we got home and got the kids to bed. It was after 11 😱 so we went straight to bed too.

A very tired start to the 4th of July! Kids slept in, so Joey and I ate waffles all by ourselves. Once they were up, they ate and then played while Joey and I tried to clean up both the inside and outside of our house. Paused to watch the hot dog eating contest and why do I keep doing that? It’s so gross! Both kids were having a little meltdown around lunch time so we fed them then set up the projector in their room so they could have the excitement of a ceiling movie and Joey and I could get some stuff done. Around 3 I started to worry Lydi wouldn’t make it through the evening without a nap so she and I took a little car ride and she was out within five minutes. Even back at home, she wasn’t ready to wake up, so we got a little cuddle in 🥹🥰

I had baked ribs and cornbread earlier in the day so everything was ready to go by the time family started arriving around 4:30. Took Lydi a bit to warm up post-nap but then she was good to go! A quick little rainstorm right before we all ate but we were able to head right back out. Look at all that good food! We hung out then ate dessert and made our way to the front of the house for fireworks. Dempsey is such a pro by now! He lit all of the fireworks himself and started saying “Is everyone ready?? I can’t hear you!!” before each one. Where did he even get that from?? 😂 So sweet the way he would tell Landon and Lydi to cover their ears in case it was loud 🥹 Sometimes your five year old is making you carry them or crying over something and they seem so young still but other times they are looking out for younger kids and acting responsible and you realize they’re not a little baby anymore 😭 He had the best time and it was so fun watching the two bigger fountains they both picked out go off. Definitely the best finale we’ve had! Everyone took off shortly after and we got the kids to bed as quick as we could, though they did have to bless me with a bathroom glow stick show first 😂

I thought the kids slept in on Saturday but they SLEPT IN on Sunday! Lydia wasn’t up until 9:45!!!! I had slept in myself then snuck off to the farmers’ market solo and it was so nice. I was in and out before it got too crowded or too hot and I left with some good stuff too — coffee, naturally, but also flowers, honey, tomatoes, basil and pastries. We all shared those pastries then did who knows what until it was time to head into Boulder. No problem finding a shady spot at Chautauqua and good thing because it was HOT. The kids kept asking to go over to the playground and I don’t know how they could stand it over there! My mom had taken care of everything, including picking up fried chicken from The Post, making several other side dishes, assigning baked beans to my sister, getting dessert from Whole Foods and setting up a buffet table even! She’s the best. It was really nice catching up with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew too ❤️ Headed home around 5, fed the kids dinner, gave Lydia a bath then got them to bed at a decent time (though many shenanigans, including the tossing of Bitty Baby around took place after we said good night). Then we busted out salads together and actually got to sit down and watch an episode of The Bear (don’t even get me started with the final season of this horrendous show).

Poor Lydi woke up screaming at 10 because she was having a nightmare about the dog from The Sandlot, which Joey had watched half of with the kids before bedtime. I showed her the ending this morning so she could see he was actually a nice doggy and hopefully that’s the end of that. I hope everyone had a fun weekend and isn’t feeling a tired as me 😅

The past two years, we’ve gone up to the cabin in August and it’s been cool and cloudy. A nice break from the summer heat in town, but we figured we’d try going up earlier in the season and maybe being a little warmer. It worked! We had lots of sun and it was even hot at times. Let this also be known as the year we caught and cooked a fish and both kids cried about it 😅

Picked Dempsey up from school on Friday, finished packing up the car (why is it always so much stuff??) and hit the road, so we were up at the cabin by 5:30ish. Just Lydia yelling “I LOVE BEING HERE!” as we walked up to the front door. We unpacked and then we all made individual pizzas for the grill. Turned out so fun and good! After dinner, we hung out for a bit, got the kids’ room set up (Dempsey only needed like eight different things from his room at home to replicate his sleeping experience), then Joey started a fire so we could make s’mores. I can’t lie, I love a s’more. Got the kids into bed afterward but there were many shenanigans after we left and we could hear them using the pencil sharpener in there 😂

Woke up Saturday to the kids coming out of their room at… 6 AM?! Whyyyyy. Nothing like a cup of coffee in the fresh mountain air 🥰 Joey made us all oatmeal and then we hung out for a bit before getting ready to go fishing. The kids have been talking about fishing for months! I packed us lunch so we wouldn’t have to rush home and then we tried a new spot that Jory recommended to us. It was windy and when the sun went behind the clouds, it was chilly but otherwise it was so nice. Joey caught three fish and we kept the last one to bring home and cook. Both kids knew this was the plan but I guess the idea of catching and cooking a fish is different than actually seeing it done because they both cried. Dempsey shortly after we put it in the cooler to bring home and Lydia later when I grilled it (even though she had watched Joey clean it out). I think they were both tired and it was making them extra emotional, but still 😟

Tears aside, the other highlights of the day were shooting off a BB gun, watching Wallace and Gromit on VHS, getting an ice cream bar with Dempsey (no joke, Lydia fell asleep on the 5-minute drive down the hill AGAIN) and cooking steak and potatoes on the grill. Dempsey ended up trying the fish even. Got those little sleepies to bed much earlier, then hit the hay ourselves.

Lydia was knocking on her door to come out of her room at 6:30 on Sunday, but ended up falling back asleep in our bed 🥹 Dempsey was up a bit later and then Joey made coffee and buttermilk pancakes for he and I and the kids ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch in front of the heater 😂 Packed up, had a little family photo shoot then hopped in the car and were home before 11 AM. Joey and I let the kids rest and get back to their beloved TV while we got our chores done and then we took a quick-ish trip to the splash pad. Lydia fell and busted up her knee AGAIN but she recovered long enough to get back out there and Dempsey was busy the entire time building sand tunnels in the water. I’m so glad we went. Dempsey saw someone else eating McDonald’s and had to have it, so we got Happy Meals for the kids and cooked smash burgers for ourselves.

I hope you all had a good weekend and I hope we didn’t traumatize our kids into being vegetarians 😂 Happy Monday!

P.S. Dempey watched Babe up at the cabin and has been saying “it’s not criminal to be an individual” since 😂😂