Grace in small things, August 1, 2016

1. Feeling so happy today about the weekend Jeff and I just spent together in Denver...some much-needed alone time and got to see a lovely friend of ours and Union Station (where the picture above was taken) and the Westin was soooooo pretty and relaxing and we discovered the Cruise Room Saturday night...so fun...
2. Reconnecting with the kids last night and this morning...we had such a good time just hanging out...
3. Lunch on the lawn...
4. Work went smoothly today...all got done...
5. Jeff's taking kid duty tonight so I can go to a Bachelorette-watching party...yay, girl time. :)

XOXO

Cool things to do in Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Glenwood Springs is such a fun Colorado getaway! I went with my mom over the weekend and what a fun girls trip, especially. If you're thinking of going, here are some cool things you should check out:

Hotel Colorado

Pros: 

Oh my gosh what a beautiful old historic hotel. You feel like you're really somewhere special. This place just oozes character. The lobby is beautiful, and relaxing in wooden chairs in the courtyard under the enormous shade trees—or if it's cool by the fire pits—is a must. You can get some good food in the courtyard too, and a drink (alcoholic or not) from the friendly bartender at the pretty outdoor bar. Super friendly staff all around. I love how it feels like a real Colorado destination. And the stuffed animals (bear, moose, etc) in the lobby--I know they bother some people (I'm an animal lover, too)--but they sure lend this place character. Also all the historic photos...love...

Cons:

A little on the pricy side. And the rooms are definitely nice but little details could be updated/made nicer. No A/C which I don't mind, with windows and fans it's very comfortable but my husband doesn't want to stay in the summer...

Yampah Vapor Caves and Spa

Pros: 

A really unique experience...like a steam room but it's natural and down underground in caves. It's super hot and you can't stay in long, but there are tubs you can fill with ice-cold water to help you stand the heat a little longer. Also there's a solarium upstairs where you can very comfortably rest between trips to the caves. This is one of my "must dos" every time I come to Glenwood. Oh and their massages are some of the best I've ever had in my whole entire life...HUGELY recommended...

Cons:

This place is VERY clean but if you're scared of germs it might not be the place for you...it's just so moist everywhere...and the water in the tubs is dumped out between people but the tubs are not washed...I don't mind all this at all, and like I said, it's very clean, but I know some people are more germ-phobic than I am. Also, the last 2 times I've gone I've had a headache after, even though I'm drinking tons of water...I do stay in the caves until I can no longer stand it, though...

Downtown Shopping

Book Train and Elizabeth Dean Boutique (e.d.b.) are places I spent a little money this past trip. I'm not a huge shopping person but I do like a little...and there was just enough for an hour or two. The other store I would hugely recommend here is Summit Canyon Mountaineering...a little local business and they do a great job...

Pros: 

Book Train had a nice selection of books and a TON of magazines. I almost always get my books at the library so buying a book felt like such a huge treat. e.d.b.--oh my gosh, the displays throughout the stores are divine! Just looking around was so fun. I also found a big blue-and-gold bag I can use for library books, super cute and very reasonably priced...

Cons:

Book Train is a pretty standard book store...

CO Ranch House

Pros: 

My husband and I first went here a few months ago and had an absolute feast at the bar. We hadn't eaten all day and the bartender totally set us up with appetizers, entrees, dessert. My mom and I went back on this trip and sat outside on their lovely patio and indulged a little less. The food was fantastic both times, the service super friendly, the decor is amazing, it's got such a great authentic Colorado feel to it...

Cons:

Is it a con that their drinks are really strong? I couldn't drink more than half my yummy margarita the other night...

Iron Mountain Hot Springs

Pros: 

This is a fairly new place, and I love the traditional Glenwood Springs Hot Springs, but this was down by the river and felt like it was a little more for grownups, which is a plus when you're out of town taking a break from the kids. There are a dozen or so rock pools all different temperatures and you can look out over the river and it's crowded (or was the summer Saturday night we went), but the people there are super friendly, so...

Cons:

Kind of pricy ($25/person). SUPER crowded on a summer Saturday night...

Hanging Lake

Pros: 

This is an iconic Colorado hike and I'd never done it. And wow, it didn't disappoint. It's strenuous but short, and ends at such a magnificent lake...and then there's Sprouting Rock with the waterfall coming out of it...and beautiful little mossy streams and canyon views the whole way up and down...just spectacular...

Cons:

SUPER crowded. We knew it got crowded in the summer but figured if we got up there by 7:30 AM or so we'd be fine. Wrong. We waited in line for parking for an hour and a half, and then the trail was super crowded, too. But the wait was fine because my mom and I were happy talking, and the crowds...well, that's what happens in the summer. If I came again I would do it spring or fall on a weekday...

In Sum

Glenwood is such a cool, funky, authentic Colorado town. I love it there. If you're thinking about going, do it!

People who've know Glenwood--any "musts" that I should check out next trip?

XOXO

Grace in small things, July 26, 2016

1. Bubs telling me the best and worst parts of his day were warm blankets out of the dryer (best) and the storm rolling in (worst)...
2. Having a tiny bit of breathing room in my work schedule today...
3. Reading snuggled up with the kids tonight...
4. Talking with a good friend who is going through a tough time...
5. Sis trying on my sparkly sequined black and navy mini dresses (hanging in my closet even though there is nowhere to wear them up here) and being thrilled with how fancy she looked...

XO

Picture books we love (July 2016 edition)

A short list this month (we're outside more, reading less right now). Here are the library books we loved:

There is a tribe of kids, by Lane Smith

There are a number of great things about this book, from the sweet illustrations to the adventurous story to the unique idea of building a book around what groups of things are named. I love language things like this and learned so many odd things here...like do you know a group of jellyfish is called a smack of jellyfish? Or a group of ravens is called an unkindness of ravens? In another life I think I would have studied linguistics...love this sort of thing. The kids each time we return books get to re-check out one and this is one Zo picked...

Room on the broom, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

We first got introduced to this story via a Sprout TV special and honestly I like the cartoon (out of Britain, and with an indie feel) a little more, mostly because the cat who first belongs to the witch has much more of an attitude in the cartoon when other animals (dog, bird, frog) are invited onto the broom. Other than that the stories are very similar and so charming. I think we'll be re-checking this out come Halloween.

Iggy Peck, Architect, by Andrea Beaty and David Roderts

Another book by the author/illustrator of Rosie Revere, Engineer, which we loved last month. This book has Rosie in it (in the pictures, at least) and is similarly positive and inspiring (although I do like Rosie better). 

The only child, by Gouging

I'm not always a fan of wordless books but this is one of the best books I've seen in a long, long time. It's from a Chinese author and also has a very indie feel to it and the drawings are superb and the whole story is so fantastical and yet you can imagine how a real child would react in the way this fictional girl reacts. Essentially what happens is a young girl's mom and dad go off to work and she (the girl) leaves the house deciding to visit her grandma and gets lost and ends up on this big adventure with a stag to take care of her. The pictures of the girl and the stag at the end are amazing...Zo also re-checked this book this month...the kids are as enthralled with it as I am...

How about you? What are you and your kids reading and loving?

XOXO

Grace in small things, July 21, 2016

1. Look who I met on my walk tonight! :)
2. Kids are doing SO GREAT in swim lessons...so fun to watch them progress...their teacher Riley is amazing...and we got to spend some time at the pool with friends after...lovely...
3. New vacuum is getting the carpets so clean. I really like to clean...it's weird...
4. Luke picked as his book tonight one from my childhood...so fun to read...
5. Jeff shopped and made dinner and did the dishes tonight...he is the best...

XOXO

Birthday happiness

• Zo waking me at 5:30 AM, then snuggling into bed beside me...
• Opening presents in bed in the morning before Jeff went to work...the kids picked their own gifts for me and they did well with a down vest and some Steamboat T-shirts...
• Other sweet gifts from people I love...
• Going on a hike with the kids and some friends at Rita Valentine to release the snails they had brought up from Junction the day before. Luke, after running around a corner on the trail with the other kids and then reporting back: "Mama! We saw something! It was either a deer or a rabbit or a rock!"
• A facial in the afternoon...so lovely...
• Sushi for dinner...yum...
• German chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, my favorites...
• Stories upstairs with my kiddos before bed...
• The porch with my husband after the kids went down...
• A good night's sleep...

XOXO

Seattle + a road trip

My dad and I were in Seattle a short while ago, and as part of our trip we visited some places with meaning to him and our family...some I had been to, some not.

Tai Tung

We started at Tai Tung in the International District, which bills itself as the oldest Chinese restaurant in Seattle, and is a place my grandparents introduced my dad to and that he went to in college. We had lunch with my aunt and uncle there...so fun to see them...

University of Washington and the Crew House

At the University of Washington, my dad showed me where he had had many of his classes (including the building below where he'd been on the steps when he heard President Kennedy had been shot), and we spent some time at Conibear Shellhouse where my dad lived and rowed crew. (He wasn't able to row the last years he was in college because of an accident.) He has such great stories about those days...

Seahurst Beach

The next day we went to Seahurst, just south of Seattle, where my dad had grown up right on (actually, more accurately, above) the beach. Beautiful place.

Tahuya

And then out to Tahuya, which is on the Hood Canal and is where my grandparents had a house when I was a girl...I went there every summer and have such fond memories of learning to ride my bike on what I remember as a BIG hill (which in reality is the most gentle slope imaginable) and getting oyster from the beach and raspberries from the bushes by the water's edge, mushrooms and blackberries out of the woods, going for a canoe ride with my grandpa every evening, jumping off the bridge on the way into town, watching the tide come in from the deck surrounded by the petunias my grandmother used to grow, her dressed up next to me with her sweet perfume...it was a magical place...

Hood Canal

We spent some time with a number of my dad's friends from high school and college, which was fun for me as they had stories about my dad that I had never heard...my dad told me lots of stuff too that I hadn't known about while we were on this trip, which was wonderful.

One night we spent in Union on the other side of Hood Canal with his friend Craig, whom he rowed crew with. Craig lives in an amazing house on the water and showed us such hospitality with oysters from the beach and a boat ride to dinner, local strawberries and ice cream for dessert, a beautiful sunset and stars, seals and coffee on the deck the next morning...I loved being there...

Birch Bay

We drove up the Olympic Peninsula, took a ferry, ate fish and chips so many times we couldn't eat them anymore (very memorably at the Shrimp Shack) and ended up in Birch Bay, at the beach house of Marsha and Allan, where I had gone with my grandparents many summers, sleeping up in the loft. Marsha's mom was a bit older than my grandma but they had been fast friends...I remember so well visiting them at this beach house and also their gorgeous home in Vancouver, Canada...was so lovely to see them again...

Everett

And on the way back down to Seattle, my dad and I spent some time in Everett, where he showed me Aunt Clara's house (where my grandmother had grown up and my dad used to come visit as a boy and where Marsha's mom and my grandma met) and where my grandmother had gone to high school, where my dad lived right out of college when he worked at Scott Paper (which is no longer there)...

Thanks, Dad, for such a great trip! Can't wait to do it again!

XOXO

Grace in small things, July 19, 2016

1. These pics were taken yesterday on Serpent's Trail in the Colorado National Monument...look at my baby girl bouldering...she's so good at it...proud Mama... :)
2. Selling of the Junction house is a done deal as of this morning...feels surreal...not bad...just very strange...
3. Great seeing my mom and dad for a quick overnight...and we've got some fun stuff planned for August...
4. Easy drive home with the kids, always grateful for that...
5. Snails the kids caught in the rain this morning crazy-active in their glass bug hotel tonight next to where I'm working...we'll let them go in the morning...

XO

Grace in small things, July 17, 2016

1. Sunflowers Jeff got me blooming cheerful on our living room coffee table...love flowers...
2. Lazy Sunday hanging out with Daddy, laundry and errands, going to the beach, packing for Junction tomorrow...
3. The twins and me in a 1-person chair all snuggled up reading this morning...
4. Sis is still getting up incredibly early, but she sweet crawls into bed next to me with her stuffed pink pig and pink-and-gray-spotted blankey, gives me a little time to wake up before telling me I should get milk and a creamsicle for her (they're a healthy paleo version so I don't feel bad giving her one for breakfast), coffee for me...
5. Got some great nights sleep this weekend...feel so much better...

XOXO

Grace in small things, July 16, 2016

1. Shopping with Miss Zo downtown after lunch...
2. There's a lot of talk about Foxytown lately, which is where Beeper and Drowner et al (the imaginary foxes in our lives) live. Zo told me today that in Foxytown there is no heaven, because no one ever dies...
3. Ghostbusters with Jeff tonight...so fun...
4. Daddy-made monster and dinosaur creamsicles in our freezer...cutest thing ever...
5. Luke out of bed but saying, "But Mommy, I wanted to give you a hug!" So sweet...

XO