summer fun

I guess it's been a while since I last wrote. I guess we've been a bit busy! Last Sunday and Monday, we went camping up to Golden Gate State Park with Bruce and Heido. We stayed in a really cute camper cabin and had a great time. It was wonderful to be outside and have the time to relax and talk. Coranelle loved the dirt- crawling in it, eating it, being covered in it. She was filthy, but so happy. I cannot wait until she's older and can run around campground and explore. We saw some families up there with younger kids that were having a total blast. Lots of fun things to look forward to! Everything went really smoothly- Coranelle napped in the car and in her pack-n-play in the cabin. She slept great in a new place and even stayed asleep when we all four came in a few hours after she went to bed. We got to enjoy the stars and s'mores while she snoozed. We took her for a little hike in the pack and a little ride in her bike trailer and got to enjoy the wonderful weather.
We had one glitch in the shower house that I will tell you about so maybe you won't make the same mistake. So, Coranelle was filthy on Sunday night. She usually gets a bath before bed, so I decided it would be a good idea to take her in the coin operated shower to get her clean and relaxed before bed. While she might have gotten a bit cleaner, she did not have a chance to relax. After stripping both of us down, I realized that I had to step into the shower to insert my quarters in the slot. To my surprise, I didn't have to turn the shower on, it just turned on. And did it ever turn on! The extremely hard and freezing cold spay hit Coranelle straight on. It scared me, so I jumped and squeezed her, which scared her more. So, she began screaming. I couldn't attempt to adjust the water spray or temperature without stepping into the spray of water. I had already lathered some soap on Coranelle, so we couldn't just quit. So, as she's freezing and hurting, I'm hollering over to Heidi to see if she can help us find a warm shower. There we are, waddling through a bathroom, naked and cold and in tears. We found a warm shower, but the spray was still painfully hard, so we did the best we could to rinse off. I handed Coranelle off to Heidi, who got her warm and dry. I don't think it scarred Coranelle for life with a fear of showers, but I think a dirty baby would have been better. Now I know!

The following day, we took turns bikeriding while Coranelle slept. Ryan and I took off on our mountain bikes, thinking we were going to go about 3 miles. We each had a little bit of water in our bottles, and nothing else. Turns out, it was the most under prepared we have EVER been. After going down 1.7 miles rather effortlessly, we decided on a whole loop we would try. Ended up without any water before we were half way done, in 85 degree sun, with no sunscreen, no snacks and at 9,000 feet. The trail turned into a steep climb in a hiking trail terrain that was impossible to ride over a lot of the time. It was rather exhausting, but we didn't want to stop and rest because we knew we didn't have water. It was a beautiful area, and we made it through the 10 miles of hills, but it was quite an adventure. Oh well, it was a good chance to be out with Ryan, and we'll never leave for a ride without a camel back, sunscreen and snacks again!

On Wednesday this week, we celebrated out 3 year anniversary! Bruce and Heidi came out and watched Coranelle while we went to a Belgium brewery for a nice dinner and beer sampling and enjoyed hanging out at an outdoor mall with delicious chocolates and lovely company. It was a nice celebration with a wonderful husband!

Friday, Coranelle spent her first night away from us. We had a softball game scheduled for 9:30pm, which was too late to have someone stay at our house for. So, my mom drove Coranelle to her house on Friday, and she and Steve fed, bathed, played with her and put her down at their house. They all had a great time, despite Coranelle waking up a few times in the middle of the night with a bad diaper rash from the massive amounts of kiwi and cherries she had enjoyed that day. It is great to know that she can do that now, and I know my parents had a great time with her! It felt very quiet here without her. When my mom left with her Friday afternoon, I set out to make a fruit plate with chocolate mousse dip and cinnamon chocolate chips for a birthday party. It was so odd to not have my peanut crawling up the back of my legs while I was working in the kitchen and babbling to me. We went to the birthday party before the game was supposed to start and everyone had kids and I didn't know what to do with myself without a child to take care of! I felt the same way the next morning when I woke up and peeked into an empty nursery. We didn't have to be quiet making coffee and we didn't have to get up at 7am! But, we enjoyed a walk in the rain together and an episode of Lost with Josh and Claire. I think it was a good thing for all of us, regardless of how much I missed her!

Saturday night, we had a fun baby shower down in Denver for a friend of Ryan's from work. Coranelle enjoyed playing with the massive St. Bernard and was just giggling whenever his huge tongue would lick her face and cover her hands in slobber. Ah, fun!

Yesterday, Ryan and I competed in the Broomfield Mini Haha triathlon together. This weekend, it rained constantly, and it was a cold and rainy morning for a race. My parents came out to hang out with Coranelle while we headed off to set up our bikes in the transition area. Despite the rain and cold, we had a great time! I did well in the swimming portion and had a blast biking with Ryan and our neighbor. The new road bike made a world of difference for me and the biking was pretty easy! I was soaking wet and constantly had water splashing in my face, but for some reason, it was still great fun! We got off our bikes after 11 miles and tried to find our legs for the run. The rain let up a little and Bruce, Heidi and my mom were all out cheering us on. We finished and were really glad we had the opportunity to do the race together. We later celebrated with our heat at a BBQ and now it's time to catch up on the grocery shopping and laundry and everything else that has been neglected in the busyness!

That's all for now! Have a great week!