Fond Farewell

May 25, 2012 was my dad's last day of work.  He's had a varied and interesting career and I've always known him to be a very hard worker.  To celebrate, my family and I organized a surprise party for him at a great restaurant in Littleton, the Old Blinking Light. 

I believe he was quite surprised...and happy to see many of the people from all parts of his life were there for the surprise.  New and old friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. My Aunt Barbara and Uncle Chet even flew in from Florida for the surprise.

The bakery made a really nice cake for Von.  (ha!  Dad's name is Jon...) 

 

Our dear neighbor Chris made this awesome map showing the route of my dad's upcoming BIG TRIP (more about that later) which depicted all his companions along the way.  

 

Everyone signed the banner with words of wisdom and thoughtful messages...

And everyone had a chance to watch the slideshow that I had put together for him. 

It was such a special night.  It really was wonderful to celebrate my dad and what a wonderful man he is.  I hope we sent him off on his trip feeling the love from all of us who were there with him that night. 

Quick Trip

Last month Sadie and my mom and I took a quick trip to Florida to visit the newest member our family, my cousin Casey's new baby, Ty Carter!  Of course, first on the agenda was a visit to Weeki Wachee. 

Sadie is currently quite obsessed with mermaids, so we thought it would be lots of fun to go see the mermaids at this Florida landmark.  Weeki Wachee has been around since my mom was growing up in Florida.  It's a funky old place that's certainly showing its age, but of course three year olds don't see all the peeling paint and decrepit structures. 

And unlike her mama, Sadie JUMPED at the chance to pet the snakes at the Weeki Wachee animal show!  I was so proud of her.  And SO proud of myself for sitting and watching her do it!  Two years ago I would have been on a plane back to Colorado before they could have even told us what kind of snake it was...

 Casey is mom of the century in my eyes...she is handling having a one year old and a newborn with grace and style and patience that I don't think many women possess.  So impressed with her...supermom!!!

 And of course, we all relish watching Sadie and her cousin Chloe together.  Casey and I are so close, more like sisters than cousins really, so we love seeing our daughters forming their own close relationship.  

 There was lots of downtime at Casey's house.  Popsicles from the icecream truck,

 slip n' sliding,

 canasta,

 and of course as much time as possible snuggling our new beautiful cousin.

Mother's Day

Planted my veggie garden...herbs (basil, lavendar, sage, mint) tomatoes, hot and bell peppers in the ground. Seeds for squash, zucchini, pumpkins, two varieties of chard, loads of lettuce and other greens, and onions sown.

Homemade gifts for my two mothers...



And a day spent with my favorite girl....

Traveling with a three year old

Scenes from the airplane....

 

 

Camping Preparation

Sadie has a really nice, comfortable bed.  It was a big deal when she transitioned out of her crib to her bed.  There's a brand new IKEA mattress on her bed.  Pretty bedding I picked out just for her, too.

But, instead, Sadie has been sleeping on the floor NEXT to her bed for the last several weeks.  I like to think she's as excited for camping and festival season as I am and she's just getting ready....