4th of july weekend

over the 4th of july weekend, mason and i decided to have a 'staycation'. i know, the name is so corny! i read about the idea of staycation's on a frugality blog and thought it was a great idea for us. we want to take trips together as a family and make that part of our family traditions, but this year we have neither the vacation time from mason's job or the money. :( so we decided to have a vacation at home! it was a simple weekend, nothing much to it, but it was really nice to be together and enjoy the time we had together as a family. ever since andrew was born, i have felt very strongly that mason and i need to plan and set aside some time for each other and for our little family otherwise the time will get away from us since life is so busy these days. so this was our first 'experiment' and i have to say it went well. :) we didn't do too much but we just relaxed and enjoyed the time we had together.

on thursday afternoon mason and i went to the grocery store and bought lots of yummy food. i had lots of fun stuff planned to make but as it turned out, we didn't end up having time to make some of the fun recipes i found so we'll try them sometime soon. that night after we put andrew to bed, mason and i watched August Rush. i was really excited to see this movie but i have to admit that i was disappointed. it was good, i guess, but it was a little upsetting for me for some reason. plus, it's just weird to see robin williams with a 'bad guy' part. it had a good ending but i wanted more closure! anyway...

friday morning mason, andrew and i went for a long walk. we walked from Spring Canyon Park to Rolland Moore Park and back. i forgot the camera but i guess that's a benefit to vacationing at home! it was nice to be with Mason and talk while we walked. i thought andrew would take a nap in the stroller but he was so curious about everything going on around him that he didn't sleep until the last 15 mins or so. oh well! we played with andrew on the swings at the park a bit too and that was fun.

on our way to the fireworks....

we bought this backpack second hand thanks to a lucky find by jason & erica. we love it! andrew loves it because he can see everything. we're excited to get out and use it more!

after our walk, we came back home and all of us took a short nap (i LOVE naps, especially on vacation!) and then mason and i started cooking for our BBQ. we made way too much food for just the two of us but we still had a lot of fun and the food was really good. by then, it was time to go to City Park for the fireworks. we had a great time there! the fireworks show this year was fantastic! they just keep getting better every year! we weren't sure what andrew would think of the fireworks but he loved them! i tried to get a pic of him watching them but i forgot about the flash and i just ended up taking a creepy pic. oops!


on saturday we packed a picnic lunch and went up to horsetooth mountain for lunch and for a hike. we were going hike to horsetooth falls but we didn't make it. it was hot, etc. but we still had a great time and a nice little hike. we want to get up there again soon because there's a lot of hiking we want to do!

he'll never crack a smile for me when i'm taking his picture. i guess he's going to be one of those guys....

andrew was SO tired! but again, he was so curious about every little thing that he wouldn't close his eyes! until finally.....

although i felt bad for him because it didn't look comfortable at all! i tried to reposition him but he just kept putting his head back in the same position so i guess it was alright.

andrew woke up as we reached the trailhead again. he was hot so we let him play in the water. he was very curious about it splashing on the rocks at the base.

my little pink baby! note: pink from being hot, not sunburned! :)

we can't tell if he's doing it on purpose or not, but sometimes he'll give you a kiss! :) a very wet kiss!

so i'd say that our weekend was a success! we had a lot of fun being together and enjoying the great outdoors. and all it cost us was $6 to get into the horsetooth mountain open space park! it doesn't get any better than that! :)